trickydicky

Its been lightly sleeting in Penrith for an hour or so but is now snowing heavily

That's incredible, you must be right on the beach/by the sea?

2 or 3 inches to lower ground around Penrith, maybe 4 above 200m. 17cm at Shap according to BBC News/Weather. About the same as 29th December but not as wet.

The top of Cross Fell is in Cumbria, so yeah. So are Alston and Nenthead to the east of it. I’d imagine that temperature will be for the plateau up there where nobody will be.

just received this via email at work: Warning for snow/hail/ice 2 warnings spanning Wednesday 17th to early morning Saturday 20th. Cumbria and N Lancs to Thursday; Cumbria Thursday to Saturday. Potential for >15cm snow above 200m, 3-10cm at lower altitudes. Drifting on high ground, travel delays likely. Also mentions 60 to 80mph gusts Wednesday into Thursday.

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Been snowing since 3pm ish in Penrith, quite heavy at times. Nice covering developed. Hopefully will get a few clear nights and sharp frosts now.

Driven from west Cumbria to Penrith in heavy ppn the whole way, ranging from a bizarre mix of settling rain/sleet in west Cumbria to heavy snow from Keswick on. A good 3 inches of snow on the higher parts of the A66 around Penruddock.

First dusting of snow on the high fells this morning

Light covering on roofs in Cockermouth, the fields I can see out of my window seem well covered. Localised coverings in West Cumbria judging by other posts. Probably thinner nearer the sea.

I've always thought I'd want to live somewhere cold and sunny in winter, but I was in Kaunas, Lithuania the other week for a few days and the whole time it was between -10 and -15, which in the grand scheme of things is not too dramatic. My feet and legs were always cold, regardless of what I wrapped them in. So I've sacked that off. Then I thought Nice/South of France, or Northern Italy, but they have had nearly as much rain as us this winter, and southern Europe in general is pretty wet in winter. So now I'm considering Southern California, around the border with Nevada, where its perpetually sunny and you can drive to Lake Tahoe for a bit of snow if it takes your fancy.

I think I have two favourites. Around June/July when you get a warm sunny evening and its about half ten and twilight, still warm and you can hear the wind blowing through the leaves in the trees. The other is on a cold clear evening in winter when the sun has just gone down and the sky is pale blue fading to pink and yellow where the sun is setting.

Where?! I live just outside the Ribble Valley and haven't seen a single flake, or a temperature that might suggest some were nearby. The models are horrific, but can change quickly. I recall posts similar to those tonight at the beginning of last January triumphantly/despondently predicting mild temperatures right through to June. Then what happened? Well, it snowed, lots and lots in some places, right up until about June!

Hi Carinthian, I know you are in Austria but I am off to Hungary next week, Budapest specifically, and it is kind of in your general part of Europe. What is the forecast looking like for lowland central Europe next week? I know there isn't 80cm of snow!

Walked across the car park into work and thought 'that winds icy', I'm sure you're not meant to think that on 23rd May. Fresh snow as low as Glenmore (300m or so) in the Cairngorms apparantly.

I can't remember the last time it even spat with rain here. Since sometime in the first half of March or so all I have had is snow if anything, but mainly sunshine. I love it, though it does look unusually brown round here! I was watching the Tour of the Basque Country cycling yesterday, it was raining heavily there and the countryside was vividly green and lush looking. Looks like that's where our rain has been! They can keep it for me.

In the two and a half hours between 7pm and 9:30pm the temperature here dropped 8 degrees from 6c to -2c. Quite a fall.

Can anyone remember the last time it rained, like proper rained, for a day? Just as noteworthy as the cold, which isn't all that noteworthy anymore other than for longevity, has been the dryness. Ploughed fields round here are ochre coloured, rather than a boggy mess, dust is blowing around on paths and the fields have got even browner. It's quite odd. When/if we do get a warm damp spell the transformation in the countryside should be pretty impressive.

