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A covering here this morning .A stormy looking sky more reminiscent of November and currently 2c.

The Ecm 12z also shows a marked improvement next week as high pressure builds in and temperatures respond, soaring into the 20's celsius..what a beauty!

Good news from the GEFS 12z mean too, becoming warmer and anticyclonic during next week..I think we can look forward to a summery spell through early May..hopefully further ahead too!

Good Evening All. After the unseasonably cold week , a rather unsettled blip this Bank holiday weekend and a slight warm up is on the cards , The models show something of a ridge building in from the east Tuesday onwards , but whether we can warm things up a lot or little is open for question , but Im expecting a dry May as my forecast suggests in our local monthly magazine, and this looks in situ with model output. But with these conditions ,its too cold and too dry, so far for farmers and growers and the continuing prospective for dry conditions may and is a concern for crop growers nationwide...

not forecasting but about the weather now some wonderful cloudscapes now out to my east and NE, large Cb9 and type 3 along with towering Cu, less convective over and west of me at the moment

Heard thunder from this cell out over the Severn Estuary not too long ago.

OK I'm less furious with the weather for snowing at home! After going to bed to it pishing down here's the current view out the window in Banff! Aye not the Moray coast one!

World turned white up here this morning as well. The birds nesting in the hedge are not amused.

The ecm also has the low over SW Ireland by 12z Sunday with fragmented rain into the south west. But it has it filling and disappearing more or less in situ with the weakening rain band crossing the UK on Monday so at this stage I feel it is a tad precarious to attempt more detail although the temps will be back to normal.

Yeah, it was so crumbly that I had to eat it over the kitchen sink. Mixed feelings about the next few days with regards to my allotment - yay for rain...boo for cold temps as I've a lot of seedlings in a rickety cold frame and my plot is on top of a very chilly hill.

True Yes certainly the dry theme looks to continue except for these blips like the showers today and perhaps a little rain Sun/Mon but after that looks to be dry again. GFS seems to agree. Even if it doesnt get very warm it still feels nice and pleasant in the mid-teens now if its sunny so I too am hopefull for some good weather in May

Well no, but last night's charts were truly sensational, I wasn't really expecting them to be showing again today. But the ECM has moved back towards a strong high pressure build this evening after a relatively disappointing run this morning. These are still excellent charts, particularly for the west of the country. It's still a long way off and the positioning of the high is far from certain- we could still see a more favourable position for nationwide warmth as we get closer to the time. The good news to me tonight is that the models seem to be backing away from retrogression of the high which was being shown earlier.

Well the skies at the allotment this evening have been a delight! Light rain now but nowhere near enough. Can't explain those lines in the raincloud over the houses, not very clear on camera but beautiful.

The good news is the Gfs 12z shows a marked change to warm anticyclonic conditions from next tuesday with temps soaring into the low 20's celsius during the second half of next week.

The Ecm 00z ensemble mean is looking good too once we get into early May..hopefully leading to a warm / very warm and largely settled late spring with summer like conditions.

Agree with everything you write there @Betleyblizud, such a nice thread to keep us all feeding our snow questing, with some very nice and knowledgeable chaps/esses in residence. My usual go-to webcams at Les Arcs are a depressing sight today, as the white vans move in around the hotels and bars, and the snow ploughs clear away the snow in the ski area; there is not a skier to be seen, yet only a week ago the whole area was buzzing with Easter tourists. It is good to see the @Blessed Weather news article about the summer season, as I like to think these areas continue to have life, even when the snow-seekers leave for another year. I still watch the Iceland webcams, as there are still bits and pieces of snow to be seen, and I fell in love with the place when I went there a year ago. But it's the Caribbean webcams for me for a while - especially Aruba where I just got back from And there are the live Storm Chase streams following @Paul and the crew which become my next focus, if I can stay up late enough to catch them. Looking forward to seeing everyone in here all over again in six months time

