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mike Meehan

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Everything posted by mike Meehan

  1. mike Meehan
    Mostly hazy sunshine here today just about reaching 16C - it's amazing the difference a month can make at this time of year - also the origin of the wind can make a tremendous difference. It reminds me of my wedding day which was on 04.04.1964 - we got married at Berkhamsted and when we emerged from the church we were met by a slight flurry of snow, fairly large flakes. That evening we caught the 'Honeymoon Express' which was a Viscount to Jersey where the following week was glorious - I hired a scooter for our travels around the island - don't remember feeling cold even though we did not have any motocycle kit, and at times we sat on the beach.
  2. mike Meehan
    Snow now gone - it was nice whilst it lasted but it came too late in the season to give us a nice prolonged spell, so putting in a request to the snow gods that for next winter season they arrange for the stratospheric warming event to occur on my birthday in mid December. What I learned from this last episode was the effect that retained heat in the ground does have an effect and even when it is below freezing there is some melt caused by this. So what I would like would be the development of a good Scandi High with a build up of the cold and snow in Scandinavia, western Russia and the continent, to enable it to get well and truly established. For the first few days, dry with some quite intensive frosts to allow the ground to get well frozen, to be followed by a low skitting up the channel to allow for the first decent fall of snow. Also whilst there is still a good temperature anomaly between the sea surface temp of the Channel/North Sea and the uppers, this should allow for a good Thames streamer and with a max temp of -5C, this should be good powder snow with some drifting. Hang onto this situation until the end of February, then let the high slip to the south west, bringing us continued dry sunny conditions to allow the temperature to rise and the snow to be melted soley by the power of the sun. That's much better than the damp horrible westerly's which bring cloud and advection fog making it miserable. From there we can advance into a nice fine, gradually becoming warmer, Spring with lots of sunshine. Yippee, I think I've got that sorted.
  3. mike Meehan
    We have had snow falling for the past hour or so, note it was not forecasted when I checked earlier - Current temp -1.6, humidity 88%, bar started to rise 12 hours ago, then levelled off for last 6 hours. Would estimate about a cm of fresh snow, vis down to 600 metres. It has hardly got above freezing today, however it was quite mild for a few days prior to see beastie and I have seen some melted patches on the garden - I wonder if this because the soil is retaining some residual heat, then we had the snow which would have insulated it - just a thought - can't recall ever seeing it quite like that before. Wondering if it is the Thames streamer kicking off again
  4. mike Meehan
    I didn't expect that - the radar showed the snow coming up from the south now and we are just on the edge of it - fine flakes though - temp has risen to -1.5C, humidity down slightly at 85%.
  5. mike Meehan
    Just about fizzling out now, now too bad considering we are within 4 days of the spring equinox - nice icicle hanging from the street lamp and the cars an neighbour's garden have a good sprinkling - I'd say about 5cms in depth - temp -1.6, humidity 88%, snow back to light now after a coupla 3 hours of fairly moderate.
  6. mike Meehan
    Temp at Watford, now -1.4C - humidity 84% - bar steady - we had continuous light snow which did not add up to more than a cm, the roads and pavements remained dry but now it has started to perk up a little more and starting to lie on the pavement: Radar looks interesting for the few hours - the circle indicates the position of Watford and the bar chart on left indicate ppn per hour - I'd say an average of 35mm, adding up to 70mm for rain for the next 2 hours - but with dryish snow, which this should be with sub zero temp, you could multiply that by 10, we get 7cm but we will see:
  7. mike Meehan
    No, not with an easterly coming off the continent - dry sunny and even hot some times, though coastal areas could be afflicted by North Sea Stratus, early in the season.
  8. mike Meehan
    Save some of those for the summer please
  9. mike Meehan
    So you missed that event - my boy remembers it very well!!!!! - he's a clever lad He was born at home in Wood Lane End.
