North West England Regional Discussion 21st January 2013, 06z onwards

[Iceaxecrampon]

Awful forecasting by the Met Office . No warnings on tv last night , dispite the fact you could see it tracking towards us on the radar. This morning and just now on BBC still shows west cumbria dry even though its been snowing since around 4am.

Yes - they had it tracking up the East coast - 1/10 must try harder....

[SnowObsessor90]

To any my more nearby regional friends is there still a chance of something else for us this afternoon or is it pretty game over now?

[Snowmad79]

Is the snow heavy ATM, in Chadderton is been moderate.

Moderate to heavy but fine stuff

[snowdrifter]

Almost on the verge of rain now sadly. What flakes there are are v small and falling vertically - no floatyness left. Can hear it too. Its been good though, very good.

Edit: WAIT - ITS SNOWGRAINS NOT RAIN. Its not over yet!

Edited January 21, 2013 by snowdrifter

[Walkinglad2013]

I am in Leeds really heavy snow here now !

The snow in the city centre isnt that bad but a couple of miles out its a nightmare

[geri]

Thought it was just about finished here but no snowing quite heavily again here

[Louise]

Is it just me or is it kinda building around the Stoke area again?

[wysiwyg]

I don't go in for the Met Office bashing most of the time but I have to agree here. The TV forecasts today, not showing the snow in the 'nowcast' bit even when it was actually falling, and still not forecasting it, showing it staying comfortably on the eastern side of the pennines hours after radars had shown it moving to the west has been desperately poor. They've got so wound up with the threat of blizzards to the east nobody bothered to check where it was actually going. Its fair enough to forecast it wrong initially, but to continue issuing false forcasts looks silly.

To be fair I think it was the BBC that were at fault (not speculating here as to why!). The MET office have been updating their forecasts and warnings all night and through today so far. And in weather terms that was a hard system to call. None of the models got it right in the reliable time frame. A small shift west 50-60 miles made the difference between "spot on" as originally forecast and "way off" as it turned out.

[kaluja]

Finally after about 3 hours of snow it looks as though it may be attempting to stick!

Really hope this carries on for a bit but knowing my luck ...

[wysiwyg]

Is it just me or is it kinda building around the Stoke area again?

The system is moving very slowly now and keeps pepping up all over the place. Could be more moderate snowfall anywhere in the region in the next few hours.

[burylad12]

Met office still goin for heavy snow in my area from 3.00 till 6.00 :-)

[MrSunshine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6tV11acSRk

[wysiwyg]

......

Behave!!!

[Iceaxecrampon]

Finally after about 3 hours of snow it looks as though it may be attempting to stick!

Really hope this carries on for a bit but knowing my luck ...

[itsnowjoke]

Light snow again

[MrSunshine]

Behave!!!

It was tongue firmly in cheek!

[karyo]

Most of the snowcover has now gone here about from patches in the nearby park.

Some light grainy snow is still falling but obviously not settling.

Karyo

[roberthines]

been snowing here on and off since 6am not seen this much snow for a few years.just like to say well done netweather for getting us right .

now local news and local radio saying this snow could last till weekend all i say is bring it on hehehe ill belive it when i see it

[Munchermark]

BBC northwest forecast just updated 4 mins ago on the website. Its embarrassing to say the least, they havent got any snow making over the pennines even though we've all had snow.

[Spurry]

OH BUGGER!

[martinj2]

Example of NWx paid radar - 5 minute updates, NMM overlays, 2 hour Hi-res playback, archived back a long way further etc. etc. (please note I'm not receiving any consideration for this plug from NetW, I just think it's a great tool to "see for yourself" exactly what's happening in the here and now with this type of setup! )

Current shot shows today's setup perfectly with the help of the overlays. A low centred over mid wales is dragging warm air up over the cold air to the north on its NE flank. An occluded front (The warm air is floating over the cold air and does not touch the ground) is running roughly through the Scotish borders east to west. As more warm air is pushed into this system it rises over the cold air, the warm air cools with altitude and pressure drop, its moisture condenses out and immediately freezes falling as snow. I suspect this feature is so weak now that the warm and cold air is almost mixed out giving the slight thaw currently being witnessed in some places. The track of this low (where it goes next) will dictate the weather for the next few hours. Latest 06Z GFS has it heading towards the NNW and merging with the larger LP system out to the west of Ireland that is trying to slide towards the SSE.

Nice explanation wysiwyg thanks for that.

[swainclubber]

Met office still goin for heavy snow in my area from 3.00 till 6.00 :-)

am or pm

been snowing here on and off since 6am not seen this much snow for a few years.just like to say well done netweather for getting us right .

now local news and local radio saying this snow could last till weekend all i say is bring it on hehehe ill belive it when i see it

do they mean it'll stay on the ground or fall?

[burylad12]

am or pm

do they mean it'll stay on the ground or fall?

PM mate

[snowdrifter]

Really really heavy proper snow in St Annes at the moment. Thought I had rain earlier but it was graupel, which got heavy, and has now turned to proper heavy snow and in some areas is settling where it had started to thaw. Amazing being on the coast.

[snowdrifter]

Its actually heavier than this now!