Winter 2020/21 chat, ramps, moans and banter

[birdman]

Actually I take it back when I said its not THAT cold. I'm out for a walk and it feels properly bitter today, more so than yesterday! Lol

MetO app says 1c but feels like -5. I would agree with that! 

Edited February 9, 2021 by birdman

[Premiere Neige]

11 hours ago, Andypvfc said:

Tbh mate I wouldn't even call it cold. Yeah the wind might be cold, however a few nights close to just under zero in North Staffs is not the classic 2010.

That's why I just don't get the excitement with Easterlies. OK it may deliver more chance of Snow for the East, however little Snow for the rest and not even severe Cold.

 

The easterly in 2018 was much colder than this. Must be the higher than average SST's that are moderating it...

[JoeShmoe]

1 hour ago, birdman said:

Half the problem was the ramping type posts in the mod thread which may have falsely set expectations too high for some people. In any case, this cold spell could still surprises for some and February is not over by a long way! 

This is it in a nutshell. Most people in the Scottish regional don't bother posting there tbh, not just because we look at the models more from the IMBY perspective but when there are 4 pages cheering an air frost in winter its all a bit pointless because its always going to be a let down for the majority. As it is we've had a snowy winter up here and the current easterly has delivered for a lot of us (15cm outside and still showers coming in). TBH its weird to me as by the far the best chance in the west of the UK for a big snow event is the frontal battleground but it gets called a breakdown and seems to be a dirty word 

[Ross90]

The thing is any good/favoured pattern is always going to break down whether it's nationwide snow or a hot and sunny spell. 2 weeks is about the max that any spell is likely to hold on, maybe a bit longer for dry and sunny weather in the summer. Expecting a month of snow is just going to lead to disappointment. There's now been 16 days of lying snow where I am this winter which is already the best in over 10 years. It has been a decent winter for snow as far as the UK as a whole is concerned. 

[Big Dave]

B O R E D   B O R E D   B O R E D

Bored of this winter which seemed t o have so much potential

Bored of this weather which promised so much but delivered so little

Bored of this lockdown

Bored of being stuck at home

Bored of not being able to travel

Bored 

B O R E D   B O R E D   B O R E D 

 

[birdman]

35 minutes ago, Big Dave said:

B O R E D   B O R E D   B O R E D

Bored of this winter which seemed t o have so much potential

Bored of this weather which promised so much but delivered so little

Bored of this lockdown

Bored of being stuck at home

Bored of not being able to travel

Bored 

B O R E D   B O R E D   B O R E D 

 

Dont want to jump to any wild conclusions but I get the impression you're bored? Lol

[SummerShower]

3 hours ago, TheOgre said:

It’s been snowing pretty much non stop for 2 days but there’s almost no snow cover strangely. We’ve already had 2 decent coverings on December 29 and January 24 so not bothered about this one.

Exactly the same here tbh.  Continuous very light powder snow, even when not showing on the radar!

[SummerShower]

I have a question and not sure where to post it..

I was out for my daily run at 7am this morning and there was a dusting of fine powder snow.

However it got heavier for a time and the snow started melting despite no sun and temperatures around 0C.

What would have caused this melting of this powder snow? I thought it was the kind that just blows around in the wind and only disappears by sublimation..

[stevofunnelcl]

not getting any snow, is one thing, but the tease is bad. checked the radar... a large area of decent precip is in the south-west approaches, and will sadly, never arrive.

Weather systems never stall like that, when it's mild and all rain though

[ItNeverSnowsInWindsor]

Looks like February may not finish below average with what’s shown in the models recently. Watch the Met Office backtrack from their cold outlook.

[ItNeverSnowsInWindsor]

5 hours ago, SummerShower said:

I have a question and not sure where to post it..

I was out for my daily run at 7am this morning and there was a dusting of fine powder snow.

However it got heavier for a time and the snow started melting despite no sun and temperatures around 0C.

What would have caused this melting of this powder snow? I thought it was the kind that just blows around in the wind and only disappears by sublimation..

It’s called living in a part of the world that sucks for snowfall

[ItNeverSnowsInWindsor]

Wow what a fantastic warning service the Met Office provide for warning the public against melting snow on impact to the ground

Edited February 9, 2021 by prolongedSnowLover

[Frigid]

2 minutes ago, prolongedSnowLover said:

Looks like February may not finish below average with what’s shown in the models recently. Watch the Met Office backtrack from their cold outlook.

Could well end up being another Feb 2012 if we don't get another cold spell at the end of the month. 

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

Dare I say that, generally, an end to the cold conditions will be welcomed by most in wider society?

