Scotland Weather discussion

[Northern Strath]

Alright kilties. 

Spoke to a neighbour about Christmas yesterday and they uttered the words “as long as there isn’t any snow..” I promptly gathered together some other coldie locals and we oxtered said neighbour (heretic) in to a taxi with their belongings, think they’re wandering the streets in Bournemouth just now….. I’m joking,     it’s Eastbourne

The MT is excited is it?.. by the time it’s taken to you to read that sentence it’s not excited anymore. I treat that place like the newspaper stand at the local shops, largely batsh*t with little very little relevance to what’s happening in Scotland 

Forecast looks chilly and certainly some snow inbound, it’s volume and timings as indecipherable as ever. I begin to trust the local forecast for precipitation within about 2hrs, any longer and you’re urinating in to the wind. Either way these days it’s novel to see a December acting like December and I have prepared accordingly. Logs, torches charged, candles, inflated expectations, defibrillator ready to use on whichever one of us opens the energy bill. Another hard frost this morning. Hope you’re all well and get some white stuff 

[Scottish-Irish Skier]

11 hours ago, Hairy Celt said:

Aha, so my Golf has had winters on since before my Alps trip. Smug now. 

1C out now and just starting to ice up again.

Just another thought re the screen demist/defrost thing. The aircon adds a significant load to the battery so using it lots in cold weather - especially at start-up - maybe not so sensible unless your battery is in tip-top condition. Mine's now 7 years old and needs treating with some care.

We've had a reworking of the top of the house this year to slow down the escape of heat - wood fibre slabs in some wall cavities, replaced an ancient roof light with a double glazed unit, and a new staircase installed to allow separation of parts of the attic and 1st floor. And more. It *is* possible to make an old house more energy efficient but boy it's not cheap! And none of this is eligible for grants. I'm just hoping I can go for a wee at 6am without freezing my nuts, that's worth quite a lot, even if they don't serve much useful purpose these days.

Heating oil price - now almost twice what it was a year ago. Electricity price through the roof. Firewood prices seem to increase every year by way more than inflation. Will there be a cap on firewood prices? 

I'd love to show you photos of my granddaughter but young HC said no. So you'll have to take my word for it that she's gorgeous.

When we bought this 1860 stone cottage it had no heating and no insulation. We took out all the internal plasterwork (complete with like horse hair and stuff), and rebuilt internal framework etc. Lagged to the max with rockwool in the cavities before plasterboard back and re-plastered. It wasn't actually that costly (knew the plasterer as I did some work for him as a student to earn beer money), but jeez what a total mess if you are living in the house trying to do this room by room. 

Anyway, installed off peak storage which is just pointless unless the house is actually well insulated. Also replaced windows with double glazing. Of course in this case we knew we were going to have to pay for all this, but then the cottage didn't cost much due to being something out of the 1950's in terms of standards.

When we had the extension done, it's got kingspan between the joists and insulation backed plasterboard. If I recall correctly, the roof is rockwool between joists and a layer of kingspan. Over the top on insulation.

It's now pretty toasty. Or was as we used to heat it quite lot because we could! Was 25 C sometimes when we forgot to adjust the charge settings and it got warmer! Not this winter. more 19C now, but managed to bring usage down by 40% on the same time last year!  

And a wee tip here... Be wary about companies selling foam injection insulation. Seems a great idea and can work in certain circumstances, being much less onerous than taking all the plaster work out like we did. However, if not done properly, can trap moisture / stop air flow and cause your joists to rot. I've come across some news stories about people being unable to get a loan / remortgage on a property due to concerns here.

 

EDIT. Just hud a wee look at the latest ECM. Sweet. Fun and games from the morn right out to T240+

Edited December 5, 2022 by Scottish-Irish Skier

[Sceptical]

Latest updates from the MO worth a read. Yellow warning looks justified currently.

 

[101_North]

Looking forward to see what unfolds over the next week or so and seeing the snow pics in the forum. Unless there are some short term changes or features in the mix then I suspect it'll be the usual northerly fare here (at least initially) of blue sky and clear air. Not to complain about there as it'll be vast improvement on this morning damp, wet misery!  

[Northernlights]

-1c this morning and a bright start.Cows and calves settling in after coming in on Saturday.  Calves vaccinated yesterday. Been busy switching off troughs and preparing things that are difficult to do if covered in ice or snow

[lorenzo]

Laughs in Scottish..

[Sceptical]

 

UK weather: Met Office warns of below freezing temperatures

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

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People are urged to look out for friends and family amid unseasonably cold temperatures this week.

 

[Gogoslo]

Forecasts seem to be going with a sleety mix for here right on the coast. A wee bit further inland could get a right dumping on Wed into Thursday.   What happens after that is anyones guess.  

[Quinach]

Much better day than the forecast - oodles of sunshine compared to the Met Office forecast of Permagloom™.

Sign of things to come as that sunshine is not raising the temperatures much - currently 3.1c with calm conditions.

[Glaswegianblizzard]

I have mixed feelings about this cold spell. It is nice to see some genuinely wintry temperatures and weather, and I’m looking forward to the crispness. On the other hand looking at the forecast temperatures it’s certainly no 2009 or 2010. Each day the temperature looks forecast to reach freezing or -1, which is well above daytime maxima back then. 
 

But with the cost of living stuff and energy prices, I do worry what prolonged cold weather may do to people, especially if someone is on prepay energy meters and can’t afford a new top up. This could get pretty desperate for some folk.

 

[Ravelin]

6 minutes ago, Glaswegianblizzard said:

I have mixed feelings about this cold spell. It is nice to see some genuinely wintry temperatures and weather, and I’m looking forward to the crispness. On the other hand looking at the forecast temperatures it’s certainly no 2009 or 2010. Each day the temperature looks forecast to reach freezing or -1, which is well above daytime maxima back then. 
 

But with the cost of living stuff and energy prices, I do worry what prolonged cold weather may do to people, especially if someone is on prepay energy meters and can’t afford a new top up. This could get pretty desperate for some folk.

 

I quite agree, however the weather will do what the weather will do irrespective of whether we are getting excited about a cold spell or wanting it to stay warm enough for energy bills not to hurt as much. Maybe if it's cold it'll prompt the government to seriously look at the energy market across the UK, poorly insulated homes etc? Maybe?

If XC weather is correct (it won't be, not entirely)  I'll start to see mixed rain/snow/sleet tomorrow and then varying amounts of snow from Wed through to the end of the forecast on Monday. A high of 3C tomorrow drops  to a max of 1C Wed, and from there forward pretty much sub zero through to Monday. Sunday maxes out at -3C.

[Ross B]

There still looks to be a chance of widespread snow overnight Wednesday into Thursday to me with the front coming down from the North. It will be decaying as it does and as usual particularly so as it travels over the highlands towards the central belt, but we may get a dusting out of it or something a little better where heavy precip survives (if it happens as that varies by model!). That will really help bring the temperature down overnight for the remainder of the week.

Other than that, those away from the North/North East and coastal fringes need to have fingers crossed for some more disturbances in the flow... some potential over the weekend but that's too far away really.  I went into B&Q yesterday and they had 8 full pallets with bags of rock salt sitting out for sale so their forecasters are maybe expecting some decent cold weather...  Agree this week is going to be expensive on the heating, if the grid can even cope...

Edited December 5, 2022 by Ross B

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

GEM ENS and op especially noteworthy 

 

BBC weather the other night mentioned "disruptive snowfall"  

 

 

[Hairy Celt]

I'm expecting at best a tease of a few flakes if I stay up on Wednesday night, then a coating of frozen skitters Thursday morning. Anything more will be a pleasant surprise.

[Northernlights]

First snow capped hills of winter round Firth today.You can maybe just make out Ben More in Sutherland between the clouds. Ben Wyvis has good cap too Currently overcast and 4c

[lorenzo]

40 minutes ago, Hairy Celt said:

I'm expecting at best a tease of a few flakes if I stay up on Wednesday night, then a coating of frozen skitters Thursday morning. Anything more will be a pleasant surprise.

Usual winter monitoring tools assessment

 - likely frozen shut

- a possibility depending on ninja troughs in the flow

[Ross B]

Looking good for the first flakes Weds night says the latest GFS...

Just coming into range of UKV with a band of heavy showers heading south into N.Scotland in sub-zero temps.

Of course, never trust a precip chart... 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Ross B

[shuggee]

My, my. That's a snowy GFS 12z - a foot of snow by Monday evening (XC Weather estimate ) and five consecutive ice days. By far the wintry-est run so far for the western Borders... Where did all that inland ppn on Friday and Sunday come from all of a sudden?!

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

 

 

[101_North]

7 minutes ago, Kirkcaldy Weather said:

 

 

Bullseye here too if that came off!!

I'm looking forward to radar watching and seeing it fizzle out to near nothing as it moves south over the hills as per usual 

Edited December 5, 2022 by 101_North

[Hawesy]

My Mums coming up to visit this week. I’ve confidently reassured her there’ll be no snow in the East Neuk. 

[Ross B]

1 hour ago, 101_North said:

Bullseye here too if that came off!!

I'm looking forward to radar watching and seeing it fizzle out to near nothing as it moves south over the hills as per usual 

There's also some warmer air caught up in that as it moves down the west coast which may bring sleet or freezing rain for those areas especially on lower ground...! Let's hope it moves west about 80miles

Edited December 5, 2022 by Ross B

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

OMFnnnG what A JMA run 

 

[lorenzo]

Incoming- that's a bone chiller.

 

[Glaswegianblizzard]

2 hours ago, Kirkcaldy Weather said:

 

Love the complete lack of precipitation along the full length of the Clyde valley there….