Beast from the East 2021.Post-mortem.

[Summer18]

Close but no cigar 

[Bristawl Si]

Dry, cold but damned heating still needed to be on. Not a patch on end Feb/March 2018.; that BFTE was epic for around here, esp as it was so late in Winter.

[Lampostwatcher]

1 out of 10 

The snow we had 2 weeks before was a 6 out of 10

[Daniel*]

19 hours ago, ptow said:

Amazing stuff up in Scotland. Enjoy.

I wonder why these conditions have lead to a record cold night. The uppers are nothing special and its not been particularly prolonged. My guess would be the extreme snowfall coupled with the uppers. 

 

It’s not about the uppers for example the joint cold record of December 1995 of -27.2C was seen with uppers of -6C to -8C in Highlands, its much more complex than that. Deep snow cover is an essential aspect. 

[summer blizzard]

19 hours ago, ptow said:

Amazing stuff up in Scotland. Enjoy.

I wonder why these conditions have lead to a record cold night. The uppers are nothing special and its not been particularly prolonged. My guess would be the extreme snowfall coupled with the uppers. 

 

Depth does not really matter after about 10cm as that's enough to cover trees ect..

This was more the result of the winds backing SE and becoming light while there was snow cover. 2013 saw the Atlantic attack and 2018 was always windy, 2012 never had the widespread snowcover.

Edited February 12, 2021 by summer blizzard

[mountain shadow]

2 out 10 but only because I 'll get a couple of hours of heavy snow tomorrow as the Atlantic returns.

On the East coast of County Down, North Easterlies/Easterlies just don't deliver as the North sea convection does not make it over here and there is too short an Irish sea track for convection to be strong enough. Need an element of South Easterly to deliver here.

[danm]

Here on the north eastern edge of Greater London, overall I'd give this spell a 5 or 6/10. Snow depths haven't been anything special - we've had a full covering, but probably topped out at about an inch or so - mainly due to a partial melt each day, which has then topped up. On that basis alone it would be a 2 or 3/10. 

However, context is needed - we have had 4 to 5 consecutive days of falling snow, which is pretty uncommon in lowland England. Monday was -2c all day with continuous light to moderate powder snow, drifting in the wind - a rarity in this country and great to watch. We still have some snow on the ground today, mostly on grassy and permanently shaded areas now, but a lot still up the road in Epping Forest. Again, to have snow laying for 5 days straight in lowland England, especially the south, doesn't happen very often. 

If you asked me, would I prefer a heavy dump of 6 inches that then melts the next day or 5 straight days of very cold weather, snow falling each day, snow still laying on the ground but smaller accumulations, I'd take the latter all day long. 

The disappointment has been that only localised areas in the SE & EA have seen appreciable snow depths. The jackpots seem to be Ipswich, parts of N Norfolk, coastal/SE Essex and parts of Kent - all areas that are most exposed to the E/NE wind. Unfortunately, we didn't have deep convection kicking off that could have driven heavy snow showers far inland, so for the north and west of the South East region, this spell has probably been a 0/10. I'm probably somewhere in the middle.

Edited February 12, 2021 by danm

[Hammer50]

2 out of 10 here in Braintree 1 good day of snow fall then nothing to write about very disappointed ,roll on spring now unless winter wants to give us a decent amount like Scotland.

[Optimus Prime]

For lowland North Manchester

Snow - 2/10

Extremely dissapointing. Just a few days of isolated light snow showers which dissapeared due to sublimation. 

Cold - 5/10

It has felt bitter in the wind but there has been no ice days and nights were not especially cold. No visible frosts.

When i saw that cold sitting over Siberia in Feb / Jan i was anticipating a proper spell of wintry weather when the easterly did arrive. The outcome was extremely dissaponting.

Not a beast from the east here. 2018 was actually very good, even here in thr NW.

[lassie23]

didn't even manage a cm of snow here, it was mostly just snow blowing in the wind.

[HafrenLMP1]

Not a beast - though it might have been for parts of the East: a Beast for the East!

Snow 1/10: the odd flurry, but nothing really sticking. 

Cold 5/10: the wind made it feel cold, but otherwise nothing bone-chilling.

 

However, I'd still take this over the usual grey, mild, wind & rain dross!!

[Stu_London]

A notable cold spell but doesn't rank as one of the classics and I would not rate it as a beast. 

Plenty of snow in some parts of the south east but for my location and anywhere downwind of the North Downs the ppn struggled to maintain any intensity so we were feeding off scraps. That said we had 4 days where snow fell from the sky and my backyard still has a decent covering that looks like it could last up until Sunday, so that would be 7 days of lying snow, which for south east England is reasonable. 

Temperatures were reasonably impressive with most days in the spell around freezing or only just above, which is quite noteworthy.

Taking the winter as a whole and the UK as a whole, I think it has been fairly impressive with significant snow events in December, January and February in different parts of the country, with only a few areas missing out completely. With the models toying with another cold snap at the end of the month, there is a reasonably chance that the winter will be below average overall and more snowy than average, which if you are a cold weather enthusiast, you can't really complain about, even if it did not deliver to you personally. 

The big feature of the winter for me has been model watching - from the remarkable good verification around storm Bella (the best 10 day verification I have ever seen) to the model flip flopping and varied output in the lead up to this cold spell and it's breakdown, it has been an absorbing, exciting and often times frustrating experience, but a rollercoaster all the same. 

 

 

 

 

[Norrance]

9 out of 10 for me. At 20 mtrs asl and within a mile of the estuary I had 35 cms of snow and a min of under -11C. 
2010 probably beats it with longevity (50 days + cover), depth and cold with the bonus of a 12 hour thunder-snow event but this was more enjoyable with much less disruption. Does look as if my guttering is going to go unfortunately.

edit. Oops intended to post  a different second pic.

