North East England Cold Spell Discussion

[Alex95]

0.4°C and the earlier snow gave about half a cm. I expect a slight thaw today as the temperature is higher, but hopefully not spoiling the landscapes too much.

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Snow shower in Stanley about 8:30. The bank out of our estate was quite clear before the shower, but just that dusting made it almost impossible to get up. I was going about 1mph with the wheels spinning and engine revving the whole way up. The car in front stalled and started rolling back towards me, just as well i'd left a big gap.

Wasn't expecting that this morning, looks like there could be a couple more showers too.

[paul tall]

A nice moderate snow shower coming through right now. Temperature and dew point a bit higher than I'd like, 0.8º & -0.1º.

[Alex95]

Lots of nice cb anvils to the north of me now, and thaw hasn't been as significant as I feared so far, but there is still 4-5 hours of thawing potential left

If 90% or more of the snow cover survives today I'll be confident it'll last through to Christmas day, and its good that there hasn't been any noticeable thaw yet, even on rooftops. Just the snow on the wheelie bin has turned a bit more sloppy.

Edited December 21, 2009 by alza

[paul tall]

Well an unexpected 1cm fresh snow has fallen through the morning.

Also, last night the showers seemed to dissipate at the eastern edge of the Pennines, say 12-15 miles west of me, but now those showers seem to be intensifying after crossing the Pennines. Very hit and miss whether you catch a shower though.

[Thundery wintry showers]

A picturesque landscape today- Cb cells and snow showers out to the west, and bright sunshine. Although the temperature rose to 0.9C during that snow shower at 8:50am, Cleadon has about 0.5-1.0cm of fresh snow on top of the previous snow, and so overall snow depths remain at 5cm. The radar also suggests that there may have been a snow flurry around 6:30am.

Like others I expect a slight thaw today, but the high is only likely to be around 2 or 3C and the snow cover has been through a few frosts, so I think the thaw will be minimal.

Edit: the latest GFS and ECMWF both track the Christmas Eve low further south meaning more of a cold northerly rather than a modified easterly, suggesting less certainty of precipitation but also lower chance of any precipitation turning back to sleet or rain especially near the coast. On the basis of current runs the chances of a white Christmas (in the sense of snow lying) are looking very favourable.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Thundery wintry showers

[paul tall]

I agree, the snow is very well established and is icy. Negligible thaw here over the last couple of days and today won't make a dent in it either. An average snow depth of 8cm shows no loss of snow.

[Rollo]

Sadly the snow shower we had here earlier only gave a minimal fall but on the bright side the temperature is still only marginally above freezing point. We do have some nice shower clouds to my west but they just keep missing this area.

[snowmackem]

Drip drio drip !!

Oh dear, here in Ryton we have accumulated the grand total of 2cm snow in the last couple of days, feeble and pathetic.There was a slight thaw yesterday evening, but that appears to be in full swing now. Grass showing through, roofs clearing, slushy pavements. Granted there are probably only a couple of hours thawing to go, and I know tomorrow is going to be colder after a bitter night, but the thaw, tied in with evaporation is making me think that without a top-up, there will be no white Xmas in Ryton this year. We need a decent disturbance in the atmosphere to stir things up, some movement in the air and a decent trough coming through. I don't think there is much on the horizon to give me confidence although things can change at short notice. More good dumpings today, typical that they are mainly Darn Sarf again aaaahhhhh!!

Anyone else feeling a little despondent ?

Cheers,

Karl

[izi]

snip

disappointed in the cold spell? No. Disappointed at the amount of snow in city center? a little.

If you go 20 mins out of city centre you will notice a massive difference in snow volume to town. However, I do think the north east has missed out quite a bit in the past few years. I remember when growing up we always used to have good dumpings of snow (more than 4 inches).

[Thundery wintry showers]

Ouch! I can only assume the urban heat island is playing its part. Here in Cleadon there has been a max of 2.1C (currently 1.3C and falling, so no more thawing to come) and about 1cm has been shaved off the snow cover in areas exposed to the sun, but no appreciable reduction in snow depth in shady areas.

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Ouch! I can only assume the urban heat island is playing its part. Here in Cleadon there has been a max of 2.1C (currently 1.3C and falling, so no more thawing to come) and about 1cm has been shaved off the snow cover in areas exposed to the sun, but no appreciable reduction in snow depth in shady areas.

There was some dripping from the roof at work earlier when the sun was out, but apart from that there are no other signs of a thaw in Consett.

The snow on top of my car has melted a little in the sun, but as the water is running down the windscreen out of the sun it's freezing so it must still be pretty close to freezing here.

