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Wivenswold

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Posted
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl

First of all, couldn't find a perfect area to place this thread in, so apologies if it needs moving.

We're almost there now. Tomorrow even more papers will be full of domesday forecasts ramping the chances of gridlock and death.

At that point the fairweather weather fans will come out of the woodwork. You know, those people who spout the lamest cliches about meteorology. So I thought I'd start a more humourous thread for those snippets of overheard conversations we'll all hear over the coming days.

My favourites are;

"It's been snowing in America. It always comes here afterwards".

"It's too cold to snow today"

And, in reference to showery conditions "The weather can't make its mind up today".

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Posted
  • Location: Crowle and Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow
  • Location: Crowle and Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire

"It always gets warmer before it snows."

My old folks say this as I look on confused. :80:

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Posted
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl

"It always gets warmer before it snows."

My old folks say this as I look on confused. :80:

Yes, my mum says that. But my mum also says "Hanging's too good for them" a lot.

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Posted
  • Location: Dwyrain Sir Gâr / Eastern Carmarthenshire 178m abs
  • Location: Dwyrain Sir Gâr / Eastern Carmarthenshire 178m abs

Great thread, I always hate the its to wet for the snow to stick now :S and yeah its really bad up here line

Also every radio station will go mental with phone ins of people saying how they couldnt make it into work and saying how bad the snow is with them.

You'll have those crying ice age and those crying global warming saying we won't see snow in 5 years all's good though :p. We are a nation of weather lovers.

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Posted
  • Location: Redhill, Surrey
  • Weather Preferences: Southerly tracking LPs, heavy snow. Also 25c and calm
  • Location: Redhill, Surrey

I hate 'and there's worse to come' crap when the outlook clearly shows there isn't.

BFTP

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Posted
  • Location: Broadmayne, West Dorset
  • Weather Preferences: Snowfall in particular but most aspects of weather, hate hot and humid.
  • Location: Broadmayne, West Dorset

I actually hate a phrase that the professionals often use when they of all people should know better.

Namely "rain turning to snow" This is meteorological impossibility. Snow can turn into rain by melting as it falls but rain cannot physically turn into snow. A snowflake that makes it to the ground left the cloud as a snowflake and nothing else. :wallbash:

thankyou. Rant over!

Edited by mcweather
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Posted
  • Location: Blackpool, Lancashire
  • Location: Blackpool, Lancashire

I know it left trouser leges many people off when they've had pretty bad snowfall for a while and it has yet to make the news and then when the capital gets its first snowflake, it's suddenly the top story in the country.

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Posted
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunderstorms, very cold (inc. anticyclonic) weather
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk

I remember a woman once saying to me "We usually miss the thunderstorms here, they follow the river and go around us"

I for one have never seen a thunderstorm do a 90 degree turn.

I hate when somebody begins talking to me about the weather when they have no clue, especially if they tell me I'm wrong when I know I'm right. To be honest old people are usually the worst. Is it wrong that I have a secret urge to punch people like this sometimes?

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Posted
  • Location: Hayward’s Heath - home, Brighton/East Grinstead - work.
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and storms
  • Location: Hayward’s Heath - home, Brighton/East Grinstead - work.

A fair few turn up here!

Yes, and a lot will say "It's a blizzard outside" in light to moderate snow with no wind.

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Posted
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunderstorms, very cold (inc. anticyclonic) weather
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk

Yes, and a lot will say "It's a blizzard outside" in light to moderate snow with no wind.

Yes, that really annoys me aswell. Also people who say they have "whiteout" conditions. I have been in a whiteout and it is frightening, ALL you see is white. I imagine it is super rare in a built up area, even in Canada,Russia etc.

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Posted
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl

"Big Freeze" said BBC Look East a few years ago. The temperature hadn't even hit freezing. As for 'big', it was one of those brief cold slots you occasionally get in an Atlantic winter. "But it's not been bad news for everyone" cue pictures of kids mucking about in the park. The news is often the worst offender.

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Posted
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral
  • Weather Preferences: Summer: warm, humid, thundery. Winter: mild, stormy, some snow.
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral

There are a few conditional truths in a few these sayings, for two of them for example, it warms up before it snows, it can actually warm up before it snows, but it's relative, if you have clear skies first, temperatures can rise with incoming cloud, so it is actually based on a truth.

The other potential truth is about it's too dry for snow.. in this country it will rarely be too dry for snow in cold spells, however when the air turns very cold, it usually exhibits a dryness signalled by low dewpoints, this dryness can in theory prevent snow from falling all the way to the ground (whereby it simply evaporates before it hits ground level)

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I don't mind the "it warms up before it snows" cliche too much because I've quite often heard people use it correctly with reference to the scenario Stephen describes, i.e. after cold clear conditions the temperature rises a little as cloud cover increases preceding a snowfall.

