South Central England Cold Spell Discussion:

[SunnySouthCoast]

Looking good for snow tomorrow for some central southerners. Unfortunately us on the coast will just get wet

I think from Petersfield northwards it should fall as sleet/wet snow & north Hampshire/Berkshire/Oxfordshire (as well as northern parts of Wiltshire) should get some "proper" snow fall. Of course these situations are so hard to forecast & I bet the Met Office etc.. are having a nightmare as to what will happen, as always it will unltimately come down to nowcasting

[slb97]

I agree with you there sunnysouthcoast! My mum lives in Horndean so I'll be interested to see if she gets anything there but I expect it would be sleet at best.

[gottolovethisweather]

Hello all.

IMHO, I thought the trend (last few hours) for a snow event from tomorrow's event was looking promising according to my weather station data, however what is happening now?

Air Temp had dropped to 3.2c from day max of 6.8c with equivalent DewPoint dropping down to 2.5c at the same time (8pm). So as in the MO discussion, it's all about trends and here I was, many hours from the event, happily awaiting some good action. However, as I type (9.30pm) AT is now 3.7c and DP a measly 3.1c so I feel the high ground is all that's gonna get it in nearly all of our region. The cold air needs to undercut pretty quickly now otherwise many snow wishers are going to be out of luck. the good thing is that the Air pressure does seem to be bombing somewhat so who knows, could this help the intensity somewhat

Roll on the weekend and see what develops then maybe.

Edited January 19, 2010 by STORMBOY

[pinkertonsurly]

Mainly rain here - some big flakes of snow too. Some cars with snow on roofs coming down Alresford Rd - probably from 200m+ areas like Four Marks.

[flyer]

Greetings All

Started as rain here at 6am then turned to snow. 2 pence piece size, could turn into fivers !

A lull now and a slowing front.

[gottolovethisweather]

Hello all snowlovers.

Well I wasn't expecting to measure 15mm level snow at 9am this morning when I was observing the weather station b4 going to bed last night.

The temperature last evening had risen to 4.1c from a previous low of 3.2c just a couple of hours earlier and the Dewpoint having risen similarly. Now I'm watching snow merrily falling only 9 or so hours later. Perfect conditions now for wet snow, 0.5c AT and 0.1c DP so the temperature has really plummeted since dawn.

Well done MO and BBC as whould not have been a easy situation to 2nd guess.

Snowy Cheers yet again.

STORMBOY

Edited January 20, 2010 by STORMBOY

[Stargazer]

Sleet in Reading when I left at 8.00 this morning - turned to snow here in Basingstoke by about 8.45. It's been snowing continuously since then, with about 2cm accumulated in the car park, although the roads look OK.

Can anyone tell me what it's like in Reading now? Don't anticipate any particular problems driving back this evening, but any additional information might help me decide when to travel.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Stargazer

[Mazz]

Sleet in Reading when I left at 8.00 this morning - turned to snow here in Basingstoke by about 8.45. It's been snowing continuously since then, with about 2cm accumulated in the car park, although the roads look OK.

Can anyone tell me what it's like in Reading now? Don't anticipate any particular problems driving back this evening, but any additional information might help me decide when to travel.

Hi Stargazer

Been watching the forums for some time and finally decided to join in.

Sleeting in Reading at the moment but no snow - roads are clear.

[grab my graupel]

Hi Stargazer

Been watching the forums for some time and finally decided to join in.

Sleeting in Reading at the moment but no snow - roads are clear.

Hi Mazz, welcome to the forum

Brian

[katemart]

Rain and 4 degrees in Soton when I set out at 10am. Temp fell to 1.5 in the space of about 5 miles north of Winchester and the rain turned to beautiful snow! Continued to snow moderately in North Hants till about noon, lying everywhere, even on the roads and pavements, but then it turned to drizzle and all the white stuff started to wash away. Can't imagine there was any at home during my absence.

Fingers crossed for next week! Best stock on some coal for the stove.

Kate

[SunnySouthCoast]

As expected just rain here on the coast today, heavier this morning & drizzle all afternoon, cold though

[slb97]

Raining quite heavily now in Copnor Portsmouth but with the occasionally 'lumpy' bit of sleet thrown in (unless my eyes are deceiving me!) My cat's miaowing all over the place and wants to go out, maybe she's hoping it'll snow as she loved jumping about in it last time ha ha!

