Maz

The latest met office fax charts suggest the slightly milder air to the south will push towards us tomorrow night with an increasingly marginal rain/sleet/snow event (those with more knowledge could maybe predict which side of marginal). After briefly moving north of us (putting as in a warm(ish) sector), the fronts push south again and reintroduce colder air by 25th. All very interesting. Doesn't really tie in with their largely dry and cold, coastal wintery showers forecast. Sort of accords with GFS 12z. So, even the next 48hours is up in the air, with a local "cold pool" over the UK, very slack pressure gradients and Greenland blocking, all of which the models/ forecasters struggle to cope with.

Suggests more cloud and an onshore breeze, talking of which there are some large showers building just offshore, showing as hail on the radar. Are they going to push inland? Not sure what the wind direction is its so light?

Snow more showery now, and more worringly its much wetter and the temperature has increased quickly in the last hour from -1.4 to -0.1 Time for the showers to push away if they are going to turn to rain!!

Steady continuous snow in Summerseat for the last hour or so. Glad I decided against trying the commute to Lancaster, its very festive watching the snow. 4th snow "event" since Thursday night and just a bit of melt in Saturdays warm sector. Snow, on snow, on snow....

Hi everyone, Hope you have enjoyed the cold spell so far. Had complete snow cover since Thursday evening in Summerseat. Here is a summary if anyone interested/ wants to compare with their location: - Thursday, 3-4cm from the tail end of the North sea streamer on Thursday night. Powdery snow blowing about in NE wind - Friday, ice day with clear blue skies. - Saturday, slow recovery from min of -5c, snow showers ahead of cold front coming down from the North. Brief drizzly spell, but cold air hung on in sheltered valley giving rapid change to huge flakes of wet snow on the "back edge", topping the cover up to 6cm despite temporary thaw. - Sunday, another -5c min. Snow showers in morning, main bands to N and S initially frustrating, but 2 hours of intense snow around midday, with thundersnow, left 15cm cover and a mainly dry afternoon. The band moved back up over here in the evening with another crack of thunder and hail. Despair as it turned to torrential sleet depleting the cover, before turning back to snow with two more eiree lightning flashes through the thick snow. - Monday, quiet and cold, min -2c, streamer pushed north by SW winds. Cover about 10cm after brief thaw and compaction of the powdery cover. I've enjoyed reading the reports from around the region and sympathise with the coastal folk who have largely missed out. Not sure if we are going to get anymore showers, does not seem likely in the short term with too much southerly in the flow, except for the more northern parts. Anyone any ideas for the rest of Christmas week? Cheers Antony

Thundersnow in Summerseat. Three cracks of thunder, eirie flashes of lighning above the snow. This shower really means business!!

Just started snowing again in Bury, after period of rain, but its light and not amounting to much. Big disappointment unless cold air starts undercutting from the north sharpish and the precipiation picks up. EDIT: larger flakes now...

Light wet snow since mid afternoon, which didn't settle. In last hour, slightly heavier snow has managed to cover everything. Not headline grabbing but better than nowt.

Kayro, Good optmistic post. Its frustrating seeing and reading about the big dumps elsewhere!! A dusting from light snow here to the North of Manchester. Not expecting anything significant from the front coming down from the north. NW'ly streamer may be good in the south of the region, would be localised though. Lets hope Sunday's system can give a decent punch, it could be disingigrating fast as it comes into the cold air.

Lets keep expectations realistic. All the models, upto 00z last night showed the front stalling to our South. Models currently showing it edging into the NW, and maybe stalling. Who is to say whether the models are now correct, whether it will push into Southern Scotland leaving us rain, or stall when it hits Mid Wales and West Mids. Or stalling over us and disintigrating as the energy transfers elsewhere. All down to nowcasting as the band moves north, and the front over Scotland moves south to join it... These "battlegrounds" are always difficult to forecast.

