London & South East Regional Discussion 22nd January 2013 22:00hrs>

[Southender]

A few flakes falling in Southend and the thaw continues at a rapid pace.

[bobbydog]

sad to see the snow melting away with the prospect of heavy rain and wind at the weekend.

however, here's a thought- we've only just passed the halfway point of winter.......

[Snowjinx]

Weird but there are definitely a few flakes flying around in the wind here in NW London!

[alexisj9]

So, is that our lot for now, is there any chance the cold can get a grip for the weekend, or is it a definite the Atlantic will bring rain in?

I don't know just watching what happens, had a couple of little snow fluries since that bit of rain this morning, so it doesn't seem to want to let go easily but does seem to be warming up.

[Kentspur]

In December there was the snow event in Cambridge-mid Essex which missed us, the Friday event which was only north of the Thames and West of London, yesterday places south west and West had a snow event while we had 3flakes, Sunday was pretty good consistent light moderate snowfall but due to all the near misses and comparing to recent winters I'd give it a 4.5 out of 10 for our area. I hope February gives us a nice EENE event as we are overdue now

[snowbob]

In December there was the snow event in Cambridge-mid Essex which missed us, the Friday event which was only north of the Thames and West of London, yesterday places south west and West had a snow event while we had 3flakes, Sunday was pretty good consistent light moderate snowfall but due to all the near misses and comparing to recent winters I'd give it a 4.5 out of 10 for our area. I hope February gives us a nice EENE event as we are overdue now

are we overdue though

We had one in 2009 and one 2010

Quite lucky really as someone said on here I believe they are a 1 in 5 year event

[CWT2012]

I fly out of Heathrow on 7th of Feb, much as snow is my favourite weather I hope any cold snowy spell that crops up doesn't disrupt flights on 7th!

[Mac_SE]

4 degrees in Dulwich. The fag end of a cold spel now; dirty snow melting rapidly. Happy to see it disappear as quickly as possible and get stuck into the models looking for the next event.

So, 6,5/10 for me. Sunday apart, it's not been that snowy, not felt that cold and Friday's frontal snow was disappointing tbh.

Feb 2009, short as it was, was a far better snow event: windier, showers merging into that long period of snow and selfishly, all from a better direction for us in Greater London. Having said that, either snow event from Jan 87 or Feb 91 trounces them all. Snow was so heavy even the main arterial routes couldn't cope with the speed of the it. Remember working up at Angel for the latter and seeing cars slowly being brought to a standstill by the snow then having to walk from Denmark Hill to Forest Hill as the trains and buses couldn't cope. Now that's my benchmark of a good spell. Bring it on February!

[Reefseeker]

what are the chances of this cold snap in feb?

A good post was made by Damianslaw in the model thread late last night/early this morning - go back a few pages - it gives good reason for hope after this initial 'breakdown' of the next week or so.

[Coast]

I'll give the last weeks worth a 5.67 It would have been slightly less but yesterday afternoon into evening in West/East Sussex and Brighton just pushed it past a 5.33.

The forecasting data was pretty good actually, although the event yesterday was a lot more intense and geographically slightly out from what we might have been led to believe in the run up.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Coast

[Reefseeker]

Sleet to snow grains to light snow from Surbiton through to Hampton this morning; 1 c on the car thermometer. Yes indeed, despite heavy snow last night at times making for a fun walk as it settled for a while over the ice on the pavements, by this morning it did indeed seem to have melted the snow. The beginning of the end to this current cold spell, but I am optimistic for more in February.

[Brocken Spectre]

For me:

Winter 2012/13 so far.

Synoptics. Full of promise, excitement and just amusing at times. 8/10

Snow. To be frank, not bad what we had on Sunday, but the frustrations of being "so close" to all the other events is going to lead me to score this poorly. December had snowfall North of London and Essex we had rain. Monday 14/01 was a dusting to be followed by rain. Fri 18th. Well it just didn't happen, main snow band halted at the North Downs so had a pitiful "dandruff" snow dusting. Sunday's was good but could have been so much better as yet again heavier more prolonged bands went either side of the Medway area. Last night, Nada! So I can only score this part. 3/10

Frosts. Well I'm going to cheat here. I was in Scotland 10-14 of Dec. Was in some -10 areas, crazy crazy hoar frosts, sub 0 ( in fact sub-2) days, but here frosts have been thin on the ground, so going down the middle-ish due to my Scottish trip 4/10

So that's a score of 15/30

So again a 5/10

[lawrenk]

IMBY can't be too disappointed with the last week as, given the synoptics, we've squeezed about the best out of it we could with snow falling and settling on 3 separate days.

Synoptics = 7/10 . Made a change to get frontal snow from the N/W and South but personally much prefer a convective train coming off the North Sea

Snow = 7/10. Just over 10cms max depth which is pretty respectable for us. Friday was disappointing, given how long it snowed for, Sunday was brilliant and yesterday an unexpected though short lived bonus.

Frost = 4/10 Can't remember having a proper one.

