asjmcguire

Of course.... you can always use the service after Christmas to send lovely bombs of glitter to people who sent you glittery Christmas cards...... (or for some reason - a potato.....)

Shhhh pretend it's fun and festive - if you let people know it's irritating then....... https://www.glitterretribution.co.uk/glitter-bomb-letter/

Interesting that the storm has been downgraded because the Met Office have now issued a Yellow warning for 3/4 of the UK for Christmas Day. I wonder if it is a case of the models struggling to figure out what will happen after the first deep low pressure system passes through, some "less professional" forecasters are claiming that the models won't get the temperature or precipitation type correct after the the first system has passed through.

I noticed the 18z had changed things somewhat - I think we need to see confirmation from other models (or even the next run) because the 18z GFS has the nickname "pub run" for a reason. It's not always hilariously off course, but - it does have a habit of it......

https://trafficscotland.org/map/index.aspx?type=26&latitude=56.873889&longitude=-4.257222&zoom=12 https://trafficscotland.org/map/index.aspx?type=16,26&latitude=56.873889&longitude=-4.257222&zoom=12 (if you want weather stations too)

I'd imagine like the last storm that was actually 2 different systems, the Met Office and media might well just call both storms Barbara - the timing between them isn't that big that the public needs to know they are 2 separate systems.

...and more importantly - there is potential for a lot of people to be travelling to visit family. So there is a greater risk of accidents on the roads.

Saw the word mexican, and pretty much knew what was coming before reading the rest......

Can neither confirm nor deny that I am currently in the process of cooking what I will essentially be eating on Sunday...... (I'm totally cooking a Sunday dinner right now - but for eating tonight, not on Sunday)

So.... everyone should cook their Christmas dinner - pretty much now then

Starting to get (closed) doors moving here - that's always a big sign that it's getting very windy outside.

Good point, I'm getting ahead of myself.....

The 60mph+ gusts zone does now line up with the yellow area of the Met Office warnings.

Hang on..... the storm is being UPGRADED rather than downgraded?!

I don't like it when mummy and daddy argue like this - please stop.......

This is an awesome story, but I'm not keen on the idea that anyone else anywhere else in the world thought of hanging chocolate coins on a Christmas tree before I did - I clearly invented the concept*...... * (Yes I am aware that's literally the reason they exist.....)

Last year I bought those chocolate gold coins, sellotaped garden ties to them and hung them on the Christmas tree and used them as my advent calendar - it was much more fun than a real advent calendar to be honest.

Well one year I got grounded because by the 2nd December I had eaten all the chocolates and closed the doors again and I think for the next 5 or so days I pretended to eat a chocolate every morning before School, but I was spotted not actually taking a chocolate out and then very quickly the parents realised there were no chocolates left in the calendar....

I've got 2.... and I've forgotten about both..... I'm thinking maybe I'll have a chocolate an hour on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day haha

#StormBarbara is now named officially and is carrying Amber warnings. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/warnings/#?tab=map&map=Warnings&zoom=5&lon=-3.50&lat=55.50&fcTime=1482451200 Edit: Just been updated to cover half of the UK with Yellow warnings.

There is nowhere to go - all the shops are closing down / have closed down and the ones that are still open have terrible stock and it's all too crowded and argh! (Went to Gala on Friday, paid for parking at B&M because we didn't know, and got to look at one whole shelf of stuff for 30 seconds, B&Q was out of everything we went in for, ASDA doesn't have the stuff we expect them to - Chocolate Liqueurs, Jellied sweets - and the Tobacco counter was out of Lambert & Butler - UNTIL MONDAY)

I notice the Met Office have a Yellow wind warning out for Wednesday into Thursday.... I wasn't really aware there was anything particularly stormy on Wednesday into Thursday because everyone is concentrating on the Christmas storm. Moving North on each run is good news for some of us - though it's obviously not going to help Orkney/Shetlands much.....

955?! and that's Friday? Is this close enough to the reliable timeframe to be starting to get a bit worried about this?

@CatchMyDriftyeah but left to us - every storm will either be called Bawbag or Stormy McStormFace My point is - if you now Google for Storm Barbara - which people are likely to do after they hear about it from someone else or see it written in bold capitals on the front of a newspaper they walk past, they will find pretty much every newspaper - and not just the usual suspects talking about it. Obviously there is The Sun, The Mail, The Express but there is also The Telegraph, The Independent and various local papers are now covering it - if the Met Office don't name this storm as Barbara they will have to skip it - because if the next one that comes along does warrant a name and they name it Barbara it will just cause massive confusion with the public. Yes the Met Office should be in charge of deciding if a storm gets a name (though many argue they have done a really poor job on this up to now) - but once the press have taken over - they really need to just accept that the storm has been named.