UK Weather - Winter 2010/2011

[Simon Culling]

Further heavy snow overnight and into the morning of wednesday 1st December, with the worst affected areas being the East Midlands, NE England, East Scotland and SE london (Kent, Surrey + Sussex). The North Sea is relatively warm at this stage of the year and shower 'trains' have been forming and pushing inland giving snow to the same areas....rather like the lake effect snow that occurs over the Great Lakes in the USA. Many areas (more than half the country) have seen little or no snow, so the misery has not been shared around.

Reliable snow depth measurements include:

60cm at Bathgate (West Lothian)
44cm at Nunraw (Scottish Borders)
41cm at Sheffield
40cm at Kielder Castle (Northumberland)
32cm at Lincoln + Durham
17cm at Woldingham (Surrey) with 23cm on the North Downs above the town

TV pictures suggest up to 1m of snow has fallen in Northumberland and 60-80cm on the higher ground of the Peak District and the Pennines, above say 200m.

Very cold in the Glens of Scotland o/night with minimum temperatures of -21.1*C at Altnaharra, -16.8*C at Aviemore, -16.1*C at Dalwhinnie and -15.2*C at Loch Glascarnoch. Forecasters are predicting record minimums in this area in the next couple of nights, with lows of -25*C to -30*C expected.

[Richard]

Saw it on the news last night Simon,an amazing amount of snow.

The coldest temp ive experienced was -16 working in northern Southland and that was bad enough but -25C to -30C

[Simon Culling]

Wednesday was cold again across the UK with most places a degree or so either side of zero, but the Glens of Scotland were much colder. Being so far north (approx 58-59*N) they get little worthwile heat from the sun so are prone (in calm conditons) to being trapped in inversions, with very cold temperatures in the boundary layer. It doesnt take much of a breeze or some cloud cover to break up these inversions so they dont usually last for more than a couple of days at a time. The max temperature at Altnaharra was a bone chilling -11.5*C during wednesday (1st Dec) and at Aviemore a positively tropical -9.5*C!!! As a comparision, Wick Airport, on the coast, and only a few tens of miles away recorded a top temperature of +1.7*C. Over the UK thousands of schools have shut, even in areas with little or no snow, but not at Altnaharra....they are a bit tougher up there, obviously.

Not so cold here in Milton Keynes, but the mercury only struggled up to -1*C on wednesday, up from an overnight low of -4*C. Plenty of hazy sunshine, but a cold 10-15kt NE breeze and the snow of tuesday did not melt.

[Simon Culling]

Overnight wednesday/thursday (2nd/3rd) saw a lot of snow fall to the south of London, especially in Kent , Sussex and Surrey, with over a foot of dry powdery snow causing the predictable chaos for the transport network. For example, London Gatwick airport has been closed for nearly 2 days because of the snow. Further snow showers coming off the North Sea continued to pile up the snow in the same places. Reliable snow depths at 0900GMT include:

71cm at Bathgate (West Lothian) - its about halfway between Glasgow + Edinburgh
40cm at Orpington (Kent)
36cm at Woldingham (Surrey)
30cm at Horsham (W Sussex)
17cm at Southampton (Hampshire)
15cm at Brighton (W Sussex)

Maximum temperatues over most of the UK were again at zero and below, with -2.1*C at Shoreham on the south coast and -2.4*C at Kenley (GT London) as examples.

Altnaharra only managed to fall to -20.9*C by 0900GMT, but slipped to -21.2*C by 10hrs, although this will be the minimum for the 3rd, unless it drops lower tonight. The inversions held in the Scottish Highlands today (thursday 2nd Dec) with perishing maximum temperatures of -15.1*C at Altnaharra and -10.1*C at Loch Glascarnoch. (minimum was -16.2*C here). The inevitable film crew made it to Altnaharra today and it looks like a Siberian wilderness, with a very strange misty light....it just looks damn cold. There is plenty of snow on the ground, but all surfaces are covered in that feathery ice you see inside a freezer. The school had to shut today because of a power cut, not the cold weather.

We have had a little more snow today (thursday 2nd Dec) during the morning bringing the total up to 3cm, but its not melting and all the side roads and pavements are covered in compacted snow and ice. Cold again with a fresh NE wind and a max of only -1*C. Skies are clearing this evening, so it might be a tad nippy by dawn.

[Simon Culling]

Another very cold night last night (thursday/friday 2nd/3rd Dec), but the inversions broke in northern and western Scotland and the lower temperatures spread further east and south, with a large swathe of southern + eastern Scotland and northern + western England and Wales recording temperatures below -10*C. The SE of England was a little milder as low cloud persisted, but temperatures still fell to -5*C to -8*C.