[Atleastitwillbemild]

12 hours ago, snowspotter said:

Third day of the cold spell here and people moaning it will be over by Monday . I make that nine days including last Sunday . If your in the west what do you expect from an easterly , blizzards from Moscow? Also unless I am very much mistaken Scotland has been snowy since December . Try telling people there it’s been crap. It could have been better for me yes . Further east have had loads of snow .but you can still not get me moaning about this cold spell. To be honest it’s better than the fabled 2018 beast from east event here . More snow for a start 

Well considering its the designated moaning area of this forum I think its perfectly acceptable for anyone to use this place to let of steam they would have otherwise clogged the main threads with. Why have this thread exist otherwise? Someone moaning in the moaning thread? Shocking! If it bothers you don't come here. If you're pleased as punch with your 2 feet of snow and grinning ear to ear after all day sledging with the dog and fam, why not just boast and gloat on the photo thread and snow report page instead of coming on here to nag the less lucky about their ingratitude?  

And yes it is possible for the west to get snow during an easterly. Lots of snow. Noone expects "blizzards from Moscow" but a channel low or an incoming front from the atlantic has buried the southwest in previous easterlies so the comparisson to other "beasts" is fair. I would be happy to tell anyone in Scotland its been crap as they get plenty of snow all the time so what would they even know about a snow drought? The hills up there can get buried from a northwesterly.  I'm afraid this beast has been crap. There i'll say it again: crap crap crap crap crap crap crap.  
If you can't even manage a night temp lower than -3 in central southern england during a beasterly when you could easily suprass that during a two day northerly toppler ten years ago then guess what? IT'S CRAP. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Atleastitwillbemild

[snowspotter]

10 minutes ago, Atleastitwillbemild said:

Well considering its the designated moaning area of this forum I think its perfectly acceptable for anyone to use this place to let of steam they would have otherwise clogged the main threads with. Why have this thread exist otherwise? Someone moaning in the moaning thread? Shocking! If it bothers you don't come here. If you're pleased as punch with your 2 feet of snow and grinning ear to ear after all day sledging with the dog and fam, why not just boast and gloat on the photo thread and snow report page instead of coming on here to nag the less lucky about their ingratitude?  

And yes it is possible for the west to get snow during an easterly. Lots of snow. Noone expects "blizzards from Moscow" but a channel low or an incoming front from the atlantic has buried the southwest in previous easterlies so the comparisson to other "beasts" is fair. I would be happy to tell anyone in Scotland its been crap as they get plenty of snow all the time so what would they even know about a snow drought? The hills up there can get buried from a northwesterly.  I'm afraid this beast has been crap. There i'll say it again: crap crap crap crap crap crap crap.  
If you can't even manage a night temp lower than -3 in central southern england during a beasterly when you could easily suprass that during a two day northerly toppler ten years ago then guess what? IT'S CRAP. 

Blimey took you 12 hours for that effort to respond haha .

[Atleastitwillbemild]

Just now, snowspotter said:

Blimey took you 12 hours for that effort to respond haha .

Oh I'm sorry I'm a healthcare worker who works night shifts. I was busy last night preparing the body of yet another covid victim so they would at least look dignified when the undertakers came to collect them and I needed a bit of a nap after. I should have set the alarm to respond more promptly! 

[Chiltern_Blizzard]

Really poor show this winter (so far). 

We had one decent snowfall in late Jan but it melted within an hour and we have been marginal this weekend with very light snow but hardly anything settling.

Bring on Spring

[Snowboy111]

What a bust. Even the channel low failed to give us anything. So frustrating 

[Atleastitwillbemild]

Well here we are at the peak of The Great Freeze! The Big Beast! and it was a whopping - 1.5 on the way home from Newbury. And yes I understand how lucky I am to have even made it home. I won't play dice with the elements like that again. The dry, black winter wonderland was wonderful to see though. 

[Arctic Hare]

5 hours ago, chrisbell-nottheweatherman said:

Dare I say that, generally, an end to the cold conditions will be welcomed by most in wider society?

Depends. For people in Bewdley, I would say that mild and dry is what people are hoping for. But mild and wet would be considered *worse* than this, since flooding has been a major problem two winters running now and causes far more long-term issues for everyday life than a few cm of snow and some not very severe frosts.

[Atleastitwillbemild]

11 hours ago, stevofunnelcl said:

not getting any snow, is one thing, but the tease is bad. checked the radar... a large area of decent precip is in the south-west approaches, and will sadly, never arrive.

Weather systems never stall like that, when it's mild and all rain though

When it comes to the this particular corner of the world as far as mild, wet winters go then it can never be too cold, or two warm. It's never too late in the year or too early for a mild wet spell. It can never be to too strong an El Nino, a too westerly based one or too easterly.

It can be mild and wet through a weak La Nina. Or a moderate one. Or record breakingly, WTF is going in the pacific, has god dropped the ice from his gin and tonic in there strong one.

Disappointingly mild wind and rain can come from any direction whether the wind is northerly, easterly, southerly, northeasterly, from the basement of hell in the centre of the Earth or from outer space. 

It can be mild and wet through a negative AO. It can be mild and wet despite a strongly negative NAO. It can be mild and wet for days after a massive SSW or weeks after. It can stay mild and wet through all phases of the MJO. It can be mild and wet throughout the entire phase of an easterly QBO, as well as a westerly.

