cheeky_monkey

hi i touched down in Edmonton Alberta on friday 15th Jan....bizarely i flew out of heathrow where the temp was +1c and landed in Edmonton to find it at +6c...slowly cooled off..today went for a long walk in a very still -10c...didnt feel any colder than walking around in the UK on a cold day...seems it is above average over pretty much all of canada right now..sum areas +10c-+15c above normal..that dosnt look like changing much in the next 7 days.

my whine is why cant the regional cold spell threads be put in their own section?..instead of clogging up the seasonal winter section...i always found the seasonal thread one of the most interesting now it is just cluttered full of will it snow in the next 5 mins in my shed or there was a snowflake reported in my aunties garden five miles away. all the topics of interest have been swamped and lost in the madness

i think any possibility of not getting a sub 3c have gone now..as has IMHO a sub 2c....prices shortening on the first sub 0c since Feb 86..what chance beating Jan 79 at... -0.4c?

Just looking at the latest models output may mean i have to delay my departure to Canada i have already moved my original flight from the 10th Jan to 15th Jan...it does really look like i may have to delay for another week possibly if the models are correct. GFS keeps it cold with further possible snow falls right through the run..which would make this the most prolonged cold spell since 1963.

well i think the opening gambit of the thread is a little harsh...the general viewing public dont understand the technical details of the hows and why of where the snow came from..and in essence the reporting has been pretty robust compared to the usual rubbish we used to see in previous years..when the likes of gmtv would go on about the big freeze when a snow shower is forcast for the north york moors and temps are around 4c that really used to get my goat.

you cant base a winter on one heavy snowfall and things that havnt actually happened yet

I agree this winter has shown up 2008-9 for the winter it really was ..much a do about nothing...so far it is much more like the winters of my childhood..although we have yet to see a severe cold spell..with sub zero maximums and high wind chill and some blowing snow...for me that would seal the deal on 2009-10 winter.

london generally sees lower totals than the surrounding areas..so whilst places like bucks and herts may receive 20cms inner london may only get 5cms..nothing unusual there

and the people at the met office obviously know nothing about the weather?

dont take car thermometers as a true guide... temps are generally 1-1.5c colder than shown during cold spells..due to heat given of by the road the ambient engine temperature and exhausts.

i would agree that away from the south east/north east and the scotland..apart from being cold nothing of any significance has really happened

oh the irony of it all...there is me looking to go back to Canada in the next 2 weeks and the model outputs could mean i get stuck in the UK due to cold and snow ..im tempted to hang on in the Uk until the end of January just to see if it all pans out?

seems very similar to the November and Dec just gone..only this December was 0.5c colder...what if January 2010 were to come in 0.5c colder than 1940 eh?

i agree..if we do get to mid month at 0c (which is a distinct possiblity) then it would need a very mild second half to get back above 3c. im off to Canada mid month so i guarantee the cold will remain...simply because i wont be here

intersting that the whole of the northern hemisphere looks cold on this chart...very unusual

i think it has been said elsewhere..but the models are showing something similar to what happened in the last week of Dec 1978..short milder interlude never quite making it north of the border before the cold sinks back south with possible heavy snow events in many areas around the end of the month. it will be intersing to see how cold or mild it becomes in the next few days and how far north or east this reaches?

cant see any major snow event south of birmingham on the ECM...lookS better to me for a country wide snowfall on the GFS

just spent over 3 hours tryin to get home(7miles)...not happy if known was going to be like this would have left work at lunchtime!!

heavyish sleet in south herts

Just rain here im afraid in south herts..quite heavy too..very cold

no i was in London ON last year..right now im in London England i just never got around to changing my location....im not too familiar with Edmonton weather but im guessing its often very cold and dry during the majority of winter??

Good..i was hoping it wouldnt be too cold..think it would too much of a shock to the system,,as long as it is not windy ill think it will be ok?

They are in Canada..their records over the last 60 years or so are as extensive as ours...just take a look at the environment for canada website..they have weather records for hundreds of sites right across Canada

any ideas on the winter forecast for western half of canada?..i will be landing in Edmonton on the 10th January for the duration.

my understanding of the bartlett high is that is when the azores high gets displaced in winter north east across spain and the bay of bsicay into france and much of the western med.. this causes most of north west europe to suffer from long periods of mild to very mild south westerly winds with little in the way of cold and not mcuh if any snow or frost. These areas of high pressure can be very stubborn to move and can last for weeks at a time and have a habit of reforming one after another during mild winters as the jet becomes locked into the same pattern...often common when there is a + NAO AND +AO and also when there is a strong El nino event.