  10. mike Meehan
    Dunno, really, according to the radar we were on the lower edge with slight snow but see that it has now meandered a little so that we are more in the middle and the snow has intensifie a little - temp now dropped to -0.4 and humidity 82%. There is a stream coming in our direction from North Norfolk. Pavements still dryish but snow is now blowing in wind. In these conditions it is hard to predict, especially since more showery type ppn is being forecasted and this can be quite variable. I would suggest that the area of the amber warning is a line on a map and it can vary.
  11. mike Meehan
    Little stories here - my son was born on 05.03.1970 at Hemel Hempstead - it started snowing quite heavily the previous day, so had to trek out to the telephone box to call the midwife to ensure that she was given plenty of notice. Our sone was born about 0500 the next morning. The snow depth by then was about 20 cm, possibly a little more, so later that morning I took our daughter then aged just short of 2 years into the garden to make her an igloo. The second is about 06.03.2010, we were down at our house at Capestang in southern France. During the evening it started to snow, large flakes and I was quite surprised. It started off wet but with time it became dry. The next day some friends of ours from Montpellier visited and reported that the A9 was almost blocked, mostly by the heavies losing traction on the uphill gradients but they had been able to get through with their 4X4. The following day, the Monday we decided to go shopping in Narbonne. We got as far as Cuxac to find that their were diversions, so we travelled through the villages. The scenes were beautiful with the contrast of the fresh white snow against a wonderful azure sky - the French were using JCB's to clear the snow and once the road had been cleared most of the road surface, except for patches of melt water, became dry very quickly. I still regret not taking my camera with me. At Narbonne in the car park of the Commercial Centre I was fascinated to see the powder snow being blown off the roof of Tri Dome. It remained fine for the rest of the week with thaws during the day and frosts at night. Towards the end of the week, en route to Narbonne again, I saw the Sapeurs Pompiers dealing with a small fire in a ditch, though snow was still lying over a lot of the surface. It appeared a paradox that with the snow about the vegetation was still dry enough to burn readily in a small bush fire.
  12. mike Meehan
    At Watford snow started approx. 0500 to 0600 hours, mostly wet but temps gradually dropping, now +0.1*, so just about freezing depending on accuracy of thermometer but the wind and wet ground is likely to cool the ground below freezing now - not bad considering we were in double figures yesterday. For the last couple of hours snow been fairly light, though there were heavier spells earlier but still patchy where it has melted on warmer patches off ground - where it has settle about 1cm in depth. Wondering if the freezing temperatures will affect the cherry blossom on our tree which started blooming about a week ago. During the course of writing this temp now at zero, humidity 81% and during the last 8 hours the bar, which had been rising, is now steady.
  13. mike Meehan
    It is looking like a return match in a week's time with the beast from the east, though it looks more like the little brother of the first one.
  14. mike Meehan
    I suspect that Theresa has upset our European friends and they are now declining to send us the weather we really love - the temp at Watford is now +0.1C, humidity 91%. Overall I reckon we had about 8cms of snow, though a lot of it was scattered into drifts in the wind. Adieu niege, adieu gele. Salut printemps
  15. mike Meehan
    I'd much rather have dry than wet - it reminds m when I was speaking to a cap with a Finnish wife a few years ago - his mother in law came over from Helsinki to spend Christmas with them - she did not like it - it felt too cold here, no doubt the damp effect - it's funny that - I can recall times when I have been out in -5C but dry calm conditions and it feels much warmer than a damp +3C - something to do with the difference between heat and temperature - they are not both the same.
  16. mike Meehan
    I see as far as our part of the world is concerned we will be in a bit of a col with a slack gradient - 500 mb thickness is just over 530 metres We might just scrape a -4C on the uppers, so snow possible with the thickness and this and we are north of the jet stream Sure enough Meteo Ciel shows snow but with temps of +4C. I doubt it will settle, so all in all it looks a bit marginal. Interesting to note temps up to 24C in Catalonia - Spring is on the way, Yippee.