.

 

edit. Just to add it is not quite over yet. Snow showers overnight gave a slight new cover and there is one on now.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Norrance

[Guest]

9/10 for me here on Norfolk/Suffolk border. Not as wide spread as 2018 BFTE, but snowing as I type now. that's 6 days on the trot.6ft drifts, 5 Ice days  and a  Biting Easterly out there still, Put me in mind of an 80's spell. Great snow fix! A shame more folk couldn't join in.

[phil nw.]

I think how we rate it is very much down to where you live.

Snowfall amounts varied with a few unlucky locations seeing nothing.Against that though Scotland,many parts of east and se England done well or ok. Unfortunately it is ever thus that some sheltered inland an western locations are usually the least favoured in an easterly.

Without a trough forming and heading west or a channel low, many areas  rely on streamers,which as it turned it were the main features in delivering snowfall this time.

Here in central England i saw 4 days of snow showers but only ever had a bare covering.These almost exclusively from the Wash streamer.Personally  i rate it 6/10 and i can recall all the easterlies back to the early 60's.

I would still call it a beast certainly because i rate anything with sub -10c uppers a beast from the east.From that pov it was that alright.

[MIKE LEVITT]

far better in hull than 2018,that was a real non event.

[damianslaw]

Had snowier westerlies here! Very poor for snowfall, good for depth of cold but no ice days..

[damianslaw]

Just now, damianslaw said:

Had snowier westerlies here! Very poor for snowfall, good for depth of cold but no ice days..

Though may see one tomorrow.

[Snowman.]

If you asked to describe an average cold spell, this would be it. 

Few days of light to moderate snowfall with the last day being the best because of two heavy snow showers which gave an east 5cm. I saw snow for hours here but it just wasn’t that heavy which was a shame but it helped keep the snow cover for longer. 
 

Storm Darcy was a let down, she arrived late and the cold took too long to undercut because of it. Still delivered but we had a few more hours of heavy rain than originally meant too. 
 

However it proves once again that models are pretty awful with convection. 
 

6/10

[Chesil View]

How we rate this spell very much down to location as Phil NW has stated.

In my south Dorset location this has no comparison whatsoever to the Beast from the east back in 2018.

The current spell has seen all days with a maxima above 0c and a lowest minima of minus 3.5c and a couple of icing sugar dustings ( and that'sbeing generous) of snow.

The 2018 Beast at this location had four ice days with night time minima of -7.4 -9.2 ( a record for this station) -7.8 and -7.5 respectively plus 12 cms of snow and a freezing rain event. A different beast altogether.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Broadmayne blizzard

[Evening thunder]

The below is due to my location in a river valley, so we are a colder spot when it is clear and calm, and one of the warmest spots when it's windy or cloudy.

However, some fun stats:

My lowest min was -2.2C. This was the lowest min since.. the day before the easterly started! That frost also looked more 'wintry' than anything the easterly gave, due to the dry air.

I nearly had a minima as low in May 2019 (-1.8C).

The infamous stormy mild winter of 2013/14 had 6 minima lower than -2.2C here, 5 of them happening under westerly airflows between the weather fronts.

The max of 0.8C on Tuesday was fairly low for here. It's basically been cold and windy here. Sidmouth seafront looked pretty stormy on webcam at high tide this morning

Technically we've had 4 days of falling snow, if you managed to see the snow grains. A couple of thin "dustings" that looked like a patchy slight frost.

Not complaining as such, we don't typically do well in easterlies. Although we can, both 'beasts' in March 2018 saw several inches here, and Western Ireland looks to have got a good dollop yesterday, Britany got snow from a low too far south for us, and Ireland will get more tomorrow.

It been good for drying the ground out.. although that will change as soon as it turns less cold on Sunday when it pours with rain lol

Edited February 12, 2021 by Evening thunder

[Gowon]

Every BFTE is unique - whilst it didn't bring everyone snowfall, it did manage to freeze part of the Thames for the first in several years.

According to this resident, it's the first time they have seen this happen.

A spokesperson said "It's quite spectacular. I've lived here for 13-years and I've not seen this part of the river freeze like this."

Part of the River Thames freezes for first time in several years - CBBC Newsround

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

A section of the river froze in Teddington, south west London.

I don't remember seeing any report of frozen Thames from the last BFTE?

[Frosty_wsm]

2/10 here in the west country, nice cold days although that strong wind meant tot much of any ground frosts.

Some snow to the east of me, snow to the north of me, heck even some snow to the south west of me in Devon & Cornwall which did settle (saw a video clip from Truro) but apart from a few very slight snow flurries  this cold spell has been a complete bust in terms of decent snowfall. 

[mulzy]

Probably a 5/10 here in South West London.

It was cold (with a biting wind) including one ice day.

Snow albeit mostly light fell on four days which was nice to see.

The big disappointment was the snow depth which maxed out at 1.5cm.

Not a classic and will be forgotten if /when it snows heavily for a couple of hours here.

The chase was fun but the end result was underwhelming.

Best snowy months remain Feb 91, Feb 09, Dec 10, Jan 13 here in SW London.

Edited February 12, 2021 by mulzy

[stevofunnelcl]

0/10 for snow - nothing (to be expected at my location) - caught a couple bits of sleet in some precipitation, during the early hours of this AM)

5/10 for cold - it's been fairly bone chilling with that strong wind. The night of the 10th Feb, the wind chill outside was -9c

Very Dry... not much happened