Gairden the morn. #snaw

For the rest of this week the gfs has the high pressure slowly edging east , thus the current, cold, inclement northerly which is bringing wintry showers to many, will slowly abate and temperatures start to rise. The shallow low tracking down the North Sea has been a slight hindrance to this but by 12z Friday the UK is firmly in the middle of the transition and awaiting the complexities arriving from the west. Within the next 24 hours a large negatively tilted upper trough is dominating the eastern Atlantic having tracked east from the Canadian vortex lobe and is going to control affairs over the weekend. Thus by 12z on Saturday we find the main surface low SE of Greenland with shallow lows lying along the front which is orientated N/S west of Ireland and most of the UK under the influence of a light southerly and temps back to average From here the situation is quite interesting as it develops. The fairly shallow low to the west intensifies and gets far more organized and by 123z Sunday is 980mb over south west Ireland with the associated fronts swinging across south west England bringing with them some rain. From here the low begins to fill and track into northern England which initiates an unsettled showery day for most of the UK with temps around average. And a mere glance at that last chart illustrates the influence the troughs are having tracking E/SE from the Canadian factory into the Atlantic. By midweek the rapid amplification and the surge of the high pressure gets underway but no point in attempting any detail at the moment.

Looks like quite a varied two weeks coming up in terms of airmasses - from the current Arctic maritime, to Tropical maritime over the weekend, Tropical continental mid next week and most likely Polar continental or even Arctic continental again thereafter. The overall theme, bar the Bank Holiday weekend, looks like a mostly dry one again. Don't know about other people, but this could well be my driest April on record depending on how much falls at the weekend. GFS brings a brief warm spell next week with temperatures into the low-mid twenties for a few days but then a cool down to average or perhaps below as winds swing northeasterly to northerly - a pleasant change though to the howling westerlies and northwesterlies that so often plague May. ECM is broadly similar out to FI. I was hoping for a more convective easterly like last year but there looks the possibility in FI of a weaker version of what we have now with a slacker but possibly convective northerly. Bar a few days next week, I wonder if this May will be similar to 2010, which was also quite dry for the main, but with a cool/cold first half and much warmer second half with notably high temperatures around the 20th-24th given such dry ground.

Its the time of year when the atlantic traditionally settles into its spring slumber, and the outlook certainly looks non-atlantic dominated, a northerly followed by a slack cyclonic airstream over the bank holiday weekend (rather unfortunate timing - as the lengthy settled period looks like breaking down just in time for the weekend with rain for many), followed by an easterly to greet May, possibly becoming more of a northeasterly in time... with signs high pressure will retrogress to the NW, and low pressure settles to the SW (but far from certain). We could see more of a southerly feed next week which would pull in some very warm uppers for the time of year, nothing too unusual though with perhaps the NW the best spot for dry sunny conditions (again quite par for the course in May - when the east can often be plagued by sea fret and haar and low cloud with warmest conditions in the NW). The main headline is for a continuation of the lengthy dry spell bar a shortlived unsettled blip over the weekend.

Tonight's Ecm 12z ensemble mean will give those of us looking for an early taste of summery weather during early may a warm glow..it's looking increasingly anticyclonic next week and hopefully beyond.

Well what a great day to be a weather enthusiast today Some brilliant sky scapes:

Timelapse of today's weather

ECM doesnt look as good as last nights though, the 850s I posted yesterday were higher than its showing tonight. The plume looks to be being deflected NW away from the UK on this run: GFS also showing that next weeks warm up maybe temporary before a return to average. Just like this weeks few days of colder weather, next week may see similar the other way. A clear arc in the ensembles showing it may not last: Typicaly the worst weather over the next few weeks looks like being the bank holiday with a large spike in the ppn graph!!!

Please be right for +168 onwards ECM

It's days like these that I love April for. I've seen sunshine, rain, hail, sleet, snow, some brilliant convective cloudscapes, and also heard thunder today. Definitely my favourite month after December.

