The Great Meteorological Thread

Bit lousy today wiith rain and strong winds. Seems that this winter is dragging on for longer than what is deemed necessary.

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Just grey raining and slightly foggy here.
Oh and about 2oC :(
Is it summer yet?
 
Cobra said:
Just grey raining and slightly foggy here.
Oh and about 2oC :(
Is it summer yet?
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Don't be so impatient, it is the first day of spring, heatwaves will be here shortly :(
 
Gremlin said:
Don't be so impatient, it is the first day of spring, h
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Even that's in doubt as its isn't the spring equinox until tomorrow ;)
 
:D Have to admit, it is being an unusually cold March.

But, why is it being so cold for so long? Time to do one of my famed explanations, along with an image.

The reason why this cold air over the UK (whether is it snowing or not) is refusing to let go is because of a large area of high pressure sitting over North or East Europe, and how that high pressure often kept "ridging" south to cover more of Eastern Europe, as this image shows.

EuropeWeather.jpg


But because that high pressure system is refusing to budge or die out, it then becomes a "blocking" high. That has the effect of deflecting or killing off nearby low pressure systems. As in this case, keeping the usual Atlantic "train" well at bay to the west of the UK
That high pressure system also has deep cold surface air trapped within it (shown in light blue), and because winds go around in a clock-wise direction around a high pressure, it has a habit of dragging some of that cold air westwards towards the UK.
Usually, once such a "blocking" high pressure is set in, it would take a lot of shifting to get it to move on as low pressure systems keep punching at and failing in doing so. It is also right now where the sea surface in the Northern Hemisphere is at it's coldest (there is a lag effect where the sea takes longer to cool down than land, but just as longer to warm up so it becomes at it's warmest in early Autumn), so there are no competing contrasting airmasses to produce powerful jet streams anyway.

I've also put in an additional mention of a "col", something I mention in my forecast. That's the "dead" area between low pressure and high pressure systems, it's often slack and calm but cloudy and foggy under such a set up.

A blocking high in the same area in the summer season can even have the effect of keeping it cool and cloudy as winds keep coming in from the east or north, as well as pushing high altitude jet streams to the south of the UK, thus keeping us on the "cold side".
So, if we really want a hot summer, then we need to see a complete reversal of the weather system to what is shown in this map and have high pressure "ridging" in from the south. That way, we would often have winds coming in from the south west or the south.

However, having said all that, March is still essentially a "winter" month anyway so it is a bit too early to start pining for warm weather despite the lengthening daylight. It's when we are still experiencing snowfalls and sub zero temperatures in June that we really should be worried!

And there you have it.

Mind you, I'm more bored of this "Groundhog Day" style weather where it has been yet another dry and cloudy day here at Folkestone. Yet, this time last week we were recovering from a snowstorm!
 
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Excellent explanation as always Ian :thumbs:

Now just get your rubber, rub out the cold bit and draw in a warm bit,
if you would be so kind :D
 
Cobra said:
Excellent explanation as always Ian :thumbs:

Now just get your rubber, rub out the cold bit and draw in a warm bit,
if you would be so kind :D
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Hi Chris!

It's moments like this when I wish I do have a TARDIS-like console where I could actually control the weather (I'd spice it up with proper thunder and lightning - the last time I got to see a real thunderstorm was in the summer of 2010). Anything has to be more interesting than this constant gloomy overcast stuff.
 
Weather forecasts are just like the budget! There's not much good news!
 
Yep, it's getting seriously depressing, although we've had a good few hours of sunshine today, I'm usually in bed until 15:00 so not much use to me lol.
We still have the odd flurry of snow coming in but nothing serious. I don't think the air temp has managed to reach more than +3 (daytime) over the past few weeks.
Any end in sight? Even a glimmer?
 
Carter64 said:
Yep, it's getting seriously depressing, although we've had a good few hours of sunshine today, I'm usually in bed until 15:00 so not much use to me lol.
We still have the odd flurry of snow coming in but nothing serious. I don't think the air temp has managed to reach more than +3 (daytime) over the past few weeks.
Any end in sight? Even a glimmer?
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Afraid not as it is set to remain cold for most of next week.

Until then, we have this to contend with . . .

SnowWarning.jpg
 
As this winter drags on where some of us woke up to a Spring Wonderland this morning . . .

