General Cold Spell Discussion

[mountain shadow]

It could be a memorable Saturday night on Netweather if this Arctic front carries on showing what it is showing. Marvellous .

[FetchCB]

mmmm Saturday night travelling up to Newcastle from London and then back down again same day ....should be fun

[mountain shadow]

mmmm Saturday night travelling up to Newcastle from London and then back down again same day ....should be fun

Good luck with that.

[FetchCB]

Cheers think i might see if I can hire my own gritter

[summer blizzard]

Temperature has droped down to 3C now but the dew point is still above 3C also, so looking like a very slow process at the moment if i am to get any snow, though it looks like nothing until wednesday for me at the moment.

[Snowman15]

I prefer it as it was before where you can actualy see everyones thoughts, forecasts, predictions etc all in one discussion in the general discussion but now we have to trawl all through the other parts of the country discussions to see whats going on and being said!! - just my opinion!

[chrisb1357]

Can i ask what Dew Point figure does it need to be or below to get Snow. Just trying to understand

Chris

[Jamie.]

Temp been 6/7C most of the Day in the West. Falling to a current 3.7C.

Noticed the dew point has dropped around 2C from this Afternoon though to 1.7C .

[SMU]

Can i ask what Dew Point figure does it need to be or below to get Snow. Just trying to understand

Chris

~ below 2c down to 1/0.5C sleet

Below 0.5c for snow-

Steve

[Upgrade]

Also, for those getting hung up over downgrading of the scenario, I'm sure that a few days ago there was a significant possibility of this shortwave getting caught up in Atlantic lows to the SW and resulting in a breakdown from the south by Friday!

The charts look good for cold and snow to me, for quite a long period. it is sad that some people just deny the onset of a cold spell and then look for the breakdown as soon as it has just started.

[chrisb1357]

Is there any other factors i need to take into account as well for snow to fall

Chris

~ below 2c down to 1/0.5C sleet

Below 0.5c for snow-

Steve

[Thundery wintry showers]

The main one is the dewpoint. Broadly speaking if the average of the dewpoint and the air temperature is close to 0C you should expect snow. It will almost certainly not snow if the dewpoint is above 0C.

I found a very interesting article here which gives some insights:

http://www.sciencebits.com/SnowAboveFreezing

Edited December 14, 2009 by Thundery wintry showers

[Cymro]

Although the prospects of cold weather are certifyed i feel compared to last week this has been a fairly sturn downgrade guys.

[BucksSnow]

Hi all im new to the forum.have been monitoring the siutation in here since last tuesday

How do i check the dewpoint for the uk please

[Jamie.]

Hi all im new to the forum.have been monitoring the siutation in here since last tuesday

How do i check the dewpoint for the uk please

It varies depending on where ever you are. :lol:

Maps here:

http://expert.weatheronline.co.uk/taup_frame.htm

[BucksSnow]

It varies depending on where ever you are.

Maps here:

http://expert.weathe.../taup_frame.htm

Thanks Jamie looks good for my area personally

[Jamie.]

^^ That's ok. Welcome btw. I'm quite new myself to post but joined a while ago :lol:.

Looking at the charts, the dew point is predicted to be below freezing for almost all of the UK by Friday and -6/-7C for the East by 21st.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Jamie.ed

[Methuselah]

Welcome to NW, BucksSnow!! :lol:

[BucksSnow]

Thanks pete i know this may be a little off topic but would you class high wycombe as the south east or central england.

[paul tall]

The GFS is an absolute train wreck in terms of my region, little if any snow, quick return to milder conditions, just awful

Hope UKMO and ECM are upgrades

Only the other day you were talking 20+ inches of snow.

Do you know anything about Grebes John?

[Eugene]

I think the moaners need to look at wikipedia for a description of a maritime climate which the british isles has.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_climate

The British Isles experiences a typically maritime climate, with prevailing south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean

Overall temperature characteristics vary among oceanic climates; those at the lowest latitudes are nearly subtropical from a thermal standpoint, but more commonly a mesothermal regime prevails, with cool, but not cold, winters

Cold and wet is actually the most common cold type of weather in the UK along with cold and foggy, cold and snowy is rare , prevailing winds in the UK are from the southwest.

During cold arctic plunges into northern/central europe the british isles will mostly be on the periphery of them like now.

[John Snow]

Only the other day you were talking 20+ inches of snow.

Do you know anything about Grebes John?

I said 20+ for the north, north east and eastern scotland and I think some areas will get that, if I had to name areas that will get 20 inches I would say yorkshire moors, tyne and wear away from the coast and parts of durham, I never once suggested those snow levels for my region, I have said we would be lucky to get 4, GFS would be lucky to give us 4mm let alone 4in but I stand by the regions above

[paul tall]

John if I get the 28 inches of snow promised for county durham, or even half of that, I will eat all of the biscuits in the house, yes every last one of them.

[Thunder Snow]

Friday night/Saturday and Sunday looks good for me going by the 06z.

I can't wait until the BBC predct passed Thursday

Edited December 15, 2009 by Thunder Snow

[Hammer]

Just a little north of my location, in Bishops Stortford I can see on a weather station there, dew point of -1.6c, just a little south of my location in Epping, a dew point of -1.6c, over to the east of me in Colchester a dew point of 0.6c, and to the south east in Laindon a dew point similar of 0.5c. To the west In Hemel Hempstead dew point of -1.0c.