Still a covering of snow, just about, in Summerseat, with the hills above showing the benefit of elevation. Tomorrow/Friday does not yet appear to be a done deal. Form horse is for the front to stall to the south of us, but given enough energy, our region, or some parts of it, could get some snow. After the front a NNW might set in Saturday, possible Chesire Gap showers (won't effect me, but parts of area in firing line if this happens). The GFS ensembles have showed a ppn peak and coldish uppers on Sunday for a while now - another chance of transitory snow maybe, more likely an event where elevation will help. Although this far out treat with a pinch of salt as changes to the Thursday/Friday event will clearly have a knock on effect on what actually transpires. So its not all doom and gloom. We have cold air and low pressure which is always a good combination!! May not deliver here, but lots of potential.

Light snow yesterday evening, after heavier snowfall at tea time, but at 150m ASL was melting faster than it fell from 7.00pm onwards. Further thaw overnight, leaving about 2-3cm. Bit of altitude and further East in Rossendale and some more impressive falls. Similar <5cm covering in the high parts of Blackburn, then all green along the M6. Two mornings with a decent covering from an Easterly is not to be sniffed at. A bit disappointing as the potential was there for a big fall.

Cheers Shadowfax. My partner found it very funny as I slid around and only just made it up our road this morning and she then cruised up in her 4WD!! Expecting a long journey home, but will be enjoying the snow, of course. Hope it pushes over to our "western" bit of Pennines.

How much snow is there in Bury? Just trying to work out how long the commute home from Lancaster might take - Grane Road could be fun, might give that a miss!!

Thanks Cheshire Snow and Interitus. We are not in the direct firing line like places to the south and east, just have to hope some of the frontal energy survives the trip over the hills.

To be fair the showers are actually penetrating westwards really well, sometimes its just an east coast and east facing upslopes event. At least they are getting into the NW, even if rapidly losing intensity as you move west. Ramsbottom area had about 5cm and more falling this morning - but no real heavy snow. Driving westwards on the commute to work, there is a decent covering in north Blackburn, but less than the other side of the hill, and then just a smattering along by the M6 and into Lancaster. Whats the heads up for the frontal snow later today - is it going to slide to the East or hit our region??

Yep, humber, wash and thames seem to be creating "streamers" at the moment, with the occasional little band of showers hitting other areas. Enjoy your Humber streamer!

Saddleworth and Rochdale seem to be taking all the snow - just flurries and a slight dusting a few miles further east around Ramsbottom!!

HotCuppa, they were not a complete waste of space in the NW - 100m or so in elevation has been enough to give two 10cm+ events and one 5cm event. All very marginal though. The current situation is a lot colder so what ppn gets through is will be snow everywhere. And after the showers there is still interest with the chance of frontal snow..

Light snow showers, on and off in Summerseat. Whilst not a great location in an Easterly, there is a dusting. Hoping this spell, or maybe some frontal activity later in the week, can equal the two westerly snow events earlier in the winter.

Thanks for the replies Weathermaster and Coast - from these and other threads on here it seems a good product for a first weather station. Now been ordered!! Cheers Maz

I'm thinking of buying the WS2350. Can anyone that's got it confirm whether it shows dew point temperature? (useful in these marginal snow situations!!) Any other comments? Cheers Maz

Good covering of snow in East Lancs this morning. Glorious snowy scenes from just North of Bury into Rossendale and over towards Southern Blackburn. As is often the case snow line drops with distance from the sea and within the hills, lots of snow down to 100m ASL in places. 5cm at home in Summerseat, deeper with more altitude. As in early December, M60 seems to mark the furthest extent of the cover towards Manchester and ever decreasing snow along the M65, no snow when reach the M6 near Preston. Now at work in Lancaster, at 100m, no snow except tops of the Forest of Bowland. Really interesting driving from damp Lancaster into winter wonderland yesterday and back today on commute. Wonderful example of lapse rates, surface modification by Irish Sea and orographic (sp?) nature of ppn. The frost and fog hollows, temperature inversions and snow dustings etc of the high pressure were really interesting, but the early December and current Atlantic cold, even if a lot less severe, take some beating for me. Cheers Maz

Delta X-Ray: Is it really worth it? John W, puts it really well in his post. There is risk in all mountain activities, there is also enormous reward, pleasure and satisfaction from being out there. Only the individual climber/skier etc can decide whether its worth it for them. Antony