What's Your Ideal Winters Day?

[cyclonic happiness]

Now that would be a RESULT. Dec,Jan or Feb?

WOOT!! does the southeast get buried? do we ever see it again???

[Fozfoster]

WOOT!! does the southeast get buried? do we ever see it again???

LOL now now.

[Ben_Cambs]

It would be great to see a repeat of 17/18th December 2009 again, showers fed in off the North Sea turning more wintry as the day progresses, then a few hours dryness, before a biting North-Easterly brings heavy persistant snow and drifting. A stunning contrast the next morning with sparkling sunshine reflecting off the snow, with temperatures around -5C.

Or better persistant heavy snow creating blizzards with a strong Easterly wind, with snowfall depths in excess of one foot. Snow drifts of several feet cause choas. Lasting for around 24 hours, the persistant snow would giveway to clear blue skies, and temperature dipping down to -12C at night and only reaching -5C during the daytime. That would be my dream.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

mine just a snow day, like 13th Jan 2010, snowed all day, also my favourite when its cold with no sign of any mild air arriving, like I felt on 6th Jan this year, especially as I had snow lying

White Xmas the ultimate dream mind you, had a white xmas in 04 off an Arctic north westerly, (although a toppler and I knew it was turning mild on the 27th it was still great timing) and a semi white xmas last year

best of last winter 5-14 Jan, after mid Jan snow never lasts very long here at just 103m asl

[The PIT]

Bright Sunshine and deep snow. Snow blowing lightly of the roofs totally undisturbed.

Beautiful.

[Alex95]

Something similar to mid march 1979, strong NE winds with up to 50cm snow. However, I would like it to occur between Christmas and New Year.

Or would be something similar to mid February 1979 (Same as Rollo)?

I would say the latter setup with 50cm of snow, between Christmas and New Year, with the prospect of further light falls of snow afterwards. The NE is well overdue a fall like that, we used to get one once a decade!

[LomondSnowstorm]

00:00 - can't get to sleep because the temperature is -4C and the netweather radar is showing a load of beefy showers in the North Sea heading for my house

04:00 - manage to sleep for a few hours before being woken up by the pink light coming through the window, I run to the window and look out to find 2 inches on the ground, a heavy pinkish-orangey sky and a blizzard of snowflakes as large as my hand. I turn on the laptop to find that the legendary Tay-Clyde snow streamer has set up and is about 40 miles wide. I'm greeted by a pile of dancing emotiocons on the newly opened Scottish thread.

07:00 - The snow depth is up to 5 inches and is getting heavier by the minute. The council, having run out of grit again, is trying so desperately to keep the M90 open that every road in Fife is impassable. The alarm goes off, but the message on the radio is clear - 'all schools in Fife closed indefinitely'. The snow has finally reached Catch, though the Met Office has yet to issue a warning.

It then proceeds to snow heavily until lunchtime, when finally the weak sun breaks through the clouds, leaving a picture postcard scene. The temperature is 0C so there's no snow melt. It's the perfect snow for making snowmen, and I assume myself with that before meeting up with friends on the wee hill in the opposite field to test out my new sledge. Just before going home we clamber up to the top of East Lomond to make use of the incredibly crisp air. The views are exceptional - the Cairngorms, Edinburgh and Argyll can be seen with stunning clarity, the entire country capped in white as far as the eye can see. A fresh pack of Cumulonimbus clouds are approaching the coast, a white tinge enveloping Monifieth and St Andrews. The evening is spent huddled by the fire with one eye on the netweather radar and another on the sky. My lamping is worthwhile again - at 20:30 the snow starts again, covering the newly gritted roads in a fresh coat of snow. I catch a flash of lightning in the night sky, finally getting my wish of seeing proper thundersnow. After the thunder dies down, I endure the blizzard for no reason other than to feel alive (and measure the snow obviously).

And that's mine, in ridiculous detail.

[Backtrack]

00:00 - can't get to sleep because the temperature is -4C and the netweather radar is showing a load of beefy showers in the North Sea heading for my house

04:00 - manage to sleep for a few hours before being woken up by the pink light coming through the window, I run to the window and look out to find 2 inches on the ground, a heavy pinkish-orangey sky and a blizzard of snowflakes as large as my hand. I turn on the laptop to find that the legendary Tay-Clyde snow streamer has set up and is about 40 miles wide. I'm greeted by a pile of dancing emotiocons on the newly opened Scottish thread.

