iand61

sums it up quite well and ties in with what I remember of the event. in intensity it still ranks as one of the heaviest falls of snow i've ever witnessed although just as remarkable was the time of year it occured and the speed which it then disappeared with little or nothing left by early the following week. one thing i didn't mention at the time was that we were due to play cricket on the Saturday afternoon ( yes it was cricket season ) and although the opposition were contacted and told that play would not be possible the umpires wouldn't be told and only decided that we may indeed be looking at a called off match when they got stuck over a mile from the ground. I think the bowlers run up may have been shortened somewhat that day as would the ability to hit fours.

probably right with that date, another strange thing was that it came at the end of what was otherwise quite a snow free winter, certainly by the standards set around the late 70's, early 80's. Ian

Hi Snow lover, it was a meant a little tongue in cheek and I hope yourself and others who are predicting another cold winter are proved correct although it did get a little tedious by mid January last winter. I love snow but after spending 2 of the coldest days of last winter outside trying to thaw out diesel trucks all i wanted was summer. All of that said I to believe that something is changing with the weather and we are on the way back to the sort of winters i enjoyed as a child. Ian

My forecast for the coming winter - mainly mild and wet, very limited frost and only a small chance of snow. The science behind my forecast - non whatsoever other than on the back of the problems we had from last years conditions i've just ordered our company several tonnes of rock salt whilst available and reasonably priced and are in the middle of making fork lift attached snow ploughs to keep yard areas clear. Come the end of winter I will possibly be knighted for my services to the art of forward planning although more than likely I will be made to sit with a bare backside on the top of an unused 1 tonne bag of winter salt whilst looking at what I can gonvert an unused steel snow plough into. There will be snow but only time will tell whether it will be with us or tantalisingly close by in Europe. Ian

Has anyone on here got memories of the very heavy snow of late April 1981. Not sure of the date although i do remember the event, certainly in our locality quite vividly. The week before had been mainly spring like with warm and sunny weather over much of the period. The Thursday night was still very mild with no suggestion, certainly to me who at 19 took little interest in weather forecasts that anything different was on its way. However Friday morning dawned with steady snow; nothing unusual really as most Aprils produce snow at our altitude but the difference here was that it carried on all day increasing in intensity so that by evening we had around 10 inches of wet, although blowing snow. I assume that it carried on throughout the night as it was still snowing heavily as i made my way to work on the Saturday morning only to be turned around at the factory as the snow which by this time was around 18 inches deep had brought power lines down. If my memory is correct it snowed lightly until around lunchtime on the Saturday after which the clouds cleared, a strong sun came out and a very rapid thaw commenced. Within 3 days we were back to spring like temperatures although our house was looking for a new trough as the weight of snow had brought the old one down. One of the most amazing aspects of this event was that my sister was due to leave hospital on the Saturday morning after giving birth to her second child down the valley at Bury. I was going to pick her up at around 11am but rang to tell her that all roads out of town were blocked by snow. She thought I was extracting the urine as there was a gardener mowing grass outside the window of her ward. It's amazing what 10 miles and more particularly 500 feet altitude does for snow chances. What I am unsure of is whether this was purely a Pennine event or was it spread wider. Any further memories would be appreciated.

fully agree Conor123, we've has nothing aproaching a heatwave up here. In fat the last week has been average to say the least. at least us having a hose pipe ban isn't a problem when the ground is so wet that no one needs to unravel the damn thing. hear's hoping for a better next week than the one we've just had.

Spent a day in Funchal on Madeira during a cruise over Christmas and was amazed how beautiful as place it was. Houses seem to literally hang on to the mountain sides and some of the roads are as steep as anything i've ever seen. We went on the cablecar up from the sea front to the top of the mountain and crossed a few of the canalised mountain streams. It did occur to me then that, given severe enough conditions, these rivers could easily overflow with the size of some of the boulders on the beds obvious evidence of past floods. Obviously thoughts must go out to those who died and those with property damage and i do hope that Madeira can recover quickly enough so the tourists, for which the local economy relises so much will return. Even in my very limited time, there i realised how special a place it is. Ian

Looks like its nailed that the bitter cold and heavy snow is going to arrive in our region at the end of the coming week and last for 7 days. How can i be so sure - because that is when i am in Egypt for a weeks holiday. I was away at Christmas and missed all but day 1 of that wintry spell and was at friends on Merseyside over New Year when our part of Lancashire was buried in snow. Not complaining though as i've had enough cold for one winter but for all of you folks dreaming of more snow, i hope you get all you wish for and if anyone close to home is being greedy and wishing for metres of the stuff i'll just clear my drive when i get home. Ian

