mackerel sky

It was a big surprise to see how rubbish the weather was west of the M1! The drop in temperature tonight has been noticeable mind. Not quite the temperature drop I experienced a couple of weeks ago in Calgary - it was + 11C at midday and -8C at 6pm and snowing!

Lovely day here, nearly got up to 14C!

Snow next Sunday? Anyone! Anyone?

Next Sunday we've got an easterly and snow potential!

We had some very light flakes falling from an almost cloud free sky between 4.30-5pm. So I've seen this twice in a week. It snowed in Calgary last Thursday from a. Blue sky. When I look at it the dew point dropped by 2C so it is wringing the moisture out.

I'm in Calgary Canada this week and it was 12C today! I keep going to so called cold places and it is always mild when I show up. Anyway should be colder by Wednesday, but of snow in the forecast then, but nothing like Eastern Canada.

Bit surprised, we've just a flurry although nothing nearby on radar.

Just had a light RAIN shower!

On paper Feb 2009 wouldn't have exactly gone down as a classic, but had two weeks of snow cover and numerous snow events. Only at the beginning were uppers around -10C. In fact the heaviest falls were in uppers of -3C. Difference was the snow froze quickly from the get-go and frequent top ups. I worked out that if all the snow had settled it would have come to 23 inches! But due to some freeze-thaw the max depth we got was around 10 inches! Lot of wastage!

Says something when all we are doing is talking about former glorious snow events. A tiddlywinks shower might be on its way here.

Do they knock off at the Met Office at 2.30pm? Last daily forecasts are always then. Warnings issued days in advance, that are out of date and hold no water. What do they do after 2.30pm? Other than the automated output.

I was in the last year of Primary School. Unfortunately the Primary School was a minutes walk away in a small town. So only a handful of kids, one teacher and the Janitor desperately trying to stop the pipes freezing. The other 80 percent of pupils and teachers never made it in for a full week. The bored single teacher told us to go round in groups on the playing field armed with sticks and tape measures to determine the depths of the snow drifts. Some were immeasurable to our small statutes, as high as 4 metres, but we made a good job of kicking them all in, so as not to be beaten.That said February 1991 was a bit of chore (I grew up south of Middlesbrough in North Yorks) as I had a paper round. Nearly two foot of snow lying for most of the month. Had to do it on foot, took me two and half hours (usually 45 mins on bike) and I still got to school on time, which rarely shut through the whole spell. Again it was the lucky kids in the surrounding villages who got the snow days. No schools shut on a whim, had to be serious stuff.

Unfortunately for here some brief snow on the Boxing Day event turned to rain, then back to light snow later. 40 miles north a different story and with the cold temperatures after can understand why it hung around. It was a disappointment especially coming at that time of year, but hey ho. I haven't been pleased with the thaws. Probably had 4 inches of snow cumulative in two sittings but it just melts leaving dregs in the shade.

No complaints here, a big improvement over a snowless winter last year. I grew up NE Yorkshire in the 80s, parents still live there, family up in Consett Co. Durham. I have always had less expectations in the 17 years I've lived down here. Annoyingly I was in Oslo last week and it was mild. Came home and we've had some snow. Shame the days have caused thaws. Probably only about 25 percent of the ground has anything left from overnight.

Bring back Ceefax and pages 400-410. They had a now cast page which to be honest is better than anything on the Met Office currently offer. We know full well when the BBC forecasters are presenting stuff 12 hours out of date. As I mentioned yesterday their last forecast update was at 2.49pm and anybody now casting would have told you it was wrong by 6pm - but they never updated it for the rest of the day.And the reason the Ceefax now cast was better was because somebody human had to put it together! Even if it was what was outside the window!

Here is my forecast for the next few days. It may stay dry but there could be showers of rain, sleet or snow (snow only on high ground of course, which there is loads of round here). Local accumulations of snow, somewhere anywhere inland a bit in a huge area, or not. Standard daytime maximum of 4C, or 6 or 7 by the BBC national forecast on a morning. We deserve more than this. My favourite old school BBC weather symbol was the one that had a black cloud with sun and a rain and snow symbol. You could use that most of the year and claim success. Oh wait that's what the Met Office symbols show for here on Thursday!

I can't really see anymore snowfall for here really. Thursday might bring something decent for the Thames Estuary, Essex and Kent. The Met Office warnings completely contradict their forecasts for the same areas. Seems a bizarre logic. Or a wild hedging of bets.

Good to see the Met Office haven't updated their forecast since 2.39pm this afternoon. Excellent work again.

Still snowing lightly, one final hurrah coming up the valley from Peterborough judging from the radar.

4 hours continuos snow here, 5cm.

Dewpoint and temp are going up here though, still okay -0.2C air and -1.5C dew. They were quite a bit lower, intact dew point was -4C at 6pm. Big flakes now, thought we were about done, but no!

It keeps promising to stop but now been snowing continuously since 7.15pm!

I am not looking forward to the morning! Took me 2 and half hours to drive to work Friday morning in lesser snow, due to jack knifed lorries on the A6 south of Bedford, my son was very late for school also because I drop him off in a village on my way! Plus I was grumpy as was stuck on a plane at Heathrow after landing from Oslo night before and didn't get in until midnight, very little sleep then that happened. Will be using my wife's 4x4 tomorrow!

Well the Met Office have played another blinder like Friday morning. As of lunchtime they had it bone dry here for the rest of the week. Only light snow symbols returned this evening for after 2am.

Just keeps coming, over an inch now can't see any grass blades anymore! Best since March 2013.