Snow And Ice In The Northern Hemisphere

[mountain shadow]

When is Hudson Bay normally frozen over by?

[Argyllcraig]

Normally Hudson bay starts to show signs of icing during november but is not normally properly covered until around mid december onwards.

I think last year it was quite slow to form.

[cyclonic happiness]

Good growth from eastern siberia, however, a fair bit of meltback in western siberia.

We really are struggling to get snow cover there atm, hope it changes, should do with the patern change over the next 10 days or so, and I suppose we have plenty of time!

This year....

Last year.....

[liltbrockie]

Maybe I'll remind you all about this script I made to compare previous years...

http://www.kitchenappliancesforum.co.uk/Script.html

Its quite usefull to see the previous years dates side by side.

[Strider]

You have to say we are in all sorts of trouble compared to last year atm, but the setup for the later half of November does appear to be better than last years.

[Isolated Frost]

http://www.cairngormmountain.com/webcam/ptarmigan_large.jpg

Not bad snow depths for mid-November, possibly 1ft or more there!

[Turnedoutniceagain]

You have to say we are in all sorts of trouble compared to last year atm, but the setup for the later half of November does appear to be better than last years.

Not at all, look at the sea-ice around Kara Sea/Nova Zemleya.

[Cecil Hogmanay Melchett]

Scandanavia snowcover looking very healthy compared to this time last year!!

[Scottish-Irish Skier]

http://www.cairngorm...migan_large.jpg

Not bad snow depths for mid-November, possibly 1ft or more there!

Scottish Ski Season gets underway, only 145 days since it ended late last spring.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11751104

[Strider]

Not at all, look at the sea-ice around Kara Sea/Nova Zemleya.

There's a massive chunk missing from western Russia which could be crucial.

[bobbydog]

There's a massive chunk missing from western Russia which could be crucial.

well if you look through the previous posts, that could appear literally overnight

[Kentish Kiwi]

Will be very interesting to see how European snow cover responds to the general change in pattern over the next two weeks (assuming a permutation of the synoptics on offer from the models is likely), could see some big gains in Eastern Europe/Western Russia and possibly catch up to where we were last year? Basing this purely on the understanding that the less zonal flow across Europe, with pressure building to the north and east, is better for snowcover on the continent than the Tm SWerly pattern that has been prevalent these last couple of weeks?

[cyclonic happiness]

not much moving today I'm afraid, and as someone posted earlier, we do need that area of east russia to be snowbound before we can rely on any sort of easterly that the models are showing, to be potent.

[SMU]

I fully expect in + 8-10 days time the key areas will be white

S

[Cymro]

not much moving today I'm afraid, and as someone posted earlier, we do need that area of east russia to be snowbound before we can rely on any sort of easterly that the models are showing, to be potent.

However look how healthy scottish snowcover seems. With these low temps and fairly polar conditions its perfect for good snow retention on the highlands. The best for years at this current time!

[damianslaw]

However look how healthy scottish snowcover seems. With these low temps and fairly polar conditions its perfect for good snow retention on the highlands. The best for years at this current time!

Yes snowcover over the Highlands is very good compared to recent years. The key factor being the Highlands has now for a good 10 days been primarily in polar air, the snowfalls of last Monday were very heavy and although there has been a thaw at lower levels over the middle of the past week, this weekend has seen the polar air back in residence and showers have been of snow.

No tropical maritime air is being shown to envelop the Highlands in the coming days which will have the effect of consolidating the existing snow cover to give a very good base allowing skiing I suspect come next weekend.

[Cymro]

Yes snowcover over the Highlands is very good compared to recent years. The key factor being the Highlands has now for a good 10 days been primarily in polar air, the snowfalls of last Monday were very heavy and although there has been a thaw at lower levels over the middle of the past week, this weekend has seen the polar air back in residence and showers have been of snow.

No tropical maritime air is being shown to envelop the Highlands in the coming days which will have the effect of consolidating the existing snow cover to give a very good base allowing skiing I suspect come next weekend.

Sking has already commenced on the Cairngorms so things are looking good. Temp hasn't risen about 6 here in the Beacons today back down to 2 now.

[Scottish-Irish Skier]

Sking has already commenced on the Cairngorms so things are looking good. Temp hasn't risen about 6 here in the Beacons today back down to 2 now.

Report with pix from Cairngorm today. Good skiing to the middle station, rock-hopping to the base station.

http://www.winterhighland.info/pix/pixalbum.php?pix_id=655

For mid-november this is really quite good. In past years we'd be happy with that amount of snow in February (before a raging atlantic chucked some 15 C wet air at it and melted the whole lot overnight).

No sign of this going anywhere soon, if anything, the base should continue to build.

[martinj2]

Hi eveveryone-thought this may help you weather boffins. A quick animation of snow-ice cover from 1st Oct 2010-13th Nov 2010

">Snow and Ice cover 1st Oct-13th Nov 2010 animation

Edited November 14, 2010 by martinj2

[cyclonic happiness]

Still not alot going on this end of Eurasia

[Guest Quantumsnow]

Hi eveveryone-thought this may help you weather boffins. A quick animation of snow-ice cover from 1st Oct 2010-13th Nov 2010

Thanks for this Martinj2, nice animation

[Cymro]

Still not alot going on this end of Eurasia

Still an increase slowly but surly.

[yido]

Here is a picture from last week flying back from Japan. Taken directly over the most northern part of Siberia at exactly Mid-day. You can just make out the sun breaking over the horizon highlighting a frozen river but not much else. Not a place you'd want to be left for long!

Edited November 15, 2010 by yido

[cyclonic happiness]

STILL not much going on.....

[azores92]

Here is a picture from last week flying back from Japan. Taken directly over the most northern part of Siberia at exactly Mid-day. You can just make out the sun breaking over the horizon highlighting a frozen river but not much else. Not a place you'd want to be left for long!

Yup; a vast frzen wilderness