du_snow

Those are great images!

Well lets hope its true! The last I saw of the Fair Isle, it was pretty cool, but dry. (this morning)......Ill go check the webcams there now.

Cheers Ry. DEEPEST SNOW Weather station Altitude New Snow FAIR ISLE 57 metres 10.0mm Whats that all about? I didnt see any snow on the Fair Isle today :?

I had to type fast because my cat was being sick on my leg :!:

Its because your not in the coldest secotr yet Pete, watch out for around 3pm onwards

Pete, I reckon you should be entering the colder sector soon, so watch for some sleet/snow for a time, especially this afternoon/evening......

OH no the run of below zero minima was broken!

Well i think tommorow is likely to be frosty for some at least, then Friday, I'd say possible widespread ground/air frost in the North, then Saturday and Sunday seem pretty dead cert at the moment! 14-15 nights maybe! :shock: :!:

Cheers Ry! How many consecutive sub zero nights is that now :shock: I just calculated, it's at least 10 sub zero nights in a row now!!! :shock: Wow! That's pretty good!

lol, yep here's to that! :lol: As early as the wekend maybe!

No probs Ry, I think they answered the questions regarding sever Winters excellently, and I agree with both John and Joe on those points Glad you liked them lol will do Peter :lol: You just gave my next interview away! lol

No problem WF! I like John's attitude to climate change, and particularly the view on severe Winters!!!

Glad you thought so Thunderfoot! More will follow! Any suggestions for questions for the next interview, put them in the 'New Forum' thread in the Announcements area for now

lol me too, I loved this part:

Thanks Chaser, on behalf of myself and John Im sure John will look in soon! :lol:

Thanks for your comments guys, much appreicated!

Thanks for your comment Ste!

About Joseph S. D'Aleo Chief Meteorologist Weather Services International Corporation The World's Leading Source for Weather Joe D'Aleo has over 25 years experience in professional meteorology. He has BS and MS degrees in Meteorology from The University of Wisconsin and did his doctoral studies in Meteorology at NYU. Joe taught Meteorology at the college level for over 8 years and was the first director of Meteorology at the cable TV Weather Channel, a position he held for 7 years. Joe played a key role in designing The Weather Channel' programming and managed a 40 member forecast support staff responsible for the daily production of all on-air weather forecasts and graphics. Joe joined WSI in 1989 where he has been instrumental in the planning and development of WSI' suite of value-added products and of WSI' meteorological workstations. Joe also has helped in the design of unique weather product families (Golfcast, Sailcast, Weather and Health) and authored widely-read weekly weather stories and features as the popular Dr. Dewpoint on WSI' Intellicast Web site. Joe is a Certified Consultant Meteorologist and was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He has served as member and then chairman of the American Meteorological Society' Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting, and has co-chaired national conferences for both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Joe has authored, presented, and published numerous papers focused on advanced applications enabled by new technologies and how research into phenomena such as El Niño has made possible skillful long-range forecasts on a seasonal basis. Ive give you, Dr. Joe D'Alleo! What is your favourite weather type, and why? My interest in meteorology emerged as a child growing up during the snowy years of the 1950s and 1960s - so snow is my favorite weather type. My master's thesis was on east coast storms - the so called nor'easter. I developed a snow index for Boston that estimates seasonal snow based on 6 weather and climate factors. I frrequently lecture on winters and snow for the media and weather organizations and industry in the US. Whats the most extreme weather event you've experienced, and how did it alter your perception of nature and the power it holds? My family and I nearly lost our lives in hurricane Carol in 1954. Our summer home was surrounded by Long Island Sound ocean water with waves lapping at our front door. We were saves as the storm center passed and winds shifted and the water rushed out. We all gained considerable respect for the power of nature that summer. When did you first become interested in the weather, and why? My first recollections were of a big snowstorm when I was 18 months old. The snowy days of the 1950s and 1960s made me convinced weather was what I wanted to be involved in for a career. What do you make of the recent summer in Europe and the UK, and the extreme heat it brought to some areas? Induced by climate change? Climate change yes...greenhouse no. Just another example of natural cyclical changes. After all, the records broken were set in colder times, most notably 1976, when one of the coldest winters on record followed in North America and elsewhere. The oceans and sun have reverted back to configurations that we had back in the 1950s to 1970s, our last cold era. See my latest story on this topic http://www.intellicast.com/DrDewpoint/Library/1395/. That era was characterized by hotter summers and colder winters. What do you make of the unusual cold sea anomolies in the mid Atlantic and the coastline around Florida? River runoff? Melt-water from glaciers maybe? The most remarkable anoamlies were actually the warm anomalies in the north and tropical Atlantic and Pacific, a sign of the return to the state observed in the 1950s and 1960s. The cold water off of the east coast of North America (including Florida) was due to enhanced upwelling due to persistent southerly winds around the very strong Bermuda high this summer. The southerly winds cause a transport of surface water away from the land and an upwelling of colder deeper water from beneath to replace it. Do you expect the UK will see a severe Winter again, on a par with that of 1963 (for example)? Absolutely and SOON. The new ocean configuration means the negative (cold) state of the North Atlantic Oscillation will become more and more common. When other factors combine to favor this state, it will become severe. One or more of the winters in the next half dozen years will see an extreme winter average of this oscillation with resultant return of memorable cold and snow for the UK. I think Joe also deserves a round of applause, for another fantastic interview. Thankyou Joe! Also see link: http://www.intellicast.com/DrDewpoint/

