East Anglia & South East Cold Spell Discussion

[danm]

that area of ppn over London seems to have appeared out of nowhere. just light rain here atm. slowly chipping away at the decent amount of lying snow we have

[Sno' problem]

starting to snow :lol:

Well all ppn has stopped here right now and bugger all on the radar, I guess I will call it a day. Had the best settling snow of the season so far here today after having come so close on recent days, but might have to stay conscious to see what the 00z has to say...But it always seems to be the most negative of the four runs and hardly goes the right way for some reason.

(maybe that's because I always see it at the end of a long hard day)

[dallas]

Back to drizzle now, but according the n/w radar current postcode is on the edge of sleet leading into snow, could do with lowre dew point though..........oops I mean lower dew point, thats a 0300 typo

Edited December 22, 2009 by dallas

[MAF]

Back to drizzle now, but according the n/w radar current postcode is on the edge of sleet leading into snow, could do with lowre dew point though..........oops I mean lower dew point, thats a 0300 typo

well i will give it a rest now and start checking southeastern trains site in a few hours to check if its worth me trying to get home

current dew point at city airport is 1.0 °C

according to this > http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/pws/invent/weathermap/ we have more to come :lol:

[dallas]

All fizzled out now, maybe the break in cloud will allow the temp to drop a bit

[Sno' problem]

The problem is that now the temps are beginning to drop (it seems), there is no ppn at the mo to make any use of it.

[dallas]

The problem is that now the temps are beginning to drop (it seems), there is no ppn at the mo to make any use of it.

Yep typical that :lol:

[danm]

The problem is that now the temps are beginning to drop (it seems), there is no ppn at the mo to make any use of it.

but at least the lower temps will make the lying snow stick around longer rather than melt.

[Sno' problem]

There is a very faint pulse of ppn on the back edge, but it seems the most from that will be a few flakes, just can't see it building up over London, but it may well pick up in intensity after passing through the capital.

[Sno' problem]

The 00z GFS has slightly more optimistic tones for Christmas Day, the cold air over the country (at 18z 25/12) is slightly more imbedded, while the low that was building North of the Azores on Monday's 00z at the same time, has now suddenly turned into a high which, in turn, has completely changed the synoptics, with a low to the S'th of Norway looking to form, which would bring another N'ly flow.

Amazing how things can change in 24 hours, with still the faint hope of a white Xmas down here (well...a flake or two - managed to get in there at 8-1)

[dallas]

There is a very faint pulse of ppn on the back edge, but it seems the most from that will be a few flakes, just can't see it building up over London, but it may well pick up in intensity after passing through the capital.

Agree with that, the warning from Meto is still there though, I think they maybe was not expecting the intensity of the snow yesterday so best have one out just in case eh

[dallas]

A few flakes coming down

[Sno' problem]

The temp is beginning to drop, down to 3ºc here, with ppn starting to fall...But it's more rain than snow and it's doing it's usual thing of disapparating as soon as it hits London. :lol:

Oh well mate, It was fun while it lasted eh?

Heading for bed, take care and good luck in the coming days, you never know...

Edited December 22, 2009 by Sno' problem

[dallas]

The temp is beginning to drop, down to 3ºc here, with ppn starting to fall...But it's more rain than snow and it's doing it's usual thing of disapparating as soon as it hits London. :lol:

Oh well mate, It was fun while it lasted eh?

Heading for bed, take care and good luck in the coming days, you never know...

Yep ta ta not expecting much

[yamkin]

HEAVY SNOW FALLING HERE

[yamkin]

Light snow falling and temp has gone down to 1.5c

[Tom D]

May have snowed a little again during the night, but no real difference to when I went to bed at around midnight. Looks rather slushy and nasty on our road, dread to think what it's like on busy roads if they've not been gritted due to traffic.

The temp has remained rather steady; currently an overnight low -0.2c with a high overnight of 0.5c.

In the untouched areas there's about 10cm snow, but it's rather wet and seems to be thawing slowly, as it will all day. Tonight when the temps drop below freezing it will become really treacherous on roads and pavements.

Still -0.4c at 9am.

Edited December 22, 2009 by Tommyd1258

[justinflavin]

just listening to local radio here in hampshire. apparently some folks left basingstoke ( christmas shopping) at about 3pm yesteray afternoon and are only NOW getting home ( in berkshire/reading)...

looks like basingstoke got the worst of it according the radio. thats me off work today. there's absolutely no way i'll be able to get into the train station. still knackered from my 7 mile walk home last night.