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Although the threat of snow should recede from here on as it becomes more confined to the Eastern side of the UK, it is still going to stay cold for at least a week with frost continuing to be a regular feature by night.
HOPEFULLY, we should at least start to see a bit more in the way of brightness - well, anything has to be an improvement on this grey overcast damp crud.

Finally, how's this for a light dusting? This is somewhere in North Wales this morning . . .

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Neil B said:
Terrible, under exposed and the horizontals are way off :D
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Exactly! What a waste of what could have been a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. If I was there, I'd be outside with a proper camera taking it from all sorts of angles.
 
Great cartoon as always Ian :thumbs:

And glad I am not in Wales!
Its been snowing most of today, but there is only a couple of inches laying.
And most of that, fell overnight.
 
Cobra said:
Great cartoon as always Ian :thumbs:

And glad I am not in Wales!
Its been snowing most of today, but there is only a couple of inches laying.
And most of that, fell overnight.
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Hi Chris! It's been mostly dull and overcast all day after a bit of wet snow had fallen in the early hours (was too wet for any settling).
I don't mind the snow as it adds an element of excitement to it all, even at this time of the year, but this winter really is dragging on in terms of the cold and the lack of sunshine. Carry on like this and I'll end up looking quite translucent!
 
Ian D J said:
but this winter really is dragging on in terms of the cold and the lack of sunshine. Carry on like this and I'll end up looking quite translucent!
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I know what you mean Ian, I work outside most of the time and
even I'm beginning to suffer with S.A.D. :(
 
Afternoon all from a grey, dry and cold Folkestone. Doesn't this Kent climate actuallly do anything else? Seems to have forgotten what it's supposed to be doing.

Perhaps this cartoon will sum things up some more . . .

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Here's hoping that the sun will at least try and make an effort to break through as we go into the week, even though it'll be staying cold.
 
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Great cartoon as always Ian :thumbs:
As for MK its snowed most of the week-end :( (Albeit quite lightly, mostly)
there is was about 4 inches laying by late morning,
but it does now seem to be thawing, finally.

I've gotta go up to the North-West tomorrow for a couple of days "cover"
I'm not really looking forward to it TBH.
 
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:D
 
Very profound Ian :D
 
The new St Bernard?

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Love it Ian, :thumbs:

It's actually not too bad here at the moment, dry and sunny which helps, wind has a real chill factor but in sheltered places it's almost springlike :D
 
Gremlin said:
Love it Ian, :thumbs:

It's actually not too bad here at the moment, dry and sunny which helps, wind has a real chill factor but in sheltered places it's almost springlike :D
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Hi Ingrid! Unfortunately, we, here in Kent, have reverted back to this overcast stuff while staying dry and cold all the same (was quite bright in the past two days).
It really is being like this Groundhog Day film around here!
 
Pretty sure it snowed last night - my car had a light dusting of hexagonal crystals on its roof when I got up and went out to scrape my wife's screens. Too cold to be out there for long enough to snap any pics and once the sun came up, the crystals simply sublimed away.
 
Sorry to hear that Ian, I can happily cope with the cold if we get some sunshine with it :D
 
Climbed Snowdon Friday can now confirm just rubber needed so the ice picks can be stored away until next year, we had nice sunshine yesterday managed to cut the grass and give the paint brush a run out on the house. Before popping down the beach to meet up with a fellow photographer and friend for sunset.
Happy Sunday all, we are heading off to Anglesey today for Sunday lunch can't wait!
Kevin
 
Well I'd just like to wish this thread a happy (just over) 2nd anniversary :thumbs:

I guess the summer has been and gone, yet again,
at least it lasted a bank holiday week-end.
And it was a far cry from this time last year,
when we were still reeling from the effects the "hose-pipe ban" :D

Maybe the powers that be should state
"No hose pipe bans this year"
That should bring the sun out.
Oh wait, actually they did say that no so long ago,
claiming the "stocks" were at an all time high... ;)

So Ian, what is the likely hood of an actual dry warm summer this year?

