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It must be cold - just seen two people walking down the street eating ice creams (seriously!)
-9/-10C 850s and pretty much thick overcast skies with very few breaks these last two days. Once again it shows that cold air masses aren't the sun-fests that everyone seems to think they are.
If there is one thing that easterlies are not in my opinion it is "sun-fests". Grey muck would be par for the course, or certainly for here.
I'm in Manchester on the other side of the Pennines and this one has seemed cloudier than a normal easterly. Even I've only seen about 10 minutes of sunshine today.
March 2013 was pretty dull here. And that was an easterly month. More western parts of NW England benefit more from an easterly in terms of sun. East Manchester tends to be just far enough east to have that dull North Sea effect.
I must admit this Cold Easterly has left me underwhelmed it did not even get to freezing here last night yet in Easterlies past it was always sub Zero day and night so all in all very disappointing...Roll on Spring now.
Not true. Easterlies are a rubbish wind direction and always have been. It’s the likes of 1987 and 1991 which are atypical of what this direction usually produces. Here’s an easterly set-up, very similar to this week’s, from February 1972: http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/ra/1972/Rrea00119720219.gif It gave maxes of 5C in both London and Manchester with minima of 3C: https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/file/sdb%3AdigitalFile%7C8ab31ee4-8fa7-4e44-9ce9-aaea77300757/ Here it was also 5C with some drizzle and no snow. Worse than the current easterly which has given a low of -1.5C, a max of 2.7C and 1cm of snow that melted by lunchtime. Lame and pathetic but typical of an easterly which is why I detest them. Really wish it was true that there had been none since 1997
Easterlies are the best chance I have for seeing some proper deep blue sky sunny weather. Today was cloudy though but in a nice, mellow, defused sort of way like you would see in a summer plume. Very dry too with the relatively low humidity zapping up any remaining moisture on the ground.
Although if you look at Nov/Desc 2010 which was East / North East, the whole country was in the freezer and there was a good lump of snow about.
All our classic cold spells like 2010 have one important element, and that's strong blocking in Greenland. I can't get excited about Scandi highs if there's not GH to support it to allow deep cold to filter down. This spell is case in point and it reminds me a lot of Feb/March 05 too.
Although if you look at Nov/Desc 2010 which was East / North East, the whole country was in the freezer and there was a good lump of snow about.All our classic cold spells like 2010 have one important element, and that's strong blocking in Greenland. I can't get excited about Scandi highs if there's not GH to support it to allow deep cold to filter down. This spell is case in point and it reminds me a lot of Feb/March 05 too.
Disagree. Perhaps you're being specific to your area, but for the many of the classic severe cold spells there wasn't a GH in sight - Jan 87 and Feb 91 to name but two.
The third revolting wet Saturday in a row
Look's like the front-loaded winter forecast was correct. The first half may have had pathetically little frost and snow but the second half has been even worse. Not only less frost and snow but there's been a ridiculous amount of rain over the last two weeks and dismal amounts of sunshine. Just 14.6 hours sun all month so far and almost 90mm since the 28th Jan
Truly dire outlook that will ensure this winter ends up with way less frost than even 2013/14. A sick joke. Only just made it to double digit count of frosts whereas even that horror show of relentless low pressure chalked up 17 air frosts. Also looks like every single week will return above average temperatures whereas in 2013/14 there were two colder than average weeks.
Worst winter I can remember just about sums it up. December was mind-numbingly boring, January was unbelievably frustrating with so many 0-1C minimum temperatures yet so little frost and February is the worst of the lot: an extremely unpleasant, vile and depressing month.
Almost certain now to beat the record of 4 years 1 month without a decent snowfall of 10cm+ (Jan 87 to Feb 91).
I agree with Tom that a Greenland High is generally required to get a decent cold spell. Those were very much the exceptions though I would only class Jan 1987 as severe.
The majority of easterlies produce rubbish like this. Most of the best snowy spells involve wind from the N or NE.
Have woken up to the thinnest smidge of snow this morning, as you may have seen in the Snow Reports thread. But I'm now officially done with keeping the heating on to prevent myself feeling cold and damp, roll on the 12 C under brighter skies by the middle of next week if some of the model outputs are to be believed.
I notice many British buy properties in the warmer climate countries but what about buying a property in USA or Canada then go and spend every winter there? You can buy it there on both country as it allowed and with 6 month visa stay you can go there from mid-Dec to mid-March. And having a property on standby if UK summer are poor to return back there to enjoy their hot thundery summer season. Would work well if you have a business and get well enough income to cover your long stay abroad. I am looking into this when I start my online business here which I would get 2-3 more than I get in Royal Fail. Now is not a right time to buy it there but when the dollars reach back to the levels before brexit then get it. It was over $2CAD and $1.65 USD before. I think some posters here have property in France? Still not bad as they get better summers and winters than here.
Skies must have cleared around dawn as the temp plummeted to a continental style -0.8c just after 8am.
Clear blue skies currently with super visibility.
I notice many British buy properties in the warmer climate countries but what about buying a property in USA or Canada then go and spend every winter there? You can buy it there on both country as it allowed and with 6 month visa stay you can go there from mid-Dec to mid-March.
As I understand it, the USA and Canada can get a bit funny if you repeatedly take long holidays each year there - alternating between the two and using something like Airbnb to rent a place for 3 months each time might be a better idea.
That said, when I retire I will be moving somewhere cold and snowy, although depending on visas etc that might just be somewhere hilly "up north". Canada would be better but unless you plan to start a business (and have $2M) or have immediate family you're pretty much out of luck.
I can all but gaurantee that should I move, Kent will see a repeat of the late 70s to early 90s period all over again. :P
(And it seems just getting a cm of snow on the ground is impossible here - it really has been a crummy set of winters recently).