swilliam

Ye I was going to comment this in that this seems be a major change overnight. The big low in the Atlantic was due to move slowly over us bringing lots of rain and wind. It now seems to to want to stay out in the Atlantic and is if anything moving West rather than east. We do still get LP coming over us but more in the form of trough disruption with and an elongate finger of the LP. I would say this is goodnews for those that have been flooded as whilst not being dry by any means it should be drier. This can be seen on alm models UKMO ECM A couple of days the models were showing the Atlantic low right over us at that timescale. Looking at the NH profile it seems the main reason for this is that the direction of lifting out of the low heights from Eastern Europe is more Northerly and not S Norway. Hence there is no link up with the Atlantic trough and this is not then pulled East

I agree with Mucka on this one. I do not really pay much attention to the Op (count it as one of the ensembles). But looking at the 10-15 day ensembles it is often apparent that there are some tendencies appearing. I am not a fan of the mean at this range as this just normally shows the climatological average - i.e zonal westerlies. However when it shows something different to this then it is useful. In fact this is the case just now - below is the mean at +384 showing a pronounced ridge in the vicinity of the BI. What this means to me is that there is likelihood of significant height rises in our area at this range. Now as this an average the exact position is completely undefined. Looking through the members there are UK highs, Scandi ridges and height rises to the NW. There are are of course zonal options also toning down this signal. The most common options over the last few runs (of those showing height rises) are the UK high and the Scandi ridges rather than the Greenland high though. But any of these are possible. The main point is if these options were not being shown then we would know that nothing is likely in the next 15 days . So this is the main point in my view. If no meridional solutions are being shown then more zonal is highly likely. If we have some more blocked options then this is much more possible and we can start looking how this may develop and where it may or may not set up. It seems to me if we do not use these then all we have is the Meto 30 dayer and some info from IF about the other models (Glosea EC32 etc). So I more I am more than happy to look at these as it is the best we have (not the OP in isolation though - comments on this are pointless).

Yes - very interesting - numerical modeling and picking the average or most common solution or using teleconnections - I must say I am pretty skeptical about both at this range. If either predict something other than zonal and mild (as GP has done ) and they turn out to be mostly correct I will be impressed.

Still plenty of cold options on EC ensemble with the OP near the top

Yes it depends what folks want. The Det gave a snow fest for many but never brought the real cold near us. The 2 perturbations S mentions get the cold pool in but do not deliver much snow (based on the current run - I know the oft touted saying here get the cold in the snow will come - but this is not always true - e.g. Feb 86). In either event though it looks like the disrupted nature of the NH profile will allow opportunities further down the line. Concerning means and other LRF models (beyond D10) I think generally they are not worth the paper they are written on in terms of the weather wee will experience in our little locale. This especially true when the set up is volatile as now. People hanging on to the Meto 30 day outlook should really need to relax. This is only going to represent the largest cluster(s) and as the sum of these is probably less than 50% so is more likely to be wrong as right. If it says there is no sign or low probability of a prolonged cold spell then that is exactly the case - based on what is before them. However this does not mean a cold spell will not happen - just that it is not shown in the clusters. Finally someone asked why was the forecast model output was not the same as the analogue composite shown for the forecast MJO state for previous occasions. If LRF was that simple we would not all be on this forum!

Unless it goes pear shaped then I do not think this will be resolved until about T96 which by my reckoning will be about Friday

Short ensembles out - not much support for the OP again

For me whether we get anything interesting ( from a cold perspective) depends on how far west the block is (i.e. out over and West of Norway). This has two benefits; it stops the cold pool lifting out northwards (round the end of the block) before it gets to us and it means the small lows to the south will head SE and not NE or N. A couple of examples where the block has spread or extended You can see from the ens spread this is where the uncertainty is

Mainly because when they are showing mild mush we do not scrutinise them - we just look and say no cold. When cold is showing they are examined to death and large spread is apparent. When it mild we do not care much if is slightly mild, quite mild or very mild.

