[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

I'm not making this up, but it is actually trying to snow, although a bit on the sleety side at the moment.

Edit: Seems like others are getting some too.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

I guess so.

I'm still kind of new when in comes to knowing about the right conidtions for snow, but I suppose some lower upper temperatures for Wednesday would probably help with the chances of snow further, even though like you said, the colder air will get pushed away, (meaning a stronger snow shield).

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Yeah. A couple of moderate or, at times, heavy snow showers last night left a nice covering, clearing to then leave clear skies during the rest of the night. Most of the showers- which were fairly intense judging by Radar - were a good few miles to my south west. No surprise to read of difficulty on some roads in the worst affected areas.

Same here. The dusting of snow on ground last night and this morning seems to be a good sign that the Birmingham snow shield finally crumbled in many places.

Wednesday does look good, indeed, although I would admit it would not be worth getting too excited, since obviously a lot could change, and the snow sheild may have repaired itself by then. Should the snow sheild have re-generated by then, I just hope it does not increase in power, or we're ruined.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Just when I thought that the wintry shower to the North West would have broken up completely (around 50 minutes ago), there was just about enough life in it to give me a minute of some light - moderate wet snow.

That has given me a grand total of two small snow showers that I have had all day.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

I'm still wating for the snow shield here to break, but I get a slight uncomfortable feeling that the triangular shaped blob (snow shower) may just miss me about 5 - 10 miles to the North.

Still, it is great to hear that some peoples' snow shield have been drastically weakened.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Those snow showers do seem to be reaching some of the most western areas already - just hope they have enough power to reach here. In one piece (before starting to break up into microscopic blobs).

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

So will it be a Snowday tommorrow, or a Sunday tommorrow?

One thing for sure is that the snow shield my loose its power next morning with those string of mighty snow showers cracking it in places.

Netweather, BBC and The Met Office sure seem positive about the weakening of the snow barrier tommorrow.

I suppose what we need, though, is for one snow shower to first weaken the shield, and then another wintry shower to make gaps in it. Unless the snow barrier is so strong that it would need four snow showers to break it.

Should you really be unlucky and have a super super thick snow shield around you, then I guess the snow showers will have to retreat and come back another day bringing along it's beastly brothers/sisters.

Where do I think the snow shield is likely to break? - anywhere really, especially Leceistershire and to the west side of the Midlands.

[Who's Looking Forward To Spring]

I think it is fair to say that Spring is seen as the "treasure chest" of seasons. Once you are able to get hold of the key and open the lid, you are greeted to fresh warm days, periods of heavy downpours, and new green leaves on trees.

While I do enjoy Winter with more periods of cold weather to look forward to, it is the elements above that are making me look forward to Spring. Also, the one enemy of Winter for me, is the short daylight hours, which makes the Spring period more inviting.

It is true that you loose more of the cold factor around the warmer season, but I think sometimes, it is great to have a change. Personally, I would rather have a mixture of cold and warm weather throughout the year, than experiencing just one type of weather during the period.

If there is one thing, though, that I particularly like about the warmer season approaching, is knowing that the weather can be very dynamic - clearly, the days can still be domianted by periods of cool snowy weather with warm sunny (or thundery) days tucked away. And just like some members have mentioned, the lengthy clear sunny days can really make you feel content. Sometimes, when it is like that, (and this is particulalry true for me), you feel like embarking on all sorts of journeys through the countryside smelling the fresh air around you.

I guess it is no wonder why Spring is one of the potions of happiness, although I understand that people will have different tastes and opinions on this.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Maybe, just maybe... just maybe we might come into contact with one snow shower tommorrow. (Or more).

Just hope the could air will be chilly enough to allow this to happen.

But... this can only happen if we praise the rain tonight, otherwise the weather my be upset, and may not bring along its snow showers to us.

[3 Counties & Ea Cold Spell Discussion Part 7]

just to introduce myself

Based in Hitchin, Herts, I thought I would join the forum with potentially interesting weather developing over the next few days.

It would be good to see three significant cold spells this winter, not that it has really ever warmed up since mid december.

I hope I can be a useful contributor

Aien

Hello aien aristeuein, and welcome to the forum.

Seems like you guys/gals are going to be in for a real wintry treat for this next period of very chilly weather.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Interesting... Netweather's snow risk forcast seems to suggest a chance of snow after 6:00am on Friday just as the heavyier precipitation passes. If only the temperatures and hpa's could be a little lower during that period, then there would be a chance for that heavyier area of precipitation to fall as snow.