07:00 - The snow depth is up to 5 inches and is getting heavier by the minute. The council, having run out of grit again, is trying so desperately to keep the M90 open that every road in Fife is impassable. The alarm goes off, but the message on the radio is clear - 'all schools in Fife closed indefinitely'. The snow has finally reached Catch, though the Met Office has yet to issue a warning.

It then proceeds to snow heavily until lunchtime, when finally the weak sun breaks through the clouds, leaving a picture postcard scene. The temperature is 0C so there's no snow melt. It's the perfect snow for making snowmen, and I assume myself with that before meeting up with friends on the wee hill in the opposite field to test out my new sledge. Just before going home we clamber up to the top of East Lomond to make use of the incredibly crisp air. The views are exceptional - the Cairngorms, Edinburgh and Argyll can be seen with stunning clarity, the entire country capped in white as far as the eye can see. A fresh pack of Cumulonimbus clouds are approaching the coast, a white tinge enveloping Monifieth and St Andrews. The evening is spent huddled by the fire with one eye on the netweather radar and another on the sky. My lamping is worthwhile again - at 20:30 the snow starts again, covering the newly gritted roads in a fresh coat of snow. I catch a flash of lightning in the night sky, finally getting my wish of seeing proper thundersnow. After the thunder dies down, I endure the blizzard for no reason other than to feel alive (and measure the snow obviously).

And that's mine, in ridiculous detail.

I think that beats my ideal day any day I'd love for that to happen in my area. Do you get much snow up there in Fife?

[Guest]

00:00 - can't get to sleep because the temperature is -4C and the netweather radar is showing a load of beefy showers in the North Sea heading for my house

04:00 - manage to sleep for a few hours before being woken up by the pink light coming through the window, I run to the window and look out to find 2 inches on the ground, a heavy pinkish-orangey sky and a blizzard of snowflakes as large as my hand. I turn on the laptop to find that the legendary Tay-Clyde snow streamer has set up and is about 40 miles wide. I'm greeted by a pile of dancing emotiocons on the newly opened Scottish thread.

07:00 - The snow depth is up to 5 inches and is getting heavier by the minute. The council, having run out of grit again, is trying so desperately to keep the M90 open that every road in Fife is impassable. The alarm goes off, but the message on the radio is clear - 'all schools in Fife closed indefinitely'. The snow has finally reached Catch, though the Met Office has yet to issue a warning.

It then proceeds to snow heavily until lunchtime, when finally the weak sun breaks through the clouds, leaving a picture postcard scene. The temperature is 0C so there's no snow melt. It's the perfect snow for making snowmen, and I assume myself with that before meeting up with friends on the wee hill in the opposite field to test out my new sledge. Just before going home we clamber up to the top of East Lomond to make use of the incredibly crisp air. The views are exceptional - the Cairngorms, Edinburgh and Argyll can be seen with stunning clarity, the entire country capped in white as far as the eye can see. A fresh pack of Cumulonimbus clouds are approaching the coast, a white tinge enveloping Monifieth and St Andrews. The evening is spent huddled by the fire with one eye on the netweather radar and another on the sky. My lamping is worthwhile again - at 20:30 the snow starts again, covering the newly gritted roads in a fresh coat of snow. I catch a flash of lightning in the night sky, finally getting my wish of seeing proper thundersnow. After the thunder dies down, I endure the blizzard for no reason other than to feel alive (and measure the snow obviously).

And that's mine, in ridiculous detail.

I love the Tay-Clyde snow streamer bit...it does exist, but when will it happen again?? I know that one was for me

[Iceni]

It was a day in the early 90s, it had snowed heavily the night before, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky which was a brilliant dark blue.

I took the dogs out for a walk, but because the snow silenced our footfalls, we turned a corner and there were 4 deer in the lane who didn't run off, but just stared back at us for a few moments and then ran into the drifts, kicking up a rainbow or should that be a snowbow?

So beautiful.

Bright Sunshine and deep snow. Snow blowing lightly of the roofs totally undisturbed.

Beautiful.

Yep that does it for me too… see above.

[snowmess]

00:00 - can't get to sleep because the temperature is -4C and the netweather radar is showing a load of beefy showers in the North Sea heading for my house

04:00 - manage to sleep for a few hours before being woken up by the pink light coming through the window, I run to the window and look out to find 2 inches on the ground, a heavy pinkish-orangey sky and a blizzard of snowflakes as large as my hand. I turn on the laptop to find that the legendary Tay-Clyde snow streamer has set up and is about 40 miles wide. I'm greeted by a pile of dancing emotiocons on the newly opened Scottish thread.

