Matt Taylor

Lightning here in Portsmouth, heading north and appears to be just to our west.

This is how it's been in Portsmouth for at least an hour: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40172673@N03/10427098826/ Not seen a storm like this in years!

Even coming down on the sunny Isle of Portsea, no sign of it settling though.

Light snow here in central Portsmouth for the last 20 minutes or so, had a slight dusting overnight on top of around 70% of Friday's snow that was still remaining. Temp -0.6, DP -1.7.

No snow in Portsmouth but we did get one lightning strike and a rumble of thunder at just after 8am, currently it is bright but the tail end of the rain is approaching (currently over the Isle Of Wight).

I have a nice warm flat in Portsmouth, but over the last year I have had to rent a cheap place in London (in addition to the Portsmouth flat) for work purposes. It is basic to say the least and has no central heating or double glazing. I returned on Wednesday after a couple of days in Portsmouth to find the living room measuring a frigid 3C. Fortunately a Calor Gas heater and hot air fan quickly get the temperature up to 20C+ but it does leave the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom very cold. Thus I have been sleeping in the living room during this cold spell as I am regularly having to get up at 0230-0400 for work. In the peak of summer we couldn't get any air in the flat at all and we had the opposite extreme!

The snow got as far as Clanfied/Rowlands Castle it seems, certainly saw lying snow in the Petersfield area this afternoon on my way back to London.

Hadley recorded a CET of -4.3 on December 25th 2010 and with such a late Easter also coinciding with some very warm temperatures for the time of year I would be interested to see what is currently the biggest difference between the CET data for Christmas day and the following Easter Sunday, surely we cannot be far from a record this year? It is quite conceivable for Christmas day to have a higher CET than Easter (if a mild Christmas is followed by an early Easter in a cold spell), this year we could be looking at a gap of 20C in CET figures (at least in some areas). Can anybody provide some data?

Thunder and lightning in Portsmouth at the moment, first thunder for many months here! Storm approaching.

Overnight low of 10C, early patchy mist led to a short sunny spell before the cloud rolled in around 7am. Still overcast now but warmer than yesterday at 19.3C.

I'm currently reporting -3 and I'm exactly a mile from the Clarence Pier in Southsea which is exceptionally low for us. I known lower of course but not at this location.

This was the situation in Portsmouth at about 2130: Winston Churchill Avenue It has quietened down now.......for the time being.

I'm Portsmouth born and bred but the last significant snow I saw was in Feb 1996 and I would only be frustrated to see other areas getting significant snowfall and nothing again in Pompey, but for family reasons I've been in Reading since last wednesday so I've been in just the right place for this event. Tonight Reading is pretty quiet, a very limited bus service ran today but at least there was mobility in the town centre, abandoned cars litter every street an pavements are very slippery. I don't know what Reading has seen in previous years but locals are saying its the worst in a generation. My wife and I arrived at hospital to visit our daughter at around 11am and the nurses said that most of them had simply slept in whatever spaces they could find on the wards last night.

Reading IDR still gridlocked at 23.00 and many abandoned cars in the area. Still snowing.

I live in Portsmouth and I feel a little blessed to have been here in Reading since the first snows last thursday night, what I've seen here today is the most snow I have seen since 1991, and fortunately I've been able to get out and about with my camera to record it all.

Just to give an idea, this was the A329 through Reading town centre at 4.45 this afternoon: My link The snow started at around 12.30, by 14.30 all buses in Reading had been suspended and the taxis were suspended shortly afterwards. Thousands of Christmas shoppers are now stranded in the town centre and traffic is gridlocked throughout the town centre. My wife and I are in the Travelodge and got our rooms for about 40GBP the other day, we were in the lobby a few minutes ago and it was mayhem-the last few rooms went for 120! All the other hotels are full apparently.

Overnight minimum of 18.2 in Portsmouth, the highest since 27th July 2006, currently 21.5 at 10.15 after a cloudy start although the sun is breaking through now so a max of 25-26 should be attained.

Southsea (Hants) has finally reached 20C as of 10 minutes ago, previous high was 19.9 on April 20th. Last time we hit 20C was my wedding day, September 13th 2008. :lol: Matt

Not so good today but Saturday was a glorious day down here on the coast, the seafront traders did a good early season trade and I couldn't help but get my knees damp and grab a quick shot of the first flowers of the year! Early spring in Southsea. Matt

Currently 8.5 degrees after a high of 9.8C this evening, we have not seen double figures since December 23rd. The rain started at around 0530 and and pretty much died out now but todays rainfall total is a quite staggering 53mm which easily beats my previous record of 38.1mm! We should end up with around 55mm for the day which gives us a total of 219mm in the last 24 days, and the previous 24 days yielded just 10mm! Matt

Light snow showers just started in Portsmouth, nothing laying though. Matt

Currently -1.6c after an overnight low of -6.7c which is the lowest recorded temperature in Portsmouth since 1979 (according to the local paper). Visiblility is quite poor, the Isle of Wight has disappeared from view but Gosport is still just about visible! Sky is hazy, no precipitation yet. Matt

Portsmouth, Hampshire. Jan: 8.3 Feb: 7.3 Mar: 7.5 Apr: 9.5 May: 15.3 Jun: 16.1 Jly: 17.4 Aug: 17.2 Sep: 14.7 Oct: 11.3 Nov: 8.8 Dec: 5.0 2008: 11.6 Total rainfall: 979.2mm (about 250mm above average). Hottest day: Jly 27th ,ean of 22.9 Coldest day: Dec 31st mean of 0.3 Wettest day: Dec 13th 38.1mm Highest temp: July 27th: 26.9 Coldest temp: Dec12 -1.8 Hoping for a warmer and drier summer this year! Matt

None whatsoever here in Portsmouth, we had some on April 6th but other that is the only snow we have had since early 2006. Matt

A perfect winters day near enough, temperature here in Portsmouth rose to a maximum of 3.0C giving me my lowest max of the year so far beating the 4.0C we had on January 4th. Luckily for me I was finished at work by lunchtime and headed up to London where the low cloud parted just as I arrived to provide perfect conditions for me and my camera. Matt