Looking at the fact that the MetO have downgraded their advisory for our region and the way that they have performed during the recent wintry spell i would say that we are in for an absolute pasting - two feet of level snow, 20 feet drifts and entire towns cut off. Sorry got my feet mixed up with millimetres and we'll probably be lucky to see that. I can't see anyone in the region getting more that a little wet snow at best with even the higher parts, Pennines Peak District etc not having enough to cause problems. Just can't see where the low temperatures are coming from and certainly Wednesday's precipitaion doesn't look heavy enough to cause many problems even it it was snow. That said though, all may change with tomorrows runs and the advisory may be upgraded again. Ian

All's quiet on the North Western Front tonight folks. Not really surprising with the weather we have now compared to what we've just had. A bit like the first couple of days back at work after a two weeks holiday in the sun although, unlike the holiday, where it's usually followed by a year before you're back at the airport, we still have a couple of months left where proper winter can rear it's head again. I personally can't see the severity of the cold and snow returning again this winter but that doesn't mean we are done with the seasonal stuff. Far from it in fact: i think that we are entering a period of what could be classed as typical old fashioned winter weather. Polar Maritime air giving coldish but not bitter temperatures with frequent weather fronts crossing from West to East. If conditions are favourable then heavy snow rather than rain and frosts on many nights and the beauty about this set up is that the Northwest is one part of the country which would benefit. On what do i base my views; nothing really other than a few looks at the various models on which i'm no expert and comparisons with the winters of my youth when they all seemed to follow a freeze, thaw, freeze pattern rather than the 3 months of constant mush we have experienced over the vast majority of the last 25 years. This is probably just hopecasting but i do have a feeling that this winter could still hold a few aces up it's sleeve. Ian

but for a spell of freezing rain this morning which covered the cars in solid ice, today would have been one of the more easily forgot days of this cold spell. our temperature has hardly moved all day from -1.5c at 6am to -1.1c max in the early afternoon to - 1.5c now. seems like the uppers have fallen slightly during the day as the rain turned to sleet, then snow and from about 3pm onwards it has stuck to the ground. depth wise, seems about on a par with everywhere else, certainly from Manchester northwards - a covering and little more. the journey home from work tonight was the worst of the period due to the icy state of even the main roads. did see a couple of gritters about but were flashing orange lights and not much else. obviously saving what grit is available for when the roads are safer. LOL! all attention now; certainly short term is on the potential for heavy rain over the weekend and the quantity of melt water trapped in the vast amounts of snow currently sat on The Pennines and other high ground. i can see a rapid thaw of this snow and the inability of frozen ground to soak this up causing problems in low lying areas early next week. beyond that, possibly the next round of winter 2009/10 Ian

From a complete IMBY point of view, this winter (so far) coz it may still have more surprises to give has been quite amazing. Certainly when you consider the absolute dross we've had for many previous years. In our part of the Pennines, at modest height we've probably had more snowfall in the last three weeks or so than in the last 10 winters put together. Higher up, still and conditions must be severe and rank with the likes of 47,63, 79 etc. Temperatures have been even more spectacular. My lowest recorded was - 12c with a maximum of -6c the following day. These levels must compare with anything in previous years and certainly the -12c reading was tropical compared to other areas. it was however the first time since 1979 that we have had diesel frozen in vehicles at work. as i said on a previous post, although i like the snow i am getting rather fed up with conditions now; may be a thing of getting older so if a thaw does come and thats it for winter 2009/10 then, i for one will look back and think, pretty bad that was but not as severe as 1979. all that said though - another 2 months of the winter period left yet so maybe we aint seen nothing yet. Ian

so that's what it's called - i thought my sensor had packed in yesterday. currently - 0.8c here, last night the lowest was - 0.1c both today and yesterday peaked at + 1c. very little difference and all feel absolutely perishing Ian

Fully agree TS winters should be cold and snowy - maybe if they were then, as a country we cope better rather than having games of "spot the snow plough" and "how thin can you spread your grit" as is the case now. As for sparing a thought for those who aint had much then please send a tipper down here and i'll give you some of mine. won't even charge you for it. Ian

