South East & East Anglia Regional Weather Discussion 21/01/14

[JABWootton]

90 % Sat 1st Feb for me If only.

100% Dissappointment assured though

[<<Ryan>>]

Heavy hail shower here with very gusty winds

[Reefseeker]

Good afternoon. Sorry to bother you lovely people with a technical question, but I really don't want to ask this question in the MOD and I don't mind looking silly to you chaps and chapesses. Karlos posted a chart that showed London Ensembles with the yellow ECMWF line showing a big dip in temps on 31st; however, I don't know what the blue NCEP line is. Any knowledgeable or frankly unknowledgeable reply much appreciated.  

 

Had some heavy showers here today but blue sky and clouds now, colder walking across campus than I expected and the stream is very high. Looks like my son and I may have to stop doing our river walks to Kingson, as yet again on Sunday we marvelled at getting the tow path into working order as we walked Kingstonwards, and then had to take the pavement back as it all flooded yet again - twice we've done that now. That's after getting soaked for every beach walk at Sandbanks, even when Sunday was forecast mostly clear. We appear to be the harbingers of rain....

[Snowangel-MK]

Afternoon all - sun came out here so we decided to leave the caves until tomorrow afternoon and took the local bus along the coast to Puerto del Carmen where we are sat outside enjoying a lovely drink :-)

[Steve C]

Good afternoon. Sorry to bother you lovely people with a technical question, but I really don't want to ask this question in the MOD and I don't mind looking silly to you chaps and chapesses. Karlos posted a chart that showed London Ensembles with the yellow ECMWF line showing a big dip in temps on 31st; however, I don't know what the blue NCEP line is. Any knowledgeable or frankly unknowledgeable reply much appreciated.  

 

 

I think it's just the GFS Operational run.

 

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets/global-forcast-system-gfs

 

Edit. If this is the chart you were looking at, this confirms it.

 

http://www.weathercast.co.uk/services/ensemble-forecast.html

Edited January 23, 2014 by Steve C

[Steve C]

Afternoon all - sun came out here so we decided to leave the caves until tomorrow afternoon and took the local bus along the coast to Puerto del Carmen where we are sat outside enjoying a lovely drink :-)

I'm due to be going to a hotel on the outskirts of there (2 miles from centre). Tips might be appreciated!  

[throwoff]

Heavy hail storm in Gillingham I have just been told by Mrs Throwoff.

[Wyre]

Heavy hail storm in Gillingham I have just been told by Mrs Throwoff.

 

Beside the river we have bright sunshine.  I quite like hail so if it could pop down here that would be lovely.

 

ETA: The teenboy is back from school and he said he had hail when he first came out humphf.

Edited January 23, 2014 by Wyre

[stun12]

I'm due to be going to a hotel on the outskirts of there (2 miles from centre). Tips might be appreciated!

 

What, you're going to be a waiter? 

[Jan_Bromley]

Good afternoon lovelies

 

I got soaked this morning whilst out and about, and when I got home the sun came out.

 

Snow is looking tantalizingly close, but will it?

 

Sunday looks downright horrid! Please, please go away rain!

[Jax]

Afternoon all

 

Well after a damp start this morning the day seems to have kept the theme going through most of it, when I left the orifice and stepped out it did seem a lot colder than when I went in earlier, just had a squally hail shower here and now calmer again with some sunshine (which is good as I need to nip out very soon).

 

Last night of Winter Watch tonight , but it is followed by another episode of Hidden Kingdom

[abruzzi spur]

Hail in Reigate.

 

Daughter's 13th birthday

 

Making a stir fry later.  Not sure what she's having though!

 

AS

[frozencanals]

Evening all

 

I am in Nottingham at the mo, where we have had a couple of heavy wintery showers, by wintery I mean sleet and rain, and the odd clap of thunder thrown in too.

 

Just about to jump in the car and head back to Southend...

 

Cheers

 

FC

[Jax]

oh to be a teenager again,

Indeed, less bits of me were broken or worn out, I could run (now running a tap wears me out), had a fantastic horse that I would just get home from work/school/college* and on a whim (which was nigh on every day weather and light permitting no matter the time of year) go out on solo hacks into the countryside, life was good.  Now it is worrying about bills, nagging joints, working...

 

You never knew you had it so good until it has gone.

[lottiekent]

Afternoon

A chilly start, after the overnight cloud cleared away the overnight low was around 8am at 2.7c. Was sunny for a bit this morning but the groans of those going to lunch at midday indicated rain outside! Up to 7.9c earlier now dropping fairly quickly as is clear again..currently 4.8c.