[SNOW-MAN2006]

Well today ive finally plucked up enough courage to brave the shops for my christmas shopping and god it was bitter out there! The first thing i bought was a hat and scarf! As for the snow cover i must admit those areas exposed to the sun have saw the highest thaw, but sides of trees and lamposts that where exposed to the northerly wind during Saturdays Snow still have snow on them where the sun has failed to penetrate, shwoing just how cold it really is. Thick ice everywhere where all the snow has been compacted now... Still dissapointed from saturday though.... thank god we had our snow streamer on Friday evening to yeild us something out of this cold spell orselse we would of had very little snow fall! The cold spell so far has not produced anything spectacular in terms of snow fall but the main source of appreciation from this spell has to be the length the cold has persisted and the length of the time the snow cover has remained. These shady areas could retain snow cover even through to the end of this cold spell which will be pretty spectacular, just wish we had more in the way of snow fall to keep things interesting... :/

SNOW-MAN2006

[Snowstorm1]

I know a sound like a broken record but is it going to snow anymore before or on christmas day because a top up will make me 100% certain of snow everywere in my area for christmas

[Geordiesnow]

i must have similar amounts of snow to Snowmackem as in terms of snowfall, this cold spell was not the greatest and Saturday's snow event saved us from embarrassment really.

We also have snow with roofs melting quickly especially the west facing roofs, the grass was never fully covered(i.e you could still see specs of grass coming through) and the pavements did not receive too much snowcover and most of it turned to ice. There is still a bit of snow out there however and where the sun does not shine much, i do expect it to last to xmas. Although that would depend on temps and whether any PPN falls as rain or snow.

The cold spell in terms of it length was not to bad but it is certainly not the snowiest, i guess the overall set up never really favoured our region though.

[izi]

i guess the overall set up never really favoured our region though.

Yeah, this is the same story for the past few cold spells that have happened in the UK - Northeast has been forgotten about, but atleast we have had 'some.'

20 mins west of newcastle there is 4-6inches of snow at 150m ASL.

[Rollo]

I really cannot understand why some are not satisfied with the snow amounts received,even in the sixties when cold weather was more dominent deep snow happened on the odd occasions but the deep stuff of 79'was very rare indeed.

We are only just past mid-december and there is a long way to go before spring arrives,some folk have had an awful lot less than us(refer to the no no thread) so lets enjoy what we have there is more to come.

[SNOW-MAN2006]

I really cannot understand why some are not satisfied with the snow amounts received,even in the sixties when cold weather was more dominent deep snow happened on the odd occasions but the deep stuff of 79'was very rare indeed.

We are only just past mid-december and there is a long way to go before spring arrives,some folk have had an awful lot less than us(refer to the no no thread) so lets enjoy what we have there is more to come.

Whilst that might be correct, id prefer even 6 inches of snow for 2 days than a week of cold weather with 1cm of snow ontop of thick ice. I know there is plenty to come over the coming months, feb and march always deliver.... but id much prefer not to freeze my dog biscuits off for a week with a measly amount of snow to show for it... i think this is the dissapointment factor with quite a few people.

[Snowstorm1]

I know a sound like a broken record but is it going to snow anymore before or on christmas day because a top up will make me 100% certain of snow everywere in my area for christmas

Anyone? <_<

[Thundery wintry showers]

I am still slightly concerned about possible developments for Christmas Eve. There is a chance of some precipitation moving up from the south-west which is likely to fall as snow in inland areas, but if we pick up a significant easterly flow on the northern flank of the low, then it will warm up near the east coast, thawing all of the snow away just in time for Christmas Day. This morning's runs had backed away from that possibility, but GFS has re-introduced it on the 12Z.

The situation on 22/23 December remains the same as today- sunny, generally colder than today has been (maxima struggling to get above freezing) and some snow flurries making it across the Pennines at times, but generally of the hit-and-miss variety. Any snow cover left today will persist until Christmas Eve with only negligible thawing.

[paul tall]

Hmm, how much snow cover do you have now Ian?

I know a sound like a broken record but is it going to snow anymore before or on christmas day because a top up will make me 100% certain of snow everywere in my area for christmas

Do you have relatives in Carlisle?

[Snowstorm1]

Hmm, how much snow cover do you have now Ian?

Do you have relatives in Carlisle?

Nope lol why?

[paul tall]

No reason, just you reminded me of somebody for Carlisle for a minute...

I wouldn't worry too much about snow, I think you'll be white until Christmas.

[izi]

well just got home from work, not much snow has melted here in south gosforth, still fairly white.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Hmm, how much snow cover do you have now Ian?

4cm on most surfaces, 5cm on surfaces that have remained in the shade. So unless we do get that sleety east-coast warmup on Christmas Eve (which the ECMWF and GEFS ensembles do not support) there should be a white Christmas here with the thaw conveniently holding off until Boxing Day.

It is still going to the wire though as it all depends on the positioning of a low to the south on Christmas Eve. The further south, the less likely it is that there will be a thaw near the coast on Christmas Eve.

GEFS temperatures for Tyne & Wear- operational was a clear warm outlier for Christmas Eve/Day:

http://charts.netweather.tv/ensimages/ens.20091221/12/t2mTyne~and~Wear.png