Mark_p

Eerily calm in the north west all morning aside from rain but the wind has started to pick up now seemingly out of nowhere.

In addition to the above, the red warning in the SE was issued at 3:44am. Interesting time to make that decision, it is only valid from later in the morning however.

Automated forecasts have a lot to answer for too. The general public will check their devices and see frankly wrong information. For my postcode today, for example, BBC app has gone from showing gusts of 70mph to a max of 21mph and a headline of 'Light rain showers and a fresh breeze.' In an amber wind warning...Now we all realise that they're automated and flawed but as I said, Joe public doesn't know and whilst it's normally just an annoyance, it could actually put people and property at risk in this instance.

It will be interesting to see if the output changes warnings overnight. The warning time was delayed and if I'm not mistaken the strong winds won't arrive here until late morning/early afternoon so I'm expecting to make the morning commute in just grotty rain to be honest.

Awaiting the met office updates, usually incoming around now. The situation is still not very clear. I would love to be a fly on the wall of their meeting as it's some tricky decisions for them to make today, and whatever they do decide will be criticised.

@Nick FPosted this really cool image in the storm Eunice thread of the storm's humble beginnings happening now. I thought I'd repost here as it will get lost in the quagmire of that thread pretty quickly. It will be interesting, to see what tomorrow morning's runs show us + the met office take and general media realising that this could be quite a serious weather situation in a lot of parts. Spooky, fascinating stuff

The wind is still howling in ormskirk. It was quite benign until the rain came through. Speaking of which another area of rain is incoming so expect some gusts around that. It's probably timed just right for me driving home at 8. Friday doesn't look like it's weakening but there's still time for the yet.

I can't recall seeing such a large area under an amber warning. Their further detail does discuss uncertainty in the exact track so I would think they will either narrow it down a bit tomorrow or maybe even consider a red in a smaller area *edit probably somewhere in the SW or Wales. Their further details says 'Around coasts of west Wales and southwest England, gusts of 90 or possibly even 100 mph are possible.' Certainly red material and a danger to life. Looks very unpleasant in our back yard too. More runs needed still.

I suppose we won't have long go wait to see the met office’s take on this regarding warnings. It must be causing them some headaches. Reading the various threads on here I except everything from nothing, to losing roof tiles and fence panels to being snowed in at this stage more interesting than high pressure at least.

This popped up on my social media timeline, 21st of Jan 2013. Something to look at with the boring dirty high we're no experiencing. I actually really enjoyed the high pressure when it was sunny.

It’s gone very dark in ormskirk. Hailstone incoming.

On the plus side it might end up being quite a nice day, bring on some blue sky. In order for snow at low elevation in our warming climate, I’m of the mind that a potent northerly (like in November) is one of the few ways we can achieve it now. Westerlies are modified and fail, easterlies are dry. Yikes.

Been a strange one this. Very mixed fortunes in the more favoured snow areas. I was surprised as the snow then sleet then rain was heavy here. Did it fizzle out in the way east, or fragment. Strange.

Met office have taken low ground out of the game for tomorrow which, while I’m not that surprised is unusual considering it’s showers. Hoping for some decent convection.

Sleety in ormskirk again in a heavier pulse, looks grim out there. It appears that the clearance of this is going to occur fairly quickly though. High ground to the east should get a little battering off this.

It’s transitioned to rain now in ormskirk but yeah about 25 min it fell as snow which is more than I thought it would be.

Snowing in ormskirk. Let’s see how long it lasts. Bodes well for elevated areas.

The front is moving at some pace. It had barely left Ireland 2 hours ago. Interested to see if anything wintry falls before the rain transition.

My car has a frosty roof leaving work near ormskirk.

The issue with these cold zonal, polar maritime airmasses is always their long track over the Atlantic. The cold air (For Friday) is originally sourced in Newfoundland so it's got a long journey to us. I've been stung by this setup many times as it often looks alright on paper, low uppers, unstable air, however I think it has cold rain written all over it for the low ground. Maybe some hail/falling snow if you catch a heavier shower (I like convective weather the most so bring it on.) Would be delighted to be wrong of course but I would always urge caution about getting excited for low elevation snow in this kind of set up. Probably be decent high up of course. I still live in hope this time it proves my doubts wrong but it is just that.

Decent, I worked in Halewood for a few years and more than once over that time there was settling snow at home with just falling snow at work. Crazy really when the distances are considered. Again still rubbish though I have family up Oldham way I’d sooner be high up for the snow

It’s not a bad little place. Just about inland enough to often be on the right side of marginal. Benefits from streamers from westerly or north westerlies. Still naff for snow like but where isn’t in the NW low down.

High ground on the Isle of Man has a decent covering. Big blob incoming there. Looks just wet in Douglas which isn’t a surprise. Isle of Man Government - Webcams WWW.GOV.IM Isle of Man web cams

I see that the mad thread has had one of it's traditional emotional breakdowns. I remember lurking there years ago, reading the informative posts. There were always some trolls of course but it's very sad how much it's declined over the years. Merry Christmas though guys - it's certainly felt 'seasonal' lately it's been pretty cold albeit a bit gloomy.

Raining, cold, dark, breezy. Typical December weather really - we're looking down the zonal barrel as well. At least we had the early surprise snow - I'll now go into my mode of hoping for higher pressure at some point to see the sun for more than 10 minutes before 2022.