Interested to see the late evening fax updates from John...hopefully it'll show something that'll give us a shot at the snow cup!

[abruzzi spur]

Her first teenage tantrum? Only joking, wish her a  very happy birthday, oh to be a teenager again,

Thanks! Funnily enough yesterday I showed her the Kevin's 13th birthday sketch (Harry Enfield) which she thought was very funny.  When I went in this morning to wish her happy birthday she shouted 'WHAT?' in a very grumpy way but then burst out laughing (she wants to be an actress by the way....)

 

AS

[lottiekent]

Thanks! Funnily enough yesterday I showed her the Kevin's 13th birthday sketch (Harry Enfield) which she thought was very funny. When I went in this morning to wish her happy birthday she shouted 'WHAT?' in a very grumpy way but then burst out laughing (she wants to be an actress by the way....)AS

It's an interesting experience having a teenaged daughter at home, watching your little girl transforming into a young lady - I love hearing her thoughts on things and watching her turn into her own person. My eldest will be 15 in March and so far she's been ok with no real strops. Her only issue is not cleaning her room but I remember having that issue myself so I try not to be too naggy there! I'm sure I've just cursed it all and she'll turn into a Kevin tomorrow Edited January 23, 2014 by lottiekent

[abruzzi spur]

It's an interesting experience having a teenaged daughter at home, watching your little girl transforming into a young lady - I love hearing her thoughts on things and watching her turn into her own person. My eldest will be 15 in March and so far she's been ok with no real strops. Her only issue is not cleaning her room but I remember having that issue myself so I try not to be too naggy there! I'm sure I've just cursed it all and she'll turn into a Kevin tomorrow

nearly 17 year old son is much more stroppy!

[legrandefromage]

bloomin' great hail storm as I passed through March around 4pm - enough hail to coat the roads and pavements sending pedestrians under cover. 

 

One flash of lightning in the fields on the way out. Mrs Legrandefromage reported the same thing over Alconbury - her hail on the conservatory roof beat my hail on the windscreen for noise.

[throwoff]

Models still mad into FI, some showing 4 hours of heavy snow over the whole country then nothing...

 

Be interesting to see JP's assessment tonight.

[Charltonkerry]

Here are a few recollections from my youngers days concerning the winter of '62/63, a truly great winter to be a young whipper snapper, these memories where jogged by an encounter yesterday at a wake, where i meet 3 people who also lived through this period and where an identical age

I was 10 years old and lived in the poor part of East Dartford in a 3 bedroom council house for those who don't know Dartford or east Dartford in particular think the worse area you know and add 10% and you might be close! our house had an outside loo and coal house! no luxury like double glazing or central heating. No one in our road had a car, tele was black and white, and in think we might just had a phone installed, you know the type the big black one with with the dial.

I was in the last year of junior school and never missed a single day as we where getting ready for the dreaded 11+. Oh do I remember that Boxing Day, we where round relatives up the posh end of west Dartford and it was around 6pm we had to catch a bus home, as we where standing at the bus stop so the first flake gently meandered down to earth, being an excitable youngster I got very excited which ended with a clip around the ear, and the famous comments by my dad of "you will be able to walk around all the walls of Dartford tomorrow and still not have enough snow to make a single snowball". Oh how wrong he was.

My father worked in the centre of Dartford in a foundry (sp), so at least he kept warm, he was a man mountain and fit as a fiddle and used to get up at 5am every morning to go to work, however his first job was to make the fire up in the front room (only room with heating), once the snow was on the ground somehow this became my and my mums job as we had to dig our way out to the coal house and toilet before we could light the fire or go to the loo. The things that really stick in my mind is going to bed, you had to leave the warm room to go to a freezing bedroom and get to an equally freezing bed (cotton or polyester sheets go on oldens you can remover those) which meant you shivered yourselves to sleep, but when you woke up, oh the warmth was fantastic, until you had to get out into that freezing bedroom, the thermal shock was enormous and the shivering restarted immediately, obviously if it was your turn to get the coal or needed the loo, then you got warm (and wet) by digging your way out to the shed.

Breakfast was always bloody porridge, still can eat it, nor would you after 3 months of it, milk was delivered by a milkman named fiddler every morning despite the temperature or snow depth, well I thought it was his name until many years later, when I found out he used to fiddle the milk bill, he only delivered milk, the paper boy unbelievably delivered the paper and there was a coalman, vegetable and meat van who done regular deliveries throughout that long cold, depressing winter, also as you will see we had those magical corner shops.

