London & South East Cold Spell Discussion

[Downpour]

Um, I'm afraid it really isn't going to be exciting, it's the same old problem I'm afraid, the steering winds at the West end of the Estuary are and have been NNE-NE for most of this terrible cold spell. This means that as soon as anything decent comes up the Thames it will be steered away to the South East of London and will not push through and give us a dollop. The steering winds do not have a direct Easterly component in them until late Sunday into Monday when all the action is dead.

Best chances to catch the heavier bursts of precip are for these areas:

East London (E)

South West London (SW)

South East London (SE)

Looks very bleak if you live in:

Central London (EC/WC)

West London (W)

North London (N)

North West London (NW)

We need to hope for a last minute change in steering winds, that's the only way most of London can get anything reasonable from this, as it is, most of London will be lucky to get a cm or 2 from this.

Utter disaster

Oh dear. Not the forecast I was hoping for. Time to log off and get down Richmond Park to enjoy the lying snow we do have here in the west/south west of London.

[PureOcean]

Um, I'm afraid it really isn't going to be exciting, it's the same old problem I'm afraid, the steering winds at the West end of the Estuary are and have been NNE-NE for most of this terrible cold spell. This means that as soon as anything decent comes up the Thames it will be steered away to the South East of London and will not push through and give us a dollop. The steering winds do not have a direct Easterly component in them until late Sunday into Monday when all the action is dead.

Best chances to catch the heavier bursts of precip are for these areas:

East London (E)

South West London (SW)

South East London (SE)

Looks very bleak if you live in:

Central London (EC/WC)

West London (W)

North London (N)

North West London (NW)

We need to hope for a last minute change in steering winds, that's the only way most of London can get anything reasonable from this, as it is, most of London will be lucky to get a cm or 2 from this.

Utter disaster

You need to monitor the winds at different levels not at ground level, if you are using that theory.

[Shutterbug Netty]

Pennines look bad tomorrow night on the 06z NAE!

Morning MW!

You posted a little while ago that the 06z NAE brought Essex into play for tonight. Can I ask if that is just the coastal areas or further inland too? Thanks.

[dallas]

had a walk to the local asda this morning, on the way you could see the snow showers gathering on top of the estuary, and when they dropped they were pretty potent, but I beleive this is only a warm up

[maidstone weather]

Morning MW!

You posted a little while ago that the 06z NAE brought Essex into play for tonight. Can I ask if that is just the coastal areas or further inland too? Thanks.

East coast of Essex does look better than the rest of the county, but 3-5cm is likely widely given the NAE this morning - could change though!

[finny]

hi all. well we r well and truly snowed in all the roads out of deal are blocked due to snow. lets hope for more lol

they are playing follow the snow plough to sandwich, only way through if your brave

[Shutterbug Netty]

East coast of Essex does look better than the rest of the county, but 3-5cm is likely widely given the NAE this morning - could change though!

Thanks for the reply! Got everything crossed here

[PureOcean]

Snow Afternoon and Through evening:

Some people may get heavy snow as the north sea warms it up and creates more depth but many will get lightish snow, BUT its the duration of this light snow that is important, some places will see 12,18 and 24 hrs of light constant snow (like a drizzle effect maybe), that will over that time deliver deep snow. So this is why the warnings are occurring in a generalized manner, its the duration of the front, however why the UKMO and others are getting concerned is because the past few days the north sea has acted very well in creating depth in the clouds and has in some cases turned what shoudl have been a light snow cloud to a heavy snow cloud and that has then dumped a good couple inches unexpected.

I hope to those of you who are still learning about snow and enjoying this snow this will be of some kind of help. Remember its the duration or the potential of the duration of the snow this afternoon, evening etc... coupled with strong winds that make this an interesting snow event.

Hope that helps.

Edited January 9, 2010 by PureOcean

[damp patch]

someone showed a radar image of the last 12 hours snow fall earlier, and i can confirm that we indeed had a further 8-10cm overnight here between lenham & charing ( mid - east kent )

Total depth up to at least 25cm though difficult to get accurate measure as its blowing around so much now.

Heavy snow started again now. Temp up to 0.8c tho

[Shutterbug Netty]

Snow tonight and this evening:

Some people may get heavy snow as the north sea warms it up and creates more depth but many will get lightish snow, BUT its the duration of this light snow that is important, some places will see 12,18 and 24 hrs of light constant snow (like a drizzle effect maybe), that will over that time deliver deep snow. So this is why the warnings are occurring in a generalized manner, its the duration of the front, however why the UKMO and others are getting concerned is because the past few days the north sea has acted very well in creating depth in the clouds and has in some cases turned what shoudl have been a light snow cloud to a heavy snow cloud and that has then dumped a good couple inches unexpected.

I hope to those of you who are still learning about snow and enjoying this snow this will be of some kind of help. Remember its the duration or the potential of the duration of the snow this afternoon, evening etc... coupled with strong winds that make this an interesting snow event.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! Great explanation, especially to a newbie like me!

[Filski]

Light snow again from the blob that went through. Can't complain, still mostly white everywhere.

[maidstone weather]

someone showed a radar image of the last 12 hours snow fall earlier, and i can confirm that we indeed had a further 8-10cm overnight here between lenham & charing ( mid - east kent )

Total depth up to at least 25cm though difficult to get accurate measure as its blowing around so much now.

Heavy snow started again now. Temp up to 0.8c tho

[davehowe]

coming in heavy bursts in Margate.

[Methuselah]

Part 47 is in the making:

[Michael Fishermans Friend]

Got a covering of about 2 1/2 inches or so on the Essex Coast with about an inch addition overnight, what sort of ppn can we expect later in the SE, I heard mainly light stuff but heavier down in our region?