Roy

I'm hoping for some advice please on the best free radars available please? The only one I use at the moment is "will it rain today", which I find ok as it updates every 15 mins, but it doesn't seem to show precipitation type? Are there any alternatives. Thank you.

The only obvious snow lover out of the BBC weather presenters is Tomasz Shafernacker I think? The others seems to think it is good news if there isn't any snow, using words like "fortunately it will be rain" or "thankfully the low pressure system that threatenened to bring snow is now going to stay in the North Sea".

It's definitely a watching brief from this evening as the snow showers start to gather from the North and West. Then push SE across England.

It might be best to read Captain Shortwave's post above. The forecasts at the moment will not be that accurate as probably haven't taken any of the latest models and fax charts into consideration?

Looks like Wed night and especially Thursday we will see some snow showers. On the latest weather, there was quite a large blob stretching from say Swindon to London. I know it's only computer graphics, but this has been shown consistently one way or the other since lunch time. I know it's frustrating, but once the cold air is in place tomorrow afternoon, radar watching will be the the thing to do. Nina Ridge even said that it's still hard to pin down the exact extent of the shower activity Wed night and Thursday. So it could be less or it could be more extensive. Who knows?

The shower distribution has still not been firmed up. And troughs can develop within six hours as has previously been mentioned. In a volatile situation like this anyone could get snow over the next seven days or so. And during the night, a chance of some settling snow. Not so much during the day however. At least the weather will be different and there will be more anticipation than there has been for the last couple of months of benign weather

Will the temperature plummet suddenly once the front clears or slowly over the six hour period?

Let's enjoy the 5-6 days cold spell. It could still be better snow wise than we normally do. I remember the winter 2010/11 where it was very cold for weeks and weeks after the initial snow we had in early December. But then, we had no more snow. But the ice stuck around for ages and become a real pain. I'd prefer and intense 5-6 days of cold and snow and then revert to milder conditions....and why people think the US are "winners" or "lucky" because they're getting 2ft of snow, blizzards and extreme cold...I think most people on the forum would be begging for the Atlantic to return if this happened here

I remember in similar situations to this, although there might not be snow in the south of the UK during the daytime, there's always a chance of polar lows coming south in the night time period when the temperature is lower. I've seen this happen a number of times in the past

Darren Bett on news 24 was very understated and just said "a little bit colder next week". As if to dampen anyone's over enthusiasm of it getting much colder. So met office don't seem to be concurring with the models at the moment

But will it fizzle out as it reaches London and SE. It's threatened to make inroads into our area in the last two hours, but hasn't made much progress since?

The way the models have changed with nearly every run in the last few days, you can be rest assured that this is not the end of the story. And still potential this week for snow events to occur almost anywhere, esp as the cold is in place.

Still snowing heavily in Thamesmead, se london. Smaller flakes are now getting larger. A good covering everywhere as well. This sort of snow must be to do with a weather front or some convergence of wind. I wouldn't be surprised it if kept expanding and stayed the whole night.

Still snowing in Thamesmead. Re radar, it seems to have kicked into life in the last 1/2 hr. A block of ppn for the next hour or so for places in W Kent, S London and G london. Let's see what happens on the update at 11:15. I'll let you know.

First post. Should be laughing gravy, but got it wrong when subscribing. Anyway, heaving snow here in Thamesmead, London. Fine flakes, but beginning to settle rapidly