Winter 2012 / 2013 Part 2

[garbagebags]

Here's one for you all;

Do you prefer frontal snowfall or frequent heavy snow showers?

Frontal snowfall followed by frequent heavy snow showers of course

But If I had to pick one of the two I would say the heavy showers. Yeah the frontal is more impressive but the showers are more unpredictable which builds excitement

[Liam J]

Here's one for you all;

Do you prefer frontal snowfall or frequent heavy snow showers?

No other snow event has even come close to the Feb 1996 blizzard up here, we had 30-40cm of level snow with much deeper drifts. So I'd have to say frontal snow in answer to your question!

Edited September 27, 2012 by Liam J

[Snowstorm1]

Here's one for you all;

Do you prefer frontal snowfall or frequent heavy snow showers?

Depends if the frontal snowfall means all staying as snow and cold weather persisting then yes but if it means mild weather following on behind then no.

The perfect situation happenned for me 2 winters ago I think it was when there was a NE/E wind and there was frequent heavy snow showers on a evening and they turned into a band of snow which literally came stuck right over me and dropped a ft of snow in 6 hours was an amazing spectacle to witness.

[Mark Neal.]

Frontal Snow, followed by very frequent heavy and persistent snow showers.

[Amanzi]

Thames streamer!!! Of course heavy showers are good too, frontal snow tends to have warm air behind it, or moves through quickly. But I will take anything. Can't be too fussed due to my location.

[Tom Quintavalle]

Hi Daniel,

No brainer here, def. frequent heavy snow showers fron an ENE flow, Thames streamer variety. As stated above, Feb '09 being just about the heaviest snowfall I've experienced in this area, from a streamer event.

Regards,

Tom.

Edited September 27, 2012 by TomSE20

[Eskimo]

What about a winter storm lasting 24 hours? Oh how I have longed for a proper winter storm.

[Radiating Dendrite]

What about a winter storm lasting 24 hours? Oh how I have longed for a proper winter storm.

Channel low

[Met4Cast]

I'd have to say heavy snow showers too, I agree with them building a lot more excitement. A Thames streamer would be ideal too, as long as it's a proper Thames Streamer and actually comes over land like 2010 - I've never really experienced a decent snowfall from frontal events, being born in the early 90's frontal events have always brought a period of snow followed by rain in my mind so I'm always expecting dissapointment from them.

[summer blizzard]

My favoured setup is an occlusion stalling from just about any direction.

[lightningst]

Thames streamer!!! Of course heavy showers are good too, frontal snow tends to have warm air behind it, or moves through quickly. But I will take anything. Can't be too fussed due to my location.

still learning so can anyone tell me what a Thames streamer is? am guessing a lot of snow caused by been near a river. I live in Hull which is along the Humber is it possible to get them here what needs to happen to cause then and what are the effects?

[Backtrack]

No idea why I've not contributed to this thread as I am a massive cold lover.

However, this year I am expecting a milder than average winter, based purely on my thoughts for this autumn, that being below average temperatures and above average rainfall.

I don't think it seems feasible to have such a long run of below average months in a row.

That's just my way of thinking, but after such a rubbish year of weather, why would winter turn out to be any more than a huge disappointment?

still learning so can anyone tell me what a Thames streamer is? am guessing a lot of snow caused by been near a river. I live in Hull which is along the Humber is it possible to get them here what needs to happen to cause then and what are the effects?

A long line of showers that runs in, or near to the Thames caused by higher SST's creating instability. Same as in the North Sea or Irish Sea really.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Backtrack

[Liam J]

still learning so can anyone tell me what a Thames streamer is? am guessing a lot of snow caused by been near a river. I live in Hull which is along the Humber is it possible to get them here what needs to happen to cause then and what are the effects?

I think you'll find this archived thread dedicated to the Feb 2009 streamer event very helpful - a lot of detail on the event and the synoptic setup http://forum.netweat...-12nd-feb-2009/

Edited September 27, 2012 by Liam J

[garbagebags]

I'm going to throw this out there and you guys can advise me as to whether this is possible or not?

I would imagine that the best set-up for snow would be an intense almost "tropical storm" type Low coming from the NNE sort of Svalbard direction racing down towards us over the Norwegian sea and picking up more and more moisture and just slamming into the UK and stalling. If the UK was already cold then surely that would have the potential to dump feet and feet of snow. Is this ever possible?