  17. mike Meehan
    I prefer the dry breakdown - back in March 2010 we had a nice little blizzard in the south of France - despite having snow on the ground it remained dry and as soon as the snow was cleared off the roads they dried out as well, te exceptions being the patches of melt water. Mostly melted by sunshine, a clear blue sky and gradually warming conditions towards about +6C - very pretty to look at as well. It took about a week for the snow to go but during that week I saw the pompiers attending to a small brush fire in a ditch at the side of th road, with some snow still lying. It must have been tinder dry to have caught in the first place and remained so despite the snowfall. With the damp conditions we often get the nasty slush and at times advection fog - now that is miserable.
  18. mike Meehan
    If anything the snow has now turned to snizzle, - causing some reduction in vis - if it was proper drizzle the outsides of the widows would get wet but they are remaining dry, probably gained an extra cm or two during the proper snow period. Now -1.6C 88% humidity and the bar has been level for a little while now - some snow still blowing in the wind. It is worth noting that as the temperature rises towards freezing the point the traction when driving on the roads reduces, so that much more care needs to be taken - the art is looking ahead, planning your route at the same time allowing yourself plenty of space and time for the unexpected. The slipperiness is caused by weight on the snow or ice caused that top layer to melt a little, so making it slick and the colder it is the less likelihood of that film of water forming. As I have previously said traction is much better when it is fair bit colder, especially if it is fresh powder snow on a dry road. The ultimate is that those on skis in really cold conditions such as in the Antarctic find that there is little 'glide' with their skis.
  19. mike Meehan
    That's a bit better, had some moderate snow for nearly an hour and now blowing around in the wind again - temp -1.2C, humidity 85%
  20. mike Meehan
    Woe, woe and thrice times woe - Occasional rain drops are now appearing on my windows, though it is still -1C. Does not appear to be that much on the radar either. A short sweet interlude of ice days with powder snow and sunshine.
  21. mike Meehan
    At Watford we have had precipitation for pretty well all the day, mostly as what I would term as snizzle (a frozen drizzle falling from the sky) it has not added much to the overall accumulation, which is about 3 to 4 cm, though it is being picked up by the wind and blown into drifts. The temperature has slowly risen from a min of -5.4C to -2C and humidity is now 84%.
  22. mike Meehan
    Morning all, still snowing albeit lightly now hope you are all white - the A41 outside obviously got a covering of snow during the night but the traffic has worn away tram lines back to tarmac. Temp -3.9C - difficult to estimate a total depth of snow in these drifting conditions.
  23. mike Meehan
    The slating of the roads is only effective down to a particular temperature - can't remember what it is now but I do recall in my youth walking over salt pavements where the gri/salt just has not had any effect. For the others who have not, or rarely seen dry powder snow blowing in the wind, one of the advantages of having been in 1942. I recall my step-father driving the family car over the Lincolnshire Wolds from the Midlands. The snow did not start until we got to Lincoln, then it started down in flakes the size of half crowns. As we got to the other side the snow was piled at the sides of the roads to a height of about 6 feet in places, obviously as a result of the snow plough going through. Also the snow was being blown in the wind to the extent that the vis was only about a hundred metres at times. A few miles further on the road was well and truly blocked and we could not make any further progress. We had to abandon the car and sought refuge in a farm labourers cottage to be joined by others in a similar plight. We were stuck there for three days before we could get out getting a lift in a break down lorry and had to leave the car because the cylinder block had frozen and buggered it. The country side was littered with downed cables and some of the telegraph poles had been snapped like match stalks. By that were a brama of a storm, yer tell 'm now and they won't believe yer. Sadly two or three days after we got back home it started melting. There have been a number of memorable blizzards since and by that I mean proper blizzards, though not every year.
  24. mike Meehan
    Sorry northerly extent appears to be south Norfolk according to the radar.
  25. mike Meehan
    According to the radar only about 25% of that dollop has passed over so far, so I would guestimate, say another 3 to 4 hours for Watford. As far as the depth is concerned it is difficult to measure because the drifting but I would reckon about a couple cc so far. The road outside is the main A41 but that is starting to develop a white patch in the centre.
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