Originally from Britain, John moved to Tasmania in 1980, settling near Launceston, and for the last 9 years have been one of the numerous `skeptics' speaking out publicly against the Global Warming scare, which makes exaggerated claims that the earth will warm by +1.5 to +6 deg. C. due to an enhanced Greenhouse Effect. Climate and climate change has been a lifelong study of mine since my early days as a ship's officer in the British Merchant Navy. I have lived through and traced the progress of the `ice age' scare of the 1970's, the `nuclear winter' scare of the 1980s, and now the `global warming' scare of the present. All these scares have advanced the interests of what was a small academic discipline 30 years ago to become a mammoth global industry today. It is my view that this industry has, through the `politics of fear' which it has promoted, acted against the interests of the public. Origionally from Britain, John moved to Tasmania in 1980, settling near Launceston, and for the last 9 years has been one of the numerous 'skeptics' of the recent Global Warming scare, which makes claims the Earth will warm by +1.5 to +6c due to an enhanced greenhouse affect. In Johns own words: "Climate and climate change has been a lifelong study of mine since my early days as a ship's officer in the British Merchant Navy. I have lived through and traced the progress of the `ice age' scare of the 1970's, the `nuclear winter' scare of the 1980s, and now the `global warming' scare of the present. All these scares have advanced the interests of what was a small academic discipline 30 years ago to become a mammoth global industry today. It is my view that this industry has, through the `politics of fear' which it has promoted, acted against the interests of the public." He is the author of 'The Greenhouse Trap' (Bantam Books 1989)(above) and also of articles and papers in New Zealand Science Monthly, New Woman, Forest Industries Journal , Norwegian Oil Review, papers in "Climate Change" (Univ. of Western Sydney) and for the 1990 ANZAAS Congress. Written and verbal submissions to the Industry Commission and the 1996 National Greenhouse Response Strategy Review. I give to you, John. L. Daly: Is the climate in Tasmania similar to that of the UK? Is the landscape atall similar? The climate here would be comparable to that of France, in that we have milder winters and warmer summers. The summers here are also more reliable as there are consistently more sunshine days than in Britain. Vineyards and premium wines are now a major industry here, which gives some indication of our climate. Tasmania has two distinct climate zones, the wet climate of the western, more mountainous, half of the island (which is exposed to the `Roaring Forties'), and the drier climate of the eastern half (a rain shadow effect). The landscape is a combination of rolling pastoral countryside and mountainous wilderness in the centre and the the west. Because Tasmania's population is only 480,000 on an island the size of Ireland (a population density of only 6 people per sq. km. compared to several hundred in Britain), large areas of the island have only slight human impact (roads, towns, infrastructure etc.), while all our electricity comes from hydro-electric schemes. What extremes of temperature have you experienced there? Do you dip below freezing at all? or break the magic 100F mark? Most parts of Tasmania experience winter frosts (my home near Launceston saw -5°C on several mornings this year) and snow falls and settles on ground above the 500 metre level. In summer, we only get really hot temperatures when the wind is northerly, the highest in Launceston being around 32°C and up to 38°C (100°F) in Hobart. Sometimes Hobart has exceeded that but no-one regards it as remarkable as these occasional scorcher days occur most years. When the wind is not northerly, summer daytime temperatures are typically in the mid to high 20s celsius. As I said above, Ive followed your work for a while, and I know a lot of people who have a great amount of respect you, myself included, but what made you want to challenge the theory of Global Warming? When it all began in 1988, I was appalled to see scientists lending their reputations, and the reputation of science itself, to the most outrageous scare stories. There was loose talk about a Venus-like `runaway greenhouse' and even kids in schools were being indictrinated into thinking they had no future. Some of these scientists became media stars in the process, several of them British. I believed then that the evidence would have to be very compelling indeed to justify such alarmist tactics on their part. But the more I examined that evidence, the less compelling it looked and much of it was flaw-ridden to such an extent that it could hardly be described as `science' at all. It was also very disturbing to find that computer simulations - models - were being