07:00 - The snow depth is up to 5 inches and is getting heavier by the minute. The council, having run out of grit again, is trying so desperately to keep the M90 open that every road in Fife is impassable. The alarm goes off, but the message on the radio is clear - 'all schools in Fife closed indefinitely'. The snow has finally reached Catch, though the Met Office has yet to issue a warning.

It then proceeds to snow heavily until lunchtime, when finally the weak sun breaks through the clouds, leaving a picture postcard scene. The temperature is 0C so there's no snow melt. It's the perfect snow for making snowmen, and I assume myself with that before meeting up with friends on the wee hill in the opposite field to test out my new sledge. Just before going home we clamber up to the top of East Lomond to make use of the incredibly crisp air. The views are exceptional - the Cairngorms, Edinburgh and Argyll can be seen with stunning clarity, the entire country capped in white as far as the eye can see. A fresh pack of Cumulonimbus clouds are approaching the coast, a white tinge enveloping Monifieth and St Andrews. The evening is spent huddled by the fire with one eye on the netweather radar and another on the sky. My lamping is worthwhile again - at 20:30 the snow starts again, covering the newly gritted roads in a fresh coat of snow. I catch a flash of lightning in the night sky, finally getting my wish of seeing proper thundersnow. After the thunder dies down, I endure the blizzard for no reason other than to feel alive (and measure the snow obviously).

And that's mine, in ridiculous detail.  

I think you've hit the nail on the head, as your scenario would be perfect and quite plausible  :lol:

[Rollo]

Something similar to mid march 1979, strong NE winds with up to 50cm snow. However, I would like it to occur between Christmas and New Year.

Or would be something similar to mid February 1979 (Same as Rollo)?

I would say the latter setup with 50cm of snow, between Christmas and New Year, with the prospect of further light falls of snow afterwards. The NE is well overdue a fall like that, we used to get one once a decade!

I remember that mid- March fall very clearly Alza-it started snowing on the friday morning but did not accumulate until around 5pm but by 7pm we had an arctic scene with heavy blowing snow and drifting-the snow finally stopped around 4-30 on the Sunday,as you say would'nt be great to get a fall like that between end december and mid-January.

[Boydie]

Lomondsnowstorm,that was January right? End of the first week? The Red watch up at Glenrothes Firestation,myself included were out at around midnight trying to keep the area around the front appliance doors ice free with bags of rock salt.My gaffa called it a day when the snow arrived,Im glad I didnt have to drive the pump that night,weird sitting in the station feeling helpless................senior officers are even thinking of taking off the snow chains "as we don't use them often enough". Have never seen so much snow come down so quick,that was a busy set of shifts for us.

[Tom D]

I think I actually experienced the perfect winters day last winter. It had snowed heavily overnight and there were drifts of 2-3ft in the fields a short walk from our house. Me and my little brother went on a trek across the snowfields and found a frozen waterwall, from which we plucked the icicles carefully. It was a stunning day, a beautiful winter sky and very very cold, in fact the temperature did not rise above -1.1c. The next day the sky was superb also.

It couldn't have been more of a winters day. Just perfect in my opinion. If we get anything like that this coming winter, I'll be very happy

I have pictures here. Please take a look at Friday 8th and Saturday 9th January.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Tom D

[cheshire snow]

Nice sunny crisp winters day(ice day of course)followed by the mother of all blizzards during the night

Following all the excitement on an all nighter on net weather of course <_<.

C.S

[mushymanrob]

i bet im alone in this....lol but

a still, grey, overcast acg, misty, cold day temps around 5c. <_<

[PersianPaladin]

Thundery wintery showers rattling in off the North Sea...with some sun at the end.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Have you not got a youtube clip to illustrate this?

[LomondSnowstorm]

Thundery wintery showers rattling in off the North Sea...with some sun at the end.

Oh dear, I take it he doesn't drown in your scenario?

I think that beats my ideal day any day I'd love for that to happen in my area. Do you get much snow up there in Fife?

We don't do too badly compared to much of the UK but there does seem to have been a snowshield (whether perceived or real!) around Fife for the last few winters so we've ended up missing out on some of the bigger snowfalls enjoyed by other parts of Scotland.