[Stargazer]

Hi Stargazer

Been watching the forums for some time and finally decided to join in.

Sleeting in Reading at the moment but no snow - roads are clear.

Hi Mazz,

Many thanks for the information - and welcome to the forum! Here on the hills above Basingstoke we've had pretty much everything today except sunshine - the snow has eased and we're now in thick fog with a few fine snow grains falling.

S.

[katemart]

Anyone around???

I was feeling pessimistic about the chances of snow for us from this front, but my friend reports it is snowing in Telford. Seems to be further south sooner than expected... :unsure:

Kate

[slb97]

Hey Kate!

Hope you're well - blimey it's been quiet in here, must be that rain everyone's been enjoying lol! The sunshine's been good though when we've had it. Here in Portsmouth it's sunny intervals with a few ominous clouds floating around but doesn't look like amounting to much and has been dry for quite a while now.

[Stargazer]

Kate and slb97 - you just beat me to it.

Time to open the discussion again - we're in the middle of a snow shower here on the hill above Basingstoke

Edit: snow has turned to hail and now sleet. So far it's not settled.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Stargazer

[gottolovethisweather]

Crossposted this to the cold discussion.

A heavy shower just skirted us here in Newbury, Berkshire but remarkably is how my temps took a nosedive.

At 14:45 Air Temp was 4.6c and DP 2.1c then at 15:00 they were 3.0c/0.4c respectively. Also it started horizontally snowing at the time of the first observation.

Now just 10 minutes later, the AT is 2.5c and DP 0.3c so continuing to slowly fall and judging by the radar, could a surprise covering be on offer by evening time.

Loving this northerly already.

STORMBOY

[slb97]

Hi Stargazer and Stormboy,

Really chuffed that you're both getting some of the action especially as I thought our region wasn't particularly favoured during a 'northerly' - although you're both further inland than me. In fact I'm not quite sure what 'type' we benefit from wintry wise on the south coast lol!

I'm quite enjoying the blue skies we've got here at the moment; hardly a cloud to be seen and judging by the radar that's the way it will stay for a while so I've got my windows open giving the house a good airing!!

[gottolovethisweather]

I'm quite enjoying the blue skies we've got here at the moment; hardly a cloud to be seen and judging by the radar that's the way it will stay for a while so I've got my windows open giving the house a good airing!!

Hello slb.

You may have to close those windows, although I think it will miss you there, there's a big lump of cloud to your NE, go have a look! That was what dumped a little on my area earlier. I'm keeping my eyes peeled to my NNW for a hour or so's time and who knows what could happen later on tonight and into the weekend

There's even a polar low being watched closely out in the northern part of the north sea evidently.

STORMBOY

[slb97]

Hi Stormboy,

Almost out of 'nowhere' the wind's picked up and it started going dark!! Went to the loft room and you're right - to the northeast something's falling out of the sky almost in 'strips' with beautiful coloured dark/orangey clouds - it's going in the wrong direction to get me but stunning to look at nonetheless!! Thanks for the heads up!

Quick edit - just had a short (approx 20 seconds!) shower of hail on the tail end of those clouds - sky brightening again now, cool!!

Edited January 29, 2010 by slb97

[kold weather]

Light-moderate snow here in Chichester, a nice surprise given its a northerly flow, very pleasent to see!

[slb97]

Hi Kold,

I can see those clouds to my east - glad they're producing snow; especially for Chichester as that's where I was born!

[jtay]

Heavy snow shower here, just south of Salisbury. It's heading down to the New Forest atm.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html

Edited January 29, 2010 by jtay

[biggiemauls]

Heavy snow shower here, just south of Salisbury. It's heading down to the New Forest atm.

http://www.metoffice...dary/index.html

Heavy indeed , the link you posted didnt work by the way.

[katemart]

Hubby reports s shower of fine snow grains and hail in central Southampton at 3:15 this afternoon - the snow risk charts were spot on and have been predicting that for at least 4 days! Clear skies here, now, though - perfect for watching the brightest full moon of the year and the proximity of Mars, but no good for wintry ppn...