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Media cold-snap forecasts & hype


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Posted
  • Location: Winchester, Hampshire ~ Southern Central!
  • Location: Winchester, Hampshire ~ Southern Central!

Weather forecasters are predicting chaos on the roads as Britain returns to work next week, with warnings of ice, sleet, and freezing temperatures. (According to yahoo - http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20071231...-6323e80_1.html)

Piers Corbyn, from long-range forecasters WeatherAction, said: "The winds from Siberia are going to make it extremely cold - like the conditions we experienced in January 1987 where it was -12C (10.4F) in the south.

"The average temperature for January as a whole will be close to freezing - 0.8C (33.4F) at best."

He added that temperatures could plummet to -17C (1.4F) in the Midlands.

The Highways Agency seem in agreement, having put hundreds of gritting vehicles on standby across the country.

But Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "Apocalyptic predictions verging on prophecies of a new Ice Age need to be put into perspective.

"There is no doubt at all that it will feel bitterly cold, especially on Thursday and particularly in the eastern half of Britain.

"Strong, raw winds from the east will bring a significant wind-chill and showers of sleet and snow. In the middle of winter such conditions are hardly unknown though, and in fact could be far, far worse. Indeed, some people in the western half of the country might be left wondering what all the fuss is about.

"By the weekend this brief freeze will have disappeared, as milder and occasionally wet and windy weather blasts in from the west.

"That will put winter on hold again for most areas until at least the middle of next week, although snow is possible for a time in the North on Sunday and Monday."

==============================================================================

-12c where the hell do they get that from??!

Edited by *Stormforce~beka*
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Posted
  • Location: Upper Tweeddale, Scottish Borders 240m ASL
  • Location: Upper Tweeddale, Scottish Borders 240m ASL
Wrap up warm as we head back to work

31 December 2007

Met Office forecasters are predicting a change to cold and wintry weather as we head back to work after the festive break.

After a mild New Year the weather is set to take a turn for the worse as bitterly cold winds bring the risk of snow to many parts of the UK through the second half of this week. There is the possibility of disruption due to snow across many parts of the UK on Thursday. Daytime temperatures will struggle to get above 2 or 3 degrees Celsius and with a strong wind it is going to feel much colder.

Met Office Head of Forecasting, Brian Golding said: "After a mild Christmas and New Year, we will notice a real change to some cold and wintry weather. We will need to be prepared and wrap up well against the cold weather as we head back to work in 2008."

As the national weather service for the UK, the Met Office works with other agencies to help keep the nation safe. As the weather turns colder, with the risk of snow we suggest you keep up to date with the latest weather forecast for your area on our website, as well as the latest travel advice across the roads and railways.

From: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pres...pr20071231.html

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London

Yes today in the Telegraph the Piers Corbyn statement was issued as well - how the hell it's going to feel anything like January 1987 is beyond me!! and his punt that the January CET will be near 0.8C is just laughable.

Helen Hunt of the Met Office continued to say "There will be frost and ice all over the country and we are likely to see some flurries of snow. We could have a white winter almost anywhere in the country because the temperatures will be low enough, but the east of England and the Midlands are the best bets for a dusting of 1-2 cms".

Also to add to the hype they had a large photo of a field of early daffodils in Cornwall saying just how mild December had been and that January would be cold with temps close to freezing.

Is it me or is the hype each year when a short cold snap arrives just getting more and more ridiculous? :whistling:

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

On the 12 o'clock weather report on BBC 1, Jay Wynne spoke of 'significant snow falls' on Thursday and on the weather warning page they announce:

Tuesday 1 January WEATHER WATCH Much colder conditions are expected across the UK from Wednesday onwards. On Thursday, northeastern areas could see as much as 1-5cm of lying snow, locally as much as 10cm. Some southern areas may see a light covering of snow also
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Posted
  • Location: Tamworth
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, frost, fog and ice!
  • Location: Tamworth
Yes today in the Telegraph the Piers Corbyn statement was issued as well - how the hell it's going to feel anything like January 1987 is beyond me!! and his punt that the January CET will be near 0.8C is just laughable.

Helen Hunt of the Met Office continued to say "There will be frost and ice all over the country and we are likely to see some flurries of snow. We could have a white winter almost anywhere in the country because the temperatures will be low enough, but the east of England and the Midlands are the best bets for a dusting of 1-2 cms".

Also to add to the hype they had a large photo of a field of early daffodils in Cornwall saying just how mild December had been and that January would be cold with temps close to freezing.

Is it me or is the hype each year when a short cold snap arrives just getting more and more ridiculous? :whistling:

December has not been that mild has it overall? Thought it was below average?

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
  • Weather Preferences: Any Extreme
  • Location: Sheffield South Yorkshire 160M Powering the Sheffield Shield
December has not been that mild has it overall? Thought it was below average?

It was in the average catagory just 0.2C below.

I wish Piers Corbyn would shut up he's getting embarrassing.

