Joe Snow

2010 redux?? I'm sure eyebrows will be raised at the MO. Cold weather alerts already in place for next week but we could well be on the cusp of a pattern that just gets colder and colder with short term features that offer snow potential. Let's get the cold here first though.

Watch the shower streamers dry up over the NW as the colder weather with wintry potential arrives over the next few weeks! Really yucky day again, everywhere sodden & swampy ️ Looking forward to a change from this weekend.

Jan 2021 was a chilly at times snowy month locally, several wet snow events just on the right side of marginal with 7- 8cm of wet snow 20th/21st Jan post Storm Christoph with the most dramatic rain-heavy snow transition I've ever seen locally. Looks like we here in the NW aren't the only ones braced for a change in the weather this weekend - an East Coast Winter storm hitting the US Mid Atlantic and NE - areas such as NYC, upstate NY, Pennsylvania & the New England states seeing heavy snowfall. Safe to say their local weather forecasting is in a different league excluding the likes of Ian F down in the West Country and Paul Hudson over the Pennines in Yorkshire of course.

Quite a significant rainfall event here in Cheshire - lots of surface flooding and difficult travelling conditions across the county steady heavy rain from around 9am and still raining heavily. If only it was snow!

Heavy pouring rain to match the post festive season mood to start to the new working year for many. A pattern change is coming though this weekend - turning drier, colder with frosts becoming more severe with time, wintry showers for eastern parts of the region as early as next Monday and the potential for a reload and lock in of more significant cold and snow potential as we approach mid January - people need not to get ahead of themselves, there will be upgrades and downgrades along the way but a cold spell that becomes more severe as we approach mid month and importantly the core of winter is on the table as an option for mid winter something we haven't seen properly since Winter 2012/13 - tying in with the MO thoughts for several weeks now.

Watching the The Big Snow of 47 on Channel 5 right now as heavy rain continues to fall, quite chilly actually too. Would be interesting to see what conditions were like across low land NW England in the Winter of 1947 that came off the back of a very mild start to the year & severely cold weather building over Scandinavia - some stunning shots of the Peak District included in the programme. Makes the likes of 09/10 & the 2018 BFTE look hardly severe by comparison

I drop in daily on there, a bit more at times of interest but don't bother posting on the MOD thread - plenty of knowledge and insight luckily on the NW regional thread when needed.

I love the build up to and Christmas period but NYE I find is the most underwhelming night of the year, weather is never great for any outdoor event, you have to buy tickets to get in anywhere half decent, you are lucky to get one drink from the bar as its so busy and you have to phone several times to get through and queue out the door to even order and collect a takeaway absolutely bonkers - the best NYE I think I have had is back in my uni days when I lived in London, friend of mine had a top floor flat in Golders Green overlooking Hampstead Heath, house party, lots of free drinks, enough buffet food to keep an army going and you could see the fireworks light up the London sky as the clock struck midnight. A quiet night in with a curry, cocktails and Jools, trying to keep the dog calm with the fireworks for us tonight I think though but wishing everyone a very Happy New Year whether going out or staying in - lets see what weather and extremes 2024 throws at us. The 12z GFS seems to have got the underwhelming memo tonight too, a bit of a NYE party pooper tbh with it not even getting properly cold - personally still think January holds the potential to be a cold opener to the year, even if its just slightly below average and drier with a few frosts but lots to be resolved and keep us interested at the moment. Drier weather would be welcome after a wet autumn and early winter for sure!

I think mid-late January and later into winter *could* turn interesting and wintry but think also some are getting ahead of themselves (as usual) any pattern change & notable changes in the feel of the weather will be second week of Jan w/c 8th Jan at the earliest. Some will just burn themselves out chasing potential and the ups and downs of each model run in the meantime.

