reef

Moved to Spring and General weather discussion

Pretty much all gone here too, despite no sun and a temp of no higher than 1.6C. I can't believe it didn't happen again for us in this area. Hopefully next winter is all northerlies rather than these garbage easterlies!

NOTHING AGAIN. Barely 1cm on the grass, all the roads and paths just wet with nothing much on now. That's two easterlies and two failures in one month. March 2018 is certainly a month to remember alright.

It looks a lot like last time doesn't it? Beefy showers hitting the north-east and a band of organised snow to the south while we get nothing much!

After that last heavy shower we have a covering on all surfaces finally! Its a bit chilly out there with a temp of -1.5C and 30mph gusts!

Just had a heavy shower which left another dusting. The wind during the showers is something else though, its just taken out my garden fence!

Here comes the massive gap...

That's exactly what happened to us in the last easterly. I've no idea why these form, it's so frustrating! We've had frequent snow and graupel showers in the last couple of hours but everything keeps melting in between at the moment. Temp is low enough at -0.4C so it's a bit strange.

Snowing here now too. Temp is 1.8C with a dewpoint of 0.2C. So here we are again, straight easterly this time with convergence zone and right in the middle of the warning area. Literally everything in place. If we get nothing again then I'm giving up for good!

The first 13 days of March have had only 19 hours of sunshine here, most of which has come over just two days. It has definitely felt very different to recent years, especially as every spring since 2007 apart from 2013 and 2014 have generally been above average for sunshine for the UK as a whole. Interestingly the only real UK-wide sunnier than average summers in that time were 2013 and 2014, so perhaps it isn't all bad!

Its interesting watching this mornings runs as the models are behaving almost exactly like the last easterly at the same time range. What's different though is that the same solutions are being reached but by different models to the first easterly. The UKMO is a fine example, showing the easterly going down into Europe rather than hitting us. Last time it was actually the ECM that flirted with this possibility in the mid-range before finally settling on a solution. GEM on the other hand like is going for everything a bit further north, something the GFS kept trying to do last time before again, settling on the correct solution: If anything, it really does show how the models struggle with easterlies. Also, whereas the last cold spell was pushed back a day or so and was shown to come to an abrupt end, this one seems to have been brought a day forward and looks potentially longer lived. No wonder it's so hard to pin easterlies down!

One thing I've wondered is can the new graphics even show fog? The other day the forecast talked of mist and fog in the morning but the graphics didn't show anything!

GFS is going to be good: Just like last time it seems the models cannot decide where the high pressure will be located and whether the blast will go south or not. Fortunately for cold lovers the upper air temps seem to be being revised colder as time goes on. Could be a potent blast in this run.

If the snow we've had here in recent years is anything to go by (just two falls of 1cm since January 2013), you picked a very unfortunate time to be in the Vale of York and Norwich area. December 2010 is the deepest snowfall here in my lifetime at 27cm. Previous highest before that was 12cm in January 2004. It appears we've only had two lots of lying snow above 10cm in at least 21 years. I didn't quite realise it had become so bad! I suppose I could include the 4 inches of hail we had in August 2000, but that'd be cheating!

With a value of -0.5C for the first 4 days, the remaining 27 days of the month already have to average 7.5C just to reach the 1981-2010 average.

Stats for here: Total Ice Days: 1 (28th Feb) Lowest daytime Max Temp: -0.4 (28th Feb) Lowest nighttime Min Temp: -4.3 (28th Feb) Days of falling snow: 6 (25th, 26th, 27th, 28th Feb, 1st, 3rd Mar) Total snow depth: 1cm Days of lying snow: 5 (27th, 28th Feb, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Mar) Impressive for cold no doubt, but the most disappointing spell I can ever remember for snowfall. A 24hr radar accumulation image from during the peak of the cold spell shows how ridiculous it was. I have no idea what caused this, hopefully just bad luck which wont be repeated! Definitely one to forget for me.

Yes and apart from the early February 2004 chart they all delivered lying snow here. Snow on the night of 21st December 2003 delivered a 3cm cover, January 2004 delivered a 12cm cover which lasted three days and 23rd February and 28th February had 1cm and 8cm. The number of days with snow falling and number of air frosts were much lower than this winter, but each event delivered. It was great to have lying snow in each winter month in an otherwise rather mild winter. The lack of potent straight northerlies or those with a slight easterly component in recent years has really affected the amount of lying snow days here. 2009-2013 was as unusual for high numbers of days with lying snow as 2014 onwards has been for lack of it. Falling snow has been more variable in recent years after relative consistency before 2007. 2013/14 sticks out like a sore thumb there. The last four winters have had more marginal events and northerlies have had more westerly components, each of these often give sleet or snow showers here, but aren't very favourable for lying snow.

