There is snow on the pavement, they think its all over, it is now.
Well on the second day of spring, winter gave a last flurry of snow. I awoke in the early hours (06:30) of this morning to find a find a layer of snow across the ground. Sadly it quickly turned to rain and the fallen snow soon vanished.
So here unless it snows again tonight is the last picture of snow for the winter. I would have taken some more but the batteries ran out.
Well leg 3 turned into a bit of a damp squib. There was a brief sprinkling of snow overnight Sunday / Monday which left some snow on top of all the cars
On Monday there was plenty of sleet / hail showers but no real snow.
The met office has now withdrawn its weather warnings for all areas except Scotland, so that is probably the end of leg 3 and possibly the end of the season.
However, don't worry in the summer I can always do thunder watch 2007.
**Flash** **Flash**
Sleety / snowy /rainy showers with strong gusts. Nothing special
**end of flash** **end of flash**
The met office have now upgraded their severe weather early warning which warns of possible disruption due to heavy snow.
This now includes Oxfordshire with an increase from below 20% to a 30% risk of severe disruption.
This warning is in force from 0600 on Sunday through to 1200 on Wednesday.
The met office is predicting snow showers with strong winds, with some showers merging to give longer spells of snow potentially giving accumulations of 2-5 cm at low levels. Any snow fall is expected to melt during the day but freeze over night.
The bulk of the showers are expecting to cross central England during Monday.
Further updates as the situation becomes clearer.
This could be the final bit of snow this year, so late in the season could this be a bit of a non event.
The met office have warnings out for the coastal areas, Northern England and Scotland. It looks like from early indications that the snow will not affect central and southern counties. For these counties the temperature remain quite reasonable at 6 or 7 degrees Celsius with a less than 20% risk of snow.
I will of course keep an eye on the situation and update as necessary.
Early on Thursday morning it started to snow, and by the time I got up in the morning the place was covered.
I only got the one photo just after 7 am. That is a picture of a road, even though the snow has completely filled between the pavements. If you look very closely you can just about see the lines of the pavement edge. I did try to take a few more pictures but the light level was too low and they came out all blurry.
I then had to catch my bus to work and crawled twelve miles taking a total of 3 hours where it normally takes 1 hour. Average speed 4 miles per hour.
On some of the back roads it was terrible even with careful driving the back of the bus would occasionally swing out.
Then we got stuck in a traffic jam and the snow fall picked up. I had visions of being trapped all day just like what happened to others in East Anglia a couple of year ago. Even the bus driver wanted to turn round but luckily the traffic suddenly cleared and we cruised down the roads.
Thursday night I got home and took a snow measurement. On the front lawn of the great house at 17:02 on Thursday 8/2/07, North Oxfordshire it was 12 cm deep. This was duly submitted to the Met office by the snow report link I gave earlier.
On Friday the snow was well on its way to melting and despite the Met office issuing a flash warning for more heavy snow nothing came of it.
As I write now on Saturday only the stumps of melted snowmen have survived and even they will soon be gone.
So that is the end of Snow Watch 2007 - Leg 2. Will there be a leg 3?
The met office have now updated the Heavy snow severe weather warning running from 0100 to 1500 on Thursday 8th.
The same amounts of snow have been predicted but the probability of disruption in Oxfordshire has risen from 70% to 90%.
Another thing I wanted to mention is that the met office are asking you to report the depth of snow to them when it snows. The inner geek in me gives that idea two thumbs up. I shall be out in the snow with my ruler and sending in my report.
Met Office snow report link
Barometer reading currently 998 mB and falling slowly. No snow as yet.
The met office have now issued a sever weather warning for pretty much all of England and Wales from 2300 7/2 to 1500 8/2 for Heavy Snow.
This is the first flash warning which will be updated tomorrow.
Accumulations of 2 -5 cm snow are expected widely in land. In some areas of the Midlands and Wales 10 - 15 cm.
This could cause severe disruption to the travel networks especially as it is expected to hit the south east during the rush hour.
For the Oxfordshire area it states there is a 70% risk of disruption (Note not just snow but disruption) from heavy snow.
The met office even tell you what to prepare for when they issue a severe weather warning. Of course this helpful advice is by in large ignored by the vast majority of the general public who try to go about their normal lives, all the roads block up and then they blame the government.
People should take responsibility for their own actions.Better to be prepared for the worst and be pleasantly surprised than be unprepared on your own and in trouble.
I will post a further update tomorrow based on the latest update from the met office.
