iand61

currently -9'c in Bacup. went down to -12'c in the early hours of this morning - climbed to approx -7.5'c by around 5am then dropped like a stone again to read -10'c at 7am. highest reached today was around -5'c although at work so couldn't be 100% sure. one thing i did come across at work today was diesel freezing (waxing) in vehicles. saw it a couple of times during 1979 and the early 1980's winters but never in recent years. absolute pain when it happens. in days when vehicles were mainly made of metal without lots of plastic i've seen fires lit under engines to prevent this from happening. Ian

currently - 6.3'c in Bacup - for some reason it has climbed fractionally from - 6.5'c 30 minutes ago. not sure why as no cloud appears to have moved in. i recorded exactly -10'c early on Monday morning - probably not a record for the town but the lowest i've been in a position to measure can't see tonight beating that but i feel that if the ones in the know are to be believed then some records are going to go during the coming few days. one thing is certain; it's been one hell of a cold snap. we've had snow in the garden since December 18th and although we recieved less than most local areas during yesterday's fall still have around a 30cm depth and with no real signs of it thawing. another feature of this spell compared to recent years and one which others on the board have touched on is the return of that 80's phenomena, icicles. we have several hanging from the gutters and have had to break some of the more threatening ones already. Ian

surprise surprise it's snowing in Bacup not that heavy at the mo but enough to think that finishng clearing my drive of Saturday's deluge is a bit pointless

temperature now at -8.1c and with plenty of snow cover and clear skies can see it dropping below -10c last winter i think the lowest i recorded was -9c. please don't take this as gloating but; as i posted earlier, it amazes me how much snow we currently have here compared to other parts of the North West. i suppose its compensation for enduring crap weather in the summer. after all a heatwave up here in the Pennines is when you can take your jumper off. Ian

just arrived back from spending New Year with friends in Haydock. only rain yesterday and not a sign of snow until we got on the M66 south of Bury. arrived home in Bacup to find 8 inches of snow on the drive which needed clearing just to get the car on. almost every side road here is impossible to drive on with the main roads completely double parked. temperature on my weather station is currently showing -7.2c. haven't seen a forecast - is there more snow on its way? Ian

fully agree with that Shadowfax. hardly covered the car at 7.30 but now seems to be wanting to stick more. my temperature reading is slowly falling and currently stands at 0.5'c from 0.9'c at 7am as you said not a day for going out but may venture later and take a few pictures. after all, even up here snow is never guaranteed Ian

Now snowing quite hard in Bacup but still not wanting to stick, other than to the cars. That said though i wouldn't be surprised if 200ft higher up the hill, the road is covered by now. Temperature is falling again and is currently 0.7'c. Still feel that any more than a dusting will be a surprise but given the severe weather warnings currently in place, it may turn out that MetO are not just covering their backs here. Ian

still coming down quite hard in Bacup but it's sleet or wet snow at best sticking to the car roofs but little else temperature has actually gone up slightly in the last hour or so and is currently 1'c. still can't see the snow getting bad enough to warrant a severe weather warning but after what was expected earlier today, it could turn out to be the upgrade of the decade. Ian

currently 1.5'c here with a cold damp feeling wind. had the snow equivalent of a 5 minute severe drizzle shower a couple of hours earlier but nothing since. still think we will get something more substantial later in the day or overnight but a little concered about the temperatures. drove back from the south coast yesterday and never saw any lying snow until we reached the M62 and M60. still quite a bit remaining on the ground here in Bacup although even this has turned to more like ice. Ian

If the definition of sleet was one rain droplet in every 100 on your windscreen containing a tiny piece of 90% melted ice then i can catagorically state that. It was definately sleeting 1300ft up on the Lancs Yorks border at 8pm. Although if only one flake on the London weather centre can make a white Christmas then what i drove through was close to a full blown whiteout. Current temperature is 2'c so maybe something approaching winter weather is just around the corner. Ian

I think that the Eastern parts of both Manchester and Lancashire and Pennine areas in general stand a good chance of some snow during the coming days. Showers blown in on an Easterly often penetrate as far as my part of the world and obviously the altitude helps to keep it as snow. Some of the best snow falls in this area have come from the East. We never do as well from a straight Northerly with areas towards the M6 and the coast more in the firing line. That said though everything is very much up for grabs at present and i feel that many in the snow starved NW could be in for a long awaited Christmas present during the coming days. Anything is better than the Icy drizzle we have had in Rossendale for most of the day.

