Cold Spell Discussion

[The Weather Yoda]

Hope this link works. Can't remember ever seeing this much snow coverage over the UK. Just a few coastal areas seem to be clear, with everywhere else a lovely white.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8447023.stm

[Just Below Zero]

Interesting to see that despite the earlier threat of just light snow as depicted by some models, the meto have just published the following....

Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:

Becoming windy with periods of snow starting during Sunday and lasting through and including Tuesday. Some of the snow will be heavy and it will be very cold.

Updated: 1530 on Fri 8 Jan 2010

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Just out of interest, is that an English Channel Snow Streamer that's piling into the Cotentin Peninsula of France on the radar? Looks like places between Valognes and Isigny-sur-Mer are taking a pounding!

I just came in here to mention that, but with my Geography skills I was going to describe it as the sticky out bit at the top of France! If that is falling as snow they must have way over a foot just from today!

[NorthNorfolkWeather]

Hope this link works. Can't remember ever seeing this much snow coverage over the UK. Just a few coastal areas seem to be clear, with everywhere else a lovely white.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8447023.stm

That's a great photo, even more so as, if you look at South West Ireland or the coastal areas, you will realise it's NOT black and white but Colour

Edited January 8, 2010 by NorthNorfolkWeather

[Osbourne One-Nil]

This time last night, it was -12.5C. Much milder tonight; out there right now it's only -11.5C.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Must admit I though "lol!" when I saw that comment.

[Nick L]

This time last night, it was -12.5C. Much milder tonight; out there right now it's only -11.5C.

Cold spell is over

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Indeed. In fact, it reached the dizzying heights of -6.5C here earlier today. At around that time, I nipped out of Appleby, towards the village where my parents live, and took these.

Wibs came with me, but I've not seen her since she got lost in a drift somewhere near where photo 2 was taken. Ah well.

[Marcus_surfer]

This time last night, it was -12.5C. Much milder tonight; out there right now it's only -11.5C.

Boiling compared to last night

Amazing photos!

Edited January 8, 2010 by Marcus_surfer

[phil nw.]

Indeed. In fact, it reached the dizzying heights of -6.5C here earlier today. At around that time, I nipped out of Appleby, towards the village where my parents live, and took these.

Wibs came with me, but I've not seen her since she got lost in a drift somewhere near where photo 2 was taken. Ah well.

Lovely photos OON.

I reckon you might be enjoying this cold spell.

[butler_son]

I just came in here to mention that, but with my Geography skills I was going to describe it as the sticky out bit at the top of France! If that is falling as snow they must have way over a foot just from today!

We can say all we like about our streamers, but that was something! The wind direction was perfect for the Channel Streamer to set up, then a more northerly component was added to put the Cotentin Peninsula into the firing line! Would loved to have been there!

Are there any French weather forums about? Had a look at Meteociel's forum, but it wasn't that busy.

[damianslaw]

I believe this evening marks the peak of this cold spell in terms of severity of cold with every chance that tonight will record a lower temp than last night in the Scottish Highlands.

From tomorrow more cloud cover and stronger winds at least in the south will result in less colder air and also even Scotland will begin to see some slightly milder air.

However, in terms of snowfall well if/when a breakdown occurs thats when trifle amounts of snow can occur, better than anything that was delivered this week - but many factors will determine whether such breakdown brings freezing rain/sleet/wet snow or proper heavy sticking stuff.

[disco-barry]

Are you sure Wibs got stuck in a drift or was the snow just to deep for her generally???

Nice photos OON, i feel like i've seen that hill before???

[butler_son]

If you think we've got it bad, check out picture 5 on this slideshow: http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/portfolio/2010/01/08/de-lincoln-a-leipzig-flocons-et-congeres_1288977_3244.html#ens_id=1281707

Now when it gets that bad, THEN it's a cold spell!

[Candice]

NAE on Sunday shows less "blue" on the temps than I've seen for ages. How accurate are they temperaturewise@

http://www.weatheron...0&ARCHIV=0&WMO=

[❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️]

Winter's over!

[Thundery wintry showers]

Norwich doesn't have as much snow as Tyneside- but it's certainly much more fun here with all the students out there throwing snowballs, sledging and a few even skiing.

[Terminal Moraine]

The longevity of this cold spell is beginning to get very interesting. It's currently the 3rd-longest cold spell here in the last 35 years with today being the 26th day of the spell, exceeding that of 1991 by two days and counting.

A way to go though to catch 1979 which had a 37 day cold spell or 1986 which had a 40 day spell.

I'll wait until the end of it to calculate the mean temp' of the spell and see how it compares with its predecessors.

For anyone interested the definintion of a cold spell is adapted from Brazell's 'London Weather' and is taken as a period of at least 7 days when the max' temp' does not exceed 2.9c but in any 7 day period one day can reach a max' of 2.9c-4.4c.

[Polar Continental]

The longevity of this cold spell is beginning to get very interesting. It's currently the 3rd-longest cold spell here in the last 35 years with today being the 26th day of the spell, exceeding that of 1991 by two days and counting.

A way to go though to catch 1979 which had a 37 day cold spell or 1986 which had a 40 day spell.

I'll wait until the end of it to calculate the mean temp' of the spell and see how it compares with its predecessors.

For anyone interested the definintion of a cold spell is adapted from Brazell's 'London Weather' and is taken as a period of at least 7 days when the max' temp' does not exceed 2.9c but in any 7 day period one day can reach a max' of 2.9c-4.4c.

Interesting TM, I wasn’t quite sure how the definition of a cold spell was defined. Unfortunately I doubt many low lying stations around here will reporting any lengthy cold spell records, as it’s just 12 days and counting going by my data.

