UK Weather - Winter 2012/13

[Orion]

Beautiful frost. It would have been nice to have that glimpse of sunlight on such a bitter day.

[Simon Culling]

Hello Orion, it was the only glimpse of sunshine today (Thurs 17th Jan) and the temperature only just reached 0*C in the afternoon because of the cloud cover. We have had a dusting of snow this evening, but the Met Office is predicting 10-15cm tomorrow and falling during the daytime, so the drive home could be fun! The snow is expected to turn showery over the weekend and the daytime temperatures will struggle to get much above zero. Also the easterly wind will pick up making it feel even colder.

[Orion]

I shall follow the weather's progress with interest.

[Simon Culling]

The snow arrived yesterday (Friday 18th Jan) as per the Met Office forecast and mainly affected western and central parts of the UK with up to 25-30cm in the south Wales hills (the 'Valleys' as they are known - old coal mining region). It was a cold day in most parts (particularly central England) with some low maximum temperatures:

-2.7*C at Stowe (Buckinghamshire)
-2.4*C at Little Rissington (Glos) + Northampton Moulton Park
-1.9*C at Woburn (Bedfordshire)
-1.4*C at Brize Norton (Oxon) + Bedford + Rothamstead.

Here in Milton Keynes the snow started at 9am and continued through the day into the evening, but most of it was light or light-moderate....no heavy snow here. Level depth of the very powdery snow was 9cm at 18:00 and the maximum temperature was -2*C. The roads were very slippery on the evening drive home, but most people had panicked and left work at lunchtime.....it never ceases to amaze me how such a tiny amount of snow almost brings us to our knees. Lets hope we do not ever get a repeat of the winters of 1947 and 1962/1963!

A few photos to follow when I have worked out how to set up the gallery in windows 8......its very different.

[Simon Culling]

As threatened, I have attached a few photos from Friday 18th when the snow was falling. The first two were taken on the journey home at around 4:40pm and the third when it was dark...at approx. 6:30pm. Snow depth was 9cm at this time and the weather was light snow with a 10kt ESE breeze at -3*C.

[Richard]

How much more snow is due Simon

[Orion]

Very cold: what were the minimum temperatures for the day?

[Simon Culling]

Richard, 9cm fell on Friday here in Milton Keynes and just a few flurries on Saturday, but today (Sunday 20th Jan) it has been snowing lightly all day with a max temp of -1*C. The snow from Friday had compacted to 6cm level depth at 9am this morning, but this evening (at 6pm) it is back up to 11cm. That should be just about it for today, with just a few flurries this evening. The week ahead will remain cold (so the snow will not thaw) but there does not appear to be much new snow in the offing.

Orion, the overnight lows have only been in the range -3*C to -5*C because it has remained cloudy throughout this cold weather. We last saw the sun on Tuesday the 15th and there is not much on offer for the coming week...it will remain cold and cloudy. I took some more photos this afternoon (on a crappy digital) which I will post later on.

[jamie]

I had a brother inlaw fly back to London where he lives after a holiday here. He left on Friday night our time and landed in London early thismorning our time. He was a bit worried he might get stuck in Hong Kong.

Yes windows 8 is very different isnt it. Im not sure if i hate it because i dont know it well enough yet or if its just plain hard and no one likes it.

[Simon Culling]

It has continued cold for the last few days and cloudy....we last saw sunshine on Tuesday 15th January....that's 9 days ago. We might be lucky to see a little hazy sunshine tomorrow before the next band of snow arrives. However, milder and more changeable weather will follow from Saturday and at least this will offer the possibility of days with sunshine and showers...more mobility in the flow. Because of the cloud, we have only seen o/night temperatures in the range of -1*C to -3*C, but on Tuesday morning (22nd Jan) the cloud did clear in E Anglia and the SE of England to give mins of:

-12.2*C at Cambridge NIAB
-11.1*C at Andrewsfield Aerodrome (Essex)
-10.3*C at RAF Marham (Norfolk)

A couple of reliable amateur stations recorded -15.1*C at Chipstead Valley (Surrey) and -12.8*C at Chesham. These are both well known frost hollows.

Three photos taken during the light snow mid afternoon on Sunday (20th Jan) when it was very dreary and cloudy and at -1*C.

[Simon Culling]

The weather has finally turned milder today (Sat 26th) as the jet stream manages to push the high pressure block over Scandinavia away to the SE. As you can see from the chart attached (courtesy of the Met Office), there is a rather deep depression in the Atlantic at present.....the map is for 1800GMT on Sat 26th Jan.

CET is currently 2.9*C (-0.8*C) up to the 25th, but will rise from now on. EWR is only 40mm up to the 24th but will also rise quickly as band after band of rain sweeps in over the rest of the month. Would not be surprised if it got close to the average of 91mm.

On the plus side, we saw the sunshine for 3 hours this morning after the o/night rain/sleet/snow/ice pellets cleared away for the first time since Tuesday 15th...i.e. 11 days

[Richard]

wow 11 days with out the sun,thats a long time.

[Simon Culling]

Yes Richard, 11 days without any sunshine is a long time even for the UK.

CET for January came in at 3.5*C (-0.3*C) and the EWR 90mm which is 99% of average. Well over half the rain fell in the last 10 days of the month.

it was cold and sunny today (Saturday 2nd Feb) with a max of just 5*C and a moderate NW breeze after an early nip of frost. The week ahead will see the winds turn towards the north which will mean a return of the cold and snow.

