Snow Watch: Midlands & C Southern England

[high ground birmingham]

Snow still piling up nicely here: now got 7cm/nearly 3 inches extra so far this eve.

Judging by raintoday radar I reckon we could get at least another 2 hrs decent snow out of this. I need another 2 inches more to have the deepest snow here since 1991.

(Bizarrely, the snow event to beat is Good Friday April 98, when we woke up to a freak 8 inches of wet snow which only fell on the top of the hill, and melted within the day)

How about FEB 07?? I got 10 inches of snow lying around by the Friday evening (9th) before it melted at the weekend. That was a pretty special event.

[FENDER.]

Still snowing heavily.

Im in the zone just SW of the Wash where the precip for the past 3hrs has hardly moved at all.

Very surprised by tonights events because I thought the W Midlands would do better rather than the E. I said in another thread but I wonder if a domino effect has occured here. There is no doubt that locations such as Northants,Cambs,Leicestershire have done very well during this period but is this coincidence is has the lying snow had an effect increasing the chance of snow??

Seems to be the further west you go the less you got. Very little in Shropshire or mid wales. Its been cold enough Dave, just farty very light snow. Been that way all week. It either goes to the east like on Wednesbury, or fizzles out to the south. The best winter for a few years certainly. But no where near back to the 70/80s. Not really anywhere as near cold either, this reminds me a bit of a late March early April event.

Of course if I lived in the areas that have done well, like Oxford I might see things somewhat differently lol. I will have to post some pictures I took in 81 of me walking along the tops of a 10 foot snowdrift, with over 18 inches of level snow. Those were the days

[andy_leics22]

i have here mate, 1991 and 1995, miss them soooo bad

To be honest there might have been a time between 1988 and 1993 where there was 15-20cm in Leicester but I was so young that I can't recall it happening. I rememver in 1995 or 1996 on Christmas day I woke up and there was about 10cm on the ground, that was awesome! I had a new bike and I wasn't allowed to ride it but I did anyway haha nearly fell off though so that taught me!

There was one time I remember very very vaguely where I was about 3 years old, so it would have been the winter of 1991-1992, I was getting in a taxi with my mum from the flat we was in at the time and the taxi got stuck at the end of the estate because the snow was really deep, I've just got this very vague picture in my mind of the snow being about 15cm deep, maybe even more but that was on the roads aswell so it must have been a dumping, I just wish I was old enough to remember it better!

[Craigers]

To be honest there might have been a time between 1988 and 1993 where there was 15-20cm in Leicester but I was so young that I can't recall it happening. I rememver in 1995 or 1996 on Christmas day I woke up and there was about 10cm on the ground, that was awesome! I had a new bike and I wasn't allowed to ride it but I did anyway haha nearly fell off though so that taught me!

There was one time I remember very very vaguely where I was about 3 years old, so it would have been the winter of 1991-1992, I was getting in a taxi with my mum from the flat we was in at the time and the taxi got stuck at the end of the estate because the snow was really deep, I've just got this very vague picture in my mind of the snow being about 15cm deep, maybe even more but that was on the roads aswell so it must have been a dumping, I just wish I was old enough to remember it better!

thats how bad it got here!

1991

[wellington boot]

Seems to be the further west you go the less you got. Very little in Shropshire or mid wales. Its been cold enough Dave, just farty very light snow. Been that way all week. It either goes to the east like on Wednesbury, or fizzles out to the south. The best winter for a few years certainly. But no where near back to the 70/80s. Not really anywhere as near cold either, this reminds me a bit of a late March early April event.

Of course if I lived in the areas that have done well, like Oxford I might see things somewhat differently lol. I will have to post some pictures I took in 81 of me walking along the tops of a 10 foot snowdrift, with over 18 inches of level snow. Those were the days

If you're talking about Oxford doing well in this event, then sorry to disappoint you but we've had nothing. Still snowing in heavy winds, and fortunately there is still some lying around from before, on and around which a few grains of this stuff seem to be settling a bit, but generally the last couple of days haven't worked out for us. Last week we got several inches over the two days, but even then we were in the middle of the range.

Two years ago we did of course do very well, but before that I wasn't in Oxford so can't say.

[andy_leics22]

thats how bad it got here!

1991

Awww wow I bet you was well chuffed! No wonder you love snow so much now after memories like that

I can't really explain how I love snow so much, when it snows here I go to ridiculous lengths and do stupid things just to track it's progress and look at it lol. I check the radar every 5 minutes to see if it's coming here or if it is here then how long it will last and how heavy... I'm also looking out the window every 5 minutes and sometimes I just go out in the garden and stand in it I'm mental when it comes to snow! I guess it's just because of the happy memories you get as a kid when it snows, it's unusual and people go sledding, make snowmen and have snowball fights so it's always a good time.

I just want to see one major event here of 20-30cm of snow and i'll be happy forever then lol. As long as I had seen the severe snow that people saw in the 60's and 80's then i'd be content then. I'm still itching to see a massive depth of snow here with like 30cm level snow so you can't open your door, that would be something special. I hear of things like that happening in the 60's and 80's but the closest I can remember seeing here is 10-15cm and thats nowhere near 30cm.

[FENDER.]

perhaps next year, or even later this winter. We do seem to be moving back to colder winters, just not quite there yet.

[stoke weather watch]

Tonight has been a big let down for us in Stoke on Trent,was we the only place in the midlands to miss out?

We had a couple of flakes early on but that was it.

oh well will have to wait till the winter of 2009/2010 now for our next snow.

[camperstron]

At midnight last nigh (birmingham) it was promising - the wind had picked up, the snow was heavy. In fact it had accumulated so much that I couldn't open my bedroom window.

