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Fantasy Forecasts - And Some Serious Questions.


camperstron

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Posted
  • Location: B17
  • Weather Preferences: Coldie!
  • Location: B17

I am a cold ramper, love snow and all that. In a series of books I read as a kid every winter the characters couldn't leave their school for at least a week due to blizzard like snow falls. The books were set in the austrian alps - so snowfall was a given really :)

What I want to know for future winters is what sort of set up/conditions would potentially lead to a similar situation in the UK?

Also, when we have rain sometimes (well, quite often!) we have prolonged, moderate ppn, but when we get snow it's all very on and off. Why is that?

Finally, when we do get snow I've noticed that we tend to get mainly snizzly micro-flakes - why don't we get sustained, big, beefy flakes?

I'm a dilettante weather watcher, so any technical explanations for my silly questions would be most welcome and greatly appreciated :clap:

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Posted
  • Location: Blackburn - 180m asl
  • Location: Blackburn - 180m asl

I am a cold ramper, love snow and all that. In a series of books I read as a kid every winter the characters couldn't leave their school for at least a week due to blizzard like snow falls. The books were set in the austrian alps - so snowfall was a given really biggrin.gif

What I want to know for future winters is what sort of set up/conditions would potentially lead to a similar situation in the UK?

Also, when we have rain sometimes (well, quite often!) we have prolonged, moderate ppn, but when we get snow it's all very on and off. Why is that?

Finally, when we do get snow I've noticed that we tend to get mainly snizzly micro-flakes - why don't we get sustained, big, beefy flakes?

I'm a dilettante weather watcher, so any technical explanations for my silly questions would be most welcome and greatly appreciated drinks.gif

For snow events similar to wht you re talking about we would need quite a lot of odds stacked in our favour:

1) An area of High Pressure over either Scandinivia or Greenland.

2) High Dew points of round 1C or 2C which I'm not quite sure how we come by.

3) The right precipitation(again more experienced member might be able to help)

4) Very strong N'Ely would be useful.

The 5th one isn't possible which is Austria's height and position in the Europen Climate. As much as I would love this kind of snowmaggedon event to happen in and it is possible. I'm sure a more experienced and value members contribituin will follow this and I will be waiting in anticipation for that.

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Dew points of 1 or 2C would imply sleet or rain regardless of how low the air temperature was, so I don't think point 2 is very accurate!

Many of the big snow events of the past have traditionally had high pressure centred over Greenland, often with a ridge towards Scandinavia, bringing cold air in from the north and east, and Atlantic systems pushing up from the SW and stalling against the block, aligned west to east across the country. Those bands would often start off as rain, especially towards the SW, but would then turn rapidly to snow as they hit the colder air, and then give prolonged heavy snow to the affected area. Then the cold air would "win" and the fronts would buckle southwards, taking the heavy snowfalls with them.

There are also two types of showery setup that can deliver big snowfalls. One is the "northerly" type with a Greenland High and Scandinavian Low, where you can get fronts coming down from the north bringing persistent snowfalls (as per 5 January 2010) and another is the polar low, which if it creeps inland can deliver big snowfalls to wide areas. The other is the "easterly" type- if you get easterly winds in conjunction with very potent cold upper air, heavy prolonged snow showers keep firing in from the North Sea, perhaps with the odd trough giving more organised snowfall, and eastern Britain ends up under a foot of snow while most western areas see some as well, albeit in lesser amounts.

Snizzle indicates light precipitation- either weak fronts or suppressed convection. The large snowstorms result either from active fronts or vigorous convection.

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Posted
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and 15-25c
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)

as far as im aware you only get big beefy flakes with wet snow usually when temps are between 0-2c..when its colder flakes are smaller because the cold air holds less moisture the snow is more powdery so flakes dont tend to clump together to form big flakes.

this type of snow tends to acumulate quicker as the air and ground is colder and will settle instantly..where wet snow has difficulty in producing big falls as it tends to melt on contact with surfaces..so needs to be in heavy amounts to get acumulations.

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Posted
  • Location: B17
  • Weather Preferences: Coldie!
  • Location: B17

What were the books - Chalet School?

LOL, yes they were!! And whenever a few tiny bits of snizzle were spotted within half an hour it had turned into a week long, mega blizzard!

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