snowing quite hard here and has been for the last hour or so. starting to stick, but very wet and can imagine it turning back to rain before long that said though the temperature has actually dropped from 3'c at 7pm to 1'c now. still, its the first of what hopefully will be many snowy episodes during the next few months. Ian

in this part of the region,the biggest difference with the current winter compared to most of the last 20 or so has been the number of days with lying snow. it's never been overly deep but has stuck around fo many days. we still have snow in the garden from last weeks fall and that was topped up from the previous week. the remnants from the falls of early December lasted until the week before Christmas. the only reasonably mild spells have been the few days leading up to Christmas - thankfully so when we had no gas and a couple of periods during January. so whatever the final inquest on this winter; one thing is for sure - it's been a cold one and it's not over yet. maybe still a final throw or two of the dice for us.

looking at that picture it's amazing how little of continental Europe has snow. looks like we've been rather greedy this year.

Sorry guys but no amount of wishing and hopecasting will change what will happen. We may get serious amounts of snow, we may get nowt. We may even sit here with our sweet nothings while BBC News 24 tells us gloatingly that the South is once again buried under 2 feet of snow. What happens is out of our hands but within the next 48 hours we will know whether it was our turn or not. Ian

Cirrus Group: Members Posts: 82 Joined: 3-February 09 From: Kingsthorpe,Northampton Member No.: 9,498 I'm gobsmacked to be honest ... Here in Northamptonshire we always miss the worse of the weather, but this week, god knows why we are the worse hit. 16inches !!!!!!!!!!!! for god sake. Post is for Iand61 This post has been edited by Lancs_Northants: 7 minutes ago -------------------- Megson...OUT!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: From a model point of view i would say that we stand a fair (nothing more than that) chance of seeing something from it. Certainly the more southern parts of the region could get something out of this event. if i was to pinpoint an area where snow may become a serious problem it would have to be the Peak District. A more southerly location and altitude should give it advantage over the rest of us. I would, purely from a selfish point of view, hope that the South Pennines got a complete pasting but the more sensible side of me thinks that it will not happen. On the whole i feel that the North West is once again going to miss out on anything major.

Is that the Cat & Fiddle road?

Brilliant Snowdrifter

Stopped snowing here leaving a grand total of 4cm. Hardly the stuff that memorable winters are made of but more than i saw all last winter and sufficient to top up what is still on the ground. It will be interesting to see what happens if it freezes as regards school closures in the morning. My daughter's school has now been closed on three occasions this winter......2 days in early December and once at the end of January. That is more days lost to the weather than in my whole school career. My how times have changed!

Still snowing here in Bacup although not quite as heavy as it was earlier. That said though, it hasn't been much of an event. About 3 centimetres at the most has fallen which considering it started at 3pm is rather poor. Temperature is just at freezing point but isn't forecast to go as low as on the previous couple of nights. Still got some drifts in lanes and against walls from the Monday snowfall. Took a few pictures which i will try and post. I can't see us getting anything from Monday's and Tuesday's storm. Models are pushing it further north than was previously the case but i think the best we can hope for are some light flurries. Maybe more for South Manchester, Cheshire areas although the way that the systems of the last few days have behaved, anything from blinding snow to driving rain can't be ruled out and no areas including our own can be considered to have no chance. Hopefully the fact that UKMO have a weather warning for us is based on hard facts rather than covering all options.

i know it's easy to sulk at our own situation but i think there is much to be said for just how uninteresting the weather is in NW England. don't get me wrong i for one have the utmost sympathy for anyone who gets flooded out and came very close to injury at work during a severe gale in January 2007. i have also spent many occasions digging my car out of snow drifts and had to leave it for the night on a few. however on the whole our region does not experience severe weather events. we are occasionally, as with the January 2007 gales part of the action but seldom the place which makes the headlines. would be interesting to see what information Mr. Data has on North West based severe weather events over the years.

even the type of rain that makes the news misses the North West we usually end up with torrential drizzle or as Peter Kay says that fine rain that soaks you through.

must admit we've had several overnight and weekend stays there during the last 10 or so winters and can never remember seing any snow on the ground. they spent a New Year period with us about 4 years back and followed the midnight celebrations and plenty of alcohol by having snow ball fights and pushing stranded cars on the road outside our house.

be very surprised if we got anthing for than a few flurrys today, the wind direction is from the north which means that the Cumbrian mountains get in our way much the same as the Pennines are such a pain for easterly snow across western Lancashire & Cheshire. it is looking quite positive for tomorrow and at least we currently have snow about although not as much as earlier in the week. yes Wigan isn't exacly the snow caital of the UK is it. we have friends who live in St. Helens who can't believe the amount of snow we get here. if we had known them 20 years earlier though, they wouldn't believe how little we now got compared to then