i luv snow

Yes it has just started to turn sleety again here, still a smattering of a covering but won't last long with whats falling now!

Started to finally lay here in Mancs, just a smattering at the moment tho! Good signs for later!

Heavy snow falling for 10 or so minutes at times, but not laying. Still, encouraging for later on this evening/tonight and tomorrow.

The fact it is snow in an urban area like Manchester already, at 2pm in middle of day with temps at their highest, is definitely a good sign. As long as the showers penetrate this region over night, into tomorrow, as expected, it will definitely be snow and should lay fairly widely.

I think if troughs and disturbances (or even low pressure) forms in the bitterly cold northerly then ppn will be much more widespread than the warnings suggest. If they don't, you will very much see a wishbone effect with ppn sticking to Scotland and coastal areas only. As these cannot be forecast until nearer the time, the met office will not be able to release any sort of warning at this stage - but can still be fairly confident for snow showers in these areas. Expect updates to the warnings, if/when troughs or developments take place for Sunday into early next week - but much nearer the time. Indeed, with snow you often see events take place which were never even forecast! That's the beauty of it!

I'm in Manchester city centre too, dark skies, gusty winds and deffo wintry ppn!

Reassurance from Nick F in mod thread:

This isn't what the charts show - they show a deeply unstable westerly/northwesterly/northerly airflow with lots of ppn around this week and again at the weekend, particularly in north and west but across a lot of the rest of the country too. Temps will struggle, and whilst marginal in the far south at times this won't always be the case. Looking at the charts, 'scattered showers' is certainly not the term I'd use. Pinpoint detail, even at 48 hours out, is pointless but there will be lots of instability around and so ppn will be more widespread than just north-facing coasts.

From metoffice website, updated this morning, for the North West region - lots of potential from Wednesday afternoon right through to Saturday. Friday afternoon looks to be the most marginal with perhaps sleet or wintry showers but if we do see that snow beforehand, this may help to keep temps and dew points a tad lower!

I think the bbc weather maps arent the most reliable at this stage - showers, and snow showers in particular - are notoriously difficult to forecast and so it is extremely hard to illustrate them on the map. This will be an unstable air flow, so there is the potential for a lot of snow showers, affecting lots of parts of the country but our regious is in prime position. The unstable air flow will continue for some time which always allows the potential for troughs to form, bringing bands of showers in, which can merge and bring more consistent snow. When the wind veers more northerly, yes we have seen the wish bone effect many times bringing snow to only coastal areas but given time, they can be incredibly unstable and produce a lot of showers nationwide. It would be ideal if a polar low could form above us (wishful thinking) but still, bands of showers moving in over Wednesday afternoon and Thursday should bring plenty of snow for our area, fear not

They may nudge above freezing (for some) but dew points look much more favourable, even compared to the last spell - this will certainly have a positive effect!

The problem is, you're arguing against the Met Office and many seasoned Net-wx members. The last spell saw snow lying fairly widely across the north-west of England - Lancashire/parts of Cumbria/Greater Manchester away from the city centre where there was lots of snow, but little lying. The uppers, as seen above, are just one of many factors that contribute to snow, and the met-office is certainly forecasting snow down to low-levels for fairly widespread area across the north. I'm not saying this is certain, but it is certainly looking fairly likely at this stage, looking at the charts/models. As ever, time will tell!

I made the mistake of thinking he was from Edmonton in London, but Snow grain lives in Canada

Which is fair enough,the north does well out of them however as winds veer to north, temps decrease and any troughs form, the models show the potential for much more widespread snow for the whole country!

It was snowing earlier this morning in Mancs, then turned to rain and melted!

Snow has stopped in Manchester, for now. For what it's worth I think there will be more ppn moving into the region overnight.

A little heavier, and laying even on pavement - although only a smattering. Hopefully more of that ppn moves northwards up to us overnight!

My apartment isn't far from the unis in Manc, and its snowing where I am!

Snowing a tad heavier in Manchester, already starting to settle on grass/cars. Hopefully our region can get ppn all night long!

Lightly snowing in Manchester!

Well the midlands ppn will for sure, but the Irish sea stuff should be moving east and still seems to be heading northwards!

Since Feb '96? Really? I grew up in the snow starved south and we have had plenty of decent snow fall between 96 and 2011 - just not since. Now I live in Mancs, still haven't had a decent spell. I'm mystified why the ppn hasn't really shunted east, but the area of midlands is now knocking on our door! The other front is chasing behind, there is alot of ppn about - where will it all go?!

The net-wx radar has that area over midlands reaching Manchester just after 7pm, its falling as snow according to radar. We want the main bulk of ppn in Irish sea, and the second front catching up, to head directly over us too though! Currently doesn't seem to be heading this way, eeks. Due to pivot though, so that's not for sure. Will keep radar watching!

Agreed there is a clump of ppn right over Midlands heading directly for us at the moment.. seems to be falling as snow. 2oC and dewpoints of -4oC in Manchester currently! The maon front (and the second one catching up behind) don't appear to be heading east yet, more NE direction, will be fun seeing where it ends up (hopefully over us ALL!) Some heavy ppn still around and I really can't see it fizzling out on net-wx radar at least.

The ppn doesnt seem to be on the net-wx radar? you can see the second front behind catching up too! It's hard to work out what direction the ppn is heading in, I was worried it was going too far north, but it's due to pivot. However an area of ppn over Nottingham currently seems to be heading towards Manchester area. Lots of ppn around, certainly hasn't died to the extent many thought it would (so far at least!)