Annoyingly the cold spell here was reset on the 26th and 27th of December, when the maximum temperature reached was 6.9c and 5.3c respectively.

Of course if January carries on the way it is, then we could possibly be looking at a cold spell similar to those classic years, as you say though, it is getting very interesting.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

By that definition, this is the 24th day of the cold spell here, with the mean temperature over that period of just -3.0C. So far this year, the mean is now standing at -5.7C

[butler_son]

For those of you interested like I was (all none of you, apart from MCT :wacko:) about yesterday's English Channel Snow Streamer, well, it's back again and hitting the Channel Islands quite hard, not to mention the Cotentin Peninsula (which is mainly département 50).

Found something on http://www.meteoconsult.fr - an orange weather warning out for département 50 (Manche). In their observations section of the warning, saying what happened yesterday (or so it seems):

Observation : Ce samedi à 07h00 , des averses de neige continuent de tomber sur les départements de la Manche, des Côtes d'Armor et du Finistère. Elles sont d'intensité modérée, et donnent en moyenne 2 à 5 cm. Dans a région Gavray (50), la couche de neige atteint les 25 cm !! A noter le vent de nord-est qui souffle à 60 km/h et renforce la sensation de froid.

Basically (for the non French speakers) - (As of Saturday, 6am GMT) snow showers continue to fall in the départements metioned. They are of moderate intensity giving about an inch or so (what you got this morning, Fitzwis!). In Gavray, Manche, lying snow has accumulated to 25cm! A cold north easterly wind, blowing in at 60km/h is making is feel much colder.

[Neilsouth]

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=34424&posts=51

PJB

Now back to the short term - We have snow showers in NE England - these giving 1-4cm in places, Rain/Sleet and Snow crossing N Ireland and Snow developing across Kent and East Sussex. The Wind is picking up across the SE and this is driving modified by SST airmass into Eastern and SE Coastal areas - hence precip type of rain/sleet is possible on exposed coastal strips - elsewhere WBFL's suggest all precip inland will be of Snow. The snow drier and less wet than previous falls and tending to accumulate more rapidly. 1:15 is prob a good idea for comparison of water equivs (i.e 1mm of of rain gives 1.5cm of Snow)

However this gives somewhat a worrying problem in the SE, as the higher resolution models indicate a persistent line of Snow developing just SE of Greater london through the rest of today, lasting through tonight with up to 14mm given a gridpoint on the M25/M20 Junction area, this could equite to around 20cm of snow, the line stretches just SE of London down to Brighton with 7-20cm possible in this zone over the next 24hrs. The snow a mix of Convective and Dynamic and likely to lead to significant disruption in the SE if it occurs. THe NAE has been quite persistent with the idea so it needs to watched carefully.

Elsewhere Showers streaming into NE England are penetrating at times into the Midlands and EAst Wales giving a dusting. Temps are stiill well below zero in many places, but the breeze and some sunshine is helping to push temps above zero (just) in parts of the South and coastal areas elsewhere

Over the COntinent clouds are increasing and a complex interaction is beginning to occur as a developing upper low and upper fronts develop (these essentially through isentropic upgliding of warmer air which pushed north from the Med, crossed the ALps and is now elevated, 1000-500mb thickness vlaues reflecting this but 1000-900mb thickness values largely unchanged insdicating the warming is now well elevated. Outbreaks of Snow are developing and are pushing NW and developing at the same time. Outbreaks of Light snow covering much of the SE by tomorrow morning and extending WNW during the day

[Optimus Prime]

The low last night was -4.1c while the maximum today was -0.5c. It's the 3rd consecutive today where the maximum was failed to rise above freezing and that wind is something else...

[Rollo]

We have been above freezing point todays- high as 1c after 3 days and nights below.

[butler_son]

Can update the situation for the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands:

Observation : Ce samedi à 13h45, des averses de neige continuent de tomber sur les départements de la Manche, des Côtes d'Armor et du Finistère ainsi que sur le Calvados, le littoral picard jusqu'au Boulonnais. Elles sont d'intensité modérée. Dans l'intérieur de la Bretagne la couche de neige atteint localement les 20 à 25 cm !! A noter le vent de nord-est qui souffle à 60 km/h et renforce la sensation de froid. Quelques flocons sont également présents entre la baie de Somme et le pays de Caux.

Observed conditions on Saturday at 12:45pm GMT: Snow showers continue to fall over the départements of Manche (the one getting hit hardest), Côtes d'Amour and Finistère, similarly in Calvados, the coastal area up to Boulonnais. They are of moderate intensity. Inland in Brittany, snow has accumulated locally up to 20 to 25cm. A north easterly wind blowing in at 40mph keeps things feeling cold. Other flurries are present in the Bay of the Somme and the countryside near Caux (I think).

Evolution : L'instabilité va persister tout au long de ce samedi entre la Bretagne et la Basse-Normandie jusqu'en Nord-Picardie avec des chutes de neige modérées qui donnent encore 2 à 5 cm en moyenne et localement jusque 10 cm sur les collines de l'intérieur (Mont d'Arrée). Mais dans certaines zones déjà fortement enneigées (centre Cotentin et pays de Caux), les cumuls de neige avec les chutes de neige supplémentaires en cours peuvent occasionner des épaisseurs de neige 30 à 35 cm localement !

Evolution: The instability will continue throughout Saturday between Brittany and Basse-Normandie, up to Nord-Picardie, with moderate snow showers giving on average 2 to 5cm and locally up to 10cm on hills inland. In certain areas already heavily hit by snow (the centre of the Cotentin Peninsula and the "pays de Caux" [don't know that part of France]), the accumulations with the further snow may occasionally reach 30 to 35cm locally!