Blizzardo

GFS still going for an Easterly this morning from Tuesday but it all looks a little half hearted with it never really getting a hold and the Atlantic pushing in again by Friday. It seems to me with pressure building over Canada and the situation of the PV everything might be a bit too far East for a potent Easterly to be able dig in next week. The thing thats clear about this Winter though is that cold is never too far away so loads of possibilities. Waiting on the ECM with interest.

I noticed today that the snow depth on the upper slopes of Cairngorm has reached 200cm which by my calculations is getting close to 7 feet in old money. I wonder what the deepest snow there has been on the ski slopes and how deep it may get this year??

The chances of another cold spell may have increased with this mornings GFS. Its ensembles had been hinting at it for days, the ECM Op had been showing it for the last 2 days and now the GFS is showing a strong easterly with very cold uppers from as early as Tuesday. The ensembles for my location have also taken a bit of a tumble overnight from the 19th. Still some ups and downs to go before then though.

Thats snowfall to be proud of. I want that.

Still cold in and around Glasgow with temperatures around 3c and as others have mentioned we are back to our pack ice of a couple of weeks ago having lost all that nice powdery snow. Last night in Bishopbriggs there was some sleet and briefly wet snow but it didnt amount to anything. On any grassy parts that are now showing the ground is brick hard and will take a while to thaw out. I actually quite like a slow break down after a really cold spell as its interesting to see how long there remains signs of snow and ice. Still think there might be snow for some over the next couple of days as even up until Friday there are pockets of cold upper air with some precipitation - I like this chart. Longer term still on a knife edge with possibilities of a return to cold.

Thats good to hear. Even if the deep cold is on its way out and the general trend is for things to get a bit milder I still think this week could throw up some snow at times. If we hadnt just had the cold spell we've had everyone would be quite excited about the next few days.

The latest Met 6-15 day forecast still hinting at some wintery weather but the trend looks to be getting milder. Cold for many, with a continued risk of overnight frost and ice. Further wintry showers affecting mainly eastern coasts. Cloud and outbreaks of rain, sleet or snow spreading from the west to central and northern regions. It will also be windy with a risk of gales in exposed places. From Monday, the cold weather is likely to persist across many northern regions, with wintry showers becoming increasingly confined to exposed parts of the northeast. A continued mix of rain, sleet or snow is more likely in the south and west of the UK with temperatures tending to be nearer normal. Later in the period, cold and more settled weather probably becoming confined to the far northeast, with less cold and unsettled conditions spreading across more of the UK. Updated: 1304 on Mon 11 Jan 2010

The slow thaw in my area continues. A North Easterly wind yesterday is now more Easterly but needs to become South Easterly for the temperatures to be pegged back. If there is no upper cold pool to tap into then the North Sea will keep the temperatures above freezing and no amount of surface cold can stop that. You can see here that the combination of no cold upper air and the North Sea is causing a warm up in Scotland while Southern parts of England/Wales and even Ireland are still drawing on cold air from the continent. This warm up in our parts is more widespread and worse than forecast. Glasgow was forecast to be -4c this morning and its 2c. We were orginally forecast snow off and on all day but I just down see this happening despite what the GFS precipitation type charts are showing. On the positive it still looks to me as though there is still a decent chance that this warm up may only be temporary and that the block to our North East will continue to hold firrm and in the longer term may start to introduce more cold again. GFS ensembles have also started to show a temperature drop from around the 21st.

Its a bit of a race against time as the deep cold being pushed further north. Its surprised me that its hit -20c but Altnaharra is always pretty unique with its temperature variations.

I'd agree that there looks to be good possibilities for drawing in more cold from the east later in the ECM and even on the GFS I wouldnt be surprised to see it change over the next day or so to show one of its lows drop further south east and start pulling in more cold. To me it looks just as likely as a breakdown to mild.

Big temperature contrast across Scotland today with the last of the deep cold only left in the north. Higher temps of 5c in Dundee and 4c in Glasgow with a brisk easterly. Tomorrow will be interesting weather watching and there could be a bit of snow about more especially for Southern/Central Scotland.

Some quite funny discussions on the model thread about have we had enough of the the snow and would a battleground cold/mild situation with really heavy snow cause too much chaos. A quote below:- I'm Wishing for chaos and proud of it . All year all of us wish for on here is a channel low to dump crazy amounts of Snow on us , the possibility as Nick points out is now showing on the Models. I am sure I speak for at least 90% on here when I say we would like this to happen.

Theres been about an inch of powder snow in Glasgow overnight. Its strange to have snowfall around Glasgow with not a hint of anything marginal or the possiblilty it will turn to rain. I cant remember the last time it was -6c and snowing here.

All the models this morning are showing some uncertainty about next week but in general are going for less cold and more unsettled. At some points, maybe even as early as Monday night, milder air off the Atlantic will try to force itself over Scotland from the south west. Monday night through to Thursday, at least, could be a bit of a battleground situation with milder air from the south west coming up against the cold block to our north east. There could be some very heavy snowfall this week and is definately a situation to keep an eye on.

Snowing at Dunblane on the cameras as well. That shower could head all the way to Glasgow.

Very strange. None of the Edinburgh traffic cams show any snow or fog but radars show developing snow.

It really does seem to be similar to Lake Effect that goes on in North America but maybe not on the same scale. I've noticed that its happened during this cold spell on at least 2 occasions when the 850 temps are at or approaching -10c. The last time it happened the direction was from the north but the same thing started to happen where the snow seemed to develop from nowhere as the wind direction started to change. Its strange but interesting to watch and obviously good to get surprise snowfall.

I'd say theres a reasonable chance during the early hours and into tomorrow morning but probably just a light covering.

With the amount of cloud about in the Central Highland the temperatures will need to take a big tumble later to get lower than -22c tonight. -11c in Glasgow now.

Its actually pockets of thick freezing fog.

Ha ha. When Glasgow gets above freezing I'm going to mark the occasion by going for a stroll in t-shirt and shorts.

Thats an amazing change in temperature. I think it was still -22 about 10am.

Tonight and tomorrow morning may throw up a few surprises for some . The wind although light changes to an easterly. There are a few showers off the east coast that may build and be blown in as the night goes on. Very cold upper air throughout.

I have also noticed that the temperature variation between the centre of Glasgow and the surrounding areas has been reducing over the last week or so. I travel between the centre of the city, the West End and Bishopbriggs each day and usually see a big difference in winter, with Bishopbriggs usually about 2c colder in still conditions, but not so much just now. My own feeling is that as I and others have commented the River Clyde is starting to freeze in parts and the warming influnce that this normally provides in central Glasgow is being reduced.

Good morning everyone! Very cold morning with current Scottish lows spots at 5.30am:- Eskdalemuir -13.3c Strathallen - 12.5c Tulloch Bridge -12c Edinburgh Aiport -10c Prestwick Airport -9.5c Glasgow Airport -9c And the trend is to go lower over the next 2-3 hours. -20c should be broken tonight. It looks like a generally quiet couple of days (in terms of the amount of snow showers) with last nights fax showing a few snow showers on the East coast over the next 24-36 hours. As the high pressure builds and moves north the cold temperatures could be the headline. Near the end of the weekend the high pressure looks like it will start to lose its grip in Scotland from the south with strong easterly winds developing which will draw in showers. Its looking at the moment like some of the showers might be a bit marginal early next week for some on the North Sea coast but with the cold in place that may change for the better.