rich1

I feel there has been a tendency lately from a few to maybe over analyse and pick holes in the output when in years gone by we would be drooling over charts like these its a different kind of winter this year, cant remember a spell like this before xmas fo so long, and we didnt get that much here. Was speaking to my dad, he says he doesnt remember anything like this since he moved south in 1981, the sheer depth of cold, the persistence of lying snow before xmas etc. Up north its even better so if cold runs are being shown, this winter isnt what we have been used to, built upon last winter which for some areas brought a lot of wintry weather, perhaps the rules of 'expect it to all go t!ts up and downgrade or go wrong' arent the same any more wondering if we ended up getting a winter that topped the 80's, would be interesting to see what people would think of future cold spells in the models on forums like these in the coming years ...

Is this another one of these northern chip on shoulder scenarios... the reality is more people live in the south, they are less used to the cold weather = more disruption and more people affected by it when it occurs I like the runs generally, suspect the evolution may slip southwards as the time comes but everywhere will be getting colder eventually in all probability. With any luck the milder hump on the London ensembls around the 29th will continue to diminish. Cold new year in prospect and northern areas dont warm up much at all

tend to find these updates follow the outputs more or less rather than the outputs following them. If we see more cold runs which i think is likely then there will be a slightly toned down 'Its 2009, we cant quite believe the outputs and we love mild but we cant ignore the trend' type of updates, promising shall we say 'below average temperatures' and 'increasing risk of snow especially in higher northern parts'. I would never expect them to go all Joe bstardi on us but suspect the met office will be going for progressively colder weather as we approach the new year

Not a big fan of battleground setups per se, usually rubbish down here, always seem to be just a bit too far north and have me pounding the walls with frustration at snow reports 20 miles north whilst we get stuck with the pishing rain. Yuk but can see the bigger picture and the set up is very good on the whole, and to some degree the cold weather will probably win out. Would rather not see any mild weather, maybe a couple of days here, just hope it doesnt drag on though...kind of like the ice and zero degrees weather, hate heavy rain lots of potential there though and the mountains of scotland could end up having a bumper snow season 06z better than the 00z and the ECM looks very good indeed for many including here wasnt around back then but guess there is a 78-79 look to the charts right now looking at the archives...occasional thaws in the south, Scotland an icebox and plunges of cold air down the country with heavy snowfalls

good output today, though personally would like everything as far south as possible

yesderday was a frustrating damp squib during the day but the front swung back overnight and gave about 1cm repairing some of the damage to the snowcover, persisted well in the shade today with temperatures barely above freezing, wasnt the 4 or 5 degrees forecasted anyway tonight looks very cold if it stays clear, may be a harsh frost. The colder the nights the better, may help the cold air and snow we have persist a bit longer up to the big day itself. Decent cold spell here though maybe not as spectacular as elsewhere and is still ongoing

how many white christmases do the south coast ever get? A rough estimate is none...so you can hardly be that suprised can you as it is, it looks cold for most areas except the far sw, but the models have struggled somewhat with the detail over the last few days and even at very short notice there is potential for snow in a lot of places still. I wouldnt be ruling out anything at this point though coastal areas around the south and Cornwall I would say that it is extremely unlikely but for other areas, in this pattern, anything is possible. For me I am kind of hoping the night stays clear on xmas eve and the cold remains in place for the day with a sunny frosty xmas with our residual snow on the ground in the shade giving a xmassy feel. Be far better than anything I can remember if that was the case and there is a decent chance of that IMO. Colder today than was modelled anyway so...

god this is peeing me off. damp here, and hear people are saying it will rain as it comes back. Cock it maybe I might take the train to Reading for my Xmas shopping instead assuming they are running still its been a good run, maybe some freezing fog in the next couple of days and a frost or two and a crisp xmas day to round things off before maybe another go after next weekend....

where the rubberducks my snow? grrrrrrrrr

drizzle here atm, kind of expected what we had today but didnt expect areas, some less than 10 miles either side to get snow which is what has slightly annoyed me no offence to those enjoying it btw hope the weather warnings are right and the rest of us in the home counties who got nothing but a thaw today can maybe get something from this