Mind you, I wouldn't complain if it did start to snow lightly around 9:00am (as longs as the conditions are still favourable) since it hasn't snown for a little while and any snow at all has got to be better than nothing.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

If the weather accompolishes its mission tommorrow, then I expect to see some white stuff break free from the the fluff in the sky towards lunch time (Wednesday). Then again, with temperatures predicted to be a little above freezing, there is also a good chance of getting a fair share of tear drops from that huge patch of fluff.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

I must admit, that most of the snowflakes that fell today were rather tiny, although dense at the same time.

Also, I came across some cool poetry from alijoe in the Wales Cold Spell Discussion and thought I might have a go myself...

"During the weekend the snow will go"

"This will make me feel so low"

"But have no fear"

"The snow will be here"

"But you'll have to wait till next week, though"

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

I have to say this has indeed turned out to be a great cold spell (and with tommorrow and earlier next week, the cold and snow sure ain't going to give up without a battle).

What has been very interesting, though, is that since Mid-December, there's been some wintryness to many of the bands of precipitation that has flown by. That's like almost 4 weeks in a row worth of wintry weather, with some snow every week. And the last 8 days have been particularly amazing. With some colds wind and some very cold temperatures to accompany it, this may just be the greatest cold spell I've experienced along with one or two I had when I was very young.

Excluding tommorrow, I think this is the rating I would give to this chilly spell so far.

Snow: 82%

Temperature: 88%

Snow Cover: 90%

Low Pressure: 90%

Ice: 95%

Frost: 80%

Wind Chill: 75%

Time Span: TBR

Overall Rating: 91.2%

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Wow, I didn't expect there to be anymore snow today, but that big clump of blue on the radar does look rather interesting. I'm expecting that to reach me very soon (if it does).

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Good grief, I knew it was going to be very cold still, but the Met Office are suggesting that the temperatures could get as low as minus 14*C in the West Midlands tonight. Wow!

[How Much Of This Can You Take]

With a continuation of sunny spells and sleety/snowy days, I think I will be enjoying it for a fair while yet. But I agree with Thundery wintry showers about the problem of the snow hiding the ice. On one day, where it was really icy and knew it wasn't going to snow, then I would hope for it to be just warm enough to melt the ice, but still on the coldish side.

Obviously, slip ups on hard frozen ice can be very harardous, particularly if the ice goes unoticed.

[January Snow Reports]

Yesterday and last night gave me the most snow I have had so far this winter with upto 11/12cm on the ground.

Tuesday morning: Heavy snow for 70 minutes, which started to weaken gradually as it got to near to lunch time. 5cm had accumulated on the ground - westerly winds

Tuesday afternoon: Another band of snow flooded the area and gave me moderate to occasionly heavy snow from 3pm to 2am at night. A further 5cm had settled on the ground - winds from the north east.

Wednesday morning: I looked out of my window this morning and saw it starting to snow very heavily for about ten to fifteen minutes, and then become light and patchy for the last 5 minutes. It was enough for another centimeter or two to settle on the snowy ground.

All of this came as quite a surprise really; I didn't expect there to be this much. I would say this is the most snow I have had since February 2007. I guess that is one powerful snow cloud.

(Also included some pictures showing the snow depth and the snow cover outside).

[Ice And Snow Dangers]

Thanks for the great tips. I sometimes end up walking too quickly over thin layers of snow, where splodges of ice have formed, particularly when temperatures have reached - 2 degrees or below.

As much as I love snow and ice, I do admit that it does have its dangers.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

Just flipped a coin....and heads it was!!

But seriously, how accurate are coins these days?

Not alot. Flip a coin - lands the desired way up - wish not granted.

Then again, with two people getting heads surely that will mean we'll get something quite wintry next week...

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion]

(Lol) I just flipped one of my SD cards over, and it landed with the sticker up which, to me, would mean heads and indicates that we will be getting snow in the next few days.

I hope it's right.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion - Part 15]

The moderate rain falling just starting to sleetify.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion - Part 15]

Hopefully, the temperatures should start falling once the precipitation gets established.

I'm not too sure if this is neccesarily true or not, but I think if the precipitation is very cold, it should gradually start absorbing the warmer air around it, so making it cooler, and I think it's this which really helps with snowflakes reaching down to lower levels.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion - Part 15]

taken a couple of hours ago....

Nice...

That sure is alot of snow you've got there.

[Midlands Cold Spell Discussion - Part 15]

Very exciting times ahead, and we finally got a major snowfall in bedworth of 0.0026cm, which has blocked ant holes and cause major disruption to a small moth that was almost knocked out by a snowflake

seriously, models are exceptionally good again tonight and the snow fun may start as early as tomorrow afternoon in the midlands, with a trough coming down from the north and upgraded precipitaition.

Man, those poor insects. I think those snowflakes should watch where they are falling.

And to think things are only going to get more intense for tommorrow and some of next week, they really don't stand much of a chance.