When I got up at 6 it seemed like a thaw had already set in. In places there is a decent accumulation of snow, but in the main it's kind of like crushed ice, slush puppy city.

I'm not complaining though, it still looks pretty and it's much, much less slippery out there. And this is the 7th day in a row that I've had lying snow. 7 days!!!!

[phil nw.]

Slow thaw now.

I had 5cm last night .snow stopped just after midnight with light rain at times in the early hrs.

Still it`s another day with Snow lying,amazing spell of Wintry weather.

[Nick L]

So when is this winter storm arriving?

Very poor "event", probably the biggest let down of the winter. It snowed a bit, had a sugar dusting and then it just left. Snow is now melting (or what was left of it). The BBC should really start being careful about what they say - 2 to 8 inches? Ha!

Edited February 10, 2009 by nick2702

[Yeti]

[Tom D]

So when is this winter storm arriving?

Very poor "event", probably the biggest let down of the winter. It snowed a bit, had a sugar dusting and then it just left. Snow is now melting (or what was left of it). The BBC should really start being careful about what they say - 2 to 8 inches? Ha!

For your area maybe. Many southern counties have had inches of rain in the last 24 hours, with plenty of flood warnings and strong winds. It was definitely a winter storm here even though snow was at a minimum.

[A.J]

So when is this winter storm arriving?

Very poor "event", probably the biggest let down of the winter. It snowed a bit, had a sugar dusting and then it just left. Snow is now melting (or what was left of it). The BBC should really start being careful about what they say - 2 to 8 inches? Ha!

Morning mate, thats why I dont pay any attention to the BBC forecasts......They're televised non in-depth forecasts for Mr & Mrs Joe Average with a large margin for error IMO.....Generally speaking, I think the event was spot on......Gfs showed rain, sleet, and some snow particularly during the night time, and it was pretty much spot on

[TEITS]

So when is this winter storm arriving?

Very poor "event", probably the biggest let down of the winter. It snowed a bit, had a sugar dusting and then it just left. Snow is now melting (or what was left of it). The BBC should really start being careful about what they say - 2 to 8 inches? Ha!

Always going to be tricky for them because IMBY I had another 3 inches last night.

So overall since this cold spell started on Sunday 2nd Feb I have seen 6 snowfalls, total snowfall 17 inches, days of lying snow will probably be around 10 days due to the frosts this week. Now you would think I would be happy and content with this but suprisingly im not!

This winter might have been a massive improvement over recent ones but for me a real classic cold spell is when you have frequent snowfalls but more importantly max temps around -3C. On a majority of the days since this cold spell began my max temps have always rose above freezing to around 2-3C.

[cyclonic happiness]

It's just started snowing here again after rain about 1 hour ago

[Cornflake Girl]

Well that was a let down! Thursday was worse.

I'm at work

[mozza81]

to be fair, there was as much snow in sedgley this morning as any morning last week....(7cms ish -I had to clear my drive!)

I was quite surprised that once id travelled down to bilston (quite abit lower) that it had all gone. Just goes to show what higher ground does.

overall for the black country/wolverhampton areas - the snowfalls have been poor so far this year....even feb 07 was better.

Only difference this year is that it has snowed on several mornings in a row.

seems to be south of birmingham when most of the snow has occurred so far this year.

and a winter storm event - oh dear!

Edited February 10, 2009 by mozza81

[evansc5487]

A total none event here in Wolverhampton. What a let down, way over hyped in my opinion.

[stripe]

Always going to be tricky for them because IMBY I had another 3 inches last night.

So overall since this cold spell started on Sunday 2nd Feb I have seen 6 snowfalls, total snowfall 17 inches, days of lying snow will probably be around 10 days due to the frosts this week. Now you would think I would be happy and content with this but suprisingly im not!

This winter might have been a massive improvement over recent ones but for me a real classic cold spell is when you have frequent snowfalls but more importantly max temps around -3C. On a majority of the days since this cold spell began my max temps have always rose above freezing to around 2-3C.

indeed, i remember from the good old days snow,frost fog,,,,,snow frost, fog,,,coooold,two foot icicles dangling from the trees and houses.

been fun what we have had this year but not like the 'old days'....gets pipe

anyways last night we had heavy snow/slush but did not stick, this morning it is almost spring like, birds are singing, sun is out, and not a grain of snow in sight,,,,,just about managed to survive the big storm last night

[Gary-North Stoke]

Just started snowing here in icy s-o-t after a un-eventfull night.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

What a night, had to leave my car 2 miles away at the bottom of the unploughed/gritted Radway/Edgehill road (It's a 14% hill !!) and walk the rest of the way. It was coming down sideways !! We're back to over a foot of lying snow again.

Rang my childrens' school this morning 10 miles away in Banbury & they'd only had a covering

So I was very British & dug the wife's car out, gritted about 25 mts to get her onto the road & off they went. I just couldn't face another day at home with the kids off school !!! "I'm bored" etc etc

[ScotchEgg78]

Personally I think this whole thing has been pathetic. Winter storm?? It was no worse than sundays snow for us.

People getting on the bandwagon a little now and hyping events up to much.

[conor123]

None event here in Telford also.

Had a dusting which is melting away fast now and theres no sign of anymore snow on the way this week..

[NorthantsSnow]

A total none event here in Wolverhampton. What a let down, way over hyped in my opinion.

Better to overhype it than scarcely mention it and get it wrong!

The BBC/UKMO cannot win with some people it seems. IMO they did a great job; both with where would see snow and also how much. They've been saying since yesterday 2-5cm and up to 10cm on higher ground which was bang on for this area.

Well done BBC/UKMO!

Edited February 10, 2009 by NorthantsSnow