Monday 25th March 2013 - Weather and General Chat

[Coast]

Please put your daily observations and weather chat in here

[Coast]

1.3°C

1008.8 mb rising 0.2 mb/hr

Wind 11.7 mph gusting 16.7 mph max NE

Windhcill -3.3°C

DP -3.4°C

Humidity 71%

No rain last 24 hours

Cloud base 1931 ft

Bright but cloudy, bitter wind

[The PIT]

Very cold and mostly cloudy

Temps 0.2C

Wind F4 ENE

Rainfall nil

[Polar Maritime]

Biting East wind's last night continued to give severe drifting, with the odd clear spell, all lanes still blocked locally and most B roads still impassable. The same amount of snow still lying around 40cm,'s but some fields that are East facing have been scoured by the wind leaving sheet's of ice covering the fields in places. Drifts remain over 4m+ high, an overnight low of -2.8c

Current Conditions.

Temp -1.8c

Dp -3.7c

Wind Chill -7.8, E/N/E 17mph Gusting 38mph.

Edited March 25, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Polar Continental]

Monday 25th March 2013:

Mainly cloudy overnight, frost, icy. The day dawned rather cloudy, though with a few breaks appearing. The morning so far has seen some brief sunny spells, feeling bitterly cold in the strong NE wind. Just missed an ice day here yesterday, maximum temperature 0.2c for the 24 hour period ending at 09:00 GMT this morning.

Today's readings for the 24 hrs up to 09:00 GMT:

Maximum temperature to 18:00 GMT yesterday: 0.2°C

Minimum temperature overnight –0.6°C

24-hour maximum 0.2°C

24-hour minimum: -1.4°C

Minimum temperature on grass: -3.7c, (them buried in snow.)

Maximum wind gust: (Midnight to Midnight) 33.5 mph ENE

Rainfall total: 0.4mm

Current Conditions:

6 Oktas: Stratocumulus.

Visibility: good, about 10 miles

Temperature: 0.0°C

Humidity: 92.4%

Dew point –1.1°C

Wind Direction: Force 6 NE

Barometer 1018 mb: Trend: steady.

Yesterday:

Cloudy with intermittent light snow overnight, the snow becoming more continuous through the early hours with drifting commencing in the fresh east wind.

This morning has seen a very unusual sight for this location in the Trent Valley, continuous moderate blowing snow with moderate drifting, some drifts only a short distance away from this station are over a meter deep, even along some of the exposed parts of the A444 there are deep drifts reaching out in to the road, road still possible with care. Current depth of un-drifted snow 9cm. There was further light to moderate snow through the morning and in to the afternoon with continued drifting in the strong east wind. The afternoon saw the snow slowly dying out with a few bright spells by mid afternoon. Feeling bitter throughout.

March 2013 so far:

Mean temperature: 2.7c (-3.6c) of local average)

Maximum temperature: 9.6c on the 2nd

Minimum temperature: -5.1c on the 14th

Grass Minimum: -9.4c on the 14th

Rainfall 63.8 mm

Wettest 24 hours 14.3mm on the 15^th.

Maximum wind gust: 19.8 mph ENE on the 1st.

2013 so far:

Maximum temperature: 13.4c on the 29^th January

Minimum temperature: -4.6c on the 16^th Jan

Grass Minimum: -9.8c on the 16^th Jan

Rainfall 163.8 mm

Wettest 24 hours 14.3.mm on the 15th March.

Maximum wind gust: 43.5 mph WSW on the 30^th Jan

[Terminal Moraine]

A cold, cloudy and dry night with a strong E/NE wind which has continued to drift the lying snow. Many local roads still completely impassable and filled with snow from wall to wall.

Currently cold and dry with a few brief sunny intervals and continued drifting snow.

At 0900;

Temp; -1.4c

24 hr max; -1.4c

24 hr min; -3.5c

Overnight min; -2.4c

Grass ( snow ) min; -2.7c

Rainfall in 24 hrs ending 0900; 0.1 mm

Mean wind speed; 28 mph NE/E, gusting to 40 mph

7 oktas Sc

Vis; 30 km

Mean depth of lying snow; 36 cm ( a slight increase on the 1800 measurement yesterday not due to falling snow but to constant re-distribution of lying snow )

[Methuselah]

Partly cloudy, windy, 1C...

[Weather of Mass Disruption]

I was watching the news on ITV this morning and they were interviewing a lady from Northern Ireland who said that all of her sheep were dieing of hyperthermia in the snow fields / snow drifts - which is tragic. However, I was wondering why the sheep weren't rounded up or put into pens / barns etc prior to this weather coming. It was forecast and in good time so surely something more proactive could have been done to save such suffering. I am not a farmer, so forgive any ignorance on my part!

I remember reading about how many sheep died in the Winter of 1963 and if this news is anything to go by, we haven't moved on any in almost 50 years, which is even more tragic! Hopefully somebody on here might be able to offer an insight / expaination.

I truly love long, cold and snowy winters and this has been another cracker (from IMBY) perspective, but I would enjoy all the more if the above didn't occure!

[Kent Snow]

1.2C, broken cumulus, grey, wind from the E/NE, 1014hPa.

