La Bise

If it was dragging a sack of coal for the nest, then you're in for a cold blast...

Ah...care to mention a few? Should be quite easy out of 10000 I guess... Tagging a reply to Kent as well, the squirrels are digging nuts because daylight is now longuer, their instincts tell them a change of season is approaching based on that. Nothing to do with knowing weeks in advance what the weather is going to be like. The poor buggers will starve by the thousands if some freak spell of bad weather happens in april/may and spring growth is feeble. Just look at the problems with trees flowering too early or edgehogs mating in december during one of our recent very mild winters. Nature did not have a clue, it just followed some very broad primers, in this case far above average temperatures. Only a few examples of actual thousands of observations by biologists, ornithologists, etc of the adverse effect that climate perturbations can have on the life cycle of flora and fauna. Best leave the "nature knows" to the Almanach and assorted folk tales of yore, after all they were probably elaborated at the same time as folks thought dragons lied in wait beyond the horizon...

Nature is reactive though, there is very little forecast you can do with what plants and animals do or don't do.

Wrong smiley, just a bit of heavy irony in reguards to those posts about spring...cold, rainy, snowy this morning...

Dusting of snow and a snow shower on my way to Salford Quays this morning...Can't see the Peak District this morning but I suspect it should be a good sight.

It did indeed feel outright balmy when I was waiting my tram home at 4ish, I'm going to work in a t-shirt tomorrow....

The problem is more with the constant stream of pointless one-liners about "downgrade this, upgrade that", resounding pontifications about winter ending or there being absolutely no chance of anything in the next two weeks because a modelisation has shown that that any particular bias towards a region. Too many people taking the runs as gospel, that's why, however wrong they can be at times, I like TEITS, JH and the likes, they try to forecast something using their knowledge rather than just "read" a chart litterally.

One thing seem quite sure though, higher grounds in the north (around the 3/400m mark) are set for another dump of the white stuff and judging by the amount of drifted snow still available to play on Kinder Scout (where I was yesterday), it will carry on the exceptionnal winter for England's high places in term of snow (a continuous if at times slight cover since december on the Peak District is not something that happens very often).

On the chart Polar posted, you can see so well that grim conveyor belt of LP that use to spend winter above our heads and is now holidaying in Southern Spain/Northern Africa. I don't miss them one bit...

Too many variables in play to write-off next week, a nudge here, a push there and the situation could twist around to our favour. I think Damian is spot on with his analysis, expect suprises.

Excellent pics James. I saw similar stuff on Kinder Scout a couple of weeks ago and judging by what I can see from the office window, it is still the case. An exceptionnal winter for the high places, there has been snow on the Peak District since mid-december and if at times the cover was quite reduced, it's the first time in a long time I remember such persistance in the snow. Next week might be marginal for low-levels but I expect a good top-up above 400m ish

Well said Barb, problems arising when the snow falls are rather more an indication of society's failure to help the vulnerable rather than any real issues with the weather per se (even a big snow event in the UK is nowhere near as destructive as a snowstorm in a colder country)

Sign me up Eugene...

Good post TWS. I get mildy annoyed when I read doom-ladden comments about a coming spell and upon further inspection, realise they are so because we do not get buried under a ton of snow, that cold per se is worthless. When I see a comment that a cold high is "boring", I do wonder if there is a life for those people beyond lamp post watching and getting mental in front of screen. A crisp winter morning, with the sun shining on you, reflecting on the frozen trees, the air fresh and bracing is many things but boring...? There is too much anticipation of extreme events, a rarity in the UK and a lack of appreciation of the aspects of weather that makes life here enjoyable.

It's a big deal for the UK old chap...

Agreed Eugene re cold/dry weather, nowt better than a nicely frozen path, at the end of your walk, your boots are as clean as they started...

Ordinary weather? As far as I can see, it's still a period of prolongues cold weather on the cards not raging swelies. 2 weeks of dry and cold weather, bring it on...

I'll applaud you instead John. Great fun to read but a very good reminder of the world of difference there is between the considered outputs of met pros and enthusiastic met nerds.

Look at it this way Scottish posters, you're considerably hardier and stoical in the face of weather adversity than the great big soft dwellers of southern England...

It has not stopped for 2 hours and it's all white now, lovely!

Snowing here...

Is that date of 8th feb as the trigger date for cold fun still a possibility?

That's a fair point the Enigman chap, I've checked the Swiss met forecaste for next week and they indicate a big warming in the mountains thanks to gale force SW winds. In fact it warms up a lot more up there than at lower altitude.

What I do find a bit puzzling is the amount of people who seem to think only a bucked load in their backyard is good. Not everyone is lucky to live close to higher places like I am but if you are, all I can suggest is head for the hills, it's been the best winter walking season I can remember for a long time. There are still big drifts and compacted snow galore on Kinder Scout and it's not exactly difficult to hike up there. Too much time spent in front of a computer screen, too little looking for the white thing where it is...

I still got the 8th marked down in my calendar as a possible turning point day, I'm no fan of synchronicity but it's a straw to clutch at in these dark hours for cold lovers...