Its been a cold, damp, horrible sort of day in these parts; one which i've spent much of the time outside clearing snow and the crap that it becomes once the temperature reaches the dizzy heights of +1c. Obviously can't speak for other parts of the region but in Rossendale; certainly Bacup, very little of the snow on the ground has actually melted. It's still around 10 inches deep in the garden and hard packed over a foot deep on the pavements higher up the hill and we've had what was possibly more light snow late this afternoon. I say possibly because it could well have been already fallen snow blown off the fields by the gusty winds. The main road from Bacup to Burnley has actually been closed or barely passable for much of the day because of drifting snow with the Bacup to Todmorden one in a similar difficult state. I know many comparisons have been made during the last week or so with past winters but in my opinion; the last 3 weeks or so have been probably the worst in these parts since certainly 1982 and probably 1979. A bold statement and one which i can't back up with evidence but we've had snow on the ground here since 17th December and whilst we had some bigger falls in the early 80's winters, i can't remember snow lying as long as it has now since the winter of 1979. I do like snow; always have done but i must admit that i'm very quickly getting tired of it now, both phsically and mentally. I long for the days when you can walk out of the house and get in the car, start it and set off rather than find it, dig it out, hope it starts and then slide of in whichever direction the packed ice takes you. Roll on spring but if the lovely Diane Oxberry is forecasting more snow for the region tonight then it's looking a long way off. Ian

the snow as, for the time being at least, lost some of its intensity although it is still falling and blowing about in the wind. we've got a covering of maybe 1cm on the cars but nothing more. the temperature amazingly is still at +0.1c and doesn't seem to want to drop any further. Ian

it's certainly turned into a wild night here now with quite heavy snow being blown about in the wind the temperature is falling and currently at +0.1c - thinking about putting ice around the sensor to help it down a bit. been on the Yorkshire and Pennine thread and there seems to be a lot of snow falling in the Leeds, Halifax areas which hopefully will make make it over this side without loosing to much intensity. if it does could be an interesting night ahead. Ian

cheers Kev still coming down fairly hard here although the flakes seem smaller. the wind has got up a little and the snow is being blown about. the main road near to my house is covered in snow although not helped by the lack of gritting currently taking place definately not a good night to be out and about. Ian

just thought i'd sneak out of Lancashire to see whats heading my way currently snowing heavily in Bacup and the radar seems to be showing quite a large area in West Yorkshire heading this way. anyone in the Halifax area care to fill me in - not literally of course. Cheers Ian

that must be what we are getting now got much heavier during the last 5 minutes and the wind has picked up as well. Ian

it's snowing quite steadily here now and has been for around 30 minutes. nothing major but has covered the car and is filling in the bits of ground where salt had been put down. the temperature is currently at +0.5c with a breeze blowing the snow about in the air. hardly full blizzard conditions but at one stage today it looked like we'd see nothing more than sleet at best. see what the rest of the night brings. Ian

just began snowing in Bacup only a few flakes but it's a start temperature is now at +1c but very much tempered by the biting wind which, when i went for a walk and paper this morning was starting to blow the snow off the fields and back on to the roads. that said though, the wind seems to have dropped a little now. Ian

yes i agree it has been a very good winter which, if that was the end of the snow and freezing temperatures, would still be remembered for years to come. from a completely selfish point of view though; if that's it for us up North then i hope to God that it's the same all over the country. the idea of wall to wall news coverage of snow darn sarf while were battling through torrential drizzle up here - no thanks. anyway the temperature has crept above freezing here for the first time in almost a week. now at 0.5c - cloudy and a cold wind blowing but no sign of snow as yet. Ian

agreed, it does look like a bit of a downgrade from last night although last nights was a major upgrade from earlier in the day. looking at the News 24 forecast map, most of the heavy snow appears over and to the East of the Pennines although it stil shows it covering much of our region through the duration of the fall. as regards the timing of the snow; it was always going to be late afternoon onwards and more likely overnight when we saw it so nothing much has changed there. i still feel that, whilst they seemed to have pulled back slightly from last nights "Day After Tomorrow" forecast, many of us will be pleasantly surprised in the morning. temperatures have been higher overnight than on previous nights with ours in Bacup currently at 0.6c. to me the lack of really cold air is more of a worry than precipitaion at the moment although some of the more experienced chart viewers than myself may be able to settle my nerves a little. Ian

is that the tops of all the Pennines including my vertically challenged 1440ft top or just the one's suitable to take up a career in Basketball. either way bring it on! Ian