What You Hope For And When In Winter

[damianslaw]

I acknowledge there is a thread about what people want to see between late Jan- March, however, this thread is for people to post there hoped for synoptics at any stage during the course of the winter.

I am going to start off by saying nothing beats a deep seated northerly plunge with frontal snow say about a 4 inch cover on a Thursday/Friday followed by a weekend sat under settled arctic still air, leaving a wonderful cold frosty weekend with brillant sparkling skies and powder snow on the ground. This synoptical pattern occuring between a Thursday and Sunday is what I hope for throughout the winter, best time for it to occur probably mid Feb, with the extra daylight but still early enough to prevent the sun from having a major effect in snow melt. This for me beats an easterly any day. I just love potent cold arctic airstreams. Shame next weeks northerly doesn't look like it will live up to my hopes, but as I said in the model thread every chance this synoptic will occur as we head into February.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

I hope for cold and snow, ideally like 5th January this year, absolutely fantastic, no mild air for the foreseeable future then, knowing I would keep my snow, with the possibility of more, Jan 13th was a terrific day, snowed all day, but not as happy as 5th/6th as mild air was due on the 15th

also a favourite is a cold spell at Xmas like Xmas 09, had snow on the evening of 23rd, and kept it until late Xmas day

dont usually care how my snow comes, convective from E/NE/NW, frontal, all fantastic

[Ben_Cambs]

Preferably I prefer Easterlies, Im hoping for what happened in Feb 91 or Jan 87 sometime this decade.... Admitidly, the like Arctic Northerly blasts too, as the especially can bring the risk of frontal snow, which not all the time has milder air following on behind.

[Snowyowl9]

TBH this winter I`m all snowed out seen more than I`d ever imagine would come,all from east winds and undercut lows.

A dry spell now and frosts,a milder dry spell after would suite me fine too with HP pretty close by.

Then a cold windy easterly later in feb and 3inches to boot then mild,and then another cold spell with snow showers in March of a N/NW-ly type.

Then a warmer spell by the 20th.

[LomondSnowstorm]

Basically what we had between the 17th and 27th December and also from the 2nd to the 10th of January, though the first was snowier here. Basically, convective easterly giving an inch or two followed by a trough heading south right over us, bringing either very cold temperatures by day and night or falling snow. The best set up has to be a trough heading southwest from off the Aberdeenshire coast, giving 6-8 inches of frontal snow in a 4 hour period! Perhaps some cold zonality in mid - late January like last year only with uppers a bit colder so it snows and lies on low ground at some point a la january '93. Then followed by a mid-latitude high directly over us to start February, then ridging directly north and bringing in northeasterlies/ENEsterlies a la '05 but less marginal and then, to cap it off, a once in a century blizzard followed by a fairly quick thaw and return to spring on the 10th March!

[Thundery wintry showers]

I would like to see alternation between the following three synoptic patterns, with spells of each lasting typically a few days to a week, although I would not be averse to an occasional more prolonged spell of any of the three.

1. High pressure to the NW (Greenland/Iceland area) feeding in winds from a combination of NW, N, NE and E, and giving a mix of sunshine and snow showers, the showers heaviest near windward coasts but often feeding well inland in association with troughs and the occasional frontal system. Preferably one such spell coinciding with Christmas Day.

2. Anticyclonic, with high pressure bringing sunny days and frosty nights. High pressure preferably over or to the east of the UK, giving rise to cold weather by day and night in the former scenario, but warm days (in the manner of 8-20 February 2008) in the latter case. Other locations for HP tend to bring too much cloud to too much of the country IMHO.

3. Polar maritime based westerlies, bringing mainly bright showery weather and just occasional frontal systems pushing through/bringing organised rain (or sleet or snow, in cases when January '84 style pools of cold air come across from the NW).

[LomondSnowstorm]

I would like to see alternation between the following three synoptic patterns, with spells of each lasting typically a few days to a week, although I would not be averse to an occasional more prolonged spell of any of the three.

1. High pressure to the NW (Greenland/Iceland area) feeding in winds from a combination of NW, N, NE and E, and giving a mix of sunshine and snow showers, the showers heaviest near windward coasts but often feeding well inland in association with troughs and the occasional frontal system. Preferably one such spell coinciding with Christmas Day.

2. Anticyclonic, with high pressure bringing sunny days and frosty nights. High pressure preferably over or to the east of the UK, giving rise to cold weather by day and night in the former scenario, but warm days (in the manner of 8-20 February 2008) in the latter case. Other locations for HP tend to bring too much cloud to too much of the country IMHO.

3. Polar maritime based westerlies, bringing mainly bright showery weather and just occasional frontal systems pushing through/bringing organised rain (or sleet or snow, in cases when January '84 style pools of cold air come across from the NW).

Nice, clearly high sunshine levels are a major factor in all of our ideal winters, as well as the obvious snow and cold!

[Bottesford]

Yes top priority for me is sunshine levels. Hence why I'm rarely keen on low cloud laden easterlies - the exception being when they are extremely cold like at the beginning of the month and thus are sunny with snow showers.

Unfortunately our winter default does seem to be temps 3-6c with cloud hence why I find it hard to be as excited about the season as others are. Certainly this winter has been more interesting but we've now had almost 3 weeks of cold cloudy weather and it's really beginning to grate now. It is actually sunny this morning (like it was yesterday morning) which I put down to me trying to have a lie in - not easy with low sun streaming in and my budgies screaming as they get a rare bit of decent light!

[Methuselah]

Lots of lying snow, sunshine, but definitely not temps of -20C...-5 will do nicely!

[MP-R]

DECEMBER:

I look forward to the prospect of raging zonality from the 1st-10th. Then a deepening anticyclone settling overhead giving frosty and sunny or foggy conditions like Dec 2007 followed by high pressure moving westwards allowing northerly/northeasterly winds during the latter third of the month, preferably with heavy snow falling on Christmas Eve then bright sunshine on Christmas Day like 06th & 07th of this month.

JANUARY:

A continuing snowfest, whether it be from showers, fronts or both as the sun is weakest at the start of the month. Then an anticyclone dominating the second half of the month, possibly something like the second (colder) high in Feb 08 with really cold nights but still cold days.

FEBRUARY:

A taste of spring is always welcome at some point, perhaps during the first week to take a break from the copious snow, most likely from light southerly winds and high pressure. Then high pressure moving northwards to give a good easterly like what people say happened in 1991 with more snow. A similar setup to what we have now to end the month.

MARCH:

Some final attacks from the north to start the month with frosty nights and the chance of snow showers then a sinking high bringing in rain and strong winds. Hopefully it will rain itself silly until the 25th when a warmer, more springlike setup takes hold in time for the Easter Holidays.

APRIL:

Even if there isn't any lying snow, seeing snow fall in convective setups in April is fun, like early Apr 08.

[La Bise]

What we had in january, a nice big dump of snow followed by days of very cold temperatures and sun. Repeated during three months if possible