used as policy instruments when none of them were validated. That's still the case today. So, even though I was a layman, it was not difficult to identify these flaws and the manifestly political approach many of the scientists were adopting. The IPCC's `Hockey Stick' is the latest example of what is very flawed science inspired mostly by political, not scientific, considerations. We on net-weather are all extreme weather enthusiasts, but what is your favourite extreme weather? Tornadoes are my favourite. This is because you not only see all the drama of an extreme event, but also see the whole SYSTEM which creates it. In other extreme events, you can only ever see one small part of the whole system. With supercell thunderstorms - and the tornadoes that often accompany them - you see the whole weather system in action. They also deliver the heaviest rain, the largest hail, and the most spectacular lightning displays, in addition to the winds and/or tornadoes. We get some tornadoes in Australia, more than most people think because many of them go unreported due to the sparseness of the population. Do you expect the UK will ever see a winter on a par with the 60's/80's again? Don't worry. The `good times' will return. Any country sitting in the fifties latitude cannot avoid at some time in the future catching a cold period with plenty of snow and ice. Just as meteorology can conspire to create heat waves like the ones in 1976 and this year, it can also conspire to deliver a `cold wave' from time to time. Britain's high population density with attendant urbanisation, road networks, and industrial activity, has turned the `urban heat island effect' into something of a region-wide phenomenon, and while this can and does raise temperatures overall, it could not prevent a `cold wave'. The most likely time for such a cold period would be about 2 years from now, when the sun goes into its `solar minimum' phase with, no El Niño activity likely at that time to restrain falling temperatures. We have all seen the major heatwave in Europe this summer, do you believe its at all linked to Global Warming? I lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, during the last big heat wave in 1976. That event was more severe than this year's heat wave in that it lasted much longer and was accompanied by a severe drought which began in 1975. Temperatures in Pembrokeshire went into the mid-30s celsius. The only special feature of the recent heat wave was the breaking of temperature records, particularly in the London area (Gravesend and Heathrow). But the intensity of urbanisation is much greater now than in 1976 and so breaking temperature records is both possible and likely. The next heat wave is likely to break similar records, not because of `global warming' but because a blazing sun beating down on exposed concrete always raises the temperature above the background normal. The more extensive the concrete is, the greater the heating. And finally, do you support the veiw that melting ice sheets will in the near future redirect the Gulf Stream, bringing another younger dryas event? For that to occur, it would be necessary for Thermohaline Circulation to cease in the North Atlantic and Arctic seas. This can happen either from a freshening of the seas from melting ice, or from a warming of the ocean surface waters. The former mechanism is unlikely as there is now now sufficient ice melt in any one year to trigger such an event. Ice volumes were many times greater during the original Younger Dryas as it fed on melt-water from the great ice sheets on Europe and North America. The second possible mechanism, ocean surface warming, is theoretically possible if there was sufficient `global warming'. But that would lead to a climatic paradox - a mini (or even a maxi) ice age triggered by `global warming'. That scenario is promoted by some `scientists' of the doom and gloom variety, but so far ocean temperature changes have been too tiny to make such a mechanism likely in the foreseeable future. I think John desevres a round of applause for a fantastic interview, thankyou very much John! For more info see: http://www.john-daly.com/dalybio.htm Johns excellent main site: http://www.john-daly.com And for Johns 'storm chasing' experience, see this link: www.john-daly.com/chasing

Yes welcome David!

Its a bit dark, but from what I can see it looks amazing!

This cool snap has no relation to this Winter....if you believe the chaos theroy that is! I expect a low of possibly 0c here tonight, and a ground frost is likely!!!

Have you seen the Ptarmigan webcam Pete?! Lots of snow up there I suspect the summit is quite a bit below zero.

Its Andrew of the BBC board isnt it! That is some serious rainfall! Nothing that heavy here, just the odd heavy downpour that made the ground very slippery.

Nothing more than a dampening of the ground at high levels I think, gone by morning!