Winter 2012 / 2013 Part 2

[garbagebags]

All this expertise is fascinating! I would be very grateful if you told me, whats the "best setup or system" for snow to the Glasgow area?

[Weather-history]

What is the best scenario for people in nw england?

Another scenario is to be on the northern flank of a low. It depends where the low tracks but it can deliver if it just tracks along the right route as happened with December 1993

Yorkshire members hit the jackpot late January 1995 with this set-up

[Met4Cast]

sounds like end of feb beginning of march 2005

That probably was it! I remember it being around the March time, thanks

[legritter]

Its great travelling over the mendips when at my location its sleet , get to the top of burrington and its a different world . Although the last couple or so winters have produced some good snowfalls ,alot of it as been ,Lake effect Snow , or troughs with the occasional Wrap around .just cant wait for a good old classic LOW MOVING up the channell with high pressure to our north or north /east . But of course to be only fair the next Low to move across us further north to give the posters further north some fun . i would think a fully fledged Polar low travelling down the country would be good for all of us .feb 18th 1978 was a GEM for the s/west and west country and dorset , the low tracked s/east from south west Ireland then turned east of s/east and moved across breast peninsula , the front became very slow moving ,to the south of bristol White hell , BRISTOL 15/.20 CM ,GLOUCESTER A DUSTING, SWINDON ABOUT THE SAME . THIS SNOW arrived with a strong wind .well we seem to be in a cycle of disturbed weather so i think we stand a fair chance of something Wintry turning up this year .but far to early for any pointers at the moment .Iwill be looking at weather stations in northern hemisphere during october and november to see if any stations record any record lows for that specific date .Also looking out for some LOW DAM Numbers across arctic areas and other northern LAT Areas . before we know it winter will be here so enjoy any mild spells , saw some new GRITTERS BEING DELIVERED today ,also the grit bins were checked again ,two weeks ago they tidied them up ,now a top up .It will soon be time for Swan arrivals will they arrive early or late ,interesting times ahead cheers Mines a cider .

[AderynCoch]

Battleground events are probably the best for NW England, providing the cold air wins out. 5th February 1996 is the more recent standout example, but in the past I believe late January 1940 was a monster event. The circumstances of the war meant that not much information about the event was made public.

Arctic winds swinging round from the northwest are good for Irish Sea streamers (December 2009 & 2010), but even better are when polar lows and troughs develop in the flow. December 1981 is probably a good example (I wasn't around then though). I think 28th December 2000 was a polar low event.

[liam300]

Im unsure of the best front for the south coast.

The poor south coast rarely gets a florish of snow

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Another scenario is to be on the northern flank of a low. It depends where the low tracks but it can deliver if it just tracks along the right route as happened with December 1993

Yorkshire members hit the jackpot late January 1995 with this set-up

Stafford Members hit jackpot on 18-20 Nov 96, seen forecast on youtube

[legritter]

I will try and dig out an article that was in one of my Roy Met Society Magazines about NORTH/ WEST england . a good list of polar Lows and other disturbances that affected that area and surrounding areas . also an article about the first winter of the war 39/40 I THINK Jan and very early Feb .iv over 300 issues and all need filing in order ,so please be patient .im still researching severe winters with a high possibility of LAKE effect snow from a westerly flow ,Its mainly reading old diarys of MONKS etc ,from fifteen hundreds and sixteen hundreds /1500/1600 . sounds a bit similar to DEC 2010 ,i will report when complete , cheers gang .

[latitude]

Have to say I don't envy you people up there. The West and South Midlands seem to struggle more than anywhere else in the UK when it comes to substantial snowfalls.

Easterlies are fairly useless around here. It's not uncommon to get snow from them but the high ground of South and East Wales is normally the Western extent of snow from an Easterly, and by that point it's usually light and patchy.

However, I seem to be in a good position for both streamers on a N/NWly and especially battleground events. Significant snowfalls (3" +) I can remember since 2000, off the top of my head:

Frontal:

March 21 2001

March 11 2004

March 13 2006

February 7-8 2007 (Double event)

Four or five in 2009-10

December 22 2010

Came close twice in February 2012. Perhaps the most frustrating two weeks of weather I can remember.

Streamer:

February 26 2004

November 25 2005

March 1 2006

December 3 2010

December 17 2010

Plus several others from other sources (ie, channel lows and the odd polar low).

