Winter Wonderland!

Overnight the snow gods duly delivered here in Kent, I had a sneak peek out of the window at 4am and saw I had a covering and thats all I thought I was getting, how wrong was I!

Its been snowing continuously since I got up at 7.30am and the forecast is for yet more later on today, I have to say that this event has exceeded my expectations and was certainly worth waiting for.

There is a good probability now that a breakdown in the cold is on the cards for next week but don't expect it to be mild, just less cold, the country after-all has been frozen for some 10 days and that it will take time for milder air to win through.
I mentioned in a previous blog if this unusual, extreme early spell of winter is the harshest we will have during the winter of 2010/11? I certainly don't know but its worth remembering that the official start of winter is not until tomorrow, we are still in Autumn!




As a cold weather fan I can't join the naysayers in their pessimism of what Dec, Jan and Feb may hold, I do think though that If you've put some hard earned cash on a white Christmas then you have most certainly lost your money!

Tonights the night!

Well finally we are going to get snow tonight, it's due to start snowing anytime now and should last all night giving some good accumulations, especially on higher ground.
So if you're travelling tomorrow check the travel advice and stay safe and warm!
Ciao


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It's almost here!

I'm confident now that the SE will see some decent snow over the next 3/5 days with significant accumulations possible in favoured locations.
A few light flurries have arrived this evening and things are going to turn really interesting in the coming days!


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Brrrrrrrr!

Recorded minus 7.7 last night and only missed my first ice day by 0.1C! Congratulations to Gav in Rochester who got his one and only notable weather stat with an ice day (just)
Today was slightly warmer during the day and as I now cloud cover temps won't be as low tonight.
The forecast is to remain very cold this week with perhaps widespread snow for the south and south east.

My car at 22.15, temp then was -4


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Brrrrrr!

As most of the country comes to terms with the recent snows the lucky ones are preparing for much more.
What about us here? Well it's very very cold which is the main ingredient but largely dry.
Snow showers could pop up at any time but I'd be surprised if we got any more than a slight dusting over the next 2-3 days.
Still, with the forecasting models not great for Kent I'm remaining optimistic, esp toward the end of the working week...

A timely reminder that its still Autumn!


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Jack's back!

Yep, Jack Frost returned last night and he was in a serious mood! Recorded a low of -5.5 and the rate at which the temperature dropped after sundown was amazing!



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Winter arrives

The earliest widespread snowfall in 17 years hit Scotland and NE England today bringing the usual disruption that can only happen in the UK!
So far Kent has been dry due to the North Westerly winds keeping any showers from penetrating inland, but this could change with the wind forecast to
swing to a NE direction tomorrow although my view is that we would be lucky to see any lying snow this weekend.
But at this stage there is moderate confidence that a low pressure system currently in the Bay of Biscay may bring widespread heavy snow to the south early next week, but, as we know, that is a long way off in meteorological terms.
So the cold is set to last for another 7-10 days, a warm-up is inevitable at some point but current Synoptics favour a re-load of colder conditions pretty soon after!
Interesting times await...


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Winter set to arrive....in style.

As I write this blog much colder air is seeping down from the north east and is set to intensify over the next 5 days or so bringing increased snow risk to south East England as we head toward the weekend....but it doesn't end there.
Another low dragging even colder air with it threatens to deliver widespread snow to even lower levels in all parts of the south and it could, very possibly, snow right through until Tuesday of next week bringing widespread chaos and disruption.
Biblical? Epic? For some, very possible. Question is, will this be our only shot at snow this winter?

Surely this map is the Holy Grail of winter!


Map shows possible snow coverage.


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Snow for some, severe cold for all..

It's nailed on now that the UK is going to get a serious taste of winter, just three short weeks after achieving 19 degrees. How things can change!
The question is, as always, where will the snow fall? In my mind there is no doubt that parts of the country will have significant accumulations and others nothing,... you feeling lucky (punk)?
As we are a small maritime country, minor changes in the jet, trajectory of shortwaves and the position of the atlantic lows can have a massive affect on where the flakes fall, but, and take the warning.. It's going to turn bitterly cold with severe overnight frosts and possible 'ice days'
So, to sum up, for cold lovers the future's bright, the future's


White?

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Winter in waiting?

It now looks odds on that a change to much colder weather is on it's way, obviously British Gas employ their own, clearly very good weather geeks, and have put their gas prices up!
Anyway the question is "will it snow"? my view is that it is unlikely although east Coastal areas stand a better chance but any snow in Kent or Essex will be of flurries only, but I would love to be proved wrong!
The map below is what's called a 'Cobra' run but I won't explain that yet...


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Fog and Frost

After tomorrows low pressure system has dumped it's rain over southern Britain the weather looks to be moving from typical Autumn to unusual early winter.
Frost and fog will feature strongly from this weekend with some tantalising prospects for cold weather fans after that. Stay tuned!


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Rememberance Sunday

Dark, dank, wet and miserable day as the dreary zonal weather continues, not the best of days for the Cenotaph ceremony.
Still, looking at the height anomaly charts things could become very interesting soon.


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The morning after the day before!

The deep low certainly caused a few problems yesterday, wind speeds of 50-60 mph caused structural damage and traffic chaos with the closure of the Dartford bridge.
Today should be much quieter before more rain showers at the weekend. Interesting stuff.


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Atlantic Attacks!

After a quiet and cold day yesterday, today see's a deep low move west to east bringing strong winds and lots of rain.
Height rises over Greenland hint at a change to drier and colder conditions in a week or two, but with an Atlantic loaded with energy as it often is in November will the cold win out?


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Proper Autumn

Very wet and windy for the forseable, autumn always brings the most diverse weather, and no end in sight for at least two weeks according to medium range forecasts.


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The best winter pastime?

When will the serious sport of lamp post watching start??
Probably this weekend on the hills of northern Scotland, but for us soft (shandy drinking) southerners all we have to look forward to in the short term is gale force winds and lashings and I mean lashings, of cold November rain!


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That's more like it

After double digit nights, the temperature has dropped to what you'd expect for a November evening. This photo of Matt's car was taken at 10pm at Asda Swanley when just below 3 degrees


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Bonfire night

The weather was mild, the breeze had gone and as did the rain. Warmest bonfire night I can remember@ 15 odd degrees!


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Leaves

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Location:Chequers pub

Crazy British weather

It's probably not often that you can walk about in just a t shirt in November, considering we hit -3.2 a few weeks back today it's 18 degrees! Lots of nice colour on the tree tho and the leaves have really dropped in the last few days. Been very windy today which probably helps!


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