Further to Chris's post above it shows that the last two years and this
year's cold spells have shifted the emphasis on cold further west. As I
recall these spells have largely come from, especially snowfall, Arctic
derived cold air entrained in low pressure systems. Once again, although
sometimes shown in the models, there has not been a Scandinavian or
Siberian HP positioned such to bring long track Easterlies or N.E from
Siberia and Northern Russia for long periods. The blocking has been to
the North or in the Atlantic not from the continent. Continental air has
been relatively mild as can be seen at the moment. These were the text
book cold spells which lent said books to quoting East Anglia as cold in
winter (I think Norwich used to be the snowiest)and the SW having mild,
wet winters.
There are not many contributors here from Suffolk and Norfolk but I
wonder if that is there perception.
Londoners and further west have seen these as exceptional spells. There
is no doubt that this one in particular has been cold and lengthy here
in Essex, and exceptional for December. But it would only beat those
since the early eighties. The snow depths are such that not once have I
driven down a lane where the snow is piled as high as the hedgerows and
walked in fields with thigh deep drifts, a relatively common experience
in East Anglia through the 50's to 80's. (Although I was shorter for a
good deal of that period!)
So for this part of the world this spell has been exceptional,
especially so early, but not historic although the winter has only just
begun so plenty of time to make it so!

Dave (S.Essex} 1.6C DP 0.3C

On Dec 22, 10:41*am, Dave Cornwell wrote:
Further to Chris's post above it shows that the last two years and this
year's cold spells have shifted the emphasis on cold further west. As I
recall these spells have largely come from, especially snowfall, Arctic
derived cold air entrained in low pressure systems. Once again, although
sometimes shown in the models, there has not been a Scandinavian or
Siberian HP positioned such to bring long track Easterlies or N.E from
Siberia and Northern Russia for long periods. The blocking has been to
the North or in the Atlantic not from the continent. Continental air has
been relatively mild as can be seen at the moment. These were the text
book cold spells which lent said books to quoting East Anglia as cold in
winter (I think Norwich used to be the snowiest)and the SW having mild,
wet winters.
There are not many contributors here from Suffolk and Norfolk but I
wonder if that is there perception.
Londoners and further west have seen these as exceptional spells. There
is no doubt that this one in particular has been cold and lengthy here
in Essex, and exceptional for December. But it would only beat those
since the early eighties. The snow depths are such that not once have I
driven down a lane where the snow is piled as high as the hedgerows and
walked in fields with thigh deep drifts, a relatively common experience
in East Anglia through the 50's to 80's. (Although I was shorter for a
good deal of that period!)
So for this part of the world this spell has been exceptional,
especially so early, but not historic although the winter has only just
begun so plenty of time to make it so!

Dave (S.Essex} *1.6C DP 0.3C

I seem to remember my aunt, who for a spell lived near Frinton, Essex,
in the mid 90s, talking about huge drifts around Christmas time one
year - yet we had just a dusting in east London

Perhaps if the near continent cools down further in January it could
only be a matter of time before the synoptics allow Norfolk to have
its turn?

There is no doubt that within Norfolk itself, there is a wide variation.
The further NE you go, the more snow events you get - because
"Northerly" outbreaks are inevitably "North Westerly", and North Sea
showers clip the coastal area. However, the SW of the county tends to be
colder - not only because it's further from the sea, but it's Breckland
and the sandy soils aid cooling.

It's harder to find explanations for:

1. Sudden warmings during cold spells. This happened on several
occasions last winter when snow that was fairly widespread over the
region, turned to rain in Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Essex. These
warmings seem to be quite transitory. Even today - it was warmer in the
early hours than it is now - and the earlier rain has turned back to
snow (though still mixed with rain - Norwich airport won't need to close!).

2. County-sized immunity to showery streams. I likened it to a
force-field in previous posts, because that's exactly how it looks on
the radar animations. In the showery weather at the beginning of the
month, there were several days when Norfolk was sandwiched between a
flow of showers to the north, passing along the coast and into
Lincolnshire, and the showery flow running into the Thames estuary. It
looked like the flow literally split into two, and flowed around the county.

I'm not a cold weather fan really, and find this interminable cold
unpleasant and expensive. But I don't mind a decent dump of snow - but
that does seem to be more of a rarity hereabouts.

FWIW - the last time our lane filled up with "proper" blowing snow was
February 1996.

