The cold spell

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Moan away.....

[James M]

Oh dam it Im a slow typer and I was typing out a long message and then the thread was locked never mind

[Yeti]

Hi all,

I thought I would create a thread so you could all post your views on how you think this cold spell has been.

As for me, I have seen little in the way of very cold temperatures and snowfall (one dusting, one spinkling, and a daily max on Wednesday of 5.5c ). For this reason I do not think that it was any decent cold spell - indeed it was rather pathetic here in the North. Country wide and it seems that the most snowfall seen was 6cm which again, considering that it was not widespread and involved "hit and miss" snow showers was not particularly impressive.

At first I thought that this was an indication of sad times. A NE'ly in January nearly always delivers well for my area and even more so for the NE (Durham and Northumberland).

However, we must not forget that this was not a normal NE'ly resulting from a Scandinavian high; it was a more of a modified N'ly flow which is altogether very different - the air was warmed by its longer track and so was never going to be as promising.

There are two other reasons why it was not as cold as a normal N'ly or NE'ly - firstly, the HP was weak over GL and the main blocking arose from the mid-Atlantic block, and this resulted in there being warmer air trapped in the set up - hence the milder temperatures.

Furthermore, the SSTs were very high for this time of year over the North Sea, which was probably another reason why the NE saw hail/sleet instead of snow.

Although the picture was different for the SE, as far as I am concerned this was a poor cold spell, but one which lived up to its initial expectations - it was never going to be anything spectacular. At least it has broken a pattern which looked unbreakable and brought the odd flake to many parts of the country; more than that in some places. A welcome break from mild moosh.

What do others think? And can anyone find a chart with a similar mid-Atlantic blocking setup and weak HP over GL to see if the temps were similar to this spell?

Yeti.

[James M]

Haha it happend again when you merged the threads.

Edit: Oh Im a fool Ive just noticed the thread data saved bit

Edited January 25, 2007 by James M

[Somerset Squall]

The cold spell was entirley snowless, only rain fell. The wind was unbearably cold, and I think that's the most memorable thing about the cold spell. Frosts have occured, but have not been particularly severe, yet. It is meant to be the coldnest night of the snap so far tonight.

[southbank]

to be fair living in sutton , london I was more than happy waking up wednesday morning to a few cm's considering last yr we had nothing expect one heavy shower on the 26/12/05 which is remarkable considering how much colder last season winter was !!!

all in all in this era of climate heating any snow cover in london is a joy

[TEITS]

Good thread this because im curious to read who complains at the lack of snow when they weren't even forecasted any by either the models or forecasts.

Im not having a dig at anyone but it's more of a general observation of reading posts before the cold spell arrives.

[NorthYorksWeather]

here in York it was definatly a wintry feel, hard frosts and the widespread ice this morning, couple of snow flurrys on tuesday, altogether it was ok but still looking forward to the biggie

[Rustynailer]

It wasn't

I thoroughly enjoyed and am still enjoying reading about it here though, that makes up for missing out IMO. The pictures people send in are good too.

I miss the snow but I am sure we will all get it one day.

Russ

[James M]

Well for me it has been much better than expected. On Sunday evening heavy snow for several hours leaving a nice covering of 5cm. Monday night into Tuesday the temperature fell to a lovely -5.6C and tuesday only managed 1.8C so a very nice day. Then in the evening another snowfall that lasted several hours left us with a suprising 4cm. Last night another heavy snow shower left us with a nice dusting, and this morning I wake up to a lovely frost again -4.2C, so I have been very lucky.

[Yeti]

Good thread this because im curious to read who complains at the lack of snow when they weren't even forecasted any by either the models or forecasts.

Im not having a dig at anyone but it's more of a general observation of reading posts before the cold spell arrives.

Have to agree there, so many ppl ramped it up to the high heavens and said things like "you just wait for this evening" even when it was always going to be the wrong side of marginal. The morning after then brought all the "winter's over" posts.

[Snow Queen one]

Well although i was dissapointed at the lack of snow last night when i woke to the same amount as i had gone to bed with but i have seen more snow showers this cold snap than last year so i am happy. It has not settled thismorning but it was nice taking the dog for a walk in the snow with snow falling.

It is still snowing now only lightly. Maybe this year is the year when we will get that most elusive of things and organised snow band to give a decent covering for more than one day in places. That would be the cherry on the cake for me.