Overcast, dull and relatively calm after the high winds of recent days. Light snow this morning added a dusting to areas where snow hadn't yet melted. There was a 60% cover of 0.5cm so we just sneaked another lying snow day at 0900. Max Temp: 0.8C Min Temp: -0.8C Mean Wind: 10mph E Max Gust: 19mph Sunshine: None Rainfall: 0.2mm Snowfall: 0.5cm 40% cover Currently overcast with a temp of 0.6C and dewpoint of -2.2C.

Winter indexes here (1987-2018): 2009/10: 175 2010/11: 129 1995/96: 128 2012/13: 103 1990/91: 93 2000/01: 87 1993/94: 77 2008/09: 65 2003/04: 64 2017/18: 62 1996/97: 60 2005/06: 55 1998/99: 53 2002/03: 52 1992/93: 49 2011/12: 48 2001/02: 48 1991/92: 45 2014/15: 44 2004/05: 43 1994/95: 38 1999/00: 37 1987/88: 35 2016/17: 26 2007/08: 26 2015/16: 24 1997/98: 20 2006/07: 20 2013/14: 8 1989/90: 8 1988/89: 6.6 Average: 56 Numbers were boosted by above average days of sleet/snow falling (17 days vs the average of 12 days) and air frosts (23 days vs the average of 21 days). Snow lying at 0900 was half of average (3 days vs the average of 6 days). The mean max was also 1C below the average for the period.

I imagine it will be average most likely. For most areas close to sea level it has been pretty poor for snow lying, though higher ground and areas that benefit from polar maritime flows have done well. Despite the January 1987 spell, 1986/87 was also ranked 'Average'. I imagine to achieve 'Snowy' or 'Very Snowy' it needs prolonged cold and snow with sea level areas affected in two or three of the winter months.

We had a light dusting this morning after very light snow in the early hours, but it looks like that is it now. Still very cold today with a temp of 0.7C at the moment but this will be it before slowly turning milder. Never in a million years would I have believed you if you were to say in an easterly blast with -16C 850hPa air that we'd come away with 1cm of lying snow. Perhaps the biggest disappointment I can ever remember in my time following the weather. Even more depressing is that it was still the most snow for over 5 years here. I'll watch with gritted teeth as everyone hopes for warmth now they've had their snow fix, all the while hoping we'll get a northerly or two before spring sets in properly, they're a rare creature in recent years but should deliver up until mid-April.

A bitterly cold, dry, overcast and very windy day. The 1cm 100% cover of snow from yesterday evening had been stripped by the wind to 0.5cm by 0900, but melted only slowly during the day. The max temp of 0.3C was the lowest in March on record here going back to 1980, smashing the previous record of 1.9C set back on 4th March 1987. The min temp of -3.5C early this morning was the coldest since 2010. Max Temp: 0.3C Min Temp: -3.5C Mean Wind: 21mph E Max Gust: 39mph Sunshine: None Rainfall: None Snow: 0.5cm 75% cover Currently overcast and windy but dry with a temp of 0.1C and dewpoint of -4.4C.

As always it depends on where you live. For cold it has certainly been notable, with maxes of 1.9C, 1.9C, -0.4C and 0.3C (so far). For snow however, in what should have been a favoured location it has been totally rubbish. In the end we just managed 1cm, which is less than previous recent easterlies in December 2005 (2cm), March 2006 (2cm), February 2009 (4cm), January 2010 (8cm), February 2012 (9cm) and January 2013 (10cm).

Similar here today. We reached the grand old total of 1cm last night before the showers stopped, but the wind has since stripped that to 0.5cm which has proceeded to disappear today despite being below freezing most of the day! Looks like the wait continues for our area. 5 years and 2 months since we last had more than 1cm. The question you have to ask is, if an easterly this cold doesn't deliver then what would? I guess we'll have to hold out for a good northerly!

Most annoyingly it has just hit 0.1C for around 30 seconds and then fallen back below freezing so no consecutive ice days here. As mentioned above its still well below the low March max of 1.9C set in 1987, so a new record looks likely by some way.