Frost HoIIow

4th of Feb 2012 was a decent snow event here close to 15cm fell that afternoon and evening as precipitation from the west bumped into the cold air over us from the east. Battleground scenario. I had a run of ice days too in that month. Our region especially us in the east just about scraped into the cold air it seems. Holbeach in the east of England had the coldest temp anywhere in the UK that winter of -15.6C. This month is often forgotten about but the first 10 days or so was pretty decent from my memory. Coldest temperatures of winter so far | Official blog of the Met Office news team BLOG.METOFFICE.GOV.UK Last night and today have seen some of the lowest temperatures of the winter so far. Official observations show Holbeach in Lincolnshire dropped to -15.6 °C overnight, beating the previous coldest temperature...

At least it'll save a bit on the gas bill. The only good thing really given energy prices are rocketing!

I can't say I'm not envious. They're having a very decent cold spell in the north western half of the States right now compared to the mild rainy muck they often get. Looks like staying cold or chilly for the foreseeable too over there. We'll get our turn I'm sure. Just need to get this mild weather out the way.

Looks like it will be back to the light jacket then, the warmer coat put away to gather dust. No doubt we'll get cold when we don't really want it in April.

Been a mixture of wet snow here and then sleet. Sort of alterning. So I suppose a "white" Christmas has been achieved? Had falling snow last Christmas so not bad going.

That's brilliant . I retired 10 years ago after being with GMP for nearly 35 years. It changed a lot in the time I was there including the uniform and what I had to carry. Went from pro active policing which was rewarding to endless form filling, fringe issues, and excessive red tape holding us back from doing our job properly towards the end of my tenure. I was there to get the criminals but that apparently became not the right thing to do. I hear that's still the case now 10 years after I left. I wouldn't want to be a young recruit these days the criminals are no longer scared.

Not sure what job he does but when I was in the Police it's a 365 day job. Some years you had to work on Xmas day.

Got a bottle of LBV Port that needs polishing off tonight and with it's soporific powers I doubt I'll be able to keep my eyes open by the early hours but will set the alarm for 8. I'd be surprised if Kasim, Ian and Will get nothing, they're practically in the clouds Both WRF & Euro4 looking good for high ground.

1.7C here so hopefully something wintry later. Fingers crossed.

I'd guess the ones that are pre booked for Christmas dinners?

Unusually cold across the Pacific Northwest of the US. In fact they're going to have their own December 2010 moment. Bellingham in Washington state has a similar average max temp at this time of year as Manchester which is 7C. Yet they're going to struggle to get above -10C. Really harsh weather on the way there. Impressive ensembles

Merry Christmas everyone Dew points look favourable early tomorrow evening as we come under a continental influence from the easterly wind but this looks quite brief. When the main band of precipitation gets to us on Boxing day morning the dew looks marginal for most of us unfortunately. The further north and east you are in the region the better the chance of seeing snow I reckon. Tomorrow evening Boxing day morning

Bloody hell my phone says we might reach 12C next week. Might get the lawnmower out if it's dry however experience tells me at this time of year mild is often associated with nasty drizzly stuff that soaks everything.

Looking highly unlikely for any notable cold this side of the new year. Ensembles are pretty solidly going for this signal now and I'd be surprised to see a major flip back to cold. Hopefully we can get a proper cold spell in January rather than late February onwards like we usually get.

Aside from meteorology astronomy has been a big part of my life too. We are all part of the universe after all. Every part of us came from stars. The big question are we alone when it comes to intelligent life? Personally I doubt it. Incalculable number of stars among an infinite universe and we are alone? It would be very surprising if that was true. Have we been visited? Probably. Loads of of sightings of UFOs by respected military and civil aviation pilots and some of the most notable deliberately brushed under the carpet. And NASA stops live coverage of space from the International space station when a UFO comes into view. Are we like a zoo? Just like we watch animals.... they watch our development? Of course we all have our differing views on this.

Yes away from highland Scotland I don't think anywhere does amazing for snow, at least on a regular basis, we don't have ski resorts on the highest Pennine hills or Lakeland fells. Even in highland Scotland they've often struggled to get enough snow to open the ski resorts and lost a lot of money in the past. So when we do get decent snow in this country it makes it all the more special and enjoyable imo.

If you are going to head up onto the hills to burn off that xmas dinner and booze it looks a bit parky with a -10C wind chill on Boxing day on Kinder.

Interestingly Boris and his chums seem to be completely immune from the virus as they have had a care free attitude towards it with all their mingling at multiple parties with no distancing Any wonder they haven't imposed an Xmas lockdown up to now because most wouldn't have complied anyway given their antics. It would've been thrown back in their faces.

Still 5 days until Xmas day so time for things to get better or worse for snow prospects. Personally I'm not bothered if it snows on the big day, it's just a bonus. But still would be nice in any case. Expect a tug of war over the next few days between the cold and mild air. It's not a done deal at all! Models are struggling with the unusual synoptics hence the toing and froing.

Another swing back to cold on the charts today. All very interesting considering we are now entering the coldest time of year and not late February/March! There's been something going on for a while really - sluggish Atlantic and jet stream and we've been stuck in long periods of dryness because of this stagnant blocked weather pattern.

SE wind is terrible for snow but E/NE far far better from experience. Jan 2013 was excellent in that respect.

Still no cross model support for a proper easterly. GFS direct hit but the other big guns generally take the cold north leaving most of the UK under the wrong side of marginal. Lots to be resolved yet over the next few days so nothing to be downbeat about. Interesting model watching at present

Yes that is my thinking too. One thing is for sure we've had a highly abnormal and sluggish Atlantic for probably a year now. No zonal onslaught in sight. Even when we've had a rare storm such as Arwen it was a oddity with gales coming down from the north rather than from the west and the system tracking SE. Rather than NE. Definitely something interesting and strange going on with colder than normal more likely than anything above normal.

Hopefully some sun tomorrow really has been drab over the last few days. Sun where are you???

So where are we with the models? Certainly looks nailed on for a more settled spell but with cloud cover the devil is in the detail as usual with HP over us but surface conditions are likely to cool down given we have little daylight now and no sun strength at all. Frost and fog becoming more of a feature? A lot of cold air lurking to our NE but as of now probably only going to effect areas from about Berlin eastwards. Western Europe feeding off scraps.