[LomondSnowstorm]

I love the Tay-Clyde snow streamer bit...it does exist, but when will it happen again?? :) I know that one was for me

It was a fig leaf for people in Western Scotland because my scenario obviously centres around Fife. Also because Forth-Clyde usually doesn't deliver for me while that ENE tilt almost always does. I'd take one day of a really decent Tay-Clyde streamer over two weeks of northerlies :lol: . I think the best time of year for one is probably around New Year, as the seas have enough warmth in them to get the showers going properly, the sunlight is at its lowest and the cold pools are better than in December (though that December 17th easterly was pretty decent I must admit!).

[Marcus_surfer]

My favourite winter day would have to be the Friday 8th February 1991. There were 6 or 7 inches of fresh snow on the ground from low pressure pushing from the east on the Thursday evening, college was closed, the sun was shining and no thaw of the snow at all that day.

My ideal weather pattern would be very close to the event on the 12th Jan 2010, when low pressure pushed in from the South West and hit the embedded cold over us, the only problem with that was that the snow was marginal and this led to a steady thaw the following day.

If this could happen with less marginal conditions say with the cold of the previous week, that would be my ideal weather scenario.

If i remember correctly... 12th Jan 2010 was a very windy and cold day mostly with a biting easterly wind. Heavy rain and snow were forecast to hit late in the day. It was the perfect set up! The snow started at around 3.30-4.00pm and did not stop until around 9am the next day, Temperatures started to rise slightly during the event, and this was a slight problem but all in all, a great snow event and i hope we get that kind of weather again.

I've noticed northwesterly winds bring us some pretty heavy snow showers in streamers off the west coast of Wales occasionally...This is also a perfect set up because in the right conditions, snow showers can produce large amounts of snow overnight and leave us with a winter wonderland. Over the past few years we have had our fair share of snow days when the winds have been northwesterly and this happens.

My idea of a perfect winters day would be waking up to a blanket of snow and then going for a long walk in crisp blue sky sunshine. Followed by a nice beer and knowing that more heavy snow is to come

[BucksSnow]

Walking home from University at 5pm I look to the clouds and chill goes down my spine and the clouds look very suspicous.Hit by blizzard on way home.Snow all night long and extremely heavy.TRUDGE my way up to the shop to realise they have no papers come home and watch the snow falling

By the way i love watching snow fall at night its just magical

Yes when you know that snow is coming ....the build up is so intense

[damianslaw]

One of the two scenarios below -

Waking up to fresh heavy overnight snowfall at least 6 inches on the ground, with the snow continuing unabated all day, leaving at least a foot before dusk.. with temps at or below freezing throughout so no thaw

or

Waking up to a very hard frost with everything coated thick white giving the appearance of a light snowfall, then a day with blue sky wall to wall sunshine no wind and clear visibility, with just a bit of snow on the tops, not too much just enough to give a winter wonderland scene and to make walking the fells not too treacherous.. this then followed by heavy snow overnight. Temps remaining below freezing.

Last winter we never quite managed one of these scenarios although we came close on the 22nd Dec after heavy overnight snow the day was mostly bright and fine.

In terms of scenario 1 the last time we saw such a day was 6th Feb 1996 - a special day for snow lovers around these parts in recent times, 18 inches by around teatime. In recent years we have had days with continuous light snowfall throughout or it has fallen heavily in short sharp doses but not for any great length unlike other parts of the country which have done very well from stalling fronts. We came close last winter on the 5th Jan but the stalling front happened about 50 miles too far south.

[conor123]

Well this would be an ideal evening/night for me; bitterly cold and clear to start the evening, uppers of -15c 850pHa overhead meanwhile record breaking warmth with uppers of +10 850pHa is blasting towards the UK from France around a deep low to the South West sparking off a line of thunderstorms along the front.

Intense excitement bubbles up as the evening progresses as the line of storms moves north whilst starting to slow down, anticipation builds, will they make it.

11pm, the first distant flashes of lightning are seen to the distance south, Met Office radar a spectacular array of red and white.

Midnight, endless bright flashes of lightning light up the sky showing a fantastic CB as the rumbles of thunder become louder and louder.

30 minutes later the snow arrives, the heaviest i have ever seen combined with gale force winds along a gustfront, whiteout conditions with the only light from the endless lightning flashes giving the otherwise orangey sky a purpley feel.

1am and the radar shows the storm has completely stalled and we stay on the cold side, massive snowflakes come down at majorly intense rate.

6am, the storm starts to wither away having dumped 12 inches of snow in a few hours, the day is then eerily calm and sub zero.

Not asking for much really

[BucksSnow]

what is better watching snow fall in the day or night .....for me standing on the patio in whiteout conditions with a cuppa at night