[Simon Culling]

CET for February up to the 8th is 4.1*C (-0.3*C) and the EWR up to the 7th is 11mm. The average for February is 65mm.

it has been a cool start to February with a few wintry showers and early nips of frost. Today (Sat 9th) was a cold and cloudy day (max 3*C) with some snow this morning, although it did not settle. Interesting developments are expected tomorrow, especially into the evening for eastern and midland counties of England with an area of rain moving eastwards into the cold air and turning to heavy wet snow. It is one of those knife edge situations where we could either get a lot of rain or a decent covering of snow. it will depend on how quickly the low pressure moves SE across Eire and Wales and how much of the colder air over the nearby continent is advected into England during Sunday evening. Beyond that, it looks like being another coldish week with a bit more sleet and snow at times.

Good result for England in the first TwentyTwenty in Auckland....nice stadium by the way.

[Simon Culling]

Sunday (10th) was a wet and miserable day with a max temp of just 4*C and on the way back from net practice (3:30pm) large blobs of sleet were peppering the windscreen. During the evening the sleet turned to snow and by the Monday morning we had 9cm of wet snow on the ground and covering everything. The trees were beautifully covered, but the weight snapped off some of the smaller branches....there were two on my car. The roads were covered in slushy snow, which is particularly slippery making for a slow drive to work.

Monday was cold and cloudy with light snow at times, but not adding to the depth and the max temp in Milton Keynes was about 0.5*C. Max temps at Met Office sites were (lowest at higher elevations):

-1.1*C at Lake Vrynwy (mid Wales.....the min was -1.4*C giving a daily range of just 0.3*C)
-0.8*C at Pennerley (Staffs.....the min was -1.3*C givivg a daily range of just 0.5*C)
-0.1*C at Little Rissington (Glos) + High Wycombe (Bucks)
0.2*C at Stowe (Northants)
0.7*C at Woburn (Beds) and 0.9*C at Bedford

A few photos from Monday morning....it was only half light so images not brilliant.

[Simon Culling]

The weather remained cold for a couple more days but milder air spread in from the west on Weds 13th preceded by some snow and freezing rain. It has been milder since then, but with some overnight frosts, We have just enjoyed two sunny days in a row (Mon + Tues 18th/19th) which has been very well received, although there was a sharp frost on Tuesday morning with some freezing fog for a while. A high pressure has become established over Scandinavia and this has introduced colder weather today (Weds 20th Feb) with more cloud and a max of just 4*C. It looks like it will remain cloudy thru the weekend with a few snow flurries and a nagging east wind. Not a pleasant end to the winter.

CET for Feb up to the 19th is 3.8*C (+0.2) which is surprising as most of the month has been rather cold. The Met Office CET figures seem to record on the high side compared to the old Manley series which started in 1659 and is still updated by an 'unofficial' source. EWR up to the 18th is 46mm, which is just about on the curve, although little ppt looks to be on the cards for the rest of the month.

[Simon Culling]

The remainder of February was cold and cloudy with a little light snow and virtually no sunshine. This appears to have been a very dull winter...I will have to check the figures.

CET for the month of February finished at 3.2*C (-0.6*C) and the EWR was only 48mm, just 74% of the average. This was the first drier than average month since May 2012.

[Simon Culling]

CET for the winter months came out at 3.8*C, which is -0.3*C compared to the average for 1961 to 1990.

EWR was 316mm, which is 125% of the average.

So a colder and wetter winter than the average!

[Simon Culling]

The Met Office produce a myriad of figures for the four constituent countries of the UK and also by region (and these differ from the CET) for the winter of 2102/13, i.e. Dec, Jan + Feb.

Again compared to the 1961-1990 (which they claim is still the WMO preferred benchmark period), this gives:

For the UK, average temperature 3.3*C (0.0*C), Rainfall 346.7mm (113%) and sunshine 164.7hrs (111%).

For England + Wales, average temperature 3.7*C (0.0), Rainfall 300.2mm (120%), sunshine 174.5hrs (110%)

I am struggling to see how we got above average sunshine in these three months, but I think there may have been a regional split with the SE dull and the NW brighter....no individual figures available to tell.

[Tim S]

Hi Simon

Just wondering if you would know (or know where I could find) what the minimum temp the Towcester region would have been in the past 3-4 years. My father in law claims he recorded a -18C 'a couple of winters back' but cant recall exactly when. Sounds like an exaggeration to me but wanted to check.

Cheers Tim

[Simon Culling]

Hello Tim. I would suggest that a temperature of -18*C in the Towcester area was possible. During December 2010 we had some very cold weather and the coldest morning in this region appears to have been Monday 20th December. The Met Office weather sites near Towcester (Stowe, Northampton and Woburn) are classified as climate stations and generally speaking figures are not made available for public consumption and we no longer have monthly statistics published equivalent to those produced by NIWA - and we keep hearing about progress!

The lowest temperatures I can find for the south Midlands on this date are -19.6*C at Chesham (in Buckinghamshire), -18.7*C at Pershore (Throckmorton Airfield, in Worcestershire) and -16.3*C at Woburn (in Buckinghamshire).

Depending on the site of the observation, a figure of -18*C seems possible.

The lowest temperatures for official sites in this general area are between -20*C to -23*C in previous winters.

[Tim S]

Thanks for your reply Simon, so seems as my father-in-law wasn't exaggerating after all then. Surprised as I didn't think it could get that cold around there but it obviously does.