sn0wman

Wow what a blizzard there was for about half an hour! Think that deposited around 2 or 3 cm. Looks like there's a snow streamer setting up just south of Edinburgh. Hoping it starts moving north! Edit: Looks like 2 snow streamers are setting up. Quite impressive how Edinburgh managed to be just between both of them

Think we should watch this area here for Edinburgh: (excuse the attempt at circling lol)

So weird that East Lothian seems to be the only place on the east coast where showers just disintegrate! Perhaps a stable layer somewhere around there? Or maybe the intense convection in the Forth is cutting off its supply of energy?

Practically no snow here overnight. Don't think this wind direction is working at all. Impressive radar this morning looking at some other areas though! Latest models show far south of Scotland and north east England now the main focus for severe snow and barely anything around Edinburgh. Oh dear, might have gone wrong at the last minute here...

Proper powdery snow blizzard here now!

Red echoes right overhead, yet only very light graupel reaching the ground

I've noticed this too... Very strange! Don't even have a covering of snow yet here in the Newington part of Edinburgh, but it seems like the west of the city has done pretty well so far. Places like Livingston look like they've been getting clobbered this evening. Hopefully the weird tendency of showers to decay rapidly near here and then re-intensify after moving past will end before tomorrow!

Absolutely ridiculous comment. Upper air temperatures as low as -17°C are modelled to move over parts of the UK by Wednesday. The return period for an event like this is around 1 in 20 years. If that doesn't reach the criteria of an "epic spell", then I don't know what does. Anyway, back to the models. For anyone that hasn't heard of it before, the ManUniCast model (http://manunicast.seaes.manchester.ac.uk/) is pretty good at picking up short-term convective precipitation. Here's what it's showing for Monday at 8am: Definite signs of a Thames streamer setting up here, as well as quite a few sea-effect showers setting up along the entire east coast of the UK. Considering that the main action for most will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, this is encouraging.

It's amazing how little the lightning detectors pick up... There was a point where it was showing 5 strikes in the space of 10 minutes for the thunderstorm north of here, whereas in actual fact it had produced around 300 strikes in this time!

I'm counting roughly 30 strikes per minute! Must be spectacular underneath it. Here's a video:

True It is a bit worrying that cells started to form and then rapidly weakened as they drifted northwards though. Also, things seem to be going really quickly further west which concerns me. The night is early though!

Isn't looking great here at the moment but still hopeful! Far west of Scotland looks to be getting a pasting.

Feel like that area of rain that's popped up north of the Isle of Man may be the focus for thunderstorms over the next few hours.

I really think you'd be less disappointed with every thundery event if you stopped only taking in information that appeals to your area. It's tempting to do so but it really skews your point of view. For every forecaster that is predicting a high chance of thunderstorms in your area tonight, there will be a hundred others that are forecasting a very low risk of thunderstorms in the South West. Also, you seem to berate anyone who suggests thunderstorms aren't likely in your area which is a bit disheartening for people who put a lot of work into forecasts. Having said that, I've noticed people tend to gang up on you whenever you get excited about a potential event and it's a bit cruel. Pretty sure everyone interested in weather at your age (myself included) would get over-excited at weather events and ignore any unfavourable predictions.

Nice spot! Looks like we have initiation slightly earlier than expected.

Can I just say that your posts are always extremely informative and accurate during convective periods! Thanks very much for them I'm going to be studying meteorology at uni and this forum has definitely helped a lot with understanding the science behind weather. Very interesting to see that my area may be in the running for thunderstorms. It's been 10 years since we've had anything more than a pulse storm here - the last proper thunderstorm was May 2006, when an amazing MCS developed. July 1st last year was probably the best potential my area could have but the thunderstorms sadly developed to the east of here.

Thanks Nick! Tomorrow is looking quite different from the past few days. Any ideas of what areas are most at risk?

This is such a good resource! Thanks for this

Absolutely beautiful! Thought it was odd that we've had nacreous clouds sighted twice in the past week and then I wondered whether there was a link between high winds and nacreous clouds, since the last time they were sighted was during Storm Gertrude. Found this on the 'Atmospheric Optics' website: "Nacreous clouds are wave clouds. They are often found downwind of mountain ranges which induce gravity waves in the lower stratosphere. Their sheet-like forms slowly undulate and stretch as the waves evolve. The clouds can also be associated with very high surface winds which may indicate the presence of, or induce, winds and waves in the stratosphere." Also remembered that the one and only time I've seen nacreous clouds was during Hurricane Bawbag, which again confirms the idea. Learn something new every day eh?

Wow this snow isn't giving up Back to moderate again. Appears to be back-building a bit on the radar!

So the front has even made it as far as Edinburgh - who would have thought?! Had a sneaking suspicion yesterday that it would get a lot further east than the GFS or Euro4 suggested. The HIRLAM model has definitely performed the best today. Very surprised there wasn't even a yellow warning issued for areas further east when it became clear this morning that the front wasn't behaving as modelled. Probably warranted an amber warning in areas near Glasgow too! We even had problems with power cuts a couple of hours ago - not sure if weather-related but a lot of people in the area were having issues.

Almost an inch here too now Absolutely delighted! Been moderate-heavy snow for almost an hour but looks to be calming down.

Snow almost stopped here now

Some lovely light snow falling at the moment. Instantly lying too! Not going to amount to much considering how light it is but the radar is looking good for it to last quite a while. Might get a covering out of it

Weakening a lot now. Maybe I spoke too early when I said the mountains didn't seem to be killing it off! Just looks like it's hit a wall at the moment.