Southeast England & East Anglia - Weather Chat >> 1st Feb Onwards

[Daniel*]

Well this is depressing.

Looking at the output I'd rather have mild SW'lies at least we have mobility & flexibility. There will be frosts at night but nothing crazily cold. Might get some flurries going by radar, with patchy stuff moving SSW.

The short term trend we want is for the HP to have as less intrusion as possible before the window shuts as ultimately it will cut off the supply and cold pool, and then it will turn very dry, we'll be in drought before you know it.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Daniel*

[Nick F]

Nothing like 1987, but -10c T850s creeping in Thursday afternoon and lower partial thickensses, but flow looks rather dry by then.

 

 

Should be a cold but dry easterly.

[Jo S]

Odd bits of snow, blowing in the wind here

[Paul Sherman]

As nothing special is happening snow wise in this thread, over the past few hours I have been looking at just how we got to those special winters of 1979, 1985, 1987, 1991, 2009, 2010 etc and where the High drifted into place to start the synoptical lock-in.

 

You would be very very surprised to know that nearly all of them started with an Azores High Pressure drifting into the Scandi High Position, so please dont give up on winter just yet with a good 4-5 weeks left for this part of the world, maybe 6-7 weeks max!

 

Keep the Faith, the High has to go somewhere, hopefully not sinking South Eastwards!

[Daniel*]

Updating NMM shows a band of sleet and snow moving southwards.

[A.J]

Sorry no but this one for 1991 never fails to crack me up

 

 

 

 

edit Nemesis u read my mind!

sorry but I couldn't resist putting a link in for this, a classic send up!

 

[Coopsy]

Yes 87 and 91 the bench mark, I lived in the West Midlands and they were my best ever and by some distance, I hated school and was desperate to get time off, that's how I got into weather forecasting, I used to watch the countryfile every sunday, the fact that I had nearly 2 weeks off school meant I knew it was something special, but because every year in the early - mid 80s, I had seen at least a 6 inch fall, I still didn't know quite the magnitude of what was unfolding, I think the fact that I witnessed 2 falls in the space of 4 years nearly / over a foot in level snow, made me think it was unusual but not extreme as my mom and dad always talked about 63 and 47, now obviously I haven't even come close since Feb 1991 so that's 24 years and counting, that does really make me think they were very very special.

 

As nothing special is happening snow wise in this thread, over the past few hours I have been looking at just how we got to those special winters of 1979, 1985, 1987, 1991, 2009, 2010 etc and where the High drifted into place to start the synoptical lock-in.

 

You would be very very surprised to know that nearly all of them started with an Azores High Pressure drifting into the Scandi High Position, so please dont give up on winter just yet with a good 4-5 weeks left for this part of the world, maybe 6-7 weeks max!

 

Keep the Faith, the High has to go somewhere, hopefully not sinking South Eastwards!

Always keep the faith...just look at 72 hours prior to the '87 madness and everyone was writing any cold weather off. With the cold of Europe so close there's always a chance of it turning on a dime

[Neilsouth]

sorry but I couldn't resist putting a link in for this, a classic send up!

 

 

So brilliant, shame about the awful canned laughter

[feb1991blizzard]

As nothing special is happening snow wise in this thread, over the past few hours I have been looking at just how we got to those special winters of 1979, 1985, 1987, 1991, 2009, 2010 etc and where the High drifted into place to start the synoptical lock-in.

 

You would be very very surprised to know that nearly all of them started with an Azores High Pressure drifting into the Scandi High Position, so please dont give up on winter just yet with a good 4-5 weeks left for this part of the world, maybe 6-7 weeks max!

 

Keep the Faith, the High has to go somewhere, hopefully not sinking South Eastwards!

 

 

And look at some Feb / Early March's of the 1950s!!!.

 

The only problem is though, it looks like the Strat vortex just doesn't want to play ball.

[Jimmyh]

I will say that 81 sticks in my memory as I was at school and we had to wear shorts even in depths of winter! The school closed and I remember getting home and building a snowman. 87 I was delivering papers when the first blizzard hit and u couldn't walk it was blowing so hard. 91 was a classic. I was on work experience in croydon and I remember watching the snow start then the train getting frozen points and we couldn't move. Feb 09 was still the biggest single fall I can remember. As was well over a foot. Funnier if you think we should have got more but it never materialised. No trains nothing loved it

[EML Network]

This should please everyone, coincides with the coldest uppers and strongest winds too. 

 

I think Thursday is going to be the day we all see some snow in the SE , would be sods law if it turns out to be rain though

Edited February 3, 2015 by EML Network

[Timmytour]

The abiding memory i have of 1987 is how those in the office who worked south of the Thames had so much snow they couldn't get in for a week....while we in Herts had a couple of inches and had no such problems....worse luck! i remember being very envious.