Whilst the mad thread chase an ECM easterly it’s still raining & likely to remain unsettled into the first week of the New Year trending gradually drier & potentially closer to or slightly below average into next weekend. That’s about as far as I would go for now lots to be resolved for how January & indeed the core of winter pans out happy New Years weekend all

Yeah caught that June storm here too as well as the early July storm. June & August 2020 are still the best I’ve seen for storms locally for quite some time though - the August 2020 storm was at the end of a mini heatwave, the SE had the worst of the heat but we had managed some hot days & most notably uncomfortably humid nights - the storm hit on one of those tropical nights and produced a stunning light show. Now I wonder if Crewe has ever seen thunder snow? 🌩

'Sudden stratospheric warming' forecast to hit northern Europe in January - but experts unsure where it will strike NEWS.SKY.COM There is a 'greater than normal' risk of snow in January, the Met Office has warned, though forecasters say it is too soon to tell if a so-called 'sudden stratospheric warming'... Nothing us weather geeks don’t know but interesting the MO & others are making noise around January cold/ SSW prospects. Reminds me of the build up to Feb 2018 BFTE / Jan 2013

I’m no firefighter but it seemed to briefly stump them too!

Blackpool Tower is on fire - weather related?

Some dramatic pictures of the Tornado coming out of Tameside/ East Manchester last night and at an awful time of year to have your home damaged/ destroyed - just missed the edge of the supercell system here in Cheshire as it tracked north towards Gtr MCR. Was woken up by a squally shower around 7:30, some glimpses of brightness interspersed with some further showery rain this morning. Like many across the region I think many would welcome some drier, colder weather into the New Year but will January deliver? ️

Looks nasty on the radar. A squally few hours to come maybe - the ITV Granada Forecast earlier did mention the potential of thunder and lightning associated with 'squally showers' overnight as they put it.

Squall line has past through here the last half hour or so - everything is so dark and damp despite Boxing Day's drier respite. Would be nice if we can catch a break and get some bright frosty weather into the new year at least, January cold prospects look and remain interesting but not yet fully subscribed to the noise around a January cold spell - xmas was supposed to be cold a few weeks ago, then New Year, you get the picture...

A brighter, more usable Boxing Day weather wise before more wet & at times windy weather until late week then it all becomes quite uncertain - what was forecast to be a mild start to the New Year leading up to a potentially colder mid month has seen a big switch to something much colder into January in the 00z output this morning - snow, Jan 87 style ice days, severe cold the lot. Things will change but signs of something stirring for sure

Just popping in to say Happy Xmas whilst eyes are on potential colder or at least more seasonal weather into January we have another stormy looking midweek period coming up - looking particularly bleak in the post Xmas- New Years Eve ‘no man’s land’ period with Wed/ Thurs seeing heavy rain & inland winds pushing 60mph+ with impacts potentially similar to last weeks Storm Pia. MO early warnings already out.

Merry Christmas all from a grey, very mild & rainy South Cheshire! Enjoy time to take a break when you can & enjoy time with family & friends the next few days as something maybe just maybe might be stirring into the New Year...

A damp, dark kind of Saturday typical of the time of year to be honest brightening up somewhat towards dusk but not much use this time of year with rain following on this evening. A potentially very mild Xmas Eve tomorrow with 12-14c across the south of the region the 14c maybe somewhere like Hawarden but with more rain and winds picking up probably not feeling it. Unsettled again on Xmas Day, some Boxing Day respite then more unsettled weather late week leading into a possible change to something drier and colder into the New Year we can hope.

A wild day with lots of squally showers feeling cold in the wind too ️

The issue with Storm Pia as I think it’s now been named by the Danish Met Office will not necessarily be the wind speeds but the sustained nature of the strong winds over the next 48 hrs or so & remaining pretty gusty right up to Xmas really. Give me bright and frosty weather any day over this damp, mild but not really feeling it wind tunnel

Yeah have family in Stockport and they did well for snow both those winters. Dec 2010 was better for snow for us S Cheshire folk though I think aside from the 5th Jan 2010, school closed for nearly a week as most teachers lived up in Macclesfield/ Leek way - I have a vague memory of a deep Saturday night snowfall too that melted quickly the next day mid-late Feb 2010, Dad lived out Weston, Crewe/ Betley - Cheshire/ North Staffs border at the time and the snow was ankle deep.

Deep snow right to the coast - 17th/18th Dec 2010 must have been 15-20cm in parts proper Winter wonderland conditions. Merseyside & the Wirral did very well out of the 2009/10 and Dec 2010 big freeze. Here's to a cold and snowy New Year