Snow watch!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I know it will seem quite crackers to start this when the weekend has been so lovely, but we are starting to get some model consistency on GFS for the potential for snow Friday night into Saturday as a northerly plunge looks set to take place.

Primary risk areas are obviously for hillier parts of Scotland and also Wales, but higher ground in the south and south east including over dartmoor and down the east coast may also see some sleet or wet snow.

flatpack ~ the weekend is a bit of a 'mild blip' before it returns to cold (and hopefully more chances of snow!) next week.

Latest Outlook from the metoffice....

UK Outlook for Sunday 27 Jan 2019 to Tuesday 5 Feb 2019:
Sunday will be cold with a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers. The showers will arrive on a strong northerly wind, which will ease as the day progresses, and bring some snowfall over exposed northern hills. The snow may reach lower levels later in the day, especially across the northern half of the UK. Thereafter, the final few days of January and early February are likely to remain rather unsettled with brisk winds, outbreaks of rain and hill snow, as well as some showery interludes in between. It will remain cold for most with widespread overnight frosts as well as the risk of ice. Snow remains a possibility to lower levels, particularly in the north.

UK Outlook for Wednesday 6 Feb 2019 to Wednesday 20 Feb 2019:
The weather will continue to be mixed through early February with a continuation of the generally cold conditions. This will bring spells of rain and hill snow, interspersed by showery interludes, with a continued risk of snow to lower levels, especially in the north. As we head through February there is an increased chance of seeing very cold conditions developing with a greater probability of northerly or easterly winds. This will bring an increased risk of snow to all areas and more widespread frosts. In this scenario the driest conditions will be across the northwest, whilst the south could see wetter and occasionally milder spells, and these will bring a risk of some significant snow, but only if very cold air becomes established across much of the UK.

I don't like mild blips Gloria ❄️, I like a cold winter!

We have the thinnest of coverings this morning. Just enough to make everything slippery.

This weekend is silly. Mild and some rain on staturday for many. The mild air is just too close really. However, it is under these scenarios that our biggest dumps of snow can happen (not this weekend though! )

The met office keep pushing the cold air back.

flatpack ~ I like cold winters too (perhaps not as bad as last winter though!) From the metoffice Outlook, these lines here....

As we head through February there is an increased chance of seeing very cold conditions developing with a greater probability of northerly or easterly winds. This will bring an increased risk of snow to all areas and more widespread frosts. In this scenario the driest conditions will be across the northwest, whilst the south could see wetter and occasionally milder spells, and these will bring a risk of some significant snow, but only if very cold air becomes established across much of the UK.

....February could be an interesting month....

Was not expecting snow this morning (should have listened to you two OYBBK and Gloria!)
Quite icy underneath it here (Gloucestershire rural) and a bit hairy driving up a steep hill to work this morning but I have made it to work- phew!

ice warnings practically everywhere if you've not headed out yet.

we have about a 2/3cm covering now. very pretty (south Shropshire hills)

A very light dusting here this morning (worcs/Warwickshire border) but I know it's frozen solid underneath because I went out at 8pm last night and it was rain/sleet. The pavements and roads will be lethal!

I forgot to post yesterday but OMG I have never seen such big snowflakes that caused absolute chaos within half an hour of falling. I'm near High Wycombe and live on top of one of the hills. Luckily we were all home so had no need to go out. All the hills into my village were blocked with abandoned cars and broken down buses. Thankfully today has brought cleared roads so some sort of normality resumes. I'm hoping we won't have anymore significant snow for a while.

Kitten/Gloria, any thoughts on Derbyshire early next week? Taking a group of kids up there for mainly outdoor stuff!

The flakes were big and at times the snow came down real fast, such a shame it didnt settle.

I read on twitter there may be some more first weekend of Feb?. Fingers crossed.

We had snow in Surrey at around 4pm yesterday, which settled for about 10 minutes (the squeals of the kids coming out of school into the falling snow made my day, talk about happiness!) and I thought it would be mega icy this morning given the warnings last night, but no ice on the car, roads were fine and a balmy 4 degrees on the way into work. So bizarre.

Is looking just as hard to forecast next week? My weather app shows no snow. The Facebook weather expert for our area (who got it spot on for yesterday when the Met office failed) says more snow from 27th. I have a flight to get from Gatwick on the 31st. Hoping for no more snow now!

Delatron ~ there might be snow showers on Sunday after the 'mild blip' that is Friday and Saturday, Sunday's the day it starts turning colder again.

fortyfourfeasts ~ I would take note of the forecast as there looks to be a real cold blast coming from the north on the latest GFS, from Sunday onwards and early next week, there could be something of a snowy nature.

Thanks Gloria!

Weather warning for ice tonight and tomorrow morning.

I'd hesitate to comment too much about next week at the moment.
Saturday could be potentially interesting as the back edge of the system comes through. It could get quite squally with a cold front bringing snow and all sorts of exciting stuff.
Watch this space :)

Ooh OYBBK sounds very interesting!

As OYBBK says, next week is too far away to do a proper forecast of snow (or a forecast for any weather for that matter!) Our local BBC forecast though has just mentioned the possibility of 'back edge snow' for Saturday so we'll watch that for the moment to see what happens.

Absolutely freezing here in Cheshire, -1 at 5pm, looks like we have loads of rain forecast later, do you think that will be rain, or something else?!

I had to scrape ice off my windscreen before driving home this evening. This is unusual.

Yes I had a frozen windscreen at 6pm! Very unusual.
Still have snow in our garden. Very cold out.

Thank you Gloria and Kitten. We were there last year when it REALLY snowed, was good fun but the journey home was a bit dicey! Will keep an eye on the met office - gloves, thermals and waterproofs already in the case!

TokyoSushi ~ There might be some wintry showers but temperatures are due to gradually rise after midnight so it's more likely it'll be sleet/rain that falls then.

Oh dear, the Saturday after next is the one day I rather hope it doesn’t snow as we have a birthday celebration in London which has already had to be postponed from a previous date. I love snow! Just not on the 2nd . . . .