RobR

Several intense cracks of thunder this evening in Stoke with the heaviest and largest graupel I've ever seen. What an incredible sight it was...some still hadn't melted tonight! The sky was menacing. The reports of tornado are not far from me. Winds didn't seem that severe but they did pick up very quickly.

A slushy 1CM or so of snow in Stoke. The precip turned sleety between J14 and J15 on the M6 in the usual higher spots but it wasn't settling here. As I made the drive north of Hanley it was settling and causing chaos on the roads right in time for rush hour. There was traffic queueing on any road possible, even the tiny side streets. Most of it was still queueing even when the snow had melted pretty much, god knows why! A nice surprise snowfall anyway, the 4th I think of the seasonl.

I'm just back from a drive on the Peak district over the Cat and fiddle. some nice small drifts which are knee deep in parts. Hard to put a gauge on depth as it is windy and blowing around. Lots of people sledging up there though. Roads are very clear even the side roads.

Surprised after this afternoons soggy start, that we have had several hours of sleet then snow and have about 3cm maybe. Third snowfall this week. Any reports from the Staffs Moorlands?

It is amazing, the snow that fell on Wednesday pretty much had melted by the time rush hour came in Hanley. However, I had a quick check out my bedroom over to the hills by Mow Cop and noticed they were white over, so I drove 10 minutes up to Brown Edge where there was indeed lying snow. I grabbed a photo of the snowline which I may upload. Some weird stuff tonight though, it was snowing in Stoke at 9pm when I left for Birmingham, then it dried up. Then as I approached Walsall, it was bucketing down with big flakes. The traffic was awful for the time of night. Then I literally passed a junction on the M5 and it was clear, no lying snow or falling snow. Very localised! Cheshire Gap doing its thing I see.

There is some very localised amounts here in Stoke. It was virtually snow free along the M6 until J15 with some on the verges but it takes until the top end of Stoke to get the larger amounts as you head towards Leek. Must have been about 3cm at least and in the fields its deeper. At 7am it was slushy out but the temp must have dropped as the sun rose as it is now freezing over which will cause a few issues as the roads seemed abnormally busy for early on Saturday; it seems everyone was leaving to go places early. Just been out in the fields with the dog and the windchill is pretty bad, we were out for 45 minutes and that was enough. I just can't believe how quickly this cold air came in as earlier in the week it was so mild. More impressive is the depth of the snow for November; I've seen early falls before but this is the deepest since I moved here in 2007.

The band seems to have fizzled out to the west. Previously RainToday was predicting snowfall for several hours to come but its all shifted east.

A good covering here in Quinton and back home in Stoke there is around 1-2CM, not bad considering it was raining earlier and we had temps of 13C at this time earlier in the week. Crazy!

Seems quite a lot of people didn't evacuate. I heard someone on a US news channel this evening talk about the reason they weren't evacuating is that the buildings are made of brick and concrete unlike in the US and so they could withstand more. Seemed a bold move to me.

Yes it has for me again. It may have fallen off again. Doubt we'll see anything now from it.

Yes like getting married on Friday hopefully outside but looking less likely. Gutted that the weather is likely to spoil the occasion but this is Britain!

Really shocked to still see visable lightning so frequently and brightly. The storms haved moved a long way away now.

Yeah not sure I will hang around for those unless they wake me. Great night radar watching anyway, shame we dont get more frequent events like this.

Yeah even now still flickering brightly but it could have been much better. Infact the cell has intensfied towards Congelton and East Cheshire now :-( Uttoxeter got a pounding too just like last July.

Still flickering away to the west here. The cell died a little as it approached but we had a few good rumbles. Still mild though, best lightning show for a while but thunder and rain intensity not great.

Some great lightning and frequent here but lacks the real loud thunder

Fingers crossed with that!

Fingers crossed with that!

Still thinking this system now too far east for a Stoke direct hit :-(

I see that Birmingham cell is firing off lots, but is it heading too far NE to clip Stoke?

Activity dying down in Stoke now. Odd flash still.

There we go first lightning observed in Stoke

Did someone mention a cell in Stoke? Seems blank on radar.

Big hole around Stoke...rubbish!