More rubbish here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...d=1770&ct=5

Carol Kirkwood on this mornings forecast looked like the polar bears had already arrived.

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
Carol Kirkwood on this mornings forecast looked like the polar bears had already arrived.

Ah bless Carol, she does feel the cold you know and they always send her out in the Blue Peter garden to do her forecast - do you think I should pop along and keep her warm in between takes? :doh:

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Posted
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl
  • Location: Reigate, Surrey 78m asl

Who is this Piers Corbyn chap? I noticed his quotes being use for a news article regarding the fortcoming cold snap on my phone. I'd love the CET to be 0.8c for the month but I have no idea where he got that from!

I also knew that the cold snap was doomed as soon as the Express ran a headline with the Big Freeze the other day...

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Posted
  • Location: Melbourne, Victoria
  • Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Is it me or is the hype each year when a short cold snap arrives just getting more and more ridiculous? :blink:

you are right. it used to be they got hyped up over 6 inches of snow ; now its 1 inch 2 day flurry that gets headline writers busy.

first snow of winter always gets more attention than the others, too.

I also knew that the cold snap was doomed as soon as the Express ran a headline with the Big Freeze the other day...

agree with this. somehow he is always the kiss of death to a cold snap, or any other "event" he forecasts.

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Posted
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and 15-25c
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)

any one see the joke that is gmtv this morning?....did their usual of going on about snow with reporters in different locations etc...and the guy stood next to a big snow plough in all the get up..saying how to avoid all the choas on the roads...and what a fantastic job theywere doing keeping the roads clear..yet where he was there was no snow..stood like a lemon with this great machine with not a flake of snow to be seen...does make you laugh..just makes you wonder what they would do if it really do snow for real?

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Posted
  • Location: Rochester, Kent
  • Location: Rochester, Kent

Don't know what you're talking about.

I've just sent this letter of thanks to Paul Dacre, Editor of the Daily Mail:

Hi Paul,

I hope you are well amidst the current severe weather outbreak.

I hope, like you, that you have invested properly in adequate heating for

the forthcoming -17degC event that is just around the corner – or perhaps

you are lucky, being a resident of the West Country. Fortunately, due to

your recent weather story(1), I have just placed an order of around £18k

to completely renew my central heating system; I hope I am in time for the

big event!

Anyway, I must applaud you on your efforts to further the cause of weather

forecasting. It takes great courage to dismiss one of the world’s leading

weather forecasting agencies, the Met Office, and, just to make sure it’s

a full bag, to dismiss the other two major forecasting agencies, GFS and

ECMWF, of whom, none predict -17C for the foreseeable future. I hope you

have passed your file onto the major energy suppliers? My new central

heating system requires external energy input from the nations normal

energy supply route.

Of course, it also came as quite a surprise that Siberia has been moved,

too – it was quite embarrassing in my local hostelry last night, when I

told them of this new, and what I imagine, will be quite a big political

story of 2008. You can imagine the incredulement that occurred.

Fortunately I settled the matter by promising to buy the whole pub a beer,

so that when you break the story, properly, they can all buy me one back.

Please don’t take too much time, I’m a bit short after Christmas, and my

new central heating investment.

I was a little confused, I must admit, because when I was at school I was

taught that Siberia was somewhere north of Russia – indeed I was planning

a holiday in Russia, and was always frightened of being sent to the Gulag

– it should come as no surprise that I have had nightmares about being

sent to the Solovetsky Islands. I suspect, that by now, you know that I

like to keep my family and I quite warm!

I’d like you to know that it comes as a great comfort to me to know that

Siberia has now been located somewhere south of France, and north of

Spain. I am a little upset that its change of political location had to be

inferred from the wind direction, but I can understand that at the moment

this story is political dynamite. Are you perhaps saving this for Gordon

Brown’s next election attempt? Linking in current Anglo-Russo tensions

with the next election would surely heighten Gordo’s chances, huh?

Anyway, with thanks, and keep up the good work

(1)http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505556&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

I'll post his reply.

Edited by VillagePlank
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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

Am I living in a different country or time zone to everyone else?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

I read the winter discussion thread and see that people have had flurries in many places, some have even built snowmen or had enough to cover the roof of the car but if I read the BBC article, it makes me think we have all had several metres worth??!!

Edited by Coast
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Posted
  • Location: Rochester, Kent
  • Location: Rochester, Kent
Am I living in a different country or time zone to everyone else?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

I read the winter discussion thread and see that people have had flurries in many places, some have even built snowmen or had enough to cover the roof of the car but if I read the BBC article, it makes me think we have all had several metres worth??!!

Cumulatively almost certainly. If you took a sample every two inches for a mile and added it all together - definately.

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Posted
  • Location: Chesham, Bucks
  • Location: Chesham, Bucks
Don't know what you're talking about.

I've just sent this letter of thanks to Paul Dacre, Editor of the Daily Mail:

I'll post his reply.

