PennineMark

Our 1cm or so of snow just about hanging on in shaded areas. The 9am sunshine at the end of March quickly melting any snow exposed to it's rays. On this mornings walk to drop off at school its clear that there's more on the hills to my east than to the north. A view of Blackstone Edge over Littleborough with snow so far untouched by the sun.

Grim out there compared to the last week or so. Temp hovering between 1.5 and 2c. Ice pellets and sleet. Today it feels like 0c whereas last week it felt like 25c plus in the sun. The variability of spring.

Looking wintry for the second time in 5 days. Makes up a little for the very disappointing lack of proper winter weather the past 3 months.

Heavy snow at the mo. Settling but unlikely to survive til morning.

Wow that has been a wet start to the day. Almost 30mm here since midnight. Add that to the melted snow and that's a lot of water entering river catchments. Risk of flooding in the usual spots later.

Think that's it for today. Good couple of inches and a snowman built. Not a bad Saturday. Enjoy it those lucky enough to get it.

The biggest, fluffiest flakes I think I've ever seen 20220219_111434.mp4

Could add up to a couple of inches if this keeps going as it looks on radar. Would be the best snow of the winter but that wouldn't take much to be honest. 20220219_103432.mp4

No rain here. Wet snow from the off. Snow now settling everywhere ?

Temperature steadily falling and now 0.4c as the snow gets slightly heavier again after a slight lull. Could be quite an interesting few hours if this band pivots a little over this neck of the woods.

Been snowing here for last 30 mins quite moderately. Finally signs of grass turning white as the temperature drops. Now 0.7c.

Most noticeable thing at the moment is the temperature. Dropped from 5c at 11am to 1.5c now. Just had a fleeting blast of snow as this band passed through.

As a Rochdale AFC season card holder I've got an eye on tomorrow's forecast rain. Last week's game at home against Carlisle was called off at 2pm by the ref after 4 hours rain. The pitch was unplayable. We can't afford a repeat tomorrow with a home game against Harrogate. The frustrations of both home and traveliing fans together with the loss on ticket sales and bar sales compared with what would be a rearranged Tuesday night match are huge. So unlucky to have this repeated on consecutive Saturdays. Any thoughts much appreciated. Earlier it looked like things early afternoon had improved slightly but not sure now . Hoped for at least a dry day today but still it managed to rain.

Went out to the wheelie bin and had to turn back due this enormous hail drift. Will be having second thoughts about going to the pub later if this continues as we're not used to this

One benefit of this weather is the great clear view of the moon this evening.

Something I've thought about on a few occasions is that our geographical misfortune, especially when it comes to winter weather, is not necessarily just one of location but also one of altitude. A quick look at other countries and you'll see what I mean. The average altitude in the UK is 75m. Really quite low on a global scale. Take the example of Spain above, their average altitude is 660m. A few others are France at 375m, Italy at 538m, Austria at 910m and Switzerland at 1350m. Even the huge expanse of the US and Canada are at 760m and 487m. Only the Danes and the Dutch suffer for height like we do. What would the climate be like here with an additional 500 or 600m on top of current altitudes? Cooler and wetter in general definitely but I don't think there'd be too much to moan about most winters.

Much as others locally we've got the grand total of 2cm to go with yesterday's 2cm (which melted). Hardly one for the scrapbook but snow nevertheless. Was thinking that was it but just noticed a bit of activity developing over the Fylde.

Just driven Bury to Rochdale town centres and heavy snow all the way. Just slight covering on pavements. Back home now and about 2 cm everywhere. Altitude helps. 0.3c but snow seems to be getting that bit sleetier.

Snow here that is settling on the still cold surfaces. Pretty light at the mo but if this band keeps up its intensity it could be an interesting next couple of hours above 200m or so.

Totally unscientific but today's glorious sun has brought to life a few solar lights in the garden for the first time since early November. A sure sign that the sun is very slowly getting stronger and days getting slightly longer . Now for tomorrow and Friday's snow .

Coldest morning in a while here at -0.2c. Only 0.8mm of the wet stuff so the front really didn't amount to much here.

Trying and mostly failing to fly a kite at Queens Park, Heywood this afternoon and a cracking rainbow after a light passing shower.

Turning into a wet one here. Almost 30mm since midnight. Flood alert for the Upper Irwell catchment ??

Cheers Chris. Was only expecting the wet stuff today. Working outside today it certainly feels bitter.

Google on my phone just notified to expect snow around 2pm. Really??