I'm not fussed on the "it's too cold to snow" one though, particularly as people often use it when it's actually too warm for snow but there is a cold wind. However I recall one honourable exception from Lancaster who used that phrase to describe the fact that cold winter weather in Lancaster has a strong tendency to be sunny and dry for synoptic reasons, which is fair enough.

One snow-related cliche that I've never liked is the "it won't stick because the ground is too wet". Wet ground only makes a significant difference in very marginal situations, and mainly when we're talking only light snowfalls. Usually it's the snow itself that is too wet, due to air temperatures of 1C or above causing the snowflakes to start melting as they approach the ground and melt altogether on impact.

Something tells me we won't be hearing "at least it will be mild" in the coming days though!

Finally, one saying that has started to get a bit tiresome on Netweather, the one about "ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter will be slush and muck" or something along those lines, which of course was of splendid predictive value during the November cold snaps in 1946, 1962 and 1978!

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Posted
  • Location: Dwyrain Sir Gâr / Eastern Carmarthenshire 178m abs
  • Location: Dwyrain Sir Gâr / Eastern Carmarthenshire 178m abs

I don't mind the "it warms up before it snows" cliche too much because I've quite often heard people use it correctly with reference to the scenario Stephen describes, i.e. after cold clear conditions the temperature rises a little as cloud cover increases preceding a snowfall.

I'm not fussed on the "it's too cold to snow" one though, particularly as people often use it when it's actually too warm for snow but there is a cold wind. However I recall one honourable exception from Lancaster who used that phrase to describe the fact that cold winter weather in Lancaster has a strong tendency to be sunny and dry for synoptic reasons, which is fair enough.

One snow-related cliche that I've never liked is the "it won't stick because the ground is too wet". Wet ground only makes a significant difference in very marginal situations, and mainly when we're talking only light snowfalls. Usually it's the snow itself that is too wet, due to air temperatures of 1C or above causing the snowflakes to start melting as they approach the ground and melt altogether on impact.

Something tells me we won't be hearing "at least it will be mild" in the coming days though!

Finally, one saying that has started to get a bit tiresome on Netweather, the one about "ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter will be slush and muck" or something along those lines, which of course was of splendid predictive value during the November cold snaps in 1946, 1962 and 1978!

Quite agree and the two wet for snow you also notice when the air temps cool the wet becomes slush then the snow freezes on top and sticks its never ever to wet for snow that saying grinds my mind :p.

As for the ducks saying well some people have a habit of being duckish now and again :p Look at the three crucial novembers you noted there all were followed by exceptional Winters, and if the charts are anything to go by tonight and this came into fruition then who knows what the future holds.

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There are a few conditional truths in a few these sayings, for two of them for example, it warms up before it snows, it can actually warm up before it snows, but it's relative, if you have clear skies first, temperatures can rise with incoming cloud, so it is actually based on a truth.

The other potential truth is about it's too dry for snow.. in this country it will rarely be too dry for snow in cold spells, however when the air turns very cold, it usually exhibits a dryness signalled by low dewpoints, this dryness can in theory prevent snow from falling all the way to the ground (whereby it simply evaporates before it hits ground level)

Well yes, it can be too dry for snow, but as for example the most recent observation from Agata, Russia was light snow at -38degC suffice to say it is never too cold to snow in the UK.

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Posted
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral
  • Weather Preferences: Summer: warm, humid, thundery. Winter: mild, stormy, some snow.
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral

Well yes, it can be too dry for snow, but as for example the most recent observation from Agata, Russia was light snow at -38degC suffice to say it is never too cold to snow in the UK.

and just imagine what that particular snow would have dumped on the UK if it came in next weeks cold spell :blink:

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Posted
  • Location: Eccles, Greater manchester.
  • Location: Eccles, Greater manchester.

'extremely mild',............is used a fair bit by weather presenters.

Edited by greybing
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Posted
  • Location: Stanwell(south side of Heathrow Ap)
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms, squally fronts, snow, frost, very mild if no snow or frost
  • Location: Stanwell(south side of Heathrow Ap)

Some places weres its severe cold the actual air moisture/vapour turns to crystal fine dust, i think that when its for example: -10 and very clear and harsh frost this can happen and can be seen with a bright torch, ive seen the effect doing so, dont know if it is ice dust or not? anyone?

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Posted
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl

I think the too cold for snow is annoying simply because it rarely is that cold in the UK and is always said with such blind confidence. On the warming-up before snow thing, it's usually prefaced with "It always", which of course is nonsense as anyone experiencing a south-moving winter cold front will know.

Work colleague this morning..."Snow at the weekend. Looking good for Christmas then".

Another thing that annoys me is when my forecasts are poo-pooed by those with absolutely no interest in the weather. It happened at a family party at the weekend. I mentioned in passing that people might not want to plan anything involving a lot of travel this weekend, "just in case there's snow and ice" which was met with "Forecasters don't know what's happening tomorrow, let alone next weekend" and "It won't snow, it's too early in the winter".

It's one of those subjects upon which everyone is an expert, it seems.

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