[Charltonkerry]

The thaws continues in Dartford, looks like it will all be gone by tonight. Shame really been nice to have had snow on the ground over the Xmas period.

[justinflavin]

The thaws continues in Dartford, looks like it will all be gone by tonight. Shame really been nice to have had snow on the ground over the Xmas period.

still very deep and thick snow here in central hampshire. i'm getting increasingly concerned about local radio in their focus on MAIN ROADS being clear and their messages about "be careful if you venture out". seems unrealistic as its deathly quiet this morning. no background hum of traffic.

in central basingstoke last night the road that the buses take next to the train station was covered in about 2 inches of black ice. and thats a road that should have been gritted like mad. you can only guess what the feeder roads are like.

to get an idea on how bad it was last night - even the head of the AA was stuck. he did a telephone interview on the news last night. stuck in the basingstoke snowpocalypse. (AA HQ is in bstoke..)

guy in charge of the gritters is on bbc radio berkshire right now. explaining the situation - the gritters went out at 3pm, but the snow came earlier than expected.

trouble is - as soon as the snow arrived in hampshire, everyone else decided to head home - which caused an early rush hour, which held up the gritters.

[Guest archiesmummy]

morning

no extra snow here overnight, temp is currently 1.2 and dew point is 0.6.

[snowblizzard]

I find all the comments and critisism on TV this morning about lack of response (Council gritters etc) very frustrating!

Don't these people understand that in this country we have limited resourses, we don't spend billions of £'s on equipment and manpower to clear snow & ice.

Anyway, it doesn't matter even if the roads have been gritted when the surface temps drop so low and it snows as hard as it has in some parts of UK the grit & salt has little effect, it's unbelievable how quickly the snow piles-up on the roads.

Once that happens, the roads become blocked by stranded vehicles so the gritters can't get through to grit the roads.

It's happened before and unfortunately it's bound to happen again!

Met Office early warnings have been almost spot-on this year.

Edited December 22, 2009 by snowblizzard

[justinflavin]

I find all the comments and critisism on TV this morning about lack of response (Council gritters etc) very frustrating!

Don't these people understand that in this country we have limited resourses, we don't spend billions of £'s on equipment and manpower to clear snow & ice.

Anyway, it doesn't matter even if the roads have been gritted when the surface temps drop so low and it snows as hard as it has in some parts of UK the grit & salt has little effect, it's unbelievable how quickly the snow piles-up on the roads.

Once that happens, the roads become blocked by stranded vehicles so the gritters can't get through to grit the roads.

It's happened before and unfortunately it's bound to happen again!

Met Office early warnings have been almost spot-on this year.

i agree , as i literally had to walk home from basingstoke train station last night so i saw the roads first hand in the evening. even the road next to the station was about 1 or 2 inches covered in deep black ice.

there was not a chance that the gritters could get out , such was the sudden speed of the snowfall.

wife and kids reported snowflakes as big as "feathers" during the afternoon snowfall - we're talking hand sized flakes...

[NorthNorfolkWeather]

I find all the comments and critisism on TV this morning about lack of response (Council gritters etc) very frustrating!

Don't these people understand that in this country we have limited resourses, we don't spend billions of £'s on equipment and manpower to clear snow & ice.

Met Office early warnings have been almost spot-on this year.

What I find difficult, up here in the frozen North of Norfolk is the lack of gritters on the MAIN roads. I live in the 'back of beyond' where, when we have a cold snap, a gritting lorry usually finds it's way past my house after 3-4 days. Yesterday I was on a main road which was still badly iced up. The local county council apparently has loads of salt, but has declined to pay the drivers overtime, so they work 8 hours and clock off, normally the driver work an average of 10 hours, allowing many more roads to be gritted, and earning some extra money as well. I cannot believe that there isn't something in the pot to pay for some extra gritting to be done.

And in answer to those who say that it can't be done when it's snowing, I agree. But we've had no extra snow during the last 2 days

Edited December 22, 2009 by NorthNorfolkWeather

[Guest archiesmummy]

it took my hubbie 3 hours to get home last night from enfield to chigwell. he had to help people drive up hills, then walk back down to get the next person who couldnt get up the hill, this included a woman who was trying to get up the hill in drive on an automatic rather than first and a man who couldnt drive his land rover properly as often wondered what that "other gear stick" was for...so the gritters can only do so much!

am resigned to the fact no snow this christmas for us but have loved what we have had!

merry christmas to one and all!!!! only 3 more sleeps!!!!