[Thundery wintry showers]

For me, as a fan of convective type weather and sunshine, I prefer the scenario of sunshine mixed with heavy snow showers- they may be more hit-and-miss but they provide dramatically-changing conditions, and more spectacular cloud formations. I feel that it's a shame that the weak winter sun doesn't generate much convection inland, with showers often restricted to coastal areas, as I think the sort of showery northerlies that we get in April, but with maximum temperatures close to freezing, would be very exciting to watch.

I wouldn't say "no" to a major frontal snow event though, even if it involved snow turning to rain. My main concern is that when we get "marginal" frontal snow events, sometimes the precipitation ends up as rain or sleet throughout and the weather ends up grey, raw and, to my mind, rather depressing. If a showery setup ends up on the wrong side of marginal the result tends to be a mix of sunshine and hail/sleet showers.

[lightningst]

I think you'll find this archived thread dedicated to the Feb 2009 streamer event very helpful - a lot of detail on the event and the synoptic setup http://forum.netweat...-12nd-feb-2009/

thank you for that I think I understand now lol

[lightningst]

Heavy thundery showers are my favorite as it produces such large amounts of snow. frontal events because of where I am positioned always end up with 10% snow and the rest is sleet or rain which is a big let down.

[Weather of Mass Disruption]

No idea why I've not contributed to this thread as I am a massive cold lover.

However, this year I am expecting a milder than average winter, based purely on my thoughts for this autumn, that being below average temperatures and above average rainfall.

I don't think it seems feasible to have such a long run of below average months in a row.

That's just my way of thinking, but after such a rubbish year of weather, why would winter turn out to be any more than a huge disappointment?

A long line of showers that runs in, or near to the Thames caused by higher SST's creating instability. Same as in the North Sea or Irish Sea really.

Thanks for that! I think I'll go any slit my wrists now...!!!

[Met4Cast]

I'm going to throw this out there and you guys can advise me as to whether this is possible or not?

I would imagine that the best set-up for snow would be an intense almost "tropical storm" type Low coming from the NNE sort of Svalbard direction racing down towards us over the Norwegian sea and picking up more and more moisture and just slamming into the UK and stalling. If the UK was already cold then surely that would have the potential to dump feet and feet of snow. Is this ever possible?

An intense system like that would probably have a fairly large warm sector associated with it so snowfall would probably be limited to higher ground and transient snowfall across lower levels.

[Snowman31]

Hi guys, Just wanted to know if a Thames streamer can affect my area. I live in NW London. I remember last time SE London was hit bad and we got nothing?

[cheeky_monkey]

Hi guys, Just wanted to know if a Thames streamer can affect my area. I live in NW London. I remember last time SE London was hit bad and we got nothing?

yea course it can..i was living in Ruislip in Feb 09 and we got a good amount of snow from that event.

[garbagebags]

An intense system like that would probably have a fairly large warm sector associated with it so snowfall would probably be limited to higher ground and transient snowfall across lower levels.

Even if it came from all the way up there?

[Radiating Dendrite]

Even if it came from all the way up there?

I think you are meaning a polar low.

[garbagebags]

I think you are meaning a polar low.

thanks, I don't really know what I'm on about lol. New to all this, But as an uneducated guess, I would have assumed that a hurricane type low pressure event but thats come from the north Pole and slammed into us would be the most extreme? Plenty cold and full of moisture

[Met4Cast]

Hi guys, Just wanted to know if a Thames streamer can affect my area. I live in NW London. I remember last time SE London was hit bad and we got nothing?

Yep, it all depends on the direction of the wind. I had a Thames streamer bring 1 foot of snow in 2010 but the Thames streamer in 2009 gave me about 2 inches whilst London got 8inches, the direction of the flow is key to Thames Streamers and who gets the snowfall from them.

Even if it came from all the way up there?

Low pressure systems are driven by warmer air within the system (very basically speaking, its more complicated) and the more intense the system, the warmer the warm sector. Ideally what we'd want is a weaker, shallower area of Low Pressure coming down, the warm sector, whilst still warmer than the surrounding air would probably be cold enough to keep the snow as snowfall.

Low Pressure systems are risky business when it comes to snowfall, I'd much rather an area of Low Pressure Eastwards to the South of the UK tightening Isobars strengthening winds from the East and giving sufficient forcing for heavy showers/bands of snow to develop from the North Sea.