Chris
Nr Swaffham, Norfolk



On 22/12/10 10:41, Dave Cornwell wrote:
Further to Chris's post above it shows that the last two years and this
year's cold spells have shifted the emphasis on cold further west. As I
recall these spells have largely come from, especially snowfall, Arctic
derived cold air entrained in low pressure systems. Once again, although
sometimes shown in the models, there has not been a Scandinavian or
Siberian HP positioned such to bring long track Easterlies or N.E from
Siberia and Northern Russia for long periods. The blocking has been to
the North or in the Atlantic not from the continent. Continental air has
been relatively mild as can be seen at the moment. These were the text
book cold spells which lent said books to quoting East Anglia as cold in
winter (I think Norwich used to be the snowiest)and the SW having mild,
wet winters.
There are not many contributors here from Suffolk and Norfolk but I
wonder if that is there perception.
Londoners and further west have seen these as exceptional spells. There
is no doubt that this one in particular has been cold and lengthy here
in Essex, and exceptional for December. But it would only beat those
since the early eighties. The snow depths are such that not once have I
driven down a lane where the snow is piled as high as the hedgerows and
walked in fields with thigh deep drifts, a relatively common experience
in East Anglia through the 50's to 80's. (Although I was shorter for a
good deal of that period!)
So for this part of the world this spell has been exceptional,
especially so early, but not historic although the winter has only just
begun so plenty of time to make it so!

Dave (S.Essex} 1.6C DP 0.3C

On Dec 22, 10:55*am, whitehead1972 wrote:
On Dec 22, 10:41*am, Dave Cornwell wrote:


Perhaps if the near continent cools down further in January it could
only be a matter of time before the synoptics allow Norfolk to have
its turn?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

With the duration and intensity of the early winter low temperatures
(when compared to recent years), I'm wondering what this is going to
do to affect the usual outbursts of cold air we get later in the
winter. Over the past few years, these have been modified by the
higher sea surface temperatures. Has anyone got any ideas on what
might happen this year? Are the current SSTs being depressed
sufficiently to have an indelible effect on the rest of the winter or,
given a few weeks return to zonal weather, are they going to bounce
back with no lasting consquences?

- Tom.
London W1

(where there is still some snow lying around on the pavements -
remarkable, really!)

I feel a bit of a fraud now. Since I posted that, it's been snowing
heavily! Ho hum...




On 22/12/10 11:48, Chris Smith wrote:
There is no doubt that within Norfolk itself, there is a wide variation.
The further NE you go, the more snow events you get - because
"Northerly" outbreaks are inevitably "North Westerly", and North Sea
showers clip the coastal area. However, the SW of the county tends to be
colder - not only because it's further from the sea, but it's Breckland
and the sandy soils aid cooling.

...

"Chris Smith" wrote in message
...
There is no doubt that within Norfolk itself, there is a wide variation.
The further NE you go, the more snow events you get - because "Northerly"
outbreaks are inevitably "North Westerly", and North Sea showers clip the
coastal area. However, the SW of the county tends to be colder - not only
because it's further from the sea, but it's Breckland and the sandy soils
aid cooling.

It's harder to find explanations for:

1. Sudden warmings during cold spells. This happened on several occasions
last winter when snow that was fairly widespread over the region, turned
to rain in Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Essex. These warmings seem to
be quite transitory. Even today - it was warmer in the early hours than it
is now - and the earlier rain has turned back to snow (though still mixed
with rain - Norwich airport won't need to close!).

2. County-sized immunity to showery streams. I likened it to a force-field
in previous posts, because that's exactly how it looks on the radar
animations. In the showery weather at the beginning of the month, there
were several days when Norfolk was sandwiched between a flow of showers to
the north, passing along the coast and into Lincolnshire, and the showery
flow running into the Thames estuary. It looked like the flow literally
split into two, and flowed around the county.

I'm not a cold weather fan really, and find this interminable cold
unpleasant and expensive. But I don't mind a decent dump of snow - but
that does seem to be more of a rarity hereabouts.

FWIW - the last time our lane filled up with "proper" blowing snow was
February 1996.

Chris
Nr Swaffham, Norfolk



On 22/12/10 10:41, Dave Cornwell wrote:
Further to Chris's post above it shows that the last two years and this
year's cold spells have shifted the emphasis on cold further west. As I
recall these spells have largely come from, especially snowfall, Arctic
derived cold air entrained in low pressure systems. Once again, although
sometimes shown in the models, there has not been a Scandinavian or
Siberian HP positioned such to bring long track Easterlies or N.E from
Siberia and Northern Russia for long periods. The blocking has been to
the North or in the Atlantic not from the continent. Continental air has
been relatively mild as can be seen at the moment. These were the text
book cold spells which lent said books to quoting East Anglia as cold in
winter (I think Norwich used to be the snowiest)and the SW having mild,
wet winters.
There are not many contributors here from Suffolk and Norfolk but I
wonder if that is there perception.
Londoners and further west have seen these as exceptional spells. There
is no doubt that this one in particular has been cold and lengthy here
in Essex, and exceptional for December. But it would only beat those
since the early eighties. The snow depths are such that not once have I
driven down a lane where the snow is piled as high as the hedgerows and
walked in fields with thigh deep drifts, a relatively common experience
in East Anglia through the 50's to 80's. (Although I was shorter for a
good deal of that period!)
So for this part of the world this spell has been exceptional,
especially so early, but not historic although the winter has only just
begun so plenty of time to make it so!

Dave (S.Essex} 1.6C DP 0.3C

Two excellent appraