fine wine

Warm and sunny, 15.9 c with virtually clear skies. So far, much better than forcast.

Lovely sunny day after mid morning with wall to wall sunshine. I must say we have been pretty lucky here in this spell with warm temps and plenty of sunshine, although not always wall to wall.

Plenty of snow here in Essex since late on the 1st. Even the patches of snow are now being topped up. Currently another inch has fallen.

A friend of mine works for the gritters up (based in Halstead) and he said they are all off work this evening. He didn't even realise snow was on the cards until I spoke to him. He said half the lorries went were booked in for service work today as there was no mention of snow in their brief this morning. As I look out the window everything is covered, including the road.

Matt we have heavy sleet and a temp of 1.1c. Its been this way since 6pm so I wouldn't be surprised to see snow. Also, look at last night - exceptionaly heavy snow which gave a 1" covering in just minutes.

We have had very heavy snow here but my dad in Chelmsford says no snow there. Looks like its going to freeze hard now.

This is a bit odd. With 850's here of -6.5c I can't understand why its raining. Dp is -1 as well. The other day it was snowing with 850's of -0.5c and a dp of -1 .

Heavy snow, incredible really as the 850's are only -0.5c. On Monday we had 850's of -4.5c and it was rain.

That looks like somewhere in Sible Hedingham? You must be very near me. Looking forward to the drive to work tomorrow at Westmead.

Interesting Paul as there is virtually now wind here now but heavy snow. Its exceptionally cold as well considering its cloudy and snowing with temps at - 4.8c . When it was very windy earlier it was snowing but not really amoutning to much - I guess the snowflakes get smashed up into powder rather than settling onto one another. The gritters keep going past but its making no difference at all to the roads. I honestly don't think I have seen snow showers like this since 1991 - frontal snow yes, but shower after shower of powder snow is a rare treat!

Paul B, where are you in Suffolk. Its been snowing here for about 4 hours now with about 4-5cm. I interested as whats falling here can be traced back right through suffolk and out into the north sea. What would stop the snow flakes reaching the ground?

Very heavy dry powder snow in North Essex - an inch has fallen in about 10 minutes. I haven't seen this variety of snow since I was a biy in 1991.

Thanks Paul, It is showig as a problem on the main Meto site.

Is there any reason why a large section of the Radar over East Anglie has been giving very poor returns over the last few weeks? Today, for example the rain is lashing against the window today but the radar is showing very little rain overhead. It would be good if we could fix it as I use the Nw Extra for work (I am a landscaper) and I happen to be working in Newmarket at the moment.

I think the fading dot is Ferrybridge, Knottingley and the middle dot is Eggsbourough, Goole.

I would say that they are thicker clouds caused by steam from power station cooling towers. I'll see if I can find out which ones.

It might be my memory plating up but it seems to have done this a few times in the past during periods of heavy use!

Stunning photos, especially the first.

It is headed straight for you. You look to be right in the middle of the shower.

As a lad we had up to 25 chickens at any one time. I would love chickens but there are two reasons why my wife and I wouldn't have them now: 1. Space - Our garden is far too small 2. We go on holiday - unlike a dog or cat, you can't drop them off at the local kennels or family members house. Someone has to come round in the morning to let them out and collect egss and at dusk to shut them up. Also if your away for more than a week or so they may need cleaning out!

5.6c with a light ne breeze. The cloud is breaking up though to promise a sunny afternoon.

Very Mild today but wet again! Here's a few photos of the plants in the garden, including a few Daffs (keep it on topic!). The palms are all still growing which they didn't seem to do last winter. I grow most of these plants from seed collected in the wild by a chap called Martin Gibbons.

Jethro, its does seem an odd year as our snow drops are only just coming into flower, a month after some Daffodils!! I know it hasnt been that mild, but things have really shot ahead in the last ten days or so. I have noticed that my hardy palms (this should interest Stephen) are actually growing with one or two leaves having opened in the last few weeks.

Your correct Stephen, not only do we have daffs out here, but I have some Petunias growing the front garden which don't even seem to have been touched by the frost!

Just a quick one, on the NW radar there is an area jjust to my North West, around cambridge which seems to record virtually no rainfall. Is this a fault with the radar, or is this area really receiving very low rainfall totals?