Great Letter! Doubt if you will get a reply though, as likely as two foot of snow lying for three weeks across the whole of the UK ! Hope I am wrong on both things ! :pardon:

December has not been that mild has it overall? Thought it was below average?

It has got beyond ridiculous! All this silly talk of ' Arctic blasts , snow events, killer blizzards...big freezes!'

All media over-hypers should be forced to spend time in Canada where they get all of the above! And dont make a fuss about it.

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Posted
  • Location: Steeton, W Yorks, 270m ASL
  • Location: Steeton, W Yorks, 270m ASL

I've just watched the BBC News Correspondent in Durham, with the sound down, looking at the sky and appearing to ask the question "what is it?" I think she hadn't ever seen snow before. Apparently some little village in East Fife was nearly cut off.

I still remember in 1979 the news feed of the road that the weather would never close (the M62 - built in no small part because of the problems of crossing the Pennines during the pre-even larger teapot) being closed because of the heavy snow. Does it still snow on the M62 nowadays? When I was a kid crossing occasionally to visit relatives on the wrong side I recall that during winter there was often snow, and if not then drifts were often still visible in the deepest corries and gullies.

Don't know what you're talking about.

I've just sent this letter of thanks to Paul Dacre, Editor of the Daily Mail:

I'll post his reply.

Very good VP!

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Posted
  • Location: Birmingham U.K.
  • Location: Birmingham U.K.
Ah bless Carol - do you think I should pop along and keep her warm in between takes? :)

Sorry, Coast - I bagged that job years ago! (Don't tell my wife - confidentiality betweeen weather enthusiasts and all that!) :)

Who is this Piers Corbyn chap?

A prat? :shok:

I've just sent this letter of thanks to Paul Dacre, Editor of the Daily Mail:

Nice one, VP. You're the new Henry Root! :D

Try not to freeze to death under 20 foot drifts everyone!

Regards,

Mike.

P.S Interesting link here to the BBC re: road gritting:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7169361.stm

Edited by Winston
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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London

Well travelled home last night and the local authorities had gritted some major B-roads in my neck of the woods (that is Burnham to Maldon area) and the air temperature was near 3c and road surface just damp. I passed 2 gritters that threw more salt over my car than on the road, I really believe local authorities had a kick-up the backside I think since the problems of January 2003 when the M11 saw chaos from untreated surfaces and now at the mere mention of the white stuff they're out in force. Ceratinly if they use those sensors last night to inform the councils to grit the roads then they'd be out umpteen times each month as last nights conditions were not exceptional in the least. They were proved right though as I must of seen at least 3 or4 grains of sleet today! :)

By the way that letter was class - bet no reply though!

Edited by Timmy H
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Posted
  • Location: Rochester, Kent
  • Location: Rochester, Kent

Standard reply ...

We receive a great deal of correspondence each day and, although I may not be able to respond to you personally, please rest assured that I do take the time to read all the emails I receive. Those intended for publication on the letters page will be considered carefully.

If you do not see your point of view in print, however, I hope you will appreciate it is only possible to publish a small percentage of the letters we receive.

Any emails deemed more appropriate for other departments will be forwarded for their consideration.

Thank you for your interest in the Daily Mail, I am grateful to you for taking the time to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

ANDY SIMPSON

Daily Mail Readers' Letters Editor

I bet he didn't mean half of that and will regret modern automation when he reads the letter.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Derby - 46m (151ft) ASL
  • Location: Derby - 46m (151ft) ASL

Cant wait for the stories this week :lol:

I'll bet my bottom dollar that at least three of the words "Britain", "100 years", "Snow", "Freeze", "Storm", "Big" and "Standstill" are mentioned in the same sentence :doh:

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Posted
  • Location: Upper Tweeddale, Scottish Borders 240m ASL
  • Location: Upper Tweeddale, Scottish Borders 240m ASL

lol Chris - guaranteed. And then there'll be 'blizzard chaos', 'foot of snow' measurements...

I bet some of the News24 reporters are already planning to ring in sick Thursday so they don't get to stand by a Motorway Service Station on the M6 all day in a gale freezing their chops off :doh:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Derby - 46m (151ft) ASL
  • Location: Derby - 46m (151ft) ASL

Not cold really cold reports, but didnt see the point for warm reports.

Forecasts for London today, using the full UK forecast maps:

BBC - 14oC

GMTV - 13oC*

Sky - 11oC

*Worth noting the hype that GMTV did show 17oC in a summary map at the start for London, and much higher elsewhere.

Really, my question would be, whats the GMTV forecast - 13oC or 17oC?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Swansea - 60m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms, Snow
  • Location: Swansea - 60m ASL

Heres a nice piece of media: Daily Express :mellow:

"BRITAIN was last night warned to prepare for Easter chaos as an Arctic blast threatened heavy snow."

"Snowfalls are likely to blanket many areas of the country"

Im almost certain it wont be as bad as they make out haha. Its nice to read though if only it were true :o

Jamie

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