Well it was shown by several GEFS members for several runs before that in F1 (adn derided on here by some). Then the ECM showed it once and then went away from it, then the GEM showed it for a couple of runs (and it was derided for that as being cannon fodder). Now the ECM is showing it but not really in the ensemble and the UKMO is showing the correct set up for it. Meanwhile the GFS is showing the same general pattern but not the cold outcome for us. Currently GEFS are all showing roughly the same pattern but with a wide range of outcomes most of which do not lead to cold here. (some do though). So no model was right or wrong. This is due to the volatility of the this kind of set up and small changes have large effects. What it shows is that no runs should be ignored or binned as we were told to do so several days ago. Each run should be given the same credibility and assessed in terms of the overall developments. As I said yesterday following means for this kind of development is pretty useless until it is almost certain. Just to add re the post from Jason M the most likely outcome is that we will miss out but what the current outputs show us is that it is possible. Likely we will not know whether we hit the jackpot until about +96 Hrs but even then it can go wrong as we have seen previously. This is because a lot of (small) things have to fall in place. The most likely outcome I would say is that we do not get the trough disruption and trigger low which would lead to the cold lifting out into Scandinavia (as if they need it). This will not be known until much nearer the time.

2 and 17 appear to be the best but all are interesting if not delivering cold for us.

Jet profile looks good

Actually still not that many supporting the Op - at least the control does

Ensembles and their means are averages so as you say are not prone to swings. They are extremely useful if the weather turns out to be near average as of course it often does. However when the weather deviates far from average then ensembles are well pretty average at predicting this. This has been highlighted IMO by this month which has been exceptional by any standards. However I do not recall any extended products predicting this level of extreme temperature excursion. Extended range forecasting based on ensembles is good at saying it will be a bit colder/warmer wetter/drier etc but in terms of predicting significant deviations from this are currently fairly poor. So if you are looking for any kind of significant deviation from the norm the ensembles IMO are not that helpful - only in identifying trends. I tend to use them as many do on here as to what the possibilities are going forward are rather than what they are showing as a mean as that is nearly always not far from average (or the default zonal set up). The current situation is a good example of this. There is clearly potential; for a significantly colder/drier spell but based on ensembles you would not state this publicly in forecast (if that is what you do professionally). Hence the current forecast from Meto but to most people what is stated means there will not be any significantly colder weather in the next month. So if it transpires that there is then this will be a busted forecast as far as most people are concerned. On a separate note as a physical scientist in another field it seems strange to me that modelling is done by feeding in what is effectively adjusted (or duff) data and seeing what the result would be (i.e. the ensembles) and then take an average as prediction.

Whilst the 18Z has been fun to look at I think that it is all it is likely to be. Looking at the ensembles whilst there is quite a bit of support for the overall pattern there is is none for the extreme evolution of the OP so it likely to be an outlier. Most of them lift the cold pool out before reaching the UK. Not to say it won't happen like that though.

Interesting control run on the ECMWF control although not much support it has to be said.

ECMWF forecast with a model based climatology updated and goes into 7 in F1 albeit at a rather low amplitude.

Not really shocking in terms of the overall pattern though - in fact quite close to the mean

Of course it is FI he is discussing matching the MO with the Meteo 30 day outlook

Has there ever been a mean like this at just t144 - what is happening in the Atlantic - nothing? Looks like the control and mean were the coldest at this time frame and did not phase the two lows - then became the mildest

One thing is for sure - we are going to see some HP according to the GEFS - Op off the scale and mean at 1030 with some matching cold temps

Woke up to 3 rumbles - looked out the window and saw these beauts being lit from below by the sun (looking NE) Out the front middle level cells demonstrated nicely how you do not need surface heating for this stuff. Nice line of storms moving NE across biscay http://de.sat24.com/de/fr/infraPolair Just had a loud rumble and have some warm rain just now (5:40)

Nice easterly in the S in the JMA

Yes the variable ensembles reflected in the means at 192 Although temps look ok till then

Yes - nice split flow at the end of the high res run with more energy going into the southern arm Would expect to see more disruption from that.