[The PIT]

Less cold but still blooming cold. Slow thaw in progress though but still drifting on high ground. Snow level down from 17cm to 10cm this morning

Max temp so far 2.4C

Wind F4 ENE

Rainfall nil

[hillbilly]

I was watching the news on ITV this morning and they were interviewing a lady from Northern Ireland who said that all of her sheep were dieing of hyperthermia in the snow fields / snow drifts - which is tragic. However, I was wondering why the sheep weren't rounded up or put into pens / barns etc prior to this weather coming. It was forecast and in good time so surely something more proactive could have been done to save such suffering. I am not a farmer, so forgive any ignorance on my part!

I remember reading about how many sheep died in the Winter of 1963 and if this news is anything to go by, we haven't moved on any in almost 50 years, which is even more tragic! Hopefully somebody on here might be able to offer an insight / expaination.

I truly love long, cold and snowy winters and this has been another cracker (from IMBY) perspective, but I would enjoy all the more if the above didn't occure!

because the silly t@?>s have got short memories,those lambs should have at least been in fields very close to the farms,i used to be a farmer albeit cows not sheep and you cannot assume spring snow is not bad,have seen as much snow if not more in the last week of april 1981 ,the older farmers should know better

[reef]

because the silly t@?>s have got short memories,those lambs should have at least been in fields very close to the farms,i used to be a farmer albeit cows not sheep and you cannot assume spring snow is not bad,have seen as much snow if not more in the last week of april 1981 ,the older farmers should know better

I think its probably because years of milder winters and springs have caused people to forget what the weather can be like. March has always been a pretty cold month in this country and if anything people have learnt this year that just because spring has started doesnt mean the weather flicks a switch to 'warm'. It is however a very extreme month for the time of year, much like December 2010 was. The fact we're talking about it possibly being colder than 1962 and therefore the coldest since 1892 says it all!

[Andy Bown]

Bitterly cold and cloudy though dry now after light snow for much of the morning, fresh Easterly breeze, 1.3c .

[Stargazer]

Cloudy and dry, feeling bitterly cold in the wind. Maximum 2.0, minimum -0.2. Wind fresh NE.

[SteveB]

Another cold & cloudy day with light snow flurries this morning.

Max Temp 2.7c

Current Temp 1.7c

[Terminal Moraine]

Just missed out on a 4th consecutive 'ice day' today but nevertheless a very cold, windy and mainly cloudy day with a few light snow flurries this afternoon and continued drifting of the lying snow . Many local roads still completely impassable with drifts between 1.5 and 4 m deep.

Enormous quantities of snow have been blown onto the western slopes of some of the local moors with some places having several thousand square metres of snow between 60cm and 2 metres deep.

At 1800;

Temp; -1.6c

Max' today; 0.1c

Min' last night; -2.4c

Grass ( snow ) min; -2.7c

Rainfall from 0900-1800; Trace

Sunshine today; 0.24 hrs

Mean wind speed; 22 mph NE

Highest gust today; 56 mph NE at 1308

8 oktas St, Cu and Sc

Light showers of snow and grain snow

Vis; 15 km

Mean depth of lying snow; 36 cm.

[Terminal Moraine]

As a footnote to the above this March currently has an accumulated snowfall total of 55.8cm making it the snowiest March here in the last 36 years and the 5th snowiest calendar month of any over the same period; it's also the snowiest calendar month ( by this measure) since January 1986.

The accumulated snowfall total so far this year stands at 133.4 cm which makes 2013 the 4th snowiest year on record with not quite 3 months gone, and just 3.2cm short of the 2010 total which was the 3rd snowiest year in the last 36.

The period from November to March has an accumulated total of 135.2cm which is second only to 1978/79 which recorded 168.9cm; and this March isn't quite over yet.

We still have April to go too and let's not forget that April 1981 ( yes I know it was exceptional ) had an accumulated snowfall of 65.7cm so anything is possible.

Edited March 25, 2013 by Terminal Moraine

[johnholmes]

I've just been catching up on the weather reports while I've been away in the Lakes and some quite unusual snow depths and drifting, at least it seems so to me, for this late on. Yes 1981 was exceptional I remember trying for 3 days to get from Stockport to Chesterfield and just how deep it still was by the roadside when I eventually managed it.

Height does seem even more of a player at this time of the year and was very obvious today driving from Keswick via Ambleside and Kendal-M6-M61-M62-A1. Also to me it seemed that the heaviest snowfall had occurred pretty much as Met predicted. Just south of Keswick was the worst affected in the Lakes with about 6 inches still lying at one of the service areas on the M62, for some reason very little drifting in its immediate area. Elsewhere all the roads with a roughly N-S aspect had deep drifts, especially at height,on the eastern side of the road.

[TonyH]

Clear intervals and a frost last night.

Cloud and sunny intervals this morning, sunny spells afternoon. Cold with a moderate to fresh ENE wind.

Clear intervals this evening.

Min: -1.1c @ 0600

Max: 5.6c @ 1400

Trace rain (snow) yesterday

Dry so far today

Currently: Rather cloudy.

Temp: -0.4c

RH: 73%

Pressure: 1016mbar, steady