Cold zonality returns

[Snowyowl9]

A very potent NW atlantic surge of cold zonality arriving this coming week ala January 1984.

http://weather.unisys.com/gfs/gfs.php?inv=0&plot=850&region=eu&t=3e

http://wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rtavn841.html

http://old.wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rtavn902.html

Where are those past charts weterzentrale only showing those deep purples of I thought it was january 1978 but thundery wintry showers can help me,or was it the 60`s.

A few years ago we had some decent cold zonality,what will this week bring?

[MP-R]

Looking forward to it. Much more interesting than mild zonality which tends to dominate more in the autumn.

Some other examples:

       

All the above brought wintry precipitation to my location so fingers crossed next week will too.

[Snowyowl9]

January 2015 the best in decades,pity wetterzentrale archive charts so slow coming out.

[MP-R]

Yeah I've given up on them so I use meteociel's instead.

[damianslaw]

Last time we had a sustained cold zonal spell was second half of January 2015 and into February, we managed a number of light snowfalls mostly in the evening, with thawing during the day, so only sporadic snow cover lingering through the day. However, this time it looks like we will have colder uppers, and things will be less marginal, so when snow settles it should stick through the day with limited brightness - this is for the north anyway.

[Snowyowl9]

Days with seeing drifting snow from the west I`m highlighting.

Another one here.

[karyo]

It looks like things are going t*ts up again!

[Snowyowl9]

A snowy westerly.

[Snowyowl9]

The northern half does much better in today`s setup,drifting snow and blizzards forecast by the bbc earlier.

[Snowyowl9]

I`d rate this spell 3 out of 10.

The north looks like 10 out of 10.

[matt111]

For my location I’d rate it 1/10. It only gets a 1 for the tiny bit of sleet a few nights ago. Of course if I was further north I might’ve rated it differently. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

Here's a selection:

The recent ones in January 2015:

And for those looking for snowy westerlies with very low heights to the north (represented at Wetterzentrale by pinks and purples), here's some.

14th February 1973:

January 1978 was indeed a good month for cold zonality, but it generally didn't have markedly low heights to the north and north-east.  Here's an example from that month:

17th December 1982:

January 1984 had quite a few, here's another one from the 3rd of that month:

29th December 1990, which brought big snowfalls across the northern half of Scotland:

And the famous "Braer storm" in January 1993 which brought blizzards in the Scottish Lowlands:

And finally early March 1995 was quite a famous one:

[Carl46Wrexham]

Pffft...a load of rubbish.

No snow..one frost..too much wind and enough rain to make the ground waterlogged again.

0/10 - Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Snowyowl9]

Thanks TWS for those -10 upper air off the coast of Ireland unusual site from a westerly from january 1993.

3 to 4 inches of snow today finished off rated higher at 5/10 but wind was an easterly today.

Shortlived snow tomorrow then back to normal.

[damianslaw]

Mmm not the best cold zonal spell for the Lake District, but it has delivered quite a bit of snow overall, but hit and miss in southern parts, so it certainly won't rank alongside Jan 1984 in this respect. In overview a wintry week, but what should be expected for mid January. 

[Snowyowl9]

13 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Mmm not the best cold zonal spell for the Lake District, but it has delivered quite a bit of snow overall, but hit and miss in southern parts, so it certainly won't rank alongside Jan 1984 in this respect. In overview a wintry week, but what should be expected for mid January. 

Southern parts might aswell give up in this setup only east winds deliver,southern Scotland did extremely well with 10 inches most snow it that area since 2010.