Gord

Nice to have one or two quick hitting snow showers earlier. Went up Beacon Hill at dusk. Very cold but beautiful up there. Visibility was brilliant. Could see the shower clouds to the north with their tops lit up by the setting sun. Not much else to say really. Not expecting a lot here but there should be some brilliant weather around for those further north tonight. Looking forward to the pictures! What a winter this is turning out to be for them! Pleased the disaster of last year is being reversed in some parts of the country. Alas, it can't happen for all of us all of the time but that's the way it is.

Taken a bit of a break from here over the past week...and then promptly got a nasty tummy bug but all recovered now! (Those two points aren't related....at least I don't think so anyway!) Personally, I haven't even bothered checking what's going to happen until today. I've looked at the forecasts, I've read your comments. And I can't see anything new happening. Cold NW winds possibly bringing showers at times. I'd rather it stayed dry to be honest. This winter is turning into proof that these NWerly set ups really only benefit those further north with the odd bit of luck thrown in further south (Boxing Day, 13th Jan) I've found it's been much more healthy not trying to analyse everything little thing. Fell into that trap last week. Ended up walking up to my car in the rain on Wednesday morning on the main road. I had parked my car there because I didn't want to be digging it out of the snow down my road. So if you get snow, enjoy. I'll be checking in to read any reports and reporting anything interesting I might have going on here. But it's business as usual for me over the next few days. I most certainly will not be looking for every single little speck that appears within 70 miles of me on the radar this time! Now get a proper cold blast in then we're talking!

Indeed. Anything predictions that have been computer generated have performed appallingly. However, the actual forecasters have been calling this brilliantly for a few days now. The only human mistake I noticed was that initial weather warning yesterday, and that was quickly downgraded. There's a part of me thinking that it might be fun to go old school for the rest of winter. Delete my weather apps, leave the forums, unfollow forecasters on Twitter and get my only information from forecasts I see and hear on TV and radio. Just like I used to in the 80s and 90s.

All fizzling out now. We have had some bad luck here in the West Mids this winter. It seems to make it worse that we get teased with a good start to each event only for it to go wrong very quickly. Hope they're enjoying our snow again up north!

I've just woken up to see that it's snowing here and starting to put a dusting down. There seems to be a fair few showers on the radar too heading in this general direction.

Well I'm off to bed. Been another difficult evening on here but not the biggest let down as there was a lot of agreement at the start that things might not go our way. So a grey and damp morning awaits. Joy.

In the next hilarious move of this comical winter's evening, the precipitation moving this way is now starting to break up anyway!

But it's not doing the job of snow...it's doing the job of rain! Useless snow!

Snow falling here but it might as well be rain. It's not settling and starting to erode the dusting from earlier. Signs that we are now heading to the wrong side of marginal.

Yep. Getting going here again and it's snow!

In which direction is the low pressure moving? I would think that's quite a key factor right now. If it's moving southeast, we have a chance.

Well there's a lot of precipitation in south Wales heading this way. If and when that gets here, that will be the sign of how this is going. Until then, nothing to see really.

So is this a bust? Is it still going to snow a lot more? I haven't a clue to be honest! Was it really a bust to begin with though as lots of forecasts predicted not a lot. All I know is that last Tuesday was a lot better so far!

Reports of rain just south if here aren't good news. Elevation didn't matter Boxing Day so this could be a concern again. Still, mustn't worry. Wait and see. Currently at Rowley Regis station anyway. Still snow falling here. Heading back up to Gornal in a bit.

That's not what I said, please feel free to complain...it defines us as a nation! It's worrying I advised against. Just don't worry now...save your energy for the complaining later...or save it for playing in the snow, whatever is more appropriate. Not a chance I can call what it going to happen tonight. Not even going to try. Expect everything!

Stop worrying if it's going to fizzle out or turn into rain or invite itself in for tea without asking. It's going to do whatever it's going to do...and it's snowing now, so enjoy. And yes I will be the first on here complaining that it's turned to rain but like the weather, I'm also going to do whatever I'm going to do so you'll have to deal with that too!

GFS says rain by 8pm this evening. Met Office say just snow all the way through. Northerners say they're going to steal our snow...again! Radar says not a lot right now. Take your pick!

Downgrade if you were looking at 1pm this afternoon. Upgrade if you looking at 8am this morning. Very fluid situation. So hard to pinpoint who will see the most. It was supposed to be us on Boxing day but ended up far further north and we got a lot of rain. Still remember 4th February 2012. Where I am was so so lucky. I was convinced that it was going to turn to rain but I was very wrong and we got a good snow event. Turned out I was lucky by literally 5 to 10 miles! So northerners think they're going to see the most...they might well do and probably have more chance of doing so. I wouldn't rule anything out. It could well turn to rain here...it has done before!

Few flakes falling here now. Upgrades have been a bit of a turn up for the books today. And the roads across Dudley seem awash with grit this time!

We're now in radar watching territory. The precipitation is already showing signs if fizzling out over south west Wales. And with still no warnings from the Met Office, it's not looking promising at all I'm afraid.

I've seen downgrades closer to the event happening. Like at T0 when the event isn't happening!

Strarting to look like that last Tuesday's snow could end up being the best snow we see this month (I'm a little bit hesitant to say month though as the 31st is still well over a week away). Currently a cloudy and cold evening. Too much clag flowing down from the north keeping temperatures just above freezing. Not even freezing up because of the cloudy conditions. All feels quite underwhelming really. Well done to Matt Taylor on Radio 4 very early this morning, his forecast for this week is looking pretty accurate. It makes me laugh when Chris Evans on Radio 2 tries to push sensonalist weather headlines onto Carol Kirkwood and she's having none of it. Quite impressed with how she deals with it actually! I think next time, unless i hear the words out of a forecaster's mouth...I'm going to be very very careful with the output seen online. Lesson well and truly learnt. Discovered just how wide the gap between amateur and professional is this week!

To be fair, the only thing thats suggested a big snow event over the past few days has been computer generated models and forecasts. The professionals (actual human beings), who have access to more information than us, have continually through their forecasts on TV and radio, and through their tweets played the whole thing down. A good lesson for me anyway. And it's kind of humbling that if it doesn't pan out the way we want, that the human input has made the right call. That's the way science should be!

The 5 day forecast on radio 4 just now wasn't too inspiring. Keeping up with the slight covering on higher ground theme. Had Wednesday as drier and brighter in the west. However, he did say the day to day details might change, particularly later in the week. Really not sure what to make of things this morning. Some fantastic charts but the forecasts just aren't buying it.

Sugar coating dusting on a few surfaces now. No scientific reasoning behind my next statement and I don't want anyone to take it seriously at all. None of the professionals point towards what I'm going to say. I'm just a pleb with no more tools than a laptop and a lampost. Anyway, this is it... Most major cold events with significant snow over the past few years have had a week build up to it which has been full of messy bits and pieces laying down quick dustings or giving quick hit spectacular falls...then...the big one has hit. The last week certainly has had the feel of one of those messy weeks that leads up to something big. Disclaimer: I'm not saying something big is going to happen...I wouldn't know because nothing's happened yet. There...said it. Now go read something by someone who knows what they're talking about.