The Giant Daddy Jackpot

Yep, that ridging HIGH over Scandinavia is going to be key for longevity of this cold snap, likely to pull in even colder air if it establishes itself. Possibly extending the cold snap to 14 days or more if it holds.

Good signals of strong HIGH ridging over Scandinavia, the Atlantic jet may well be forced south.

A time for some reflection on the latest models and wait for further runs before we start getting the snow shovels out in southern England. The focus is definitely going to be that LOW to our SW.

Seems that the 'Beast' opened one eye, yawned and went back to sleep again. How many times has it been said that putting too much emphasis past D06 is a mistake?

Quite likely that the met will extend the RED zone further East as they have done with AMBER warning.

Certainly intensifying as it heads across the channel and widening too, if it stalls over the South it could be a 12 - 18 hour blizzard. Something we haven't seen since 1978/79

And that is a rarity!

So you take back your dismissal of my forecast for a monumental snow storm do you, Bristle Boy?

Southern England is on the cusp of a monumental snow storm and snow/ice storm for the south west. If this comes off it could be the worst for 30 years. No wonder the met office is on their guard.

Significant snowfall across the Southern part of England and along the east coast looks highly likely now with active systems running up the English Channel notwithstanding agreement across the models for a severe easterly intrusion due to the SSW. This kind of event, should it occur, is of course a rarity indeed for the whole of the country (about once every 30 years) but when they occur they shock England in particularly and they always bring road traffic chaos, schools close, shops run out of supplies due to problems with delivery etc. But when it gets this cold it does catch people out esp

Quite extraordinary charts, ridging over Greenland and Scandinavia with subzero temps we haven't seen for over 30 years, I believe that's 1986. Could even be as cold as 1981. Wow, after all these years of disappointment we may be on the verge of another memorable winter. Exciting chart watching over the next few days.

The charts are beginning to hint on agreement now. I believe we are on the cusp of seeing a monster Easterly incursion that will give the British Isles sub zero temperatures not seen since 1987 with high probability of deep snowfall especially across Eastern and South Eastern areas. Exciting times ahead for chart watchers.

Just a hint that heights will build towards Scandinavia as we head into the new year. The solutions have been showing some positive signs in the past three to four days and all eyes on the next 72 hours to confirm a real trend towards some real winter. Mid Atlantic blocking ridge and heights over Greenland looking good too. All in all very positive but all to play for.

As usual the GFS solution looks wildly off with the ECM the better bet. Heights building over Scandinavia is looking the better prognosis but certainly not nailed down. A lot of solution watching with one eye on the Met Office over the next few days I think!

Gibby, I fully agree with your prognosis. With a strong zonal influence and no sign of any blocking heights to our NW or NE, this looks like another very short lived spell and Dec looks increasingly like being an average one.