ScottSnow

Jan 2010 was a good spell.

I was at the Arnison centre in Durham at about 3pm today and there was a short snow shower. Just been raining here in Gateshead though.

Absolutely chucking it down with snow in Gateshead. Heaviest shower yet.

Just had a heavy snow shower here in Gateshead. Its still snowing now albeit lightly.

Yes I agree. Certainly up here it is currently cold and looking at the models we are kept in cool to cold conditions for the foreseeable future. With cold weather now starting to become embedded over Scandanavia any easterly or north easterly influences on our weather are going to give us some snow possibilities especially over high ground.

Yes this could go either way now. Interesting times ahead. If heights remain high to the north I believe we will see some colder weather by mid december.

Yes I'd certainly expect Scotland and higher parts of northern England to see some snowfall from the initial northerly and the uppers seem to be getting upgraded (colder) for the easterly as we come nearer to the reliable period.

Yeah I generally find in this part of the world you need lower 850s off an easterly. I think its down to modification from the sea. February 10th 2010 is one example of this although there was snow in the higher parts of the region. I would think on past experience that the current synoptic charts being shown would not produce lasting snow here.

My favourite unexpected snowfall was probably the late feb 2004 snow event here in Gateshead. Almost a foot of snow came down during the night to give us the heaviest snowfall of that winter.

I am looking to our north for cold weather. Anything that comes from the east at the moment isn't going to produce snow. I have model watched for about 10 years and I do expect to see some colder weather at the beginning of December.

The rate of decline after early to mid June is when we really need to start watching closely. Its far to early to predict any outcomes yet unless your GW.

I have enjoyed the weather so far this month, especially this past week. Theres been some lovely sunny days lately and the temperatures have been warm enough to just wear a t-shirt in the middle of the day. Last week I had a wonderful walk on the Northumberland coast, there were some excellent views and I could see the huge patches of snow on Cheviot glistening in the sun. Hopefully the progged northerly will come off so the month will have had a good variety of weather this month just like April should be in my opinion. April - 'The month of variety'.

GW you are so entrenched in your views that I sense that you would like to see the Arctic free of ice just so you could feel vindicated. I trawled back through some of the threads from 08 and 09 and you predicted that we would see a total collapse of Arctic Ice in both those summers with various reasons being put forward. If we had listened to you we would have had two summers already where the Arctic had been ice free. I have one question that I would like you to answer honestly (and without all your drama please). What will your views be if Arctic Ice continues with the improvement from the past two summers ? My own view is that the Arctic ice is still in a precarious position but after the nearly fatal 07 melt there has to be cause for optimisim after the past two years. If and its a big 'if', if we see another improvement this summer and more growth of multi-year ice then it may turn out that we are in a much better position than any of us could have hoped for after 2007.

Gateshead is situated on a hill and although not high, often in marginal situations there can be no snow at the bottom in the town centre and quite a covering at the Q.E or Wrekenton at the top. The snowfall on Friday 26th Feb this year was the last time this occurred, the Team Valley had no snowcover while at the Q.E there was around 3 inches. I was actually travelling back from Scotland that night and all the way down the A68 anywhere with a little height it was snowing heavily but in places like Hexham on the valley floor it was just rain.

GW - First you say that satellite data can't be trusted as we are playing by new rules and then you post a link to satellite data to help enforce your point.

Your energy is boundless GW !!! If we see another increase in minimum ice extent this autumn I believe that we may have turned the corner. There is definitely more third year ice than early 2008 when your argument may of held more weight. Third year ice you would expect to be more robust and durable to melt. I thought that after 2007 it wouldn't be long before we saw a ice free arctic in the summer however the last two years of growth maybe the start of a new trend. My mind is open but I think this third year is very important.

Just patches in the shade left here from last Fridays snow. As Rollo says the Cheviots have masses of snow; http://www.winterhighland.info/touring/index.php?50,2094 The North Pennines still have a lot of snow which can be viewed from Yad Moss's webcam http://csc.tayloredtechnology.com/ski/large.aspx?picture=Yadmoss-1-03-03-2010-08-44.jpg Depths of snow are very deep and on the higher slopes generally consist of around 1-1.5m of wind packed snow.

Noticed that there are also three conscutive winters in the top ten (39/40, 40/41 and 41/42) which is a remarkable feat. 1947 meant that there were four winters from the 1940's in the top ten.