Does anybody in South Wales or the Bristol area remember the fantastic Bristol Channel streamer which set up late on the night of December 21st 2009? It was a rare set up, totally unexpected and left us with quite a bit of snow on the ground on Christmas Day.

Also, can anybody remember the late, heavy snowfall on April 14th 1999 and what its source was? Polar low? Channel low? There was also a very substantial fall, I believe, on December 19th 1999. I was only 9 at the time, but I can remember it snowing in the morning but only starting to stick around dusk, but by later that evening we were stuck in town after a day of Christmas shopping with traffic having ground to a halt. December 27th 2000 also stands out in my memory.

Remember that streamer yes. There was snow from it in Yatton, Clevedon, Portishead. Used to work from some guys in Weston Super Mare, showed them the photos on my phone, they counldnt beleave.......they had nothing! We had a white christmas they had a green one....haha.

[Excitable_Weatherwatcher]

lived there long? Dec 20-22 2009 setup is perfect for you, even Jan 5th 2010

I have been living here for a whopping 16 years and the best snow I had seen was in 2009. partly beacuse school was closed

,but i have finished school now.

[Chess01]

What's the best for the north midlands eg stoke . We normally do well from the Cheshire gap effect and given the higher elevation than most parts of Cheshire we normally get snow were as I know people who live in Crewe who don't get as much

[Excitable_Weatherwatcher]

Remember that streamer yes. There was snow from it in Yatton, Clevedon, Portishead. Used to work from some guys in Weston Super Mare, showed them the photos on my phone, they counldnt beleave.......they had nothing! We had a white christmas they had a green one....haha.

green christmas is boring because snow adds the touch that makes the magic.except when it your water pipe freezes, we had to heat up snow on the stove. (we have moved the water pipes since then).

[Thundery wintry showers]

Some good points earlier. I mentioned North Sea convection and the way central and western areas often get more snow from frontal battleground type setups, but I omitted to mention the arctic maritime setups with winds vectored from west of north that bring snow showers off the Irish Sea into the Cheshire Gap area, as well as parts of Wales, SW England, Ireland and western Scotland. I remember seeing about the south-west getting unexpectedly hit by heavy convective snowfalls on the 25th November 2005, with a midday temperature of only 1C at Plymouth.

Those setups with snow showers off a polar maritime westerly or north-westerly are pretty dramatic on the rare occasions when they are cold enough- early March 1995 was probably the starkest example in my lifetime, as I am too young to have experienced the Januarys of 1978 and 1984. The main issue with them is that it's rare that they are actually cold enough south of the Scottish border.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Some good points earlier. I mentioned North Sea convection and the way central and western areas often get more snow from frontal battleground type setups, but I omitted to mention the arctic maritime setups with winds vectored from west of north that bring snow showers off the Irish Sea into the Cheshire Gap area, as well as parts of Wales, SW England, Ireland and western Scotland. I remember seeing about the south-west getting unexpectedly hit by heavy convective snowfalls on the 25th November 2005, with a midday temperature of only 1C at Plymouth.

Those setups with snow showers off a polar maritime westerly or north-westerly are pretty dramatic on the rare occasions when they are cold enough- early March 1995 was probably the starkest example in my lifetime, as I am too young to have experienced the Januarys of 1978 and 1984. The main issue with them is that it's rare that they are actually cold enough south of the Scottish border.

Yeah thats generally true, this far south, polar maritime air (cold zonality) is pathetic for snow at just 103m asl, but I would imagine best possible setup for areas over 300m like peak district, or Flash at 425m asl

[feb1991blizzard]

A belting setup for the pennines but im sure it would have delivered something for areas just West of the pennines as well, i was in the West Midlands at the time though and remember seeing B'ham city centre on the news and baring in mind it was a weekend only 2 weeks before xmas and it was a ghost town then that tells you it was a potent fall, about 8-10 inches very quickly in the early hours of the saturday morning and a real big crack of thunder thrown in at about 3 or 4 am, i rushed to the window worried it was going to have turned to rain but it was still belting down with massive flakes, i was about 9 miles South West of B'ham city centre at the time.

Anyone have a video forecast for that?, its one of the few left that are not on you tube yet, very grateful if someone would upload it.

