North East England Cold Spell Discussion

[Geordiesnow]

Incredible blizzard about to hit your shores too, the Sunderland streamer is packed with reds and goes as far as the eye can see on the NW 5 min radar, at least 5 or 6 hours of severe snowfall ahead, 8-10inches unless eases off

Unfortunately the "Sunderland streamer" is no-where near my location and judging where the clouds are, i think it's just off shore and appears to be heading South albeit very slowly. At the moment most of Tyne & Wear are under reletively clear skies.

Surprised such a thing did develop and it's ashame it was not 30 or so miles further west but never mind.

Regarding tomorrow's event then i do agree a bit of sleet might be likely at first but the cold air should turn it to snow pretty quickly. Tomorrow will certainly be a day of radar watching and temp/dewpoint watching.

[John Snow]

Yeah looking at it places like Washington and Sunderland are getting an absolute pasting at the moment with that streamer, seems to be all yellows and browns which means they are getting 2-4" an hour and it shows no signs of stopping at all as there is hardly any wind so looks like you have missed it by about 5 miles but it could cut in and move towards Newcastle

[Typhoon John]

I'm just missing it as well, I can see the cloud to my East.

[Alex95]

Yeah looking at it places like Washington and Sunderland are getting an absolute pasting at the moment with that streamer, seems to be all yellows and browns which means they are getting 2-4" an hour and it shows no signs of stopping at all as there is hardly any wind so looks like you have missed it by about 5 miles but it could cut in and move towards Newcastle

That streamer started off over me, and it was dropping an inch an hour, 2-4" an hour is a little OTT.

Clear skies now so the temperature has dropped to -2.9°C quite quickly.

Edited December 18, 2009 by alza

[Snowstorm1]

omg light snow for 1hour and 30mins now last 15mins moderate snow is that a streamer setting up shop

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Incredible blizzard about to hit your shores too, the Sunderland streamer is packed with reds and goes as far as the eye can see on the NW 5 min radar, at least 5 or 6 hours of severe snowfall ahead, 8-10inches unless eases off

Love your optimism.

Do you work for the Daily Express? You're always making over the top predictions, and however much I would love to believe it, I don't think even Sunderland will get half of that amount tonight.

[Geordiesnow]

Yeah looking at it places like Washington and Sunderland are getting an absolute pasting at the moment with that streamer, seems to be all yellows and browns which means they are getting 2-4" an hour and it shows no signs of stopping at all as there is hardly any wind so looks like you have missed it by about 5 miles but it could cut in and move towards Newcastle

Ahh yes my mistake, i can also see the shower cloud still to my east and not moving fast anywhere, it's a bit typical though it can't be a bit further west but never mind.

I just hope this time tomorrow night, it will be all smiles and no tantrums regarding the prolonged snow event.

[John Snow]

Can someone who understands the NW radar better than me what is meant by the numbers ?

0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 - I have always taken that to mean number of inches per hour hence 1 hr of yellow-green I took as 2-4 inches of snow

Do those numbers represent inches of snow per hour or something else ?

[Thundery wintry showers]

Looks like a Tyne & Wear snow streamer stretching NNE-SSW is catching Cleadon full in the face at the moment. I haven't seen more than 8cm of snow since February 1994 (Cleadon has had 10cm or more twice since then, but I was away at Lancaster both times). Looks like I have a serious chance of topping that by Sunday morning, what with tonight's unexpected dumping and more to come tomorrow night!

The pool of warmer air looks set to coincide with the forward edge of tomorrow's band so it might start off as a sleety mix but thereafter all of it should be snow, and I think it should add a lot more snow cover than it initially melts at first.

Snow showers look like being fairly widespread on Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, even to the east of the Pennines. Cumbria will be heaviest hit by them.

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Can someone who understands the NW radar better than me what is meant by the numbers ?

0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 - I have always taken that to mean number of inches per hour hence 1 hr of yellow-green I took as 2-4 inches of snow

Do those numbers represent inches of snow per hour or something else ?

It's mm per hour. When it's snow I think 1mm is equal to 1cm snow if it all settles. I could be wrong so maybe i'll be corrected.

Looks like the 'Sunderland Streamer' is dieing, but still a few showers to the north which could hit the area.

[Geordiesnow]

Amazing the difference what a few miles makes because i had hardly anything from that streamer apart from a few flurries 5 mins ago.

Although i did get moderate snow earlier on this evening from that same band but did not expect it to set up as it is.

[Rollo]

Not a flake here this evening-I hope all the makems down on wearside enjoy the fun (incidently I'm also a makem),current temperature here is -4c.

[John Snow]

It's mm per hour. When it's snow I think 1mm is equal to 1cm snow if it all settles. I could be wrong so maybe i'll be corrected.