My grandparents reported snowcover this morning at their house near Newton Aycliffe in Co. Durham. I've also heard reports that there was around 4 inches of snow last night at Alston in the Cumbrian Pennines. Travelling up to Aviemore on Sunday 21st Feb there was snow virtually all the way up and when coming back home on the 26th Feb again there was snowcover virtually all the way back. Even here in Gateshead there was around 2 inches of snow on Friday night which is still lingering in patches in the shade.

Last season wasn't bad and in general there will maybe be at least one week a season when the conditions are really good. This season however theres been excellent conditions since mid December, I skied Yad Moss on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and again in early Jan and the conditions were brilliant particularly in January. I'm going up again on Thursday so I'm hoping the weathers like its been today. In Scotland they have been using explosives for controlled avalanches today. As a lot of the snow from the past month hasn't consolidated due to the low temps the avalanche risk has been extremely high even to fairly low levels. Some roads and railway lines have been affected by avalanches. I wasn't alive in 1979 but I believe snowvover on the hills and mountains of Northern Britain is probably on par with that winter. I skied in Scotland last week and it was the best snowcover I've experienced in my years of going up there (since 1991)and that was before the 1.5m + snowfall on Wed, Thurs and Fri. Notably although I was in the Highlands when there was that huge snowfall of 3ft in Aviemore the worst driving conditions were on the way home over the Cheviots and Pennines on Friday night.

Yes a fantastic day here on Tyneside as well. A true early March day with frost last night, patches of snow in the shade and a beautiful bright blue sky. Lovely day.

I can remember when the temp was 12C in I think March 96 and it felt really warm after the continual cold / cool weather of that winter. Wish I was skiing in the Pennines today... reported as being one of the best days ever !!! http://csc.tayloredtechnology.com/ski/current.aspx Certainly a hell of a lot of snow up there and looks like it may continue into April. In Scotland avalanche danger is being reported at fairly low altitude i.e below 2000ft and is again proof of the continual low temps and massive snowfalls this year. And a link to show the alpine conditions at Weardale in Co.Durham, http://www.skiweardale.com/ski/current.aspx You wouldn't think it was England.

Winds from the north or the east usually produce snow here however, being around 12 miles from the coast sometimes easterly winds pick up too much warmth off the sea and temps are too high for lying snow. For example it was an easterly that brought the end of the real cold here around Jan 10th this year. The best synoptic situations I've experienced here in recent years are the early Jan snowfalls this year and the late Feb 04 event. Although an easterly can produce a good event here they've been quite marginal situations on most occasions so thats why in general I prefer winds coming down from the north or north east. I was in Highland Scotland last week and was amazed at the amount of snow higher up at the ski centres, certainly the best season in a long time. I also experienced the snowfall last thursday / friday where the depth was around 3ft, which although it stopped me skiing was interesting just to witness such heavy snowfall. Even the old timers up there are starting to come round to the idea that this winter has been the snowiest in living memory maybe bar 1979. Interestingly even the North Pennine ski tows have been running continuously since mid December and I've even experienced snow there this year on par with anything I've skied in Europe. If more winters were like this one there could even be an argument for more investment !!! It's certainly been an excellent winter here and it's probably just greed but I would maybe of liked to have seen a bit more lying snow in Feb but thats just being picky really. It's just been a bit dissapointing because of the high number of days when snow fell.

I'll never get sick of snow... Hopefully next winter we will see a truly historic winter like 47 or 63, not a memorable winter or a 'modern historic winter' but a truly great winter up with there with the heavyweights of yesteryear.

I believe parts of Scotland were down to -15C last night which follows some low minima from throughout the week. Aberdeen received 4 inches of snow yesterday, the midlands had a good snow event thursday and here in Gateshead we have a covering this morning and have had at least a partial covering most days this week. There was snow on the ground at the start of the month, the south east did well off the easterly around the 8th and even slightly higher areas around here had a good covering. This month theres been many days with falling snow if not lying and theres been no really mild days. In other winters this month may have even been labelled 'snowy'. With the potential for more snow next week and no mild air really on the horizon, this winter in my eyes will certainly be 'historic' in the fact that it proves cold winters are still possible, which I admit even I was in doubt about. With last winter also being on the cold side and summer Arctic sea ice increasing the past two years hopefully the trend has been reversed and we will start to see more winters like this.