Badkittens forecast for the coming week or so.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Ok.

Models I've looked at for this are GFS (incl ensembles, which I've chosen Oxfordshire as a base as its a goodish pick for central england) UKMO, ECMWF and NAE (for short term)

NAE (model goes to +48 hours)
Today shows snow in EA, north Wales and upwards at 18:00-00:00 it then thins the snow out to EA, nothern midlands (north England) and north east Scotland by morning through to the afternoon. It then shows precip petering out with just patches here and there. Worth noting how much it shows Northern Ireland getting by monday. Ice is going to be a massive problem for many over the next couple of days as max temps dont get above zero in many parts of England (away from the south and coastal areas) Wales and Scotland.

GFS: (model goes out to 9th April)
Shows a quieter picture next week in terms of precipitation (thank goodness as so many areas are beyond saturation). Signals are for precipitation to restart in earnest through the Easter weekend to about the 4th A fair bit of model agreement in the ensembles for this. Flooding quite possibly a problem again at Easter. Temps are cold throughout, perhaps a little warmer that the next few days but not looking like it will get beyond around 8C in the time period. Again ice will be a major short term problem for many.

UKMO (model goes out to 144 hours)
short term, EA has a lot of snow to come on this model tonight into tomorrow morning. It also shows a north-south precip divide with south of Lancashire(ish)/Yorkshire(ish) getting the precip tomorrow before it peters out. It then shows a relatively dry few days before thursday into Friday, where Good Friday may have difficult travel conditions. One to watch for sure!

ECMWF (model goes out to 240 hours)

similar to UKMO but then oh dear, on Good Friday a rather dodgy area of low pressure would bring the potential for widespread disruptive snow.

So, to summarise. All models in agreement for less precipitation after this weekend, but remaining cold. Ice a problem to start with and at night for many through the week. Towards the end of the week becoming unsettled again, with the chance for heavy rain or disruptive snow for Easter. No sign of Spring.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Agree with you about farming too. We are becoming far too vulnerable as a nation.

[ShipwreckedAndComatose]

I agree with this too. Our dependency on other countries is too scary

[mankyscotslass]

Woke this morning to...not a flake. Nothing lying or falling!

[blibblibs]

OYBBK Thank you. Woken up here to more snow still falling but I will be brave and leave the snowsuits at home!

[GloriaSmud]

Have made it to Porthmadog! Thankyou to oybbk for advising us to delay the journey by a day - main roads are clear but there are 20-30cms snow on side roads. There are quite a few abandoned cars that won't be going anywhere for a few days and 1 or 2 tree branches down. Have taken a few pictures so hope to put those on profile when I get back next weekend.
Thanks once again, oybbk!

[Perihelion]

manky still nothing here in Edinburgh either.......
Really can't get my head round nuclear being the energy solution after having watched Into Eternity/Nuclear Eternity documentary about Finland building a waste repository. IMO no more nuclear power stations should be built until a long term solution for waste storage is available.

[digerd]

S.Herts
Started snowing heavily about 8am, now looks more like sleet, but not stopping. -1 last night.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Yay Gloria :) I'm so glad that it worked well for you and that you got there safely :)

I'm conscious that I've dragged this thread rather off topic and that.there are lots of us with strong opinions on this, with the risk that the thread might go a bit pear shaped shall we try and keep this thread to the immediate issues and we could talk about the mid and longer term in another thread?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Fortunately our temp has only just dipped to below zero thanks to cloud cover so it hasn't had chance to really freeze. Take care those of you further north.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Woah!!!!
What a flip by our models :) both GFS and ECMWF bring in spring like temperatures at some point over the Easter weekend. The transition could be a messy snow/rain one followed by lots of rain and unfortunately the very really risk of flooding for many, especially where run off from hills can be a problem. GFS has it moving in very slowly from the south.

Based on these models I recommend packing waterproofs, wellies and perhaps a canoe for any Easter hols planned.

[LillethTheCat]

Does this mean we might not get any more snow?



Id be interested in a mid to long term thread.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Perhaps lilleth. I hope so! Though some may prefer it to the flooding that looks likely to happen under today's models.

Will start a thread on mid/long term power generation in the science topic. (I think that's the most suitable area?)

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Thread to discuss Britains energy crisis here

[eminemmerdale]

didn't cycle in the end - car and taxi bloody good job for two reasons - a lot of champagne imbibed and it snowed like mad all evening and overnight.

[ShipwreckedAndComatose]

Ok, I cannot stress enough the need for it to be reasonable in Winsor on 2nd April!!!!!!!!!

[ajandjjmum]

And in the Midlands on the 6th Shipwrecked.

Maybe kitten you could start a thread giving our requests, so that those in charge can make things happen accordingly!!!

[ShipwreckedAndComatose]

Exactly! Weather made to order....

[digerd]

ps.
Just been to wheely bin and lid is well and truly iced stuck and couldn't open it . It's only -1?

[MegGriffin]

BBC Sussex weather lady just mentioned a possible snow event for the bank holiday weekend.

[HotCrossNaanAndRessurectiOn]

West coast Cumbria / North Lancashire; No snow here, just bitingly cold. The mountains are covered though.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

We had an interesting debate yesterday in the car about what would happen if we put the government in charge of the weather.

We reckoned that it would be grey all week to keep the workers working with rain at night of rather farmers. Weekends would be nice as obviously would bank holidays. Close to the election we'd have loads of fab weather (and the party in opposition would be promising sun forever more) wed only be allowed snow for a few hours on Christmas Day as it costs the economy far too much.
The SE would get far more than their fair share of sunshine under the Tories and the north would always be gloomy. That would be reversed under Labour. The Greens would make it perpetually windy for the wind farm areas. Then the Trade Unions would get involved........

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

meg, that would be with regards to the potential transition point between the cold we have now and the warmer weather coming in. lots of moisture bumping into cold air can give rather unpredictable results as I intimated earlier in the forecast I gave today.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Digerd, it's the same here, roads which have high thermal mass are not frozen over, but other surfaces like bins and the guinea pigs cage are iced over.

[Jux]

Sorry for hijack again. Don't worry about gas; Belgium pipeline very small fault, almost certainly fixed by now. Tankers take a while and then a while to unload but hike in gas price means Continent more likely to want to sell to us via various pipelines.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Thanks Jux :) the upturn in the forecast must also be a relief!