Looks like the 'Sunderland Streamer' is dieing, but still a few showers to the north which could hit the area.

Thanks that explains why I have exaggerated estimated snow levels on here so much, always took it to mean inches hence my estimates were about 2.5x more than reality

[Tucco]

Second ice day.

Max temp -2.6C

Currently -4.9C still a breeze.

Looking good for Saturday evening then shrs from the West. W or NW flows are very gusty here.

Mark

Teesdale

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Thanks that explains why I have exaggerated estimated snow levels on here so much, always took it to mean inches hence my estimates were about 2.5x more than reality

I thought you were just insane!

Looks like as TWS has said, there could be some showers east of the Pennines on Sunday. Until tonight I thought we were in for a dry sunny day but the GFS ppn charts showing showers further east especially later in the day

[Thundery wintry showers]

The Sunderland streamer is turning into an area of showers, but there could still be some more topups overnight. I'll be out there at 9am measuring the snow depth- will be interesting to see what I get up to.

A few miles does indeed make all the difference- on several occasions tonight it was almost a whiteout at Cleadon but clear sky was evident just to the north and west, while it's probable that just south-east of here has seen even more snow.

And as I type, it's started snowing again!

[Typhoon John]

I missed most of the streamer action with it being just too far to the East. Light snow falling now but it seems to have died.

[NL]

Looks like a Tyne & Wear snow streamer stretching NNE-SSW is catching Cleadon full in the face at the moment. I haven't seen more than 8cm of snow since February 1994 (Cleadon has had 10cm or more twice since then, but I was away at Lancaster both times). Looks like I have a serious chance of topping that by Sunday morning, what with tonight's unexpected dumping and more to come tomorrow night!

Nice to hear ya reporting back from the NE Ian, quite a nice suprise to see the streamer develop (and still doing so, another dump on the way) . Maybe when the warmer slot moves in tomorrow the laying snow may have an effect on what ppn actually falls as there will be an abundance of cold air circulating around.

Edited December 19, 2009 by NL

[ScottSnow]

A few flakes coming down in Gateshead. Not had anything since the moderate shower around 7pm that around 1-2cm.

I'm hoping we get a bit more of a top up overnight.

With regard to distance from coast, I've seen it go both ways... I can remember once (sure it was 1999) that there was no snow here in Gateshead but a good couple of inches on the seafront at Tynemouth, which I'm sure was off a northerly where showers were clipping the coast a mile or two inland there was nothing. I also recall having a good cover of snow here but going to play football in South Shields and finding there was no snow at all there on the coast (probs mid 90's).

Actually its coming down a little heavier now.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Yes, it all depends on the wind direction I feel- if the wind is northerly and just off-parallel to the coastline then the east coast gets loads and just a few miles inland there is nothing- while with a significant easterly component to the wind, it tends to happen the other way around.

Until the last decade it has usually been the case that inland areas on the whole got rather more snow than coastal areas- the mean annual frequency of lying snow was about 11 days at Cleadon and 15 at Durham over the period 1971-2000. But in the last decade, there seems to have been an increased reliance on those "just off-parallel" northerlies for snow events, and thus the frequency at both locations has been similar at around 6 days per year. Winter 1998/99 was exceptional in this regard- 9 days of lying snow at Cleadon but only 4 at Durham.

[jello]

3 eurostar trains stuck in tunnels coming into london due to weather. Crazy

posted in wrong place lol. sorry

Edited December 19, 2009 by jello

[SNOW-MAN2006]

omg! what a suprise, today i was in my car and i thought hmmmm a dusting is all we are guna get out of this.... by the coast and nosnow forecast until tomorrow, then tonight came and the showers kept coming and coming,now a heavy cover on the floor! Crazy Stuff!!!

Cant wait until sunday when we should double whats already here, so happy:D

[Hagler]

omg! what a suprise, today i was in my car and i thought hmmmm a dusting is all we are guna get out of this.... by the coast and nosnow forecast until tomorrow, then tonight came and the showers kept coming and coming,now a heavy cover on the floor! Crazy Stuff!!!

Cant wait until sunday when we should double whats already here, so happy:D

Nothing inland tonight, still 3" lying from yesterday.

[mcyates]

Nothing inland tonight, still 3" lying from yesterday.

Is this band tonight going to be rain/sleet or snow?

Hopefully the latter, its -4 at the moment and I doubt it will get above freezing today, just a guess.

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Alex Deakin just said SE Scotland and NE England in particular in for quite a lot of snow over a short space of time

Met Office seem to be very cautious with warnings for this event, only N Scotland has a warning so far.

I would expect a warning covering our area before lunchtime.