Ah, right, ok, so still maybe half a shout then cloudy and dry here though cold. Maybe round 2 comes later for here and be snow this time

now stopped any form of precipitation, wonder if we will get this lot swinging back again and maybe giving some snow this time rather than the wet rubbish earlier here? Maybe colder now, might have better luck and it might repair some of the lost snowcover not counting on it though. Trying to get snow on snow has been a bit of a frustrating business, really would have liked to see it this year but havent quite pulled it off thus far, know its rare but it is a meterological milestone in this day and age for this area

Light drizzle in hacked off of sw surrey wouldnt have been so irritated if so many other places barely a stone throw away had been copping a hatful. You would think we could do a bit better than the centre of london but no...gah feel that might be the last of the snow in the cold snap for me. Did ok on Thursday last week and hung around well though todays rain and cack damaged it. Look for a few frosts and a frosty xmas day and that might be alright

Output looks horrible, July has set the tone, like the last 2 years My money is on a stinker. 15.2 please

Rain turning quite sleety down here now with temperaatures falling away a little not expecting too much but is interesting...

On top of the wintry mix here with rain mixed with sleet, this flash warning just emerged from the Met Office http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_...t_warnings.html wouldnt be ruling anything out just yet guys, these situations are very hard to forecast and you cant be dealing in definites...

Had some sleet and the odd flake of wet snow mixed in with the rain here...which is more than what I was expecting present forecasts indicate rain monday/tuesday but at this stage I wouldnt be ruling anything out just yet, just needs temps to drop a degree or two and these lows can be quite contrary and hard to pin down. Best to keep expectations low but not to be too premature

I think people should be looking also late tuesday onwards as the winds swing round to the NE as this low barrels eastwards...that may aid convection and drive heavy snow showers some way inland with colder uppers...not much said on countryfile but expect that to become more of an issue in SE UK later in the week At the moment, all Met O attention is on Monday and Tuesday, which could still produce here if the low tracks differently [very possible, these have a mind of their own, though wouldnt be expecting too much all the same] but for the rest of us, especially on eastern coastal areas, this cold spell is not done with us, there could be more chances which would be seen as major in previous winters but maybe might slip under the radar in the lee of this LP on monday/tuesday

My feeling was that the signals pointed to a cold season but the Met Office were a bit reluctant to go for it, as firstly the media will jump on it and secondly after the number of mild winters we have had in the last 20 years they didnt quite dare go against the trend. They kind of sat on the fence, said it wouldnt be so mild as in previous years but still 'above average', but at least they adjusted it when they felt they couldnt ignore what appeared to be happening. Their caution may have bitten them on the rse this time, though its not as though they were way out, if it had been 1962-3 and they forecasted a 1988-9 then they would have been way out, but they didnt do an Ian Brown I guess :lol:

I think those living near the coasts may as well resign themselves to disappointment [though still be optimistic of a suprise] and remember sadly that the sea will always moderate these kinds of setups unfavourably Here though, I sense more frustration but wouldnt it be nice just for once if these damned lows would track about 20 miles southwards rather than 60 miles northwards...Sunday night was great but just want an extra heavy snowfall to last for a couple of days to make this winter a truly memorable one, be great if one more set up can deliver here...if it ends up being north of London or west of Basingstoke yet again my irritation will know no bounds...and I dont live in Kent, where they must be tearing their hair out :lol:

Peering out the window, can make out light flurries of snow, clouds appear to be deepening but been a little frustrating here today any hopes of any intensification? hopefully I wont be reduced to providing a substitute to fill in the grassy bits, could be somewhat wearing but desperate times call for desperate measures

Was in Guildford, higher parts of the town did well out of a wet blizzard today, couple of inches on the downs came back home to nothing, though the saving grace was that what lying snow was quite resilient today but where has the precip gone south of guildford? seems to be all around but here...

Quite steady snowfall here now, looks to be setting in though still a bit wet so not lying readily except on frozen surface snow, but something seems to be pepping things up now Maybe a trip to the higher hills surrounding the town might be a laugh this afternoon... :lol:

Flurries of snow getting heavier and more 'snow' like now...

Yep, skies darkening and steady flurries of sleet/wet snow with the odd bit of drizzle, patchy at times but still continuing to fall, maybe we might get something out of this after all, met O updating their warnings as we type not what I was hoping for yesterday but still better than a kick up the bot from Bobby Charlton I suppose...would be happy with a cm or 2