The lowest I can find is -20.4*C at Braemar with -20.3*C at Kinbrace, but these occured earlier in the night. Some very low temperatures occured over England with the lowest reported so far being -19.5*C at Redesdale (Northumberland) and -17.9*C at RAF Leeming (Yorkshire), its lowest ever temperature in a record dating back to 1945. Other notable lows include -14.7*C at Woodford Aerodrome (Gt Mnachester) and -12.5*C at Credenhall (Herefordshire).

Bitterly cold today (friday 3rd Dec) over the south + east of England with max temps of -3*C to -5*C with low status and mist/fog, but a front is sweeping in from the Atlantic bringing milder air for a while, but the rain + snow will fall on frozen ground tonight giving a lot of ice on the roads. After further rain in the south on saturday night (GFS suggests up to 30mm), which might produce flooding when combined with the melting of the 20-30cm of snow on the ground in this area, it is back to colder northerly winds, with sunny and cold days and frosty nights.

[Simon Culling]

As I said in the last post, a cold + dull day here today with a max temperature of -3*C so the snow has compacted to a solid sheet over the roads and pavements making it very slippery underfoot.....A+E departments have reported a surge in broken bones in this cold snap. I have attached a photo taken at 3.30pm today (Friday 3rd Dec) of a street near me to show what just 3cm of snow can become if it remains below zero.....normally such an amount of snow would quickly melt on the roads etc, but not when the temperature remains below zero - it just compacts into hard, shiny and slippery surface. 3cm of dry snow would equate to approx 1.5mm of ppt.

[Manukau heads obs]

was talking to someone who has just come back from europe just as the cold snap started
they said alot of countries had a very dry autumn....this snow will be good at least for recharging ground moisture once it melts

[Simon Culling]

Brain, I'm not sure about Europe, but here in the UK the autum season (Sept, Oct + Nov) has been slightly wetter than average (approx 2%), but it has been generally dry (in England + Wales) for getting on for two years, and more importantly the last two winters (when ground water gets topped up) have been a little dry. The cumulative effect takes this long to have an impact, and a third dry winter (over England + Wales) might mean some forms of water restriction in the summer of 2011.

The milder air is well on its way (temporarily) with the temp at 9pm in Milton Keynes up to -2*C from a teatime low of -5*C. A spell of wet snow looks possible before midnight, then maybe turning to rain as it clears. At Shoreham (West Sussex) on the south coast of England the temperature rose from -7.4*C at 8pm to +3.6*C at 9pm as the wind went from a 1mph NW drift to a fresh 17mph SSW (off the sea).

[Simon Culling]

Slight thaw in the south over the weekend, but cold again by sunday (5th) evening and no relief for the north. Rain spread across the south on saturday with temperatures up to 5-8*C and much of the lying snow has melted south of the Midlands. Next week will be quiet, cold, frosty + foggy with some low temperatures at night, but some welcome sunshine during the short days.

Wet (and heavy) snow spread over Milton Keynes on friday evening, with 4cm falling in half an hour (giving a total of 6cm on the ground) before turning to rain and most of the snow melted thru saturday. Today, sunday, has been cold and foggy although it did clear at 1pm to give an hour or so of sunshine. Frosty again by 4pm after a day max of just 2*C.

The slightly milder weather has brought its problems, see link + watch the video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-11911326

[Simon Culling]

An exceptionally cold day over the Yorkshire area today (monday 6th Dec) as a slack northerly flow stagnated and much of England + Wales were shrouded in freezing fog all day. A narrow frontal band moving south over Scotland + N Ireland gave between 10-20cm more snow in the central lowlands, bringing traffic chaos to the City of Glasgow.

Overnight temperatures fell to -18.0*C at Toplcliffe, -16.7*C at Linton-on-Ouse and -15.9*C at Church Fenton all in North Yorkdhire, with daytime highs of just -7.1*C at Topcliffe, -5.6*C at Linton-on-Ouse and also -7.1*C at Church Fenton. Even colder was the RAF station at Disforth (also N Yorks) with a max of only -7.5*C after an o/night low of -14.3*C. All these places reported thick freezing fog all day.

Freezing fog all day here in Milton Keynes, with a positively tropical max of -2*C.

[Manukau heads obs]

and people complain about the winters here....

