Midlands Cold Spell Discussion - Part 15

[conor123]

Stayed dry here in the end after a few spots of rain earlier, jet black sky to the north but past experiences mean that unless it's actually overhead throwing it down with something its best to regard it as being none existant.

[A.J]

The showers or band of precip currently over the north Midlands is another trough. The trough further north over the north east should make its way south during this evening along with the one affecting the Midlands.

Anyway, some light rain still falling here. Must admit, I didn't expevt things to turn out this way, but then again I wasn't expecting much in the way of snow either.

thanks mate...cant check the nw radar as Im posting from my mobile phone....should be ok to drive home then, nothing heavy or snowy to worry about!

[i love snow]

still snow here but way to wet to cover! temps should start to fall and proberly alot of ice tonight!! whats going to happen with the trough in the n/e! is it going to make it here?

[Bolton67]

i would also like to add that the radar is showing some heavy precip over my head yet the cloud is breaking up above me.

[i love snow]

reallymassive flakes now biggest i seen in long time

[Bolton67]

Nothing is falling from the sky...

[conor123]

Looks like the end of the world about 2 miles west of here its throwing it down so heavily, ironically/typically its just fine drizzle blasting past here...

[beccaboo]

Stil nothing here, and dosn't look much like its going to do anything either!!

[jimben]

Whats the story with that LP system to our SW it appears to be making sure and steady progress to our shores

[Bolton67]

to add insult to injury I've just seen a gritting lorry go up my road.

[loopydreamer]

been waiting for the dew point to drop for hours. its now at 1, temp at 3.

im really hoping that i'll see some snow later but i probably wont *sighs*

[jimben]

Nothing is falling from the sky...

Very bizarre my postcode NN3 under green and yellow but all I had was 2 mins of light rain. Still it has had the effect of dragging temp down to 2.8c from high of 4.5c and dewpoint now down to -0.3c

[weather_it_will]

This was the clouds to the east of here a few moments ago. Sadly any precipitation was too far east.

[Ian Fergusson]

Nothing is falling from the sky...

Ah-ha..... never trust the radar as complete fact!

Bear in mind that the radar feed (especially in this raw format, with all the clutter and spurious stuff still shown there) is not always representative of ground truth PPN rates. This is frequent with snowfall, due to so-called brightband effects, especially. The signal from falling, melting snow aloft - due to the fact that there's a fine film of water on each melting flake - will offer far greater reflectivity as opposed to true ice (which absorbs the radar's radiation far better). It will look intensive as radar returns but ground truth may be a wholly different matter.

Best

Ian

Edited January 2, 2010 by Ian Fergusson

[Bolton67]

Very bizarre my postcode NN3 under green and yellow but all I had was 2 mins of light rain. Still it has had the effect of dragging temp down to 2.8c from high of 4.5c and dewpoint now down to -0.3c

Those showers coming out of brum might bring some more rain

[beccaboo]

Just done my very technical check..........looked out of the window!! light on one side and very very dark on the other moving this way, so really hoping that we get some flakes here!!!!!

[Bolton67]

Ah-ha..... never trust the radar as complete fact!

Bear in mind that the radar feed (especially in this raw format, with all the clutter and spurious stuff still shown there) is not always representative of ground truth PPN rates. This is frequent with snowfall, due to so-called brightband effects, especially. The signal from falling, melting snow aloft - due to the fact that a fine film of water on each melting flake - will offer far greater reflectivity as opposed to true ice (which absorbs the radar's radiation far better). It will look intensive as radar returns but ground truth may be a wholly different matter.

Best

Ian

Cheers for that ian.

[Shiny_Bottom_1]

Can somebody please tell me why this is coming down as rain???

no rain was forecast?

I think first thing is that there was no CG troughs forecast, so quite a turnaround and shows how quickly things can change/develop.

In regards to why its rain, i'm trying to figure this out. My best guess is the height of the 0oC, which is showing between 0-500m. However, this would also not bode well for tonight. It could also be a mild sector, but a longer shot of that being the reason. I guess the final reason is the dew points. But not sure what factors that make up the dew point.

Its perhaps a little disappointing for some, but it was unexpected, and as such, you couldn't really say it went wrong when it wasn't even forecast. Elevation seems to have helped (good reports from Stoke which is quite high up) - which is why I am thinking it was the 0oC Isotherm that made a difference (but fingers crossed it is not the absolute).

Ian B should be able to give a better judgement on the reasonings.

[conor123]

Wow, it is actually snowing now in Telford, and moderately aswell.

Cherishing this moment

[Costa Del Fal]

Will that band ever reach here? Doesnt look that heavy either now.

[Bolton67]

this would also not bode well for tonight.

It certainly would not bode very well for tonight.

[we_want_snow]

Glad your having some snow down the road in Telford, is anything sticking?

Light rain here in Shrewsbury and it's darkening quikly

[Costa Del Fal]

So close yet so far here. Been cloudy for ages but nothing.

[conor123]

Glad your having some snow down the road in Telford, is anything sticking?

Light rain here in Shrewsbury and it's darkening quikly

It's stopped now almost but dusted everything nicely and the sky looks full of it.

Big orange blob with reds and even a bit of purple in it not far away on the radar though it be to far north or even end up to far south yet...

Edited January 2, 2010 by conor123

[we_want_snow]

Can you give me a link to the radar??? Thanks

When is tonights snow meant to hit the midlands?