Overall = 6/10

Edited January 23, 2013 by lawrenk

[Brocken Spectre]

Paul was asking for a score for:

SYNOPTICS

SNOW

FROSTS

C'mon folks put some effort in, don't just say "4/10 as it's not snowed enough."

[EML Network]

I'm well happy with the past week.

A 7.5/10 for me IMBY

4 inches of snow that fell over the course of a 3 day period (namely Friday and Sunday) , snow still laying here although it's very very patchy...views to the hills, where they are still shimmering white...very slow thaw despite yesterdays sleet / snow / rain event here.

If what little patches of snow we still have left..can remain here today...then that's a whole week of laying snow.

Far better than the previous 2 winters IMBY.

And with the promise of another cold spell and perhaps a more intense one in the middle part of Feb !!

[jojobut]

I don't know just watching what happens, had a couple of little snow fluries since that bit of rain this morning, so it doesn't seem to want to let go easily but does seem to be warming up.

Hmm, I just wish that it would decide to stay, then go when done and not come back till next season, all this getting cold, then warming up and getting cold again, and warming up is doing my head in. Just makes a mess of it all! lol

[Jo S]

Light snow here in Harlow

[kate1]

I'd give the snow an 8/10 IMBY - not dramatic amounts in terms of quantity (we ended up with almost 12cm, which got topped up a little last night where it had melted), but the score is boosted by the fact that the biggest fall (Sunday's) was in the daytime - rather see lighter snow fall for hours on end than open the curtains the morning after a huge heavy night-time fall (though that is good too!) Unlike some I don't much like snow that stays around for days and days as by then it is just a dirty, slushy nuisance, especially when temperatures aren't low enough to keep it looking pristine, so I am quite looking forward to this weekend...

Frosts - 2/10 - there have only really been two or three really frosty mornings and the snow that fell never developed that crispy crust the day after.

Synoptics - don't really feel equipped to judge these yet but will have a go... December was obviously a major letdown but the January cold spell fell into place nicely, so I would give them 6/10. Particularly enjoyed radar watching while it was actually snowing - have never done that before!

Edited January 23, 2013 by kate1

[Kent Blizzard]

Three Cheers to the UKMO

http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gmb/STATS/html/graphics/acz6.gif

[Nikkib74]

Synoptics - 7/10 Lots of interesting blobs, ranging from pale blue to purple surrounding us. Many interesting lines with little arrows that were sometimes close together. Coupled with some beautifully coloured charts of interesting pink snow blobs and a feeling of jubilation in the mod forum, I can only conclude that so far we've had some very exciting Synoptics that have an air of memorable winters past to them.

Snow - 4/10 well, this is tricky because whilst at its max I measured 14cm,it never really hoofed it down. I never stood at the windows crying with emotion at the sheer scale of the hammering we were getting. Plus what we've had was very short lived (imby). So for this reason, I am marking the snow down, with a view to upgrading it to a 10 in February!

Frost - 2/10 we have had very little frost to even bother mentioning. I gave it a 2 because we had a beautiful, picturesque (hoare?) frost one morning,but that was really it.

So that gives me a score of 4.33/10....... Room for improvement! Homework is to work on those purple and Blue blobs in the next few days,gather up your cold air flow and check your pockets for precipitation. If you can snowbomb this on my desk by February 5th, you may still get an A.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Nikkib74

[Lampostwatcher]

Mr Hammond more snow at the weekend

[NO LONGER POSTING]

This cold spell will be one I remember. After all the surprises it has thrown at us all I can't say I won't forget it !

It started snowing last Friday and we still have that snow on the ground here... Then we had more snow Sunday and at the top of Windsor great park I got 26CM measurement (How I would have loved to taken a pic of it with the ruler)

We maxed out at 16CM I have not seen that much snow for about 3 years... With Winter far from over, I feel we still have a long way to go and some much snowier weather on the way.. But only time will tell

8/10 Is what I will give this cold spell for the following reasons:

Amount of snow on the ground (5 days and counting)

most sustained period of heavy snow (4 hours)

Longest falling snow (23 hours)

depth of snow (16cm)

Below are some of my pics:

[Eskimo]

I would like to start a 'winter score so far' (WSSF) scoring system to keep this thread going during the boring parts of winter so...

Out of 10 I would like people to rate the following.

Cold ?/10

Snow falling frequency ?/10

Snow depth ?/10

Lying snow ?/10

Days off work/school caused by snow ?/10

Total...(Add up the scores):

1-10 = Terrible Winter!

11-15 = 1990's Winter!

16-20 = Fairly Average Winter!

21-25 = Okay, but could be better Winter!

26-30 = Good Winter!

31-35 = Very good, no work for me Winter!

36-40 = One to remember Winter!

41-45 = High fuel bill Winter!

46-50 = Standed Winter!

Edited January 23, 2013 by PerfectStorm

[spayne]

Three Cheers to the UKMO

http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gmb/STATS/html/graphics/acz6.gif

Can you give a brief explanation please...I can understand most charts.....but stuck with these..?

[Coast]

Mr Hammond more snow at the weekend

In our region - is he sure?