Uk Snowfall Averages

[summer blizzard]

My point was that the only reliable way of gauging how the weather is changing is to compare to the 30 year mean. To point out that the mean is skewed because of 10 relatively cold or snowy winters within the 30 year time period is my bugbear - a mean is a mean. And if we are seeing markedly less snowfall days in the last for example 8 years than the 71-00 average then so be it, that is that.

I just don't understand why you needed to point out that the 30 year mean was skewed in your opinion or what purpose that was supposed to serve.

2004/2005 was probably the snowiest winter of recent years, in Bingley this probably resulted in around twenty days of lying snow as i'm the other side of Bradford and aside from the easterly which produced two weeks of snow showers lying daily, there were several notable north westerlies in the first half of winter.

[reef]

2004/2005 was probably the snowiest winter of recent years, in Bingley this probably resulted in around twenty days of lying snow as i'm the other side of Bradford and aside from the easterly which produced two weeks of snow showers lying daily, there were several notable north westerlies in the first half of winter.

But theres a big difference between days of snow falling and snow lying at 0900. Winter 2004/05 had many days of snow falling in February but with temperatures so marginal, it was rare that snowcover lasted more than a few hours. Only at the end of the month did this change with higher ground getting a good covering.

Here that winter had 11 days snow falling, but only 2 days with snow lying at 0900. I had to wait until 20th February until a day with snow lying at 0900 was recorded.

[summer blizzard]

I had lying snow everyday during that cold spell, because like Bingley, i am not high ish ground.

[Weather-history]

One question I have about lying snow data is that during April or even May shouldn't it be at 10am BST rather than 9am for determining a lying snow day?

The two measurements strictly speaking are not recorded under the same standards.

9am BST = 8am GMT

You are more likely to see lying snow at 9am BST [8am GMT] on an April morning than at 10am BST [9am GMT]

Edited February 4, 2009 by Mr_Data

[Thundery wintry showers]

I've had that dilemma with my own weather records, as I used to use 9am BST, but I heard from the people at Hazelrigg (Lancaster University Weather Station) that the Met Office standard is 10am BST/9am GMT. Fortunately it makes little difference to my own records, the sole exception perhaps being 14 April 1999 (which had more than half-cover at 9am, but less than half-cover by 10am)- the other two April instances, 12 April 1998 and 7 April 2008, still had more than half-cover at 10am albeit less deep.

I reckon that 10am BST probably is indeed the standard- as Terminal Moraine for instance has often said that snow lying days in May are rare at his location because when the snow settles, it's usually melted by 10am BST.