[Simon Culling]

Another bitterly cold day over much of the UK today (tuesday 7th December), with the lowest temperatures over the snowfields of southern Scotland and in the fog in eastern England. In Glasgow the mercury didnt climb above -5.2*C today despite it being sunny all day and no higher than -4.8*C in Edinburgh. Overnight, the temperature fell to -16.7*C at nearby Strathallan. Numerous drivers were stranded overnight monday into tuesday as the road network in central Scotland became gridlocked. Not pleasent when the temperature falls to below -15*C.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11924238

Further south the coldest spots were across the central belt from Lincolnshire to Birmingham to Wales, with overnight lows of -15.6*C at RAF Scampton (Lincs), -12.1*C at RAF Coningsby and -9.6*C at Credenhill (Hereford), with the daytime highs at these places being -7.4*C at Scampton, -5.7*C at Coningsby and -4.0*C at Credenhill. Freezing fog persisted in these locations.

Here in Milton Keynes it dawned at -8*C in freezing fog, but this soon cleared to give us a cold sunny day with a brief afternoon max of -1*C. It was like a christmas card scene this morning when the sun came up with everything coated in silvery white hoar frost and rime. Sadly I leave for and get home from work in the dark at this time of the year, so I was unable to get any snaps.

[Andy]

Sounds cold Simon, thanks for your posts.

Here is a pic from winter last year.

[Simon Culling]

Hello Andy. The countryside around Milton Keynes looked just like your photo on tuesday 7th Dec....its a pity I wasnt able to get any photos due to work commitments. It looked really stunning with literally everything coated in hoar frost and rime, some of it up to a centimetre thick.

Wednesday (8th Dec) was the last of the really cold days with the coldest area being the NW of England and southern Scotland this time, with a day maximum of only -7.9*C at Carlisle (Cumbria), up from a morning minimum of -14.6*C. Strathallan, in Perthshire fell to -17.9*C, as did Shap Fell in Cumbria.

It gradually become a little milder after this, but the snow only melted in the southern half of England, and by Sunday (12th) things turned colder again with little more snowmelt now for the north. The models are ringing alarm bells for this thursday (16th Dec) when an 'Arctic' front will sweep south across the UK introducing very cold winds from the North Pole and a short lived but quite heavy spell of snow that will doubtlessly cripple the road network. The last time one of these types of fronts passed thru (in Jan 2004) we had thundersnow here in Milton Keynes and 6cm of snow in less than an hour, with the temperature dropping from 4*C to -3*C in the same period....which just happened to be the evening rush hour. Many people took 4-6 hours to get home on journeys that would normally take 30 minutes.

Here in Milton Keynes the mildest day was Saturday (11th Dec) when we reached the dizzy heights og 8*C....I even played a couple of games of cricket...indoors of course. Cooler on Sunday and today with the afternoon temperatures down to 5*C after slight frosts overnight. The cooling trend is set to continue into next week with signs of an easterly picking up in the lead up to Christmas, although the ensembles suggest a change to milder weather from the SW around Christmas Day.

[Simon Culling]

The 'Arctic' front duly swept south yesterday (thursday 16th Dec) across the whole of the UK introducing cold polar air, but the front wasn't a classic because the surface and upper trough were not quite together, but it did give a sprinkling of snow to most parts and a plunge in temperatures of 5-7*C to below freezing. The air behind the front is coming direct from the Arctic, with the 504dam line pover the Shetland Isles and the 522dam line down at the south coast of England.

Last night (16th/17th) as the front was clearing the rain turned to snow and the wet roads and paths soon began to turn to cie and it became clear and cold overnight in Milton Keynes with the temperature down to -5*C with a moderate NW breeze giving a pentrating frost. Only up to -1*C this afternoon (friday 17th) with about half a cm of snow so far, but the local roads remain very icy. The models are struggling with this weekend as they cannot decide where two low pressures are going (one each for Sat + Sun), but wherever they go, all of the ppt over this area is going to be snow.

[Simon Culling]

Friday (17th Dec) was very cold and sub zero over much of the UK with frequent heavy snow showers in Northern Scotland and much of N Ireland and in Wales. Northern Ireland was particularly badly hit with 25cm in the capital Belfast and reports of 50cm level snow in the surrounding countryside.

Saturday has seen heavy snow move across southern England and again Wales with 10-20cm reorted widely and up to 28cm in Oxfordshire.

Northern Ireland was particularly cold today (Saturday 18th) over the deep snow, with a daytime max temperature of an incredible -11.0*C at Castelderg (only 49m amsl) and not in fog according to the hourly obsevations. Its overnight low was -13.7*C and it is down to -16*C this evening. Other sites in N Ireland were also cold, with max temps of -5.9*C at St Angelo and -4.5*C at Ballykelly. Belfast, still plagued by snow showers, was milder at -1.0*C.

Parts of Norfolk were also very cold overnight Fri/Sat (17th)/18th) due to the combination of 5-10cm of fresh powdery snow, no cloud and light winds but it only affected the east of the county. The temperature fell to a bone chilling -17.2*C at Buxton, -14.6*C at Calthorpe and -14.4*C at Norwich Airport.