Well we are three days out from the predicted snowfall. The BBC weather service for Oxford says snow on Thursday / Friday and the met office (virtually the same data) says light snow for Banbury, N. Oxfordshire on Thursday / Friday.
No early warning of severe weather and although I looked at the pressure charts on the met office website it is very difficult to tell what is actually going on.
Current barometer reading 1014 mB falling.
This could mean snow earlier rather than later as the barometer is dropping through the change area towards rain (snow in this case)
Still too early to say what will happen, watch this space.
Snow Watch 2007 is back with the beginning of leg 2. As seen on the "Country File" weekly weather forecast. Snow is likely towards Wednesday / Thursday of this week.
This sudden return to winter cold follows on from the second warmest January on record. Yet another warm or dry weather record broken in recent years.
From Monday a cold weather high pressure system will take root over most of the UK. Then from Wednesday onward a mild weather low pressure system attacks from the western approaches.
This is a battle of the titans and where they clash snow is expected. This is very early on the game and even the met office are not sure what or where anything may happen.
It all depends on how strong the high pressure is, if the Atlantic lows keep breaking against it we can expect to see significant snowfall but if the lows force the high out it will be the usual cold damp rain.
The met office website is forecasting sleet on Wednesday followed by rain on Thursday. So it could be nothing or it could be snow.
More updates as ever to follow.
Well I think that is the end of the first leg in Snow Watch 2007.
The short term forecast is generally dry with some cloud. However, it is still early in the season and I remain hopeful for significant snow fall later in February. Long range forecasts from the met office suggest for the next 6 to 15 day period that:
"There is a possibility that colder more wintry conditions spread to many other parts later in the period."
Well the snow came overnight on the 23/24 January. On Wednesday morning I woke up to about a 1/2 inch of snow. It was lovely powdery stuff as I walked towards another day.
Most of the main roads were clear and traffic was flowing pretty much as normal although obviously some people decided they would rather stay at home. Untreated roads looked a bit dodgy.
The only sad thing is that I did not get to walk around while the snow flakes were actually falling, that is such a magical thing.
I was up early before dawn heading for a busy day. Sadly one of my infrequent 12 hour days so I did not get to see any more of the snow, by evening it was well on the way to water, ice and slush although there is the odd lingering patch still around today.
*** Newsflash***
Dateline 22 January 2007. Time 10.55 pm
I am reporting to you almost live from Northern Oxfordshire where locals have been witnessing what can only be described as a shake of snow. A passing cloud deposited this wintry present so quickly that several people blinked and missed it.
Here is what one local said:
" I have never seen the like, snow in January that will be global warming"
I also spoke to this old gentleman
" Call that snow, in my day it would be six foot deep by now."
(on screen image of six foot snow drift with caption "reconstruction")
This is I am Snow, Northern Oxfordshire, getting colder by the minute, I think my foot has frozen, back to Jon in the studio.
(No news reporters were hurt in this sketch but the shake of snow was real)
Dictionary definition: (my own)
A shake of snow: a sparse ground covering of snow similar to the effect of sieving icing sugar onto a Victoria sandwich.
Well Monday 22nd January 2007, and here is the Northern Oxfordshire snow update.
(newsy type music, think drum beats, repetitive, forthright etc)
No snow as yet but still hopeful!
Barometer is high and rising slowly.
My snow theory is that you need high pressure with a series of weak low fronts breaking against the high, therefore most likely place to see an accumulation of snow is in the area between the two. It usually comes down from the north and starts with a very cold high pressure area. So according to the barometer we have the high pressure, come on that low.
No weather warnings out from the met office but BBC suggested snow on Wednesday was possible. According to the BBC 24 hour weather for Oxford there is a chance of a light snow shower at around 0700 on Tuesday. Anybody want to put money on it.
More snow updates to follow.
(more newsy type music, think drum beats, repetitive, forthright etc)
The latest news is that freezing snow and ice will sweep down from the north as early as tomorrow.
"Scotland, the Borders, the north east, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, East Anglia and Kent could see snow falls measured in inches."
Well in the centre of England I now feel the time is right for me to declare the Snow Watch 2007 season open.
Following up on the "Worst storm in the last 17 years" the weather people have been hinting at a cold snap with a possibility of snow on Monday or Tuesday. One forecaster even suggested "Snow for most". Of course given the usual timid forecasting of snow by the weather people this could mean anything from heavy rain to blizzards.
Latest release from the met office.
No weather warnings released as yet but they are usually not issued until 24/48 hours before the actual event so it may be a bit early yet.
Watch this space.
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