BTW Shouldn't global warming be re-names to either
Global wetting, or
Global freezing?
:shrug:
I blame Brussels personally :D

(Cue jokes about windy weather, or not :D)
 
Cobra said:
Well I'd just like to wish this thread a happy (just over) 2nd anniversary :thumbs:

I guess the summer has been and gone, yet again,
at least it lasted a bank holiday week-end.
And it was a far cry from this time last year,
when we were still reeling from the effects the "hose-pipe ban" :D

Maybe the powers that be should state
"No hose pipe bans this year"
That should bring the sun out.
Oh wait, actually they did say that no so long ago,
claiming the "stocks" were at an all time high... ;)

So Ian, what is the likely hood of an actual dry warm summer this year?

BTW Shouldn't global warming be re-names to either
Global wetting, or
Global freezing?
:shrug:
I blame Brussels personally :D

(Cue jokes about windy weather, or not :D)
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:D A quality verse! And just as this thread was slipping out of the radars, but I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise as everyone must be getting quite depressed with the weather by now. Might be all part of Global Boring more than anything.
But funnily enough, my location has picked up only 4.8 mm of rain so far this month (May), so it looks like the Folkestone Weather Shield is up and running - hence that sense of deja-vu about it all. All the rain and showery stuff has been avoiding my area and it's only just now that it's turned rather overcast after what has been quite a sunny day.
As for my thoughts regarding this summer, I've alway said that such as is the chaotic nature of our climate, if I could forecast in high confidence on what kind of summer we are going to have then I might as well have a go at trying to predict this weekend's winning lottery jackpot numbers while I am at it.
In other words . . . no comment, but it's true that we normally get our first proper heatwave by the middle part of June, anything before that is considered to be the exception rather than as the norm as we are still trying to shake off the left over winter chill at this time of the year.
 
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Coward Ian :D

Well, as for MK, its been very October-ish recently,
that is, wet and windy, or maybe the March winds and April showers have got together
to form some kind of un-holy alliance, to force May off the calender :D
 
Cobra said:
Coward Ian :D

Well, as for MK, its been very October-ish recently,
that is, wet and windy, or maybe the March winds and April showers have got together
to form some kind of un-holy alliance, to force May off the calender :D
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Feeling like we might as well skip summer and go straight onto Autumnn, spare us the pain and despair. :D
 
Ian D J said:
Feeling like we might as well skip summer and go straight onto Autumnn, spare us the pain and despair. :D
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:lol::lol::lol:

Fair point, well presented :D
 
I'm guessing that the first 2 weeks of June will be scorchers - the Sun always seems to shine here while we're away, meaning that all the plants are gasping when we get back! We now have an automatic timer to avoid them all drying out completely - maybe it'll spend a fortnight persisting down! Whichever, we're all but guaranteed a couple of weeks of sunshine broken only by sunsets - Crete's like that at that time of year! In 15 odd years, I think we've had one rainy day (and a couple of thunderstorms that have lasted 10 minutes or so and have dried up in a minute or 2).
 
Talking of thunderstorms, one went through here about an hour or so back,
its not even that warm :(
 
May, essentially speaking, is still more like a "winter" month rather than as a summer one so heatwaves at this time of the year are often the exception rather than the norm.
But this year does have an 1983 look and feel about it. 1983 had a cold winter then a wet and changable spring which lead to a very good summer. If this year, exactly 30 years on, follow the same pattern as '83's then we could bet our bottom dollar that we'll end up with a decent summer.
However, with our climate, no two years are exactly alike anyway.

In the meantime, my hometown is still avoiding the rain where I've only picked up 5.4 mm so far this month . . . but all that is about to change as I come up with this weather warning applicable for Tuesday Night at 12 am through to Wednesday 12 pm (Midday).

A small but very active depression system is expected to run eastwards over Southern England tomorrow. As a result, heavy disruptive rain is likely for the following areas: Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester and Oxfordshire.
Up to 2 inches could fall in 24 hours which will result in standing water on roads and maybe localised flooding.
Strong winds will also accompany the system with gales possible over the South Coast.

Kent is likely to be less affected in that way but it is still going to be a wet day tomorrow all the same.

So, I guess you may need to hang onto your brollies for that little bit longer.
 
Well all I can say is, I'm glad I was down in Glastonbury today, and not tomorrow in that case !
 
I am looking at it getting warmer again around the end of the Month, picking up from 24/25th and intensifying from the 28/29th as I am on holiday then :D Don't forget where you read this first folks :thumbs:
 
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