[Simon Culling]

Heavy snow came to Milton Keynes today (Saturday 18th Dec) with 10cm falling between 2pm and 4pm, with the total depth reaching 16cm by 9pm when the clouds cleared and the temperature started to plummet. The day max was -1*C after an overnight low of -7*C.

The first phot shows the heavy falling snow at the start of the snow and the last photo, whilst rather fuzzy, was taking in moderate snow and blowing snow with a 15-25mph wind and a temperature of -2*C. The visibility was between 200m and 300m.

[issa]

Thank you my friend with the news

Please take care and caution

We have in the Arabian Gulf rainfall rate very few

Thank you Simon Culling

[Simon Culling]

Sunday (19th Dec) was another bitterly cold day across the UK with the heavy snow switching to southern Scotland and NE England, with 20cm+ in the Edinburgh area. The rest of the UK was mostly dry but cold (many places still below freezing since thursday evening) and misty with some hazy sunshine. Very low temperatures in the Welsh Marches - the border area between England + Wales with o/night lows (Sat/Sun) of -19.6*C at Shawbury (Shropshire) and -19.5*C at Pershore (Throckmorton Airfield - Worcestershire). Daytime maxes at these locations on Sunday were a chilly -8.2*C at Pershore and -6.5*C at Shawbury.

Here in Milton Keynes, local stations recorded between -12*C and -16*C on Sunday morning, but we did lift to a high of -2*C, but only a little hazy sunshine through the mist and high cloud. The Met Office site at Woburn recorded a max/min of -2.3*C/-15.1*C. The temperature has been below freezing constantly since 7pm on thursday (16th Dec) evening.

[Simon Culling]

Hello Issa, I see that on Sunday 19th Dec it was sunny and 27*C in Oman. Not so here in England......its bloody freezing. A few more photos from a walk in the snow yesterday (Sunday). Unfortunately it was cloudy so they do not show the snow in all its glory. Snow depth was 14cm (due to compaction) at home, but in the village of Loughton (where the third picture was taken) it was 16-17cm.

[Simon Culling]

Monday (20th) continued the cold regime with the SE of the UK and NW keeping the clearer skies.....radiational cooling of the stagnated polar air has been phenominal in this area with many sites having 5 or more days in a row below -10*C at night, some in places that we wouldn't normally expect to get this cold.

Lowest temps o/night into monday were -19.6*C at Chesham (a frost hollow to the NW of London in the Chiltern Hills), -18.7*C at Pershore (Worcestershire) and -16.3*C at Woburn (not far from me). Castelderg in N Ireland recorded a minimum of -18.0*C, the lowest temperature on record for the country. It was sub -12*C here in Milton Keynes and didnt get above -4*C all day...and it was cloudy with a few snow showers.

Day maxes were low again in Wales and the NW og England, with the coldest spot being Capel Curig in Snowdonia, with a ma temp of -8.6*C after an o/night low of -17.5*C

All this cold is begining to grind the country down. There is no footy and we were thrashed by the Aussies. It cant get much worse.

[Simon Culling]

The really low temperatures shifted north into Scotland on tuesday (21st Dec) as cloud and some light snow spread into the southern half of the England. In the SE of England the mercury struggled up to 1-2*C to give a slight thaw, but its not reached elsewhere. N Ireland remained very cold and dry with Katesbridge having a max/min of -8.7*C/-17.8*C. The city of Belfast was only a little less cold with figures of -7.7*C/-13.1*C, but at least it was sunny.

Scotland saw the lowest temperatures in the famous Glens where the air can get trapped and get very cold if the wind doesn't pick up. Our old friend Altnaharra fell to -15.2*C by 9am (from only -6.4*C at midnight) but failed to rise above -11.3*C during the day and was down to -18.7*C by 2200GMT. Fyvie Castle in Grampian had figures of -10.4*C/-15.8*C as its max/mins. Could be some very low mins in the next couple of nights.

Here in Milton Keynes it was another cloudy cheerless day with occassional snow grains and a max of -1*C although it did briefly make 0*C in the evening. O/night low was a 'mild' -5*C. The models are hinting at an attempt at a warm up post Christmas, but it keeps being shunted back each day. We really do need a break form the cold now.

[Richard]

I feel for you Simon having to put up with all that cold and for such a long time too,then to be thrashed by the Aussies as well and your lot were looking so good in the first test too. Bloody Ozies

[jrj]

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/second ... nevermind/

[Manukau heads obs]

didnt the computer models predict some places would get more snow from global warming?