What are the best snow synoptics for Birmingham UK?

[Gord]

Something else I've been trying to find out since I moved here:

The famous Welsh blizzard of January 1982 is always a fun one to look at, just for some of the pictures taken. Something i'm not so sure of is how it effected this part of the country. How much snow managed to get this far north and east? Any pictures of recounts from the West Midlands for that event?

[syed2878]

the only time i can remembor good snow for brum. Dec 8th 1990, 87 and 1991 sence then most sno event has been crap. Lets hope that in justis is put to rite soon. Sorry can't post any charts due to poor eyesight.

[camperstron]

What saves us each winter (in brum) is our elevation. We do very well in terms of 'cold' and can see some really nice low temps and frosts. However, in general, any atlantic snowmakers tend to get broken up/dissipated by the welsh mountains before they reach us.

Personally, I've never known a cheshire streamer produce a dramatic snowfall in brum. We do get snow - but as i said it's due to our elevation.

The ideal set up (in my very inexpert opinion) is an embedded cold pool, followed by a massive atlantic system sweeping quickly over us, followed by the famed 'beasterly' A girl can dream!!

ps: Lamp post watchers - my council is putting in fancy low energy LED lamps on my road next week - will this ruin my snow watching?!

[syed2878]

guys a qs. How bad was birmingham during w62-63 and w47? Thx.

[Alan Medlock Valley]

A good snowfall there in 2010 in Birmingham - looks quite deep nearly halfway up car tyres >>>

and also here too looks quite a moderate to heavy fall>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hVC1bhCNfs&feature=related

[I remember Atlantic 252]

What saves us each winter (in brum) is our elevation. We do very well in terms of 'cold' and can see some really nice low temps and frosts. However, in general, any atlantic snowmakers tend to get broken up/dissipated by the welsh mountains before they reach us.

Personally, I've never known a cheshire streamer produce a dramatic snowfall in brum. We do get snow - but as i said it's due to our elevation.

The ideal set up (in my very inexpert opinion) is an embedded cold pool, followed by a massive atlantic system sweeping quickly over us, followed by the famed 'beasterly' A girl can dream!!

ps: Lamp post watchers - my council is putting in fancy low energy LED lamps on my road next week - will this ruin my snow watching?!

A Nov 19th 1996 style low will do the trick more, due to decent elevation, B'ham will do fairly well in marginal setups

[Staffordshire]

A Nov 19th 1996 style low will do the trick more, due to decent elevation, B'ham will do fairly well in marginal setups

can someone link me to this page if we have one please? on phone and it is hard to navigate round the website

[feb1991blizzard]

can someone link me to this page if we have one please? on phone and it is hard to navigate round the website

can someone link me to this page if we have one please? on phone and it is hard to navigate round the website

You after the actual chart from 19th Nov 1996??

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?mode=2&month=11&day=19&year=1996&map=0

[summer blizzard]

The best setup for Birmingham is a Channel Low setup.

I can also assert that of the Leeds-Bradford area only south east Leeds (towards Wakefield) is really at low altitude, i am south west of Leeds and it reaches 220m about half a mile from me and most of Bradford is surrounded by height. Not to mention that we are close enough to get showers from a E, NE or NNE winds from the coast.

[feb1991blizzard]

Best 2 events for Birmingham were Jan 1987 and feb 1991, almost exactly the same synoptic pattern, no coincidence either, there are no mountains whatsoever to the east of Birmingham, so once you get the tight isobars, scandi high, low pressure to the south and very cold uppers crossing over the sea, there is no stopping it, its a train, a train to heaven.

[Essan]

Can anyone from this area ever recall a snowless winter here? I've been living in the West Midlands since 2006 (Staffordshire until 2008, Stourbridge since then)...and none of the winters have gone without some kind of snow event. 2007/2008 and 2011/2012 were very poor but both had measureable snow on the ground at least once.

Well I didn't see a single flake of snow in 2011 - though it did snow in Dec 2010 and again in Feb 2012.

Showery set-ups rarely produce much in these parts. The best snowfalls come from fronts from the west or south stalling against cold air from the east or north.

[Gord]

So 1982 wasn't that special here then?

Interesting you mention 1987 and 1991, I was in the firing line of both in Lowestoft at the time. I never realised that a strong easterly could benefit here when I moved here 6 years ago...2nd Feb 2009 proved to me otherwise.

[FreezeManiac]

So 1982 wasn't that special here then?

Interesting you mention 1987 and 1991, I was in the firing line of both in Lowestoft at the time. I never realised that a strong easterly could benefit here when I moved here 6 years ago...2nd Feb 2009 proved to me otherwise.

What was the depth of snow that fell in Birmingham on 2nd Feb 2009? Also what were the depths from the 1987 and 1991 snow events?

[Gord]

I seem to remember about 8cm falling here in Stourbridge on 2nd Feb 2009...may have been more. I'm quite low down compared to most of the Black Country so other areas did a lot better. Being directly to the west of a lrage urban area helped pep up those showers that day. We were due to get a load more from the south on the same day but that wasn't as intense here as forecast...the streamer from the east that morning helped us a lot seeing the main event was a bit of a bust. 18th December 2010 was miles better...as was 5th Jan 2010, neither were from easterlies like Feb 2009 though.

