February cold spell discussion and chat

[Ninman]

2 minutes ago, Doctor96 said:

Many on here get excited when we have minus 11 uppers and talk of snow . However currently where I live 12 miles inland from coast it is rainy with temp of 1.7 c and the uppers are -11 c . We really need for low ground ( majority ) pretty cold air to get snow . Will the east coast really see snow on the models this week or is the bbc correct sleet 

The cold needs to embed first. Snow showers will come in off the east coast from later today onwards. 

[Cheshire Freeze]

18 minutes ago, Doctor96 said:

Many on here get excited when we have minus 11 uppers and talk of snow . However currently where I live 12 miles inland from coast it is rainy with temp of 1.7 c and the uppers are -11 c . We really need for low ground ( majority ) pretty cold air to get snow . Will the east coast really see snow on the models this week or is the bbc correct sleet 

Anything falling from the sky should really not be rain with -11 uppers. I think perhaps the uppers aren’t -11 where you are right now.

[Paul]

Snow accumulation maps from the Netwx-SR (3km wrf nmm model), focused on the east today, but more widespread falls tomorrow. 

[AmatuerMet1963]

Well that's a Surprise, Heavy dark clouds flowing into Wigan on a very brisk N Easterly just dropped snow flakes and soft pellets. No idea if this is going to last or get stronger the next few days. But at least I can say we had snow showers in Wigan today, its snowing proper in my relations area in Richmond, N Yorks. I told them to send more of there's to us...!!

[SqueakheartLW]

This appears to be what we are seeing at present

Apart from the west which was expected to get less snow anyway guess who else is generally missing out, me. I'm in that Snow Deprived region that is too close to the front in the SE to get any showers but too far away to get any of the snow from it. Unless those showers get their act together or that front pushes up here then this is going to turn into another epic fail for N Lincs.

However this chart would suggest that this is going to change as I end up under a streamer or convergence zone that comes off the North Sea through the Humber and straight into N Lincs

[Paul]

The UKV 9z certainly starts to fill in the snow this evening and overnight as temperatures drop.

[oliverek7]

the  BBC getting the temps off by a whole 5C at the moment on their forecast   it’s -1C in London 

Edited February 7, 2021 by oliverek7

[Jo Farrow]

[Packs]

Interesting this morning here watching the low cloud moving quickly west whilst the very high cloud was moving slowly east.

[rug]

Cold but very underwhelming is my take on this spell of weather.

Proof that “Get the cold in and the snow will follow” doesn’t always hold up.

[Penrith Snow]

I am rather glad this cold spell is coming to an end as all it’s given me is a massive heating bill.

Every night has been below -8c but with little snow, what’s the point, give me a bloody Bartlett and have done with it.

Given some of the excellent Synoptics this winter I have found the last 2 months incredibly frustrating, maybe my part of the world was just unlucky

Andy

[Sceptical]

Few pictures from the ongoing cold spell.

[SNOWING35]

This cold spell has been very underwhelming in Leeds. Yes it's cold but barely any snow and with an easterly that's frustrating. The weekend it goes with a whimper then mild and wet lol

[snowspotter]

Personally I’m loving these conditions . A cold continental feed sunny days some snow of the ground all powder snow temp sub zero . Why can’t we have more of it . Sure it’s not massive snow but it’s the best winter weather by far for me 

[damianslaw]

On 11/02/2021 at 09:44, Penrith Snow said:

I am rather glad this cold spell is coming to an end as all it’s given me is a massive heating bill.

Every night has been below -8c but with little snow, what’s the point, give me a bloody Bartlett and have done with it.

Given some of the excellent Synoptics this winter I have found the last 2 months incredibly frustrating, maybe my part of the world was just unlucky

Andy

 

Its reminded me of a shorter version of late Dec 2008 - early Jan 2009, similarly cold but mostly dry with very little snow. 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

It's been crap! was miles better from 28th Dec to 02 Jan, my favourite day though, Sun 24th Jan

[Penrith Snow]

20 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

 

Its reminded me of a shorter version of late Dec 2008 - early Jan 2009, similarly cold but mostly dry with very little snow. 

