andreas

Here's my diary entry for 16 March 1978; I grew up in Cheltenham: "Heavy snow in morning, worst for a few years, four inches overnight. They say that on the radio as racing in the Cheltenham Gold Cup week is abandoned. I make a snowman this afternoon and a castle. It melts fast though, and the snowman falls down."

Good morning, -4.6, the coldest January night here (by a tiny margin) since I began recordings in 2006.

Amazing charts on the Mod thread. I love them. I've moved this here - as they seem too good to be true (even though I would so much like them to be). Why do we believe them when sceptics (obviously not friends or family as no one on here would be rash enough to tell them) say: "that's not what it says on my BBC / Met Office / [insert app] forecast"?

[moved to moans etc]

I'm reduced to occasionally checking into the BBC website forecast - the excitement mounts, sleet at day 14!

Wow, lovely photo. Though I remember something similar in Cheltenham back in January 1982 - it was fine, very cold, but not chaos. Maybe the UK infrastructure was more resilient back then though.

Yes, a lot of rain. Out of interest, what is your record rain for October - and indeed other months?

While it's quiet I was quite struck by how the 12Z ECM becomes so much colder in the northern hemisphere view, within just ten days. Maybe this just happens every year so apologies if that's the case!

Low of 5.0 degrees at home where no frost, but I saw some touches of ground frost in the lower lying parts of Crystal Palace Park.

Are there any international examples of where places at the same latitude as the UK have reached 20 degrees in the solar mid-winter months?

Met Office: Homepage WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG Insert Description Here Internet Archive is as usual a treasure trove!

Hi - I came across this and posted at the start of August - even Shetland can get warm every so often: Highs and lows of daily temperature records WWW.RMETS.ORG During summer heatwaves or severe winter cold spells, everybody wants to know if such high or low temperatures are unusual, or indeed record-breaking. Given that... "A curious British ‘heatwave’ occurred way back on 6 August 1910 when 28 °C was registered in the Shetland Isles, while nowhere elsewhere in the UK exceeded 20 °C. A pulse of warmth from Scandinavia just clipped the Northern Isles."

Hi - thanks for the clarification. So why do the big models underestimate maximum temperatures? If this is a well-known fact, as it seems to be, why are the outputs not adjusted accordingly?

Southend's heatwave continues on Metociel this morning:

Maybe - but don't the isobars suggest quite a northerly component? So I'd guess on high 20s in the southeast - hot but not more than that generally.

That's an interesting take - and I can imagine it as entirely plausible as the years go by. On this occasion it looks a little ahead, though, of the temperatures indicated by the mainstream models. Edit - though having checked again - the chart quoted is from the ECM - and the uppers are really toasty - and things are not as they used to be - so on second thoughts I feel I need to wait and see what happens.

On the Mod thread the discussion of lowest max temperatures for days led to my finding this which I hadn't come across before - how quirky is the weather - especially that 28 degrees in Shetland in August 1910. Highs and lows of daily temperature records WWW.RMETS.ORG During summer heatwaves or severe winter cold spells, everybody wants to know if such high or low temperatures are unusual, or indeed record-breaking. Given that...

I agree - average max overlooks what was often the experience this month - a brief sunny burst lifting the temperature for an hour or two, but most of the daytime hours being much cooler.

I'm not sure where to put this question - currently, at approaching midnight, the dew point in Rome is about 27 degrees - I was wondering whether anyone knows what is the highest ever recorded in the UK please? Thanks!

The night time temperatures in Rome - and the dew point look very high on the Met Office site - it must be very uncomfortable. Rome (Italy) weather WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK Rome 7 day weather forecast including weather warnings, temperature, rain, wind, visibility, humidity and UV

Well I suppose there is a parallel to the human condition Not that may be a reason necessarily to like autumn.

Yes that feels about right - until then it was hit or miss (mostly miss) whether we'd get a good summer, since then there have almost always been consistent periods with 'warm' (by UK standards) temperatures. Whereas winters have gone the other way.

I wouldn't want to put my finger on it, but I know that 1975 and 1976 caused general astonishment and (mostly) delight by how good the weather could be - whereas now they'd almost be regarded as nothing extraordinary.

If it's any consolation, those of us who remember living through the early 1970s had lots of summers like these - evenings when you wrapped up three layers even inside (no fire / heating on of course). Not great, but a certain underlying nostalgia for something which one remembers and has rarely experienced in recent summers.

Good morning. Well, it is absolutely tipping down!