On a different subject, we manged to get between two and three inches of what was largely unexpected snow last night and into this morning. But life seemed to go on today without too much difficulty. It made me think....had it actually been forecast to arrive from a couple of days out, i wonder if schools would have closed etc. Sometimes, it is possible forewarned is fore-excused?

[Coopsy]

Call me a weirdo but there is nothing like waiting for snow in your own backyard. Having just witnessed a ferious snowstorm that dumped 40 cm's in 16 hours it was great to see but there is something to be said about getting any snow at your home. I was more excited getting home to an inch of snow lol...yup told you i'm weird

 

EML - looking good :-) bring on Thursday

[snowsummer]

Hi all can someone tell me please what is an omega block? Just read about it on mod thread but dont like asking to much on there! As its rare does that mean its good for cold (wishful thinking???!) Thank you

[BLUNT]

Met Office saying rain sleet showers tomorrow, where do we get this cold from to get the snow if its not now? whats got to change? everything is in place? and it still rains?

Edited February 3, 2015 by BLUNT

[Nick F]

omg, wish I packed my shovel for the drive home from work at midnight.

 

[Bogman]

A slight covering here again.

[Coopsy]

Hi all can someone tell me please what is an omega block? Just read about it on mod thread but dont like asking to much on there! As its rare does that mean its good for cold (wishful thinking???!) Thank you

Try this...though based from a Canadian perspective describes an Omega block and what it does to the the weather

 

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/omega-block-locks-next-weeks-weather-in-place/32623/ (video)

 

and this...

 

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/blocking/ 

Edited February 3, 2015 by Nemesis

[rubble79]

Pretty sure it raining lightly here!

[lawrenk]

I was looking for the countryfile too. Have you seen the Francis Wilson forecast for 1991? quite a classic

 

Thanks for that. I just love that bit on about 30 seconds, the pause then "it's err..... all downhill from here". My reaction would have been completely the opposite!

[Norfolk_N_chance]

I was born in 1987 My parents had an unusually long journey to Queen Elizabeth hospital as there was heavy snowfall on 4th May! My father always quotes 87 and 63 as some of the most eventful winters in his lifetime.

I will have to dig out some photos, I have seen photos of my father nearly walking level with the top of telegraph poles on some huge drifts but I'm unsure what year that was.

All I want to see is an extreme event like that at least once in my life.

[Daniel*]

How on earth is London being forecasted a high of 6C -

Even GFS is going for a 5C maxima am I missing something?

[80sWeather]

I will say that 81 sticks in my memory as I was at school and we had to wear shorts even in depths of winter! The school closed and I remember getting home and building a snowman. 87 I was delivering papers when the first blizzard hit and u couldn't walk it was blowing so hard. 91 was a classic. I was on work experience in croydon and I remember watching the snow start then the train getting frozen points and we couldn't move. Feb 09 was still the biggest single fall I can remember. As was well over a foot. Funnier if you think we should have got more but it never materialised. No trains nothing loved it

I started working just before the 1991 event.

It was in a sheet metal factory in Braintree, the roof was so poor that snow leaked through in to little heaps all over the factory.

[Nick F]

Hi all can someone tell me please what is an omega block? Just read about it on mod thread but dont like asking to much on there! As its rare does that mean its good for cold (wishful thinking???!) Thank you

 

Here's a good link, shows an imaginary one over the US, but tthey can occur over the Atlantic and Europe too:

 

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/144/

 

Basically a blocking area of high pressure in the shape of the greek letter, where pressure is high through all levels of the troposphere (where our weather is) - which diverts low pressure systems around the block.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Nick F

[mackerel sky]

I think for anyone over 35 the 1987 snows will always be the benchmark....truly remarkable. Even as a kid I knew that I was witnessing something special

I was in the last year of Primary School. Unfortunately the Primary School was a minutes walk away in a small town. So only a handful of kids, one teacher and the Janitor desperately trying to stop the pipes freezing. The other 80 percent of pupils and teachers never made it in for a full week. The bored single teacher told us to go round in groups on the playing field armed with sticks and tape measures to determine the depths of the snow drifts. Some were immeasurable to our small statutes, as high as 4 metres, but we made a good job of kicking them all in, so as not to be beaten.

That said February 1991 was a bit of chore (I grew up south of Middlesbrough in North Yorks) as I had a paper round. Nearly two foot of snow lying for most of the month. Had to do it on foot, took me two and half hours (usually 45 mins on bike) and I still got to school on time, which rarely shut through the whole spell. Again it was the lucky kids in the surrounding villages who got the snow days. No schools shut on a whim, had to be serious stuff.

Edited February 3, 2015 by mackerel sky