iand61

Looks like my shovel will be out again next week if the charts are to be believed. if it’s anything like the test of this winter though it’ll be potential i’m shovelling rather than snow.

Problem is that although it comes within the Di Ox “at least it will be mild” category it feels bloody bitter out. I’ll take -2, cloud and dry over my current 5c and drizzle any day.

I’ll settle for some of that Atacami climate. not being greedy, just a few months of dry.

If it’s anything like I had over New Year it’s not nice, kept me sober when I should have been drunk and practically bed ridden when I should have been enjoying the last few days of my holidays. anyway on a slightly brighter note i’ve Just drove over the tops from Todmorden to Bacup and it’s snowing like mad. more sleety down here but at above 350m it was starting to settle. hardly the start of another 1947 but a surprise all the same.

Well after over week of getting forecasts wrong it looks like the Met and BBC should be applauded for their accuracy on this mornings squall line. i was expecting the worst of the weather as I drove to work between 6.30 and 7.00 and that’s when it arrived. heaviest horizontal rain i’ve seen for a long time.

I bet it took some clearing with that shovel.

Definitely wet wain and windy.

Plenty of rain for Pennine areas as well looking at the forecasts, probably won’t last long but looked pretty intense as it crosses west to east. coupled with the strong winds and the chance of squall lines it could be a wild couple of hours.

You’ve probably more chance from that than our very uncold cold spell gave.

Snow getting heavier here now and starting to stick on the cars. at the moment it just looks like a continuation of yesterday, sort of Groundhog Day but without the depth of snow in the film.

Have you been on the red wine or gas and air mate.

Ours was the 23rd and the actual depth of snow that fell wasn’t that great, maybe 6 inches but it was powder type and it just blew into massive drifts leaving the fields all green.

I think the West coast of Cumbria and IOM got even more snow from that system than we did.

Oh for a repeat of that blizzard. the retaining wall in the first picture is over 10 feet high and there was still the last remains of snow behind walls on the tops in early May.

Not the heaviest snow but probably the best blizzard here since 1979.

Steady snow here and starting to get a reasonable covering on the grass etc. could be an interesting journey north for the Man U fans heading to Turf Moor and for us going over Deerplay summit from Bacup.

Started here and not rain, not sleet, not hail but that most unusual of sites proper snow. light at the moment but the radar shows a large area of heavier stuff heading this way so maybe a reasonable covering.

Got our standard 1cm overnight but at least it doesn’t look like melting anytime soon and hopefully will have some more added when that area reaches us in the next few minutes. providing it reaches here and is snow when it does.

Yep it happens every time and we still get sucked in to the hype. maybe one day a decent wintry spell will just appear unannounced...........unlikely but we live in hope.

True but i’d sacrifice my joke winters for theirs if I could have a southern summer. Other than on very high ground i think there is less difference in winter conditions throughout England than those in summer and as I get holder I clamber for heat more than I do cold.

I agree that endless mild and wet is a depressing waste of a season that could offer much more but after the let downs of the last few weeks and this week in particular i’ll be happy with a period of zero expectations. i’ve had enough of this potential to last a lifetime, spent every evening this week shovelling the damn stuff and there’s still more every time I look at the forecasts.

Nowt much to report here, some sleet, a bit of hail and the odd flash of lightening somewhere in the more exciting distance. oh and the temperature has been stuck on 2.5c for days.

On about that at work today, a week long cold spell without a frost. i’ve seen more wintry conditions in late spring and early autumn. yes it’s been excellent for some parts of the UK and half decent for a few in this region but poor IMBY

Get your money on it, you heard it here first

Better get my virtual snow shovel ready again for later although my forecast for the next 48 hours is pretty straightforward. tonights showers will be sleet at best due to uppers and surface temperatures being just the wrong side of marginal. saturday will see snow fail to reach the southernmost parts of the region whilst plastering the midlands sunday the milder sector will arrive earlier than expected and mean that the northwest sees a bit of sleet over high ground and cold rain elsewhere while heavy drifting snow across areas east of the Pennines causes chaos. No science behind it but worth a fiver of anyone’s money at the bookies.