Ironically, east Cumbria had 8cms of snow on 7th January 2009 from a cold front moving south so I am aware it didn’t affect the Lake District.

In East Cumbria the last 4 weeks has been the most frustrating winter period since 2013.

Andy

[Freeze]

Personally I don't mind it this cold if it snows, but if it's not gonna snow then what's the point? Might aswell be mild 

[95 Degrees]

11 hours ago, Freeze said:

Personally I don't mind it this cold if it snows, but if it's not gonna snow then what's the point? Might aswell be mild 

No frost/ice either, even though it was -3c last night. Bring on Spring/Summer, it is much needed this year.

[Scorcher]

Interestingly we haven't managed an ice day here in this spell and at my local Met Office station (Rostherne) there hasn't been an ice day all winter. Today seemed to be the best chance but it reached 1.1C this afternoon.

It has generally been reaching 2C+ here in the afternoons. The chances of an ice day are almost certainly over for this winter now.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Scorcher

[SqueakheartLW]

Those dew points over England and Scotland in particular are impressive

[Snowyowl9]

Coldest February day since 1994 at -1.9c.

Very impressive last 3 days with bitter SEly flow and today it did snow and as soon as it landed it stuck or 

Drifted off everything and the surface has never been seen so dry,even dust is blowing with the snow.

Cold spell overall has been much more impressive than 2009 for consistent cold but a covering of snow this at most. 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Snowyowl9

[Sunny76]

18 hours ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

It's been crap! was miles better from 28th Dec to 02 Jan, my favourite day though, Sun 24th Jan

Yeah January 24th was better here, but more people further east have received the snow during February. 

[stodge]

Afternoon all

I suspect I'm going to be in a minority but I think this week's cold spell has been quite impressive.

I can understand the frustration if snow is all that matters to you - I live in lowland East London and we got probably 3 cm of lying snow so nothing remarkable. We've had a lot more snow in the not-too-distant past - 15cm in February 2009 and January 2013. Many people quote December 2010 and we got 10cm out of that. This week has been the largest amount of snow since March 2018 but in itself nothing remarkable.

What has been much more remarkable has been the longevity and severity of the cold. We've had seven days of freezing or near-freezing temperatures. I'm not sure how many of these have been ice days but I would guess five at a minimum. That's highly impressive for London - ice days are uncommon. I think we had one in the BFTE three years ago, certainly March 2013 (and that was incredible as that was a month later in mid March) and December 19th 2010.

The problem is large quantities of snow usually come from marginal events and it doesn't make much for that snow to melt once the margins go the other way. In December 2010, we lost 50% of the snow cover by the Monday. Those living in more rural areas or with altitude see the snow surviving longer.

This week we had two main snowfalls - Sunday/Monday and Wednesday/Thursday. Neither was large in accumulation but the snow cover was largely maintained - obviously we lose cover to evaporation or sublimation but it's not melted.

It's not melted because we've had this week of below freezing temperatures which is the longest sustained spell of cold I've experienced since moving to this part of the world in 2005.  I was living in Cornwall in late 1995 and I have a vague recollection of it being extremely cold but no snow. I also see from the records horse racing was stopped for the whole of the week from Boxing Day apart from Limerick suggesting it was a shade milder in my part of the world.

This has however been impressive - for an urban area to have not only seven days at or below freezing but also the severe nigh time minima which has meant standing water has frozen solid in situ. Temperatures to -5 or -6 aren't unusual in rural locations but they are in urban areas and the severity of the frost has been accentuated by the wind chill.

Overall, for snow amounts 3/10 - for longevity of snow 6/10 and for cold 9/10.

[damianslaw]

Cold wise a 6.5 out of 10, would have given it a 7 had we recorded an ice day. Despite nothing especially cold, mins only dropped to -4 degrees, a week of mean temps below 0 degrees is quite good going.

Snowfall wise a 2 out of 10, a dusting only and at no stage any heavy snow falling. We needed a trough feature and there were none.