Steve C

Went out for a long walk this morning, starting at about 6:45. The reason for this being to walk a pensioner's dog in Great Bentley (the next village to mine) - the pensioner fell and hurt himself a few weeks ago. It was great, walking by myself, through quite deep powder snow and even though I started well before sunrise, the reflection of light from the snow made visibility fine, even in woods. I was the first person to set tracks on pretty well the whole walk. The only other tracks were those made by wildlife. The only slight downer was that the drifting snow meant that the uneven paths I was walking on were a bit tricky to gauge, but otherwise it was fantastic. It was great that the snow was not the type for snowballs either, wonderfully dry! Walking back, I did manage to fall over onto some hard ground and bang my knee and my earlier first tracks were covered by many others for part of the way, with 'yellow snow' in evidence. Otherwise, especially due to no thaw, it was great again. Although I have no weather station, I don't think the temperature has yet got above zero here and this snow event has already been a lot better than I was expecting. Off to the pub soon! Thanks once again to all the model watchers and interpreters here.

Off for an 8 mile walk now - going to walk a pensioner's dog in the next village. Could be interesting as I guess I've 12cms of snow and it was unexpectedly windy around midnight - the snow was blowing along the roads when I was walking at that time last night.

Read your quote again about the winter of 2009/10 - "it didn't even compare to either 78/79 or 81/82" - and then read the link again properly. People who post misinformation bug me. Winter 2009/10 was overall colder than 81/82 pretty well everywhere. It states in that link that winter 2009/10 was comparable with 46/47 and 78/79 in Northern Ireland and only 62/63 was significantly colder. If you lived in England when you were younger, then the 78/79 comment could be valid. 81/82 doesn't even get a look in I'm afraid.

Out now for the rest of the day. Whatever will be, will be. Thanks to all the dedicated posters here; Coast, Kold Weather, Paul, Steve and others. It's definitely interesting reading your thoughts and your analysis of model updates etc. I suspect my area will be in for a few cms overnight, possibly even more. I also suspect that tomorrow might be a grotty, slow thaw type of day, but hearing Phil Garner on BBC Essex this morning and also reading your views here, makes me think that the cold easterly weather might re-establish quickly, so even if tomorrow is like that, then the cold spell isn't done. Next time I log on, I hope everyone has got what they want ( obviously lots of snow if you're here! )

I guess you mean in our part of the UK? It has made me think. The snow we've had here in recent years has been notable for it's lack of drifting imo. I don't really remember huge drifts in '87 or '91 ( I remember the sheer volume of snow that fell more - I'm not disputing the statement and there must have been a drifting issue in '87 as there were strong winds at times) The drifting event I can most remember was something I alluded to in a post a few days ago. It was around the New Year of 1979. I'd been to relatives in Maidenhead over Christmas - Maidenhead had way more snow in that event than we had in northeast Essex, but the snow we had here, had drifted massively, so that there was very little lying over open fields, but huge mounds around field edges etc. I remember having fun as a kid playing in them, having been really surprised on seeing them at first. Our house had frozen inside, with cracked pipes and water tanks over the same period, which was a major downer though! I also remember the way the drifts were aligned. They would have been caused by an easterly wind, although at that time I didn't appreciate the significance.

Yes, I'd much prefer 'the main event' snow to be moving westwards too. Selfishly of course!

Just read the posts on the light snow in Essex and have looked outside. I have a dusting! The first snow of the winter where I live, although there was a similar dusting where I work in the last week.

Seems like you are incorrect on the winter of 2009-10. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2010/winter.html The winter of 81-82, although cold, from early December until the second week of January (with record low temperatures, around the second week in December and 10th January 1982) then became 'Atlantic'. It certainly did in this part of the World. Anyway, why are you whining at people here? They've ,made predictions in good faith, whether they are right or wrong, optimistic or pessimistic etc. The weather will do what it wants to do. Mind you, I have family in Ireland, although south of the border, in Co Mayo. I once thought about moving back there, but having kept an eye on their recent summers, I'm glad I didn't! - the main thing that actually stopped me was the ridiculous property prices there, at the time. Last summer was mediocre here, but nowhere near as bad (constant stream of depressions) as there. I'd find this too miserable.

I haven't really had time to read posts today, but the Weatheronline weekly forecast still keeps the cold in situ. Maybe it'll turn to rain for only a short time then freeze.

This has worried me from the start.

I like this chart, particularly as I'm in the firing line.

I'd much rather the fronts (on Saturday, Sunday) were approaching from the southwest ( rather than the west/northwest ) drop snow, bump into the high pressure and then get forced back, as high pressure reasserts. The snow then might stay fairly pristine for a while. The actual set up, to me, has a potential for snow, followed immediately by a miserable dull slow thaw. I don't think the warm sector will be an issue, but the front will pass through, even though dying out and introduce polar maritime air, which won't sustain sub zero temperatures. I'd rather it stayed dry and cold tbh. Just my opinion.

Nothing here. It would be hilarious if that was a genuine radar picture. There would be all sorts of investigations into how such a big and heavy area of snow could develop widely without warning!

Was there any? I can only remember the last two months of last winter being a bit of a non event.

Yes, by the time this weather moves in, you can pretty well guarantee that the latest model runs won't match reality. I've seen this sort of thing happen too many times, so I'm cautious. Would love to be wrong though.

Ditto, but it seems like things are on a knife edge, regarding the length of this cold spell, to me. Que sera sera!

Urrgghhh Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich! :lol:

I was in Ischgl, in Austria, a couple of weeks ago. They had a ridiculous amount of snow in a few days. There was an avalanche very close to my hotel (100 metres ) which trapped a woman, who was thankfully dug out alive.

Definitely remember that cold event, even if I was a primary school kid at the time. Went away for Christmas to relatives, came back to frozen and cracked water pipes and tanks. Needless to say they quickly thawed and a flooded house ensued!

You live in Heybridge, which is near the coast. I'd think you have more chance of snow than most people here. Personally I think some people on these forums pay too much attention to each change in the forecasting models - a waste of time and energy unless it's your living. I reckon you'll see snow before the weekend.

Would it be a 'big event' in this part of the World? I have seen many warnings of severe weather in my life, where a forecast reasonably large fall of snow is then predicted to turn to rain / sleet, with dire predictions of travel chaos beforehand. It always seems to me that we get a very short period of snow, giving a covering of 1cm or so of wet snow, which quickly turns to rain. Unless the fronts stall, or are forced back, I'm highly cynical of this type of forecast in lowland SE England.

Yes, the fact that 1987 holds the record doesn't surprise me at all. I remember when it started - it was in the second week of January. I'd been shopping in Colchester and got off the train at Great Bentley on (I think) a Saturday. The weather had cleared from being cloudy earlier. There must also have been rain beforehand, or at least damp weather. The wind was blowing strongly from the east ( straight along the railway tracks ) and all the water around was starting to freeze - it was quite awe inspiring. There then followed several days of intense cold and snow. I actually thought it was going to herald a prolonged freeze, but it was pretty well all over in a week.

Blue skies here now! (near Chelmsford)

Wouldn't it be very unusual for us to get the same level of cold uppers in this part of the world, compared with Northern Continental Europe? Isn't it just a geographical factor? Not trolling, genuinely curious.

I personally don't think we'll get anything more today now ( once it brightens ) and probably very little for the next couple of days - hope I'm wrong though. I think some of us will get decent snow in this part of the country before the weekend is done however.