garbagebags

I'm going to throw this out there and you guys can advise me as to whether this is possible or not? I would imagine that the best set-up for snow would be an intense almost "tropical storm" type Low coming from the NNE sort of Svalbard direction racing down towards us over the Norwegian sea and picking up more and more moisture and just slamming into the UK and stalling. If the UK was already cold then surely that would have the potential to dump feet and feet of snow. Is this ever possible?

Frontal snowfall followed by frequent heavy snow showers of course But If I had to pick one of the two I would say the heavy showers. Yeah the frontal is more impressive but the showers are more unpredictable which builds excitement

Was not a good cold winter last year by any standards if you ask me

We got NOTHING last year (Glasgow)

I completely agree, last winter WAS another very very harsh one for "Europe" the UK just missed it by a hairs bredth.

MET Office "APPEAR" to be going for a cold winter. http://www.metoffice...ts-temp-OND.pdf We expect that the current weak El Niño conditions in the tropical Pacific will start to disappear by the end of this year, and they are not expected to influence European and UK weather significantly during the forecast period. Arctic sea ice is at its lowest recorded extent, and whilst this could play some part in determining weather over the UK over the next few months, as yet there is no clear predictive association. Sea surface temperatures in the northwest Atlantic are higher than normal and this favours a tendency towards colder, atmospheric blocking weather patterns over northwestern Europe. The consensus from computer model simulations is for surface pressure to be higher than average to the north of the UK during the three-month period, especially in October. This is consistent with the anomalous sea surface temperature pattern. Such a pressure distribution favours weaker than average westerlies or spells of easterly winds, increasing the risk of colder than average conditions through the period.

Really? I live in Scotland as was wearing only a Tshirt on that day in December last year. I remember it well, record warmth. Didnt have a single flake where we are in Scotland all winter. EDIT: Nope Im sorry, I was thinking of Dec 26th, im just going to shut up now, made enough of a fool of myself.

As a snow lover, these charts are decidedly grim viewing Literally "worst case scenario" lol

I think its possible nowaday that they can say what is MORE LIKELY to happen, i.e. cold or mild. But your right, that cant out and out predict it for sure.

I really don't know why but I want to say December 11th 2011. Can someone verify this for me? Just seems to be in my head.

last weekend!? No?

Sea Ice finally growing today.

Im just not sure it does. We don't half moan like it does, we don't half act like it does. But I don't think it actually does bring it to a standstill. People now just love to complain because they cant get their CLK down to Starbucks for a Caramel Machiato. First world problems. People didn't whine about things like that in the 60's.

This may sound a bit obvious but... Surely if the birds are flying south earlier than usual this would indicate an EARLY winter rather than a harsh winter? I mean....why would they give a damn about heading south early if its going to be harsh November-March? They would be long gone by then anyway...

I can't say I would wish for a 62/63 or 47. But... If someone said to me... Well it's that or same as last year I'm sorry but I would go for the cold and snow. Yes it would be difficult but at least it would be interesting. Us bits shine brightest in times of difficulty and maybe it's just what this country needs? I digress. But anything would be better than mild and perpetual rain.

How dare you. Wishing gave Gepeto a REAL BOY!!!

I spend quite a bit of time in Norway and I asked in conversation whether they spend a lot of time worried about the weather or if it was going to snow badly in winter. They all said "they never check" why? Because hey don't need to. They all use winter tyres and never ever get stuck. It's just not a problem over there. Honestly the caos on the roads in the UK is 99% down to wrong tyre choice. I understand it is difficult for some people to afford two sets of tyres but I can also guarantee we wouldn't have any disruption if everyone did.

I know not everyone agrethe but I think the problem with transport now is simply 2 fold. There is a lot more of it than 62/63!its oh so easy to gridlock an entire road very quickly if one car gets stuck. And 2 is tyres. 95% of people driving around on the wrong tyres for the conditions. people will say ahh but they didn't have winter tyres in the 60's...Well actually they kind of did! That had much heavier vehicles on much narrower tyres, with much tread than some of today's tyres. 3 years ago I had a hot hatch with big low profile summer tyres on and it wouldn't even move in the slightest of snow. No car from the 60's would have had that problem. And like I said earlier, it only takes one idiot to get stuck to quickly gridlock and entire road.

I think in some ways we would cope better (more reliable heating, water and utilities) and in some ways we would cope worse (transport)

Hi guys, I'm relatively new here so I will introduce myself again. I have no meteorological training or experience I'm afraid. I am aware of the basics of the weather (pressures, NAO, AO, troughs, blocking etc etc) but on a very very amateur scale. I won't try and hide it... I have a cold bias! Not that I will be making any predictions (that would be obtuse) but I do hope it's cold and snowy. At this early stage all I am really doing is watching he snow and ice cover charts in the northern hemisphere. What I would like to do is start having a look at the stratosphere temperature charts but I can't find them. Does anyone have a link to these charts? Do they even exist? I have to keep myself grounded being a snow lover and like I said at this very early stage I think looking into anything else would be pointless. Kind regards,

Hi, I'm new here. You might have seen me on the DM forum. I have no real knowledge of meteorology so wont insult you with a "forecast" but I hope its another 62/63.