Edited September 27, 2012 by feb1991blizzard

[I remember Atlantic 252]

A belting setup for the pennines but im sure it would have delivered something for areas just West of the pennines as well, i was in the West Midlands at the time though and remember seeing B'ham city centre on the news and baring in mind it was a weekend only 2 weeks before xmas and it was a ghost town then that tells you it was a potent fall, about 8-10 inches very quickly in the early hours of the saturday morning and i a real big crack of thunder thrown in at about 3 or 4 am, i rushed to the window worried it was going to have turned to rain but it was still belting down with massive flakes, i was about 9 miles South West of B'ham city centre at the time.

I must have had some then? 30 miles NW of B'ham, although much lower elevation

[feb1991blizzard]

I must have had some then? 30 miles NW of B'ham, although much lower elevation

I would have thought so.

[Alan Medlock Valley]

Here we usually do well for most snow events, we're just far enough east to get snow from easterly's with the snow travelling over the Pennines, whereas if I lived just 4 or 5 miles to the west that would be a different story.

We can do well from Irish sea streamers and also cold front events when they come down from the North, sometimes when this happenes there's been an almighty crack of thunder then hail then as the cold sets in behind the cold front it then snows. Overall we do get at least one decent fall of snow each Winter. We've never had a snowless Winter around here in my 50 odd years of living.

[gottolovethisweather]

Here we usually do well for most snow events, we're just far enough east to get snow from easterly's with the snow travelling over the Pennines, whereas if I lived just 4 or 5 miles to the west that would be a different story.

We can do well from Irish sea streamers and also cold front events when they come down from the North, sometimes when this happenes there's been an almighty crack of thunder then hail then as the cold sets in behind the cold front it then snows. Overall we do get at least one decent fall of snow each Winter. We've never had a snowless Winter around here in my 50 odd years of living.

Welcome aboard Alan, you'll enjoy this place so do stick around. Please can you update your profile to show your location.

[Hotspur62]

whilst everyone is reminising on recent snow events in Uk the snow we had here in Kent at the beginning of December 2010 was awsome.Is snowed on and off for about 2 and half days with max temps always about or just below freezing.By the time the snow stopped it was about 15 inchs deep.The amazing thing was that just 10 miles away from us in Beckenham(moving towards central London),there was only a light covering!!.We are on edge of North Downs at about 380ft ASL and were just in the band of heavy snow that continued to fall.Wouldn't mind a repeat of that this winter!!

[feb1991blizzard]

Here we usually do well for most snow events, we're just far enough east to get snow from easterly's with the snow travelling over the Pennines, whereas if I lived just 4 or 5 miles to the west that would be a different story.

We can do well from Irish sea streamers and also cold front events when they come down from the North, sometimes when this happenes there's been an almighty crack of thunder then hail then as the cold sets in behind the cold front it then snows. Overall we do get at least one decent fall of snow each Winter. We've never had a snowless Winter around here in my 50 odd years of living.

How did you in feb 2009?, I was in Salford then and had nothing but light patchy sleety drizzle for 18 fours while hearing that places 8 Miles east had a foot of snow

[Alan Medlock Valley]

How did you in feb 2009?, I was in Salford then and had nothing but light patchy sleety drizzle for 18 fours while hearing that places 8 Miles east had a foot of snow

We're 6-7 miles east of Salford and we had quite a bit in Feb 2009, it fell overnight. It was wind driven aswell, in the field here we had some slight drifting too.

Edited September 27, 2012 by Alan Medlock Valley

[Barry12]

Anyone else getting settled snow on April 4th?

[Mark Neal.]

The last 5 Snowfalls in Oxford.

2012- February- Frontal Snow. 10cm

2010- December- Frontal Snow. 22cm

2010- December- Heavy Snow Showers- 2cm

2010- January- Frontal Snow. 27cm

2009- February- Same time as Thames Streamer, longer spells of snow caused 16cm.

I prefer low pressure systems coming across and then stalling and hitting cold air, we do the best out of these events, though easterlies in the last 5 years have also helped bring decent snowfall, can't really moan in last few years really!

[Richard Lake]

All I can say this early on is a merely an observation, the Unisys SST anomaly map available in the Data Centre is in negative terrority very early on in the season in comparison to recent years since joining this board.

For me, and my location this is very good news as they can only go lower from now on in.

As much as I like waching the potential for convective shower activity arising from steep gradients between the SSTs (epic 18" snowfall Nov 30th 2010 being a recent occurrence here in Northern Lincolnshire ) and the airmass - it unfortunately (again for my location) leads to riding the 'marginality rollercoaster' throughout the winter season.

Edited September 27, 2012 by djrikki