Snow And Ice In The Northern Hemisphere

[Buzz]

Jackone - is there a way to save that image? Would love it as my desktop wallpaper yet there's no option to save via a right click?

Edited December 18, 2010 by Buzz

[Paul T]

Great pic jack one, even Plymouth has snow - that will be a collectors item one day ;-)

Edited December 19, 2010 by Paul T

[cyclonic happiness]

Look at this picture, I wonder how many times we'll see us looking like this, this winter....stunning!

[frozencanals]

Morning Folks

nice to see the snow creeping towards the Caspian Sea finally, and the UK is still white

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_asiaeurope.gif?session-id=0ab5b3ecad413941cb0da919fe904b01

This is the link to the latest NOAA image from yesterday.... my netbook is too slow to upload the actual pic...

Cheers

FC

[carinthian]

Interesting reports of fast developing Sea Ice in the Gulf of Bothnia. At its widest, stretching 20 nautical miles from Finland to Sweden 5 -25 cm in depth. Looks like it will become a battle to keep the channels open if this intense cold continues. Something to monitor over the coming days.

C

[phil nw.]

Interesting reports of fast developing Sea Ice in the Gulf of Bothnia. At its widest, stretching 20 nautical miles from Finland to Sweden 5 -25 cm in depth. Looks like it will become a battle to keep the channels open if this intense cold continues. Something to monitor over the coming days.

C

Yes certainly of interest C--not a common occurence these days.

Do you think that we could get an icebridge between Greenland and Iceland too?

[cyclonic happiness]

here's todays!

[Fozfoster]

Yes certainly of interest C--not a common occurence these days.

Do you think that we could get an icebridge between Greenland and Iceland too?

Yes i have been looking at at ice bridge scenario, when is the last time, anyone?

[MKN]

Any updates anyone? I imagine most the uks green again.

[Isolated Frost]

Greenland-Iceland Ice Connection: In Progress

[Cymro]

It's safe to say this map is very inaccurate as it shows all of scotland nearly with a covering of snow which is not the case, same for germany have friends there who can confirm a thaw in the north west yet this shows snow.

Why the bad rating? It's truth!. It shows white dot over me here in Wales and I can assure you we don't have snow here apart from patches above 400m and lumps of snow that was cleard. Hardly as the image shows, and are you telling me the whole of scotland is covered in Snow?

There have been many occasions where it's been incorrect its nice to get the idea but it's not gospel.

Edited January 3, 2011 by adamjones416

[John_T]

Greenland-Iceland Ice Connection: In Progress

Greenland-Iceland? What about Svalbard-Norway?

[Isolated Frost]

Greenland-Iceland? What about Svalbard-Norway?

Hahahaha. You never know, maybe next winter?!

It's safe to say this map is very inaccurate as it shows all of scotland nearly with a covering of snow which is not the case, same for germany have friends there who can confirm a thaw in the north west yet this shows snow.

Why the bad rating? It's truth!. It shows white dot over me here in Wales and I can assure you we don't have snow here apart from patches above 400m and lumps of snow that was cleard. Hardly as the image shows, and are you telling me the whole of scotland is covered in Snow?

There have been many occasions where it's been incorrect its nice to get the idea but it's not gospel.

Today is Mon 3. Yesterday was Sun 2. Maybe there was more snow yesterday?

You may of got the bad rating because some people might want to test it?

[osmposm]

Interesting reports of fast developing Sea Ice in the Gulf of Bothnia. At its widest, stretching 20 nautical miles from Finland to Sweden 5 -25 cm in depth. Looks like it will become a battle to keep the channels open if this intense cold continues. Something to monitor over the coming days.

C

Yes certainly of interest C--not a common occurence these days.

Do you think that we could get an icebridge between Greenland and Iceland too?

It's certainly very early this winter, but freezing of the Gulf of Bothnia (the northernmost arm of the Baltic) is perfectly normal, in fact during January and February it usually happens.

Here are images for the 'normal' ice situation on the 1st & 21st of January:

Last winter things were pretty much in line with normal, and the whole of the Gulf was frozen by mid-late February 2010.Here's the situation on the 4th & 25th January 2010:

You're quite right, though, that some recent years have been late, or haven't frozen significantly at all. Here's how it was on 24th Jan 2009:

This year, by contrast, we're about a month ahead of the game. Here's the image for today (3rd Jan 2011); as you can see, in the Gulf it's about what you'd expect towards the end of January (and has been for a while now):

Last year there was a lot of talk about the whole Baltic freezing, though in reality things were merely back to normal. There's certainly time this year, but things will need to get a great deal colder for there to be the remotest chance of that - it's always been very rare.

You can follow progress on this excellent website: http://www.itameriportaali.fi/en/itamerinyt/en_GB/jaatilanne/#middle . Images are updated about once a week. And from there this link http://www.itameriportaali.fi/html/icef/icemap_c.pdf gives fascinatingly detailed colour maps of ice for the whole Baltic, updated every day.