They were petty amounts compared to 87 and 91 by all accounts. I remember stupid amounts by the coast in Suffolk...particularly 87. From what I've heard and read it was pretty good here as well. Might go do some research on it now.

[FreezeManiac]

I seem to remember about 8cm falling here in Stourbridge on 2nd Feb 2009...may have been more. I'm quite low down compared to most of the Black Country so other areas did a lot better. Being directly to the west of a lrage urban area helped pep up those showers that day. We were due to get a load more from the south on the same day but that wasn't as intense here as forecast...the streamer from the east that morning helped us a lot seeing the main event was a bit of a bust. 18th December 2010 was miles better...as was 5th Jan 2010, neither were from easterlies like Feb 2009 though.

They were petty amounts compared to 87 and 91 by all accounts. I remember stupid amounts by the coast in Suffolk...particularly 87. From what I've heard and read it was pretty good here as well. Might go do some research on it now.

Oh yes Jan 2010 - how much did you get like 15cm. Same for 18th dec 2010?

[feb1991blizzard]

These are only estimates, this list is not exhaustive, this is just to the South of the boundary at high elevation (between 5 and 600 ft) and a good 7 or 8 miles away from the city centre.

1987 JAN - Over a foot, with drifts up to 2 feet.

1987 MAR - 8 inches

1988 JAN - 6 Inches.

1990 DEC- 10 inches

1991 FEB - about a foot, maybe a little less, maybe a little more

1994 FEB - 5 Inches

1995 MAR - 5 Inches

1996 FEB - 6 Inches

In my estimate, there was nothing more than 3 inches after that, up until the day i left in the late noughties, i would not know what feb, 09 onwards delivered as i was not there, i remember heavy snow in 84,85 and 86 but i would'nt like to estimate it from memory.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

this area is the worst, not seen 15 cms since Nov 19th 1996, did get around 8-10cms in nov-dec 2010, Jan 5th-6th 2010

most places manage a foot every winter

[Gord]

Oh yes Jan 2010 - how much did you get like 15cm. Same for 18th dec 2010?

About 10cm in my location on the 5th Jan 2010...again, a lot of places around here did a lot better. 18th Dec 2010 was the best though...we must have been getting on for 20cm that day. Elevation didn't seem to matter that day, everywhere around here seemed to get the same large amounts. Loved the way that the showers pushed through from Wales on the evening of the 17th and they just got more and more frequent until they were eaten up by the main system. An amazing 24 hours.

Have to say though, I've lived here, in Columbus Ohio, Sunderland and Lowestoft...and for large amounts of snow, the north sea coast locations are the best...even compared against central Ohio.

[Aaron]

this area is the worst, not seen 15 cms since Nov 19th 1996, did get around 8-10cms in nov-dec 2010, Jan 5th-6th 2010

most places manage a foot every winter

Surprising considering your elevation.. but then again I guess elevation isn't the be all and end all.

[Gord]

Yeah but the Stafford, Newport, Telford and Shrewsbury belt has been so unlucky over the past few years. On paper, they should have had the same amounts of snow as the rest of the West Midlands but have just been plain unlucky.

In a fair World, it's not Birmingham and the Black Country who are owed a large snowstorm...it's those places to the northwest of Brum.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

About 10cm in my location on the 5th Jan 2010...again, a lot of places around here did a lot better. 18th Dec 2010 was the best though...we must have been getting on for 20cm that day. Elevation didn't seem to matter that day, everywhere around here seemed to get the same large amounts. Loved the way that the showers pushed through from Wales on the evening of the 17th and they just got more and more frequent until they were eaten up by the main system. An amazing 24 hours.

Have to say though, I've lived here, in Columbus Ohio, Sunderland and Lowestoft...and for large amounts of snow, the north sea coast locations are the best...even compared against central Ohio.

not here around 8cms on the 18th, and 7 on 22nd, the absolute max depth possible for here seems 10cms, for the modern Éra, but still a very good amount

[Nights King]

Nuclear winter.. lol.. just kidding.

Beat me to it.

[Alan Medlock Valley]

Surprising considering your elevation.. but then again I guess elevation isn't the be all and end all.

Ssshhhh don't say that to the Scottish Ski Industry

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Yeah but the Stafford, Newport, Telford and Shrewsbury belt has been so unlucky over the past few years. On paper, they should have had the same amounts of snow as the rest of the West Midlands but have just been plain unlucky.

In a fair World, it's not Birmingham and the Black Country who are owed a large snowstorm...it's those places to the northwest of Brum.

But those 4 locations are too far north for snow off channel lows, need an exact hit, and for air to be cold enough, needs to track across bristol to london, and thats 1 in a million

[Aaron]

Ssshhhh don't say that to the Scottish Ski Industry

You're right, I guess a Scottish mountain at 1000m is in a similar situation to Stafford at 100m!