Chris Smith

I think this is very typical of cold spells in the UK, and those lovely outbreaks we know and love from the past (1947, 62/63, 81, 87, 91, 2010 etc etc) were absolute outliers. But even then, I've seen plenty of pictures from the 62/63 winter that weren't knee-deep snow; there was plenty of cold, damp, freezing wet weather too; we just remember the waist-deep snow because they were just that; memorable. Mostly, cold spells in the UK are sleety, icy, high DP messes. Except maybe for upland areas.

Yeah, Beacon Hill - 132m Highest I can see in Consett on the OS Map is 267m. Cornsay is just up the road from me, and that seems to be where you first cross the 300m contour, heading west. As a keen cyclist, it's a very very different experience round here! Loving it so far.

I'm pretty new to the area, and having moved here from Norfolk (briefly via Yorkshire), I'm completely new to Orographic weather, and the whole concept of the third dimension. I'm intrigued as to how it works. Does the size of the hill matter as well as the height? Consett seems to have a local rep for snow, and it's certainly had a pasting in the last couple of days, but it's not actually as high as the hills to the West of it, and only slightly higher than nearby Stanley or Burnhope, which seem to have much less snow. Looks to me like there's more to it than just height.

I'm not pinning my hopes on our bins being emptied today - all the side-roads are just like glass from repeated rain/freeze/rain cycles.

And now hail. Everything but the kitchen sink tonight.

Full on freezing rain here now. It's an ice rink out there! We were going to go for a quick walk around the block; we had to hold onto the garden wall to get back to the door without going A over T.

Yep - reverted to type here near Durham now (200m ASL); just nasty blobby rain/sleet.

Just had to pop out for milk. It's raining onto all that frost and ice still in the ground. Getting even more slippery out there. Watch out folks - you really don't want to end up in A&E right now. Happy New Year!

Nasty sleety mess in Durham this morning. To be expected I guess, from returning returning returning Polar Maritime.

OMG! Durham is an absolute slush-fest, and as the sky clears all that goop is turning to sheet ice. Nasty.

aaaaaaaand now it's raining. Must be those uppers

Looking quite festive out there now!

Had to run some pre-Christmas errands today. Driving south on the A68, it was all just cold rain - even crossing Carter Bar (418m), despite a temperature of just +1.

Just watched the Met Office 10 day trend. Apart from a couple of sleety days early next week, it doesn't look like much at all - and definitely seems at odds to the upbeat mood in here!

Bit of a dusting on the North Pennines this morning, above 400m. A689 Lanehead - Durham County Council WWW.DURHAM.GOV.UK We have several weather station cameras next to roads in the county. You can use them to see what the weather and traffic is like on those roads.

Hooraaayyyy!! First time for days!

At least the fog has lifted. For now at least. A glimpse of the sun would be nice.

Well - right on cue - the fog has rolled in from the North Sea, here in Guisborough, N. Yorks - so we can expect a few days of 12c and 100m vis while the rest of the country swelters in bar-b weather. Sigh....

Ah yes, Monday. I was driving back from the Channel Tunnel (to Teesside, via Bury St Edmunds) and had encounters with storms near Newmarket, Colsterworth and Wetherby. The Colsterworth storm had folks stopping in laybys until it passed - the A1 was pretty-much just a river, and it was impossible to see ahead any distance at all. A few miles further on at Newark, it was bone dry.

Wow - those storms out of York earlier took some extra oomph from the moors - that was a fantastic storm, and now an hour or two of moderate rain from the hang-back to water the parks. Nice to see the East of the country get some rain - no doubt the West will get theirs tomorrow and Sunday.

Succession of cells have rattled through here this morning. Every time I thought it was going to clear up, it darkens again with another bout. Not much rain, but plenty of explosive thunder.

Just going to leave this here...