Ian Docwra

My parents were married on 29 March 1952 in Harrow, NW London, during a noteworthy snow event. Deep lying snow in London.

If you want to see an example of extreme swings of temperature in a continental setting, look at Amarillo, Texas; -26C tomorrow morning going to +22C next week!

I think over the SE as a whole they are getting hotter in general, obviously with some blips. It's now not noteworthy to have temperatures above 30c, whereas it previously was. The absolute maximum reached is less important by far than averages, and on that measure our summers have become warmer steadily, along with Europe. We can still have cold, yes, but it's not unusual to see a whole winter go by without lying snow now. SSTs are rising slowly but surely and don't really respond to occasional cold spells. I don't take my climate information from the mainstream media. I imagine occasional very cold spells will still occur - they will just become rarer.

We had a number of occasions earlier this winter where the NE wind brought rain at 2/3C, so with a normal SST we could have seen very different results. With our summers getting hotter (and winters milder, come to that), the SSTs can only rise slowly but surely. This makes marginal situations veer towards rain and the arrival of freezing air less common.

Less likely every year, sadly, with the SSTs increasing as they are.

Yes, just the wind swinging to the S and gradually warming.

All seems to be breaking up and not reaching the ground anyway. This is a step backwards - at least the last lot made it to the surface!

Makes sense (except for why it's falling at all so far ahead of the front) - fascinating conditions today.

From what I can make out from the very patchy radar coverage at the moment there appears to be a swathe of moderate snow advancing eastwards over Central S England. This is a very long way ahead of the supposed position of the occlusion.

The radar is doing horrible things to the west - only showing a cake slice of echoes over Oxforshire, Wiltshire, etc.

Yes, and the high over Norway is at 1052mb!

More likely a burst pipe or broken drain - the amount of ice there couldn't have come simply from melted snow with a large puddle still remaining. We have a similar thing close to me on a road that leads up to the downs - the drains can't cope with winter groundwater and the road is a river to varying degrees most of the time.

The Met Office's predictions of a return to cold weather after a very mild week ahead are rapidly being watered-down, with it now being deemed unlikely.

I wouldn't rule out some light snow today but of course anything now will be short-lived on the ground with impending warmer air. The risk of glaze is there, though, with the ground now frozen (at last).

Absolutely. I have 60% humidity outside now - very low for a February day with light cloud.

I heard that the Thames was frozen in patches at Teddington this morning.

It is expected to move east erratically and fade a little, and it could possibly be glaze rather than snow.

I knew that would spark something! All in the cause of science of course.

Fascinating correlation between land and snowfall at the moment - the snow almost completely matches the land outline, with sleet/rain over water.

I'd go for Gibraltar .

The question then is; does the solar cycle have an influence on the occurence of Sudden Stratospheric Warming? The latter is what has caused this cold spell.

VERY cool.

That must be a weather satellite (dish).

Leith Hill today - a biting wind at -3.5C, but gorgeous sunshine with about 5cm on the ground.

I think it's a little more E than SE than expected hence a little moisture collection on the longer sea track. Nothing major at these pressures (1030mb).