Then the trip to school, firstly the donning of multilayered clothes on the top half of my body which kept that part nice and warm, and for you younger ones us poor boys wore short trousers as they where considerably cheaper than long trouser, along with these we wore long woollen grey socks and my only pair of shoes, couldn't afford wellies or similar. On the way to school was the traditional snow ball fight with the older kids going to secondary school , us youngster normally ended up being thrown into the nearest snow drift by the older buggers, thus getting soaking wet, also who can remember the feel of sodden woollen gloves, till this day I still shiver at the thought of that feeling. On arrival at school we had the fun of the snowball fight with the girl school next door (always won, and always ended in tear, sure it had nothing to do with putting icicles in with the snowball mix :-)) then the slide which by the end was over 100' long, oh the happy memories and the minor cuts and bruises, anyone sensible feel over with 10' to go, but us hard nuts kept going to the bitter end, unfortunately this was a brick wall.

Then on into the classroom, it was hot, yes, the only time I was warm, outstanding memories from here was the gloves steaming on the radiators, coats, socks and shoes drying, yes we went barefooted around the classroom. The milk with the silver tops sticking up by around an 1" until they defrosted and the unbearable smell of drying clothes. But mostly the chapped legs and the teachers rubbing on Vaseline (again a luxury we couldn't afford). Hot food at dinner time prior to the ongoing fun in the playground. Then the trip home which was a repeat of the journey there.

My mum who didn't work at this time as the majority of married woman didn't at this stage, was the real boss of the household, despite what my father thought. It was her job to get the food on the table and she did that every single day, normally twice a day as my father came home for lunch. As I stated previously we where poor and luxuries where few, however the food was always there, it was the winter of '62/63 that she produced the meals that really stopped us from dying of starvation and allowed us to survive the winter, costs of all vegetables etc rocketed as they where frozen in the ground (no luxuries of frozen foods in them days) as an example there are photos of the frozen fields being defrosted by braziers down in Thanet on the Internet, so if you had to do that you can imagine the costs of them in the shops. Mum decided on the day after Boxing Day to start up one of her famous hot pots, in went the left over turkey, with anything else that was left over including all the veg, potatoes, turkey bones etc, this pot was massive and must had held many galleons of liquid etc, it was so heavy it never moved from the hot plate. Well as winter progressed and the cold intensified so more and more items where added, I can clearly remember a dead rabbit going in (accidentally shot by one of our neighbours in a field opposite us), my favourite was neck of mutton not much meat but very flavoursome, all sorts of offal, I believe a pigs head entered the pot at one stage. I can still smell it now, but I was often momentarily put off when mum scraped the scum off the top, dependent upon what mean was used then this could be an inch thick (my uncle used to take this home with him, although I never worked up the courage to ask him why? I just didn't want to know) this hot pot finally finished around the 2nd week of march and we where still finding the odd turkey bone even then. That single turkey saved our family.

Coming back to the cold, waking up in the morning, only amateurs used there hands to defrost the windows, us professional snow watchers had a much more warmer system, we took a 2d piece to bed with so when you woke up you placed this at eye height on the window, and hey presto the ice melted, no cold hand for me, we'll not until the track to the outside loo began anyway. The windows where ill fitting I think crittal metal frames, single glazed, the inside window seal was ice with if it had snowed during the night a fresh layer of snow.

I remember well the icicles where a tremendous length, especially those hanging from the gutters, I believe a of gutters actually broke through the wait of ice hanging from them, another memory was how everyone swept there own paths and kept them clear by using domestic salt, this had the added benefit of turning the paths in death traps as the ice / snow would defrost during the day and promptly re freeze again at night when the freezing point of the salt / water solution was reached, oh what fun to hear the milkman / paper boy take a tumble.

Don't know if I have put this in the right place on here, if not please feel free to move it, sorry about the length, but you know what it like.

Edited January 23, 2014 by Charltonkerry

[Jax]

Fantastic post CK

 

Bit before my time but hear some stories about it from my elder family and friends though.

[blackprince]

Watching BBC news snowing (pellets) outside Old Trafford

[chilly milly]

I loved that recollection CK.  Only a little before my time, but I love to hear stories of how people coped.  It makes me appreciate how lucky we are and really how much we all feline foot around when there is a bit of snow.

 

 

Lol, clearly I can't type puss-y here.

Edited January 23, 2014 by chilly milly

[SteveCoops]

Hail storm at home at the moment according to my CCTV!

 

Classic on the Victoria tube line - someone's poured fast setting cement into the control room!