Andy Bown

In another world entirely to all the hype and hopes for significant cold/snow it is a pretty balmy morning at 9.3c with dry conditions now after heavy rain for much of the night, including some very stormy sounding wind gusts in the early hours.

That snow risk chart is a FORTNIGHT tomorrow!!! A hell of a lot to get through first, how often is precip forecast wrongly 24 hours in advance! Let's get a cool down, some hard frosts and some proper cold in place then hope for snow. The ground needs to cool significantly for settled snow to last long.

https://www.facebook.com/pointswest/?fref=nf This link takes you to the BBC Points West Facebook page where you will find a fascinating video by Ian Fergusson into how he prepares and produces the daily forecasts.

Lovely morning out working and very Springlike in the sunshine, let's face it minima of 4c to 5c are not particularly wintry. We have simply swapped way above average for still above average, a fact highlighted by the current temp of 9.6c! Nature in it's flora and fauna forms is totally in Spring mode in this area. Good to see distant CBs towards the South coast throughout the morning too.

Only a few brief showers overnight and today as those that have been affecting Devon/Somerset have continually died out as they travel ENE, something you would never know without the radar! Consequently some long sunny periods but also a lot of mid-low level cloud from those decayed showers.

I find showery conditions give rise to the 2nd best sunset colours after frontal cloud, hope you got lucky with the sun illuminating the shower clouds. Day of 2 halves here, the morning was a write off with very heavy rain and a gusty wind while after midday it cleared into a sunny, cooler afternoon.

Today's 8.3c max was the first single figure max since 28th November. Progress towards something more seasonal, but ultimately just colder rain than we've been used to thanks to the ESE wind!

Spot the ?deliberate? error in the thread title. Friday 1st JANUARY, 3.4c and rising steadily under increasing frontal cloud after a frosty start.

IT IS FROSTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first since 9th Dec. Min of 1.1c, rising now at 2.1c .

Hilarious, the lowest temp of December for my location is going to occur before 23.00 on New Years Eve!

That shows another strange aspect of this year's weather for any given location. No lightning/thunder here but a pretty impressive squall line, the temperature is dropping now at 7.6c but to my amusement it did sneak into double figures around midday (10.1c max) which completes every day this month.

Perhaps rather surprisingly, but testament to how strange this Autumn/early Winter has been, is that today is definitely the wettest 24 hour period since 5th-6th October and with further showers to come is likely to go back further than that. As of 21.00 I had 18mm in my gauge, 5th-6th October had 19mm. Just a smidge of a chance that the only single figure max of the month may, ironically, happen tomorrow!

This synoptic set up seems to be locked in for Saturdays recently ; stalling front to the NW, balmy and windy S/SW flow over our region, some drizzle and some bright spells.

Nasty morning ; heavy driving rain, gale force wind gusts, 11.3c .

We have just got back from a great (free*) day at Longleat, taking in the safari, house and Chinese light display. A stunning sunny day until 3pm when it was abruptly interrupted by a downpour, however that was followed by a pretty sunset and glorious nearly full moon as we enjoyed the light display. * = the perks of having a sister in law who works there!

We may have had the lowest temperature for 17 days overnight (still only down to 6.2c though) but it's already well on the way to double figures for the 21st day this month! Lovely clear and colourful sunrise, however the cloud base is now lowering and drizzle in the air along with an increasing wind.

Single figure temp this morning for the first time since last Monday evening, practically a week in December with double figures maintained!!

How hot would today have been in July? Stalling cold front and feed of dryer Southerly air with increasing sunshine through the day. My temp record will surely go again, already 14.2c so only half a degree more needed.

Yesterday's cold front must have had some effect, today's max was only 13.2c which is shocking for a week before Christmas!!

Hate to sound like a broken record, but broken records is what it's all about! My December record has gone AGAIN for the 5th time in 17 days, 14.6c max today and just beginning to drop as the rain begins.

Whereas here several hundred miles East of the rain it's a crystal clear and starry morning for the first time in 9 days. For this time of year you would expect it to be at least dewy if not frosty. Nope, nothing of that ilk, 11.6c and bone dry surfaces including grass. I truly wish this spell of weather had occurred at the height of summer with these continuous Southerly feeds of air, nit just to see just how hot it could have been but it would have been very thundery too with the frequent fronts ; elevated storms on the warm fronts like the weak one which ran North last night and surface based storms on the cold fronts as well as within the warm sectors. I said this to somebody yesterday but they said it would have been just as dull, well it wouldn't because the sun would burn off the low cloud by mid AM. As it is we are in this continuing Spring like period, the flowers are loving it and, well, daffodils are so Autumn, we have tulips coming up!

My December record temperature has been achieved again, that is the 4th time this month! 14.2c at the moment after a brighter hour although generally Stratocumulus dominated with drizzle in the air.

A very gloomy and now very wet afternoon after a dry morning, 15 days in and 15 with double figures ; I know it's happening widely in the Southern third of the UK but that really is remarkable and we can be certain of it becoming 20 out of 20 by Sunday with the added double figure 'mins' too.

Lowest max of the month so far today at a bone chilling 10.3c . A mostly fine day too with some hazy sunshine this morning and for an hour this afternoon, a band of moderate rain for a few hours in between. Tomorrow looks set to be a repeat performance but probably a degree or 2 higher.

We are 11 days into December and all of them have reached double figures. I had thought today might stay below 10c due to the proximity of colder air and the front hanging around, however it got up to 10.6c around 13.00 before dropping away again in the last hour to 8.8c now. Ironically we might end up with one of the coldest nights of the month tonight as the sky clears for a few hours before the Warm Front returns Northwards tomorrow morning.