karyo

2c. I'm afraid the band is narrow and will soon clear though... Karyo

Rain is starting to turn to snow in Manchester city centre! I need it to hold on and settle as the surfaces are still cold! Karyo

Thank God we had the snow showers earlier because this is turning out to be a big fiasco! Raining here and from what I can see on the radar the band has weakened so much to the west of the Pennines that even if the cold air undercuts, there won't be much snow falling anyway. All eyes on tomorrow! Karyo

The 1600 hours radar update shows the band weakening in the middle with the heaviest side heading for the eastern side of the country! I agree with Ian Brown, even if the band is all snow, it is moving too quickly so large accumulations are unlikely. Karyo

Snowing again here! Karyo

Regardless what happens tonight, there is no need for disappointment as tomorrow is looking great across the region with several days of persistent cold to come! The latest bbc24 forecast with Darren Bett looked great for the coming days and no mention of mild weather at all! And this is Darren Bett remember... Karyo

The worrying thing is that we are not even under the warm sector yet, so temperatures will probably rise a bit more during the afternoon. Karyo

The snowfall has stopped but gave a nice thin covering. It looks like remaining mostly cloudy for the remaining daylight hours. Karyo

I think there will be some rain to start with. Tomorrow will be the best day for you! The latest bbc24 forecast showed the snow showers tomorrow merging together over our region! Karyo

The main band should reach Manchester around 7pm. There could be bits of precipitation ahead of it too. Karyo

Everything is white again just with the fine snowfall. Now large flakes are starting to fall! Karyo

Light snow continuing and sticking as the ground is frozen! Karyo

Light snowfall in Manchester city centre! Karyo

If it reaches Manchester it will definately settle as the ground is frozen solid! However, it needs to be pointed out that the warm sector has not reached us yet - it is just ahead of the col front, currently in southern Scotland and Northern Ireland. Karyo

I suppose most people are currently emphasizing on the current cold spell and snow possibilities that's why it's so quiet in here! Latest forecast from the Berlin site is not looking good: http://strat-www.met.fu-berlin.de/cgi-bin/times?plot=temps&alert=1 currently below average stratospheric temperatures with no sign of warm up! I hope this changes soon... Karyo

Do you have a westerly flow already? Karyo

The 6z gfs has increased the extend of the warm sector even more! I think this evening's weather front will be a disappointment for many areas apart from the high ground. Tommorow is looking good but as we have to rely on showers,they can be hit and miss. Karyo

It would be nice for that cloud to be delayed for a couple of hours to let the temperature plumet further! The cloud is associated with a weak weather front which the bbc forecast showed to give a bit of light snow to our region in the morning. The forecast for tomorrow afternoon/evening was interesting with snow in land and a lot of emphasis on Sunday's snow! Karyo

Yes, the front looks active with the cold air digging behind! The advantage we are having is that it will be cold at the surface but unfortunately the wind ahead of the front will bring somewhat milder air over us from the Irish sea. It's tricky but interesting! Karyo

That's an improvement to yesterday's watch as it even includes the west midlads (i.e. a larger area)! Karyo

It will be interesting to see how low the temperature will get tonight! It should be clear with very little breeze and cold uppers and snowcover for some areas! Karyo

It has to be said that the 0z and 6z gfs have increased the warm sector coming down with the front tomorrow evening. Therefore rain is likely for a time on most places apart from the Pennine areas. It should turn back to snow though before the front clears. Sunday is still looking snowy for our region. Snow may strugle to settle near the Irish coast but hould do further in land and hopefully the snow showers will be quite heavy too! The early part of next week is continuig cold and as the flow from the Irish sea is cut off, it should turn quite frosty too! Karyo

I think this is why the showers don't make it across the Pennines anymore! It's just too cold and dry so they lose their moisture before they get here. Karyo

Light snow is starting to fall now, the first time in a couple of hours... Karyo

It's the met office radar that updates every 30mins: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/ Karyo