It can be mild and wet under a cold inversion, or a two day toppler. It can be mild and wet after a poor summer of persistent northern blocking and little ice age style washout summers. It can be mild and wet despite a warm, dry, sunny October promisingly matching patterns that just practically spell out severe winter - I mean, just look at the projected predictions matching with previous autumns with similar patterns! How can it fail!?

It can stay mild and wet as the Spanish plains white out with snow and the beaches of Turkey freeze over with ice and the roofs collapse with the weight of the snow in the villages of Bulgaria and the children dance barefoot with delight in the unusually heavy snow in Cyprus. 

It can be mild and wet despite Met office predictions and the JMA. It can deliver nothing but mild rain despite the promises of the the ECM, the GFS,  the Jamstec charts and the tea leaves at the bottom of granny's teacup.

It can be mild and wet in winter despite a perfect tripole in May.

It can stay mild and wet despite the abundance of berries on every bush and fat squirells crying into their video diary about how they love their bodies and will no longer allow themselves to be fat shamed. It will be mild and wet despite the cold september theory, the foggy autumn theory, the warm october theory.

It can stay mild and wet while the super powers nuke themselves into oblivion at the same time as Yellowstone's caldera supervolcano explodes and releases 50 billion megatons of dust into the atmosphere plummeting the world's temperature by 10 degrees. The entire northern hemisphere could be covered in glaciers burying all the crop growing areas in ice and making the raging blizzards of frozen volcanic ash and radioactive snow over the major landmasses totally unliveable as billions die from hypothermia buried under snow drifts 60 foot high and YOU KNOW. 

You know it don't don't you? There'll still be a little corner of the northwest Eurasian landmass, ice free, basking in mild westerlies. It will still be 13c and drizzle while the survivors dig potatoes and rye from the lukewarm earth commenting on how at least its 'mild' compared to saudi arabia right now. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Atleastitwillbemild

[Simon M]

1 minute ago, Atleastitwillbemild said:

When it comes to the this particular corner of the world as far as mild, wet winters go rain go then it can never be too cold, or two warm. It can never be to too strong an El Nino, too westerly based or a Midoki easterly instead.

It can be mild and wet through a weak La Nina. Or a moderate one. Or record breakingly, WTF is going in the pacific, has god dropped the ice from his gin and tonic in there strong one.

ts never too late in the year or too early for a mild wet spell.

Disappointingly mild wind and rain can come from any direction whether the wind is northerly, easterly, southerly, northeastery, from the basement of hell in the centre of the Earth or from outer space. 

It can be mild and wet through a negative AO. It can be mild and wet despite a strongly negative NAO. It can be mild and wet for days after a massive SSW or weeks after. It can stay mild and wet through all phases of the MJO. It can be mild and wet throughout the entire phase of an easterly QBO, as well as a westerly.

It can be mild and wet under a cold inversion, or a two day toppler. It can be mild and wet after a poor summer of persistent northern blocking and little ice age style washout summers. It can be mild and wet despite a warm, dry, sunny October promisingly matching patterns that just practically spell out severe winter - I mean, jut look at the projected predictions matching with previous autumns with similar patterns! How can it fail!?

It can stay mild and wet as the Spanish plains white out with snow and the beaches of Turkey freeze over with ice and the roofs collapse with snow weight in the villages of Bulgaria and the children dance barefoot with delight in the unusually heavy snow in Cyprus. 

It can be mild and wet despite Met office predictions and the JMA. It can deliver nothing but mild rain despite the promises of the the ECM, the GFS,  the Jamstec charts and the tea leaves at the bottom of granny's teacup.

It can be mild and wet in winter despite a perfect tripole in May.

t can stay mild and wet despite the abundance of berries on every bush and fat squirells crying into their video diary about how they love their bodies and will no longer allow themselves to be fat shamed. It will be mild and wet despite the cold september theory, the foggy autumn theory, the warm october theory.

It can stay mild and wet while the super powers nuke themselves into oblivion at the same time as Yellowstone's caldera supervolcano explodes and releases 50 billion megatons of dust into the atmosphere plummeting the world's temperature by 10 degrees. The entire northern hemisphere could be covered in glaciers burying all the crop growing areas in ice and making the raging blizzards of frozen volcanic ash and radioactive snow over the major landmasses totally unliveable as billions from hypothermia buried under snow drifts 60 foot high and YOU KNOW. 

You know it don't don't you? There'll still be a little corner of the northwest Eurasian landmass, ice free, basking in mild westerlies. It will still be 13c and drizzle while the survivors dig potatoes and rye from the lukewarm earth commenting on how at least its 'mild' compared to saudi arabia right now. 

 

And there you have it, the "great British weather" in a nutshell.

[Simon M]

When I look back to how things were this time last year, with storms Ciara and Dennis blowing through on successive weekends it's hard to complain about this winter.  However, it would be a massive shame if this current spell proves to be the last of the winter. 

 

I have a nasty feeling that it will though.

[Azazel]

I’m guessing the Dover Strait didn’t freeze over in the end and there haven’t been any reported ice bergs in the Thames?

These were serious predictions/comments in the model thread btw.