in the vale

I have been watching for ages, posted a couple. I have noticed that activity (particularly in 'Winter Discussion' - can't think why?!) gets into a frenzy when models predict cold / snow, and really slow down when milder predictions are output. My take on this is that a 'real time' activity meter on this site would be a pretty good guide to the likelihood of any weather outside the UK average. The more posts per minute (hour?) the more likely an unusual weather event is being discussed, so therefore an 'Excitometer' would provide everyone with a really great forecast for average or extreme weather coming up. I would even go further to suggest that higher activity would suggest model convergence as it always seems to me that when the models start to converge everyone jumps in with their own forecasts, but when models are disparate people generally stay quiet for fear of getting it wrong! Think about it guys - I honestly think this would provide not only a good indicator of likely unusual weather, but would inevitably reveal loads about the psychology of forecasters! PS Don't forget the server upgrades you were forced into in the first week of Jan!! That was surely a sign of the 'Excitometer' going into the red!

Hywel - any idea what the A494 is like? My drive to work (to Liverpool) takes me along that, then down the by-pass and on past chester. Sounds like a fun journey! I have +3oC here...

-9.1oC here and DP -10.6oC! This time last night it was only (only!!!!) -5.6 and got to -11.7 at it's coldest.

A-T - it will get there. It is slowly moving south (has been snowing here since 12:10) and isn't going very far. I would suggest snow for Wrexham from 15:30 (ish!) for quite a while.

Well said Paul - you are doing a cracking job keeping the site up against such demand. Lots of new users (like myself) and very excited existing ones will inevitably create capacity issues, and you seem to be dealing with them quickly and with little fuss. I manage lots of IT stuff so have some idea what is going on here...

Has been snowing heavily / moderately for 30 mins here. Temp still 1.2C. Looks like the band is coming in SW across the Irish Sea.

I am in centre of the Vale of Clwyd - snowed heavily earlier (06:00 - 07:30), but stopped. Temp now 1.1C, DP 0.1C. Getting darker by the minute. Radar suggests there is something brewing in the Irish Sea which looks like it may sweep across North Wales from NW to E towards lunchtime.