Storm scuppers day in the field

Some things are not meant to happen! For the ambitiously titled module "Earth, Climate and Evolution" we go into the field with the students twice. When the draft timetable came out, it became clear that one of the dates reserved for this was unusable. This was the week where my colleague Lynda takes her students into the field for 2 1/2 days, and in which the third year students do their dissertation presentations spread out over two days. This week has a bank holiday in it, so it is only four days long. And the students Lynda has in the field are partly the same students as the ones that do their presentations with me. That meant the week was already just about long enough to accommodate all that! So there was no way we could also have a first-year fieldtrip in that week. But fieldtrips are timetabled for the whole day, and there aren't many days when a cohort of 70 students has the whole day free. The only date timetabling could find as an alternative was in mid February. It would have to do!

We saw the students to Friday before. I was joking that given that the first half of the week with our fieldtrip in it had terrible weather, we would have run out of wind and rain by the time the trip was on. And to be honest, even though I knew that is nonsense of course, I did not expect the forecast to be so bad that we would have to cancel the trip. But the day came closer, and the Met office was showing a yellow weather warning for wind on the day. And that is a bad thing. The wind can be vicious in Cwm Idwal! And there is no way you can talk to a group of students in such a way they can make out what you are saying in a howling gale. I told the students that if the weather forecast wouldn't improve, we would call off the trip.

By the Wednesday, the weather warning had been upgraded to orange, and the Health and Safety Officer of the University got in touch to say he suggested we call off all Friday field trips. And so we did!

The good news is that we tend to book three days in the timetable for our two days in the field. So now we will go in late April! And we could still get a weather warning, and have to cancel the trip, but the chances are bit smaller by then. So a lot of faff for nothing! And I hope all the students are snugly indoors with a big hot drink while storm Eunice is raging outside…