Edited January 3, 2011 by osmposm

[osmposm]

.....Do you think that we could get an icebridge between Greenland and Iceland too?

Yes i have been looking at at ice bridge scenario, when is the last time, anyone?

A very late response, but the situation hasn't changed materially in the last fortnight.

I don't think it's terribly likely as things stand. Water temps around Iceland are currently average to high, and very high off the coast facing Greenland. The cold winter has so far been particularly a phenomenon of continental/near-continental North & West Europe, as the anomaly maps show - seas surface temperatures are at least as much the result of cold weather, as they are the cause of it (though once established, as with snow cover there is of course a reinforcing effect). Here's the current anomaly map:

P.S. On the subject of both the last time there was a "bridge" and what causes it, it is perhaps worth reading this March 2005 post by Martin Crozier on Weather-banter here http://www.weather-banter.co.uk/uk-sci-weather-uk-weather/92140-sea-ice-reaches-iceland.html :

<<I don't think it necessarily means anything except that this winter's

circulations patterns (surface winds) have tended to concentrate sea ice in

this area. There are other areas in the polar region that normally have sea

ice at this time of year and don't have any this year. We have had higher

pressure than normal over the mid atlantic during much of the late winter

and this has produced a lot more south-westerly winds than normal along the

south-east coast of Greenland. The sea ice that has formed in this area has

been shovelled (technical term there) north-east to meet the ice that pushes

down from the north along the east Greenland coast and it has all ended

bunched up near Iceland, hence the "ice bridge".

If this is accepted as the first Greenland / Iceland ice bridge since

1968/69 (or whenever, I think that is a disputed date) then no doubt the

global warming lobby will start saying that it was caused by global warming

whilst the anti-global warming lobby will say it's proof that it isn't

happening. IMHO unless you happen to be trying to circumnavigate Iceland at

present the significance of this is pretty close to zero. It's interesting

news to be sure, but it doesn't have to mean anything.>>

Edited January 4, 2011 by osmposm

[osmposm]

...Why the bad rating? It's truth!....

Think yourself lucky, Adam - at least you know someone's read your views. I've just finished two marathon posts on here, complete with copious quotes, images and links, and I've no idea if anyone's even seen them, let alone had the energy and inclination to plough through them!

As Oscar Wilde observed, "The only thing that's worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

Edited January 4, 2011 by osmposm

[BornFromTheVoid]

Think yourself lucky, Adam - at least you know someone's read your views. I've just finished two marathon posts on here, complete with copious quotes, images and links, and I've no idea if anyone's even seen them, let alone had the energy and inclination to plough through them!

Haha, there ya go!

[loophole]

[Reefseeker]

Think yourself lucky, Adam - at least you know someone's read your views. I've just finished two marathon posts on here, complete with copious quotes, images and links, and I've no idea if anyone's even seen them, let alone had the energy and inclination to plough through them!

As Oscar Wilde observed, "The only thing that's worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

I read them and found them very interesting, as indeed was the piece from 2005, in fact it all made me fancy a trip to Scandi, pure fantasy sadly, hence the need for a thread where one simply 'watches' snow and ice in the northern hemisphere... and reads about it. Thanks

RS

[loophole]

[KTtom]

That image really does hit home the effect the gulf stream has on our winter temperatures, everywhere else in the northern hemisphere at the same lattitude is buried in snow!

[Kentish Kiwi]

That image really does hit home the effect the gulf stream has on our winter temperatures, everywhere else in the northern hemisphere at the same lattitude is buried in snow!

Exactly what I was thinking. Its remarkable how far south the snow is over the USA.

It's not just the gulf stream though is it, another probably rather significant factor is the predominant south-westerlies NWern Europe experiences due to the Jet Stream. I get the feeling that even if the oceans to our west were that bit cooler, we would probably still be mild for our latitude.

[k19]

Exactly what I was thinking. Its remarkable how far south the snow is over the USA.

It's not just the gulf stream though is it, another probably rather significant factor is the predominant south-westerlies NWern Europe experiences due to the Jet Stream. I get the feeling that even if the oceans to our west were that bit cooler, we would probably still be mild for our latitude.

Yes I think the USA might be a bit too covered, I find it hard to believe that a place the size of the USA is blanketed as far south as Tennessee. Also Scotland appears to still have snow. Does anyone know where it gets its data from?

Edited January 16, 2011 by K.1000

[AderynCoch]

Yes I think the USA might be a bit too covered, I find it hard to believe that a place the size of the USA is blanketed as far south as Tennessee.

Oh it's definitely possible. The snow line sometimes gets into Deep South.

[Argyllcraig]

Scotland does indeed still have snow, granted 4 days ago there was more than today but the ski resorts are still going too. Note: most sea level areas have lost their cover but the december falls and severe temps meant we had a meter of level snow in places and more in others and that takes a wee while to shift.