The effect of this cold weather for me has just been the obvious observational ones. The snow drops are out, the daffodils aren't, the countryside is largely brown and there is an unusual amount of snow around. Also, I work in Blackpool and the folk in my office were told we weren't allowed to use our usual town centre car park over Easter, having to use one some considerable distance away, leaving the spaces free for the expected droves of incoming Glaswegians. The influx however has not arrived and the car park is empty. This is either because of the cold weather, or because everyone has finally realised how much of a toilet it is here. Also, I watched a Barn Owl hunt for a good hour yesterday in broad daylight (not in Blackpool), I've never seen this before and could be as a result of hard times brought on by the cold. I think all this talk of exceptional cold is a bit over done. Firstly, its only March and cold weather in March is hardly unheard of, and also temperatures have not been all that low at night (as they haven't been all winter), due to the wind and cloud. 20c and wall to wall sunshine would be more unusual for me. Fair enough deep snow and short legged sheep are an unfortunate combination but deep snow is not unusual on hill farms in March. My dad always used to tell me that we (Cumbrians) always get the best (i.e deepest) snow in March, it probably isn't true but highlights that snow and March have met before. I think its just that we haven't had cold weather of any great duration for a long time (aside from 09/10) and we have become unused to and shocked by it. Farmers may take a hit that perhaps in the past they would have been able to absorb, or more used to riding out, but it would have been worse like others have said if it had been warm first and everything had grew and then been killed off. As it is everything is just late. And if people have tried to make a living by selling poxy plastic garden funiture and barbeques then they should have thought it through a bit harder.

I have had my fill of none settling snow this winter! A couple of mm's that melts when the sun pops out isn't going to make up for missing out on the snow storm of the decade on Friday night!

I wasn't entirely snow free, there was a slight covering of a cm or two that the strong wind did for in no time. There was more just to the east where you start getting towards the Pennines, and from what I could see yesterday Dunsop Bridge still had a decent amount. I have never known a winter as frustrating as this one. We did well from the event at the end of January, it really hammered it down, was it the 28th, but melted the day after. But generally we have been too far north, and have had day after day after of very light snow trundling along on the wind amounting to naff all. I feel like I've spent all winter looking out the window waiting for it to start properly. We did have 2 weeks of cover that steadily reduced to about 60% in late January, but it was just enough to cover the grass, at best. I work in Blackpool, and it has been noticeable that Blackpool has done better than Preston. I think you'd have to have a toss up between Lancaster and Preston for the North West's snowless capital!

We (the North West) can get snow from any angle, some angles favour certain areas more than others, and some seem to cash in no matter what. This year the snow has come mainly from the south as our cold has come mainly from the east and precipiation has been in the form of Atlantic lows coming up and hitting it. This favours the south of the region as the cold to the north east prevents the lows moving too far north, and if they do cross the whole region, they push the cold away turn to rain anyway. In 2009/10 our cold came from the North due to Greenland high pressure, we all cashed in then as the wind was slightly west of north and the Irish sea created convection. That is ideal for the otherwise entirely snowless north and west of Lancashire. In a direct easterly, so beloved of our southern cousins, we are generally sheltered from snow coming off the North Sea by the Pennines, this is also true of a north easterly and even straight northerly's, but the western downslope of the Pennines, like Oldham and Macclesfield can get hit. And there are also places, like Saddleworth, the Buxton area, and the north Pennines around Alston in Cumbria, that get snow regardless of the direction of the wind, due to their greater exposure to easterlies, and added height in marginal westerly types.

Considering this was an Atlantic frontal attack there were some spectacular variations in snowfall over pretty small distances. It appears the heaviest precepitation was in two blobs, one got as far north as about Leyland, but somehow missed some parts of Cheshire, and the other stayed mainly out west, hammering the Isle of Man, and South West Cumbria upto as far north as Seascale, but somehow missed Northern Cumbria, and smashed into Arran. It's soooo frustrating when you miss out. I changed my mind following the 2009/10 events but I have returned to my opinion that the north west quarter of Lancashire in a rough area north of the Ribble and as far east as the edge of the Pennines, is cursed. I took the dogs out yesterday up Longridge fell, and the snow litterally stopped on the little ridge of hills just south of the Ribble! Roll on summer, at least then we all miss out!

I'm willing to bet that it will hammer it down with snow up to as far north as Wigany Bolton from the south, as far west as about Clitheroe to the east and also in south Cumbria and, just maybe the Isle of Man but here in Longridge we will get nothing more than light snow drifting along on the wind that will amount to little more than a few cm's that will melt at about half 8. Its the form horse.

I can't actually believe that this has happened again, and again, and again this winter. I'm sick to death of none settling snow, fronts stalling literally a matter of miles from my house and having to look on here and be gutted. Its unbelievable!