[reef]

In a word, absolutely rubbish. Aside from the thinnest of coverings on Monday morning and one slight air frost (-0.6°C) it has been a complete none-event here. The maxima yesterday of 5.1°C was hardly inspiring either. In the end it just adds to the list of disappointments here during the last few years (Nov 04, Dec 04, Jan 05, Feb 05 (x2), Nov 05, Feb 06 (x2) - there seems to be an over abundance of rainy northerlies, north-easterlies and easterlies.

It seems every winter we have a new problem that stops proper cold reaching the UK. If it isnt the jet being too far north it is SSTs, if it isnt SSTs its secondary low formation, if it isnt secondary low formation it is lack of cold pooling....and so on. Im quite happy though that those snow starved people down south saw something of note, but these cold spells still arent what they used to be.

At the end of the day, if a north-easterly with -8°C 850hPa air cant produce the goods here in mid-January, then it would take nothing short of a severe cold snap to produce anything of note.

[West is Best]

Moan away.....

Ok.

Not a single snowflake for me. I went up to Sheffield on Monday and Tuesday and saw zilch. Actually, I did see something slushy on a car roof that looked like it once might have been snow.

Nothing in the south-west, not even on Dartmoor.

But then I didn't expect anything, so I'm not disappointed.

Not been as cold as I expected. Minima haven't been as low as I thought, and maxima have been a degree or two up.

Overall - pretty much what I'd expect from a even larger teapot northerly.

[reef]

Good thread this because im curious to read who complains at the lack of snow when they weren't even forecasted any by either the models or forecasts.

Im not having a dig at anyone but it's more of a general observation of reading posts before the cold spell arrives.

I think you'll find the majority of the complaints from north-easterners. As generally they are the ones that would expect snow in this setup yet failed to get much at all.

[Snow Queen one]

Morning Tamara sorry i didn't post back on the other thread i went out to walk the dog soon after i posted the snowing comment couldn't resist a walk in the snow. Ia it snowing where you are now we still have it comming down here and i have to go out again to see a friend.

[snowingtequila]

I have enjoyed this cold spell but I see it as a first cold spell of the winter which normally arrives at the end of NOvember or at least the start of December, so for a first cold snap it has not been bad for me., I've had snow on the ground since Sunday Night, Ok at most and inch two inches on the hills around but it has all looked very pretty and a good -5 frost last night seems to have ended the cold spell nicely! I think I was in quite a good if not the best spot for this cold spell though, I realise that a lot of people are not too chuft with it!

Edited January 25, 2007 by snowingtequila

[Yeti]

I think you'll find the majority of the complaints from north-easterners. As generally they are the ones that would expect snow in this setup yet failed to get much at all.

Agreed there. Your earlier post was also thought provoking, there always seems to be something not right. How many times these days do we see tons of showers near the coast falling as sleet/rain and then inland, where they would fall as snow, they do not reach? It's becoming a bit of a no win situation, a N'ly.

[mountain shadow]

Cold Spell? Have I missed something?

[SnowBear]

Cold spell?

I guess for nowadays its cold, but....

My water butt isn't frozen solid, my pond isnt frozen over, I can still get a fork in the ground, I can see the ground, I dont see 4" compacted snow/ice on the road, nor icicles hanging from the gutters right to the ground, I dont see drifts of 2/4/6'.......

Years past this amount of snow would have been pretty much ignored in both news and daily life.

Bring on one of those true winters, I feel pretty darn cheated of late! It feels like winter doesn't come here any more.

[Yeti]

It's also sickening to see the rest of Europe absolutely pasted and we are struggling for 2cm. The coldest air always gets pushed to the S into Europe and Britain is always on the fringes.

[snowingtequila]

there there! Again this cold spell has been good because It is a precursor to the rest of the winter and a severe spell in February. A few weeks ago most folks seemed to be writing off winter without even this tame spell!

[Yeti]

Oh dear I see now that the feb severe spell is beginning to become a certainty by some lol!

You might be interested in this - the weather in Harrogate for March last year - you can see how much colder and snowier it was and compare the months!

weather.xls

Edited January 25, 2007 by Yeti

[Weather-history]

Not every northerly is the same, some are better than other such as the Feb 2004 northerly which gave the far SW a fair amount of snow.

Compare these two (Dec '79)

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119791219.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00219791219.gif

and Feb '69

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119690208.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00219690208.gif

[mountain shadow]

I can't wait for these Islands to experience a proper winter spell.

The fun to be enjoyed watching the whole country grind to a halt will be glorious.