Winter 2009 / 2010 in Western Europe?

[martinastro]

UKww Weather watch for Heavy snow in the North / Heavy rain in the South

Issued Tuesday 23/02/2010 0830GMT

Areas affected by Watch -  Wales, N England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, S England

Valid from: 1200GMT Tuesday 23rd February - 1800GMT Thursday
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General evolution: 
At 00Z Tues a 966hPa low lies approx 800 miles west south west of Ireland with associated warm and occluded fronts extending eastwards across to the south coast of England. These fronts are forecast to move northwards to lie across central parts of the UK during the forecast period bringing some milder air and potentially heavy rain into southern regions whilst introducing a risk of some moderate / heavy snow to the north as it hits the cold air in place there.

Forecast:
An area of rain currently sitting in a line stretching from southern parts of Ireland down through Cornwall is making progress north eastwards and is forecast this afternoon to turn to snow across inland parts of Wales - though more likely to be of sleet / rain around the coasts. Snow here may become moderate as the day goes on with accumulations of 2-5cm on low ground, but with up to 5-10cm across the higher ground. Meanwhile, further to the south the precip is likely to all be of rain - some of which could be heavy.

As we enter the evening hours, we expect the area of precip over Wales to continue to push north eastwards with a period of snow developing quite widely over N.England and N.Ireland. The snow becoming moderate to heavy in places and likely to fall for much of the night with 2-5cm quite widely on low ground, but with 5-10cm across higher ground and potentially 15cm across the Pennines.

By tomorrow lunchtime, the occluded front will be likely to be sitting in a line from N Ireland across to the far north of England with milder air to the south. The snow will continue to push further north to lie over central parts of Scotland with some further moderate snowfall here. 2-5cm at low levels in Southern Scotland, but with up to 10-20cm across the higher ground there. Some snow continuing in N England whilst in N Ireland the snow may start to turn more to rain / sleet in the south and east of the provence.

Relatively milder air in place across southern parts of the UK has the potential to produce some heavy rainfall with possibly up to 20-30mm of rain falling across southern counties with the risk of some heavy rain especially in showers which may be of hail too. Further heavier rain may develop again by Thursday. Driving conditions may be difficult, listen to local radio for updates.

UKww will monitor this Warning and update it if necessary.

Issued by GL/DJW for UKww, 0830z 23/02/2010

Dave Wiseman
UKww Executive/C & M Manager/Warnings team

[markt]

The band of preciptation from this has just passed through here, mostly snow, some sleet - however none settled and melted as soon as they hit surfaces.   I'm close to our local snowline - for weeks now its sat at around 200m asl - the snow on the hills and heathland has been around unmelted for quite some time now.  I'm at roughly 170m asl, so unfortunately for me it's been close but no banana...

[martinastro]

Light snow falling over Maghera now, should get interesting later

[paulster78]

Has been snowing lightly here since 8:00pm but its more or less blowing around in the wind and there is very little accumulations so far.

[martinastro]

Same thing here Paul, snowing since 19.15 with just a few white patches of dust in places, nothing seems to be staying, it feels way too mild. The Met Office and BBC will get egg on their face if nothing lays from this. Things could change later tonight though....

[paulster78]

I hope so but its a very weak looking band of precipitation from the radar, it may intensify as the low moves closer.  (notice I say precipitation)

[jjb]

Light snow here will see what the morning brings.

[martinastro]

Very disappointing here, snowing lightly but still not laying on the ground, unless things intensify later this could be a non event. GFS charts showing rain later instead of snow now!

[scott86]

U wouldnt know what its going to do,  snowing quite heavily in lisburn at the minute, it isnt lying but the roads and pavements are turning quite slushy.

[scott86]

Holy s**t, from i wrote that last message about a cm has settled on the road outside my house, blizzard conditions as we speak!

[martinastro]

Excellent Scott!, snowing heavily here now but not laying much, mini blizzard on Glenshane earlier.

[martinastro]

Conor reporting a good 3" on Glenshane Pass, difficult to see road markings.

[paulster78]

I'm well on my way to that "10 cm" forecast by the bbc, only another 9.9 cm to go.................

[markt]

Sounds like you chaps had more snow than me - i've woken to another grey, damp, snowless day...

[brianb]

Just plain nasty here - not at all interesting - very wet sleet, 80-90% melted before landing, ground is just wet. Raw SE breeze force 4-5. Temp 1.0C at present, overnight minimum 0.7C, first night for a week without frost.