Some great looking showers showing up on the radar and the folk in the Midlands have seen a few lightning strikes. But so far no luck here (if you want some rain) as it's still as dry as a bone. Please..... can I have just one downpour?!!! Radar 18.00

Lucky I was off work this week otherwise I would have missed it, crude video of the cell

First thunder of 2017. Hail and 4 rumbles of thunder

It's increasingly looking like early may will see a change to warmer and settled conditions with high pressure becoming the dominant feature..so says the GEFS 6z mean..plus the latest MO update indicates very warm and fine weather at times next month..so the seasonal models (GloSea5 / Ec32) must be looking good for an early taste of summer next month..fingers crossed

A quick look at this morning's GEFS, EPS and last night NOAA anomalies. All are okay with the expected pattern change next week albeit with some detail disagreements. The GEFS is declining the east European ridge quicker than the EPS for example. But they all agree more or less on retaining a fairly active vortex/lobe N. Canada with associated trough into the Atlantic but retrogressing the latter as the amplification downstream increases and the high pressure ridges N/NW in the North Sea area. Thus the UK is encompassed by a slack high pressure cell and becoming quite warm with temps above average but the usual temp and cloud caveats apply with an HP cell vis location The EPS has the surface centre just in the North Sea for example but this is obviously something the det. runs will sort. But still on course for dry and warm next week.. Looking at the later period it certainly looks like we may hang on to the high pressure for a few days. There are some changes upstream with the Canadian lobe/trough weakening and the Russian lobe/trough becoming more influential. This has the effect of shifting the ridging HP further west but the UK still under the surface high which will do likes wise so although the weather remaining dry the temps may well return to average. But to reiterate this is something the det. runs will need to sort but things not looking too bad.

CairnGorm Ski Road closed at the Glenmore gates and the A939 Lecht Pass now closed also. Piste Bashers now working at the Lecht as runs filling in.

Just attempting some clearing out and I came across this photo of Charlie the Cormorant who stayed with us for a couple of months in 2015. i don't remember this photo

The ECM weeklies issued yesterday show temperatures recovering from next week after this week's chilly blip passes - week 2 of May has weaker signals for most of the country Rainfall remains below average for at least another 4 weeks

Fair coming down in Aviemore just now: Updating cam: http://www.winterhighland.info/cams/aviemore/

Tonight's Ecm 12z ensemble mean indicates a marked change to summer like conditions during early May.

Good to know that someone is experiencing a below average month!

This trend to warmer temps next week that the models are showing I'm pleased to say looks correct

Good question! I'm on a meter so I use three 50 gallon water butts for my garden. But they are now all empty as I try to stop my newly planted pots and re-turfed lawn from expiring from the lack of rain! Ridiculous for April!! This evening's cold front was a rather pathetic affair - barely damped the ground here. I'm pinning my hopes on the next 48 hours - the Met Office talk of heavy showers tomorrow and Weds for us - and this evening's Arpege is going for over 10 mm for virtually the whole Region. I hope it's on the money..... but we all know what heavy showers mean.... lots for some, dry for others!! Rainfall accumulation to midnight Thurs:

What a stunning end it is to ECM BANK!

Wow 564 dam thicknesses by the end of the Ecm 12z..late in the run the charts look gorgeous and very summer like..temps would be soaring into the high 70's to low 80's F.

I'd settled for this in early May

Good afternoon everyone. When are we going to get a decent rainfall. My allotment is bone dry and the fields around here have large cracks due to lack of rain. I would like to see a few hours of steady moderate rain overnight to give the ground a good soaking. Is the incoming cold front likely to produce anything more substantial than a bit of drizzle by the time it reaches us? Kind regards Dave

Heavy rain and hail showers, 5.2°C. Negative dp as well, oh well nothing new there. Just on sferic watch now which is far more exciting. edit: thunder!! Get in!!!

Goodluck.We had snow falling to this level a couple of hrs ago.Didn't settle though.

WOW! Mega blizzard just swept through here What a treat for late April. Thought id seen my last snow until next winter!

Thanks Malcolm, I hope you are right, as it is a bit of a bind having to keep watering so early in the year. Kind Regards Dave

It's looking fantastic - yes please!

Howdy. Wee covering here. Some seriously heavy showers around tonight. Was snowing at sea level Skye earlier according to my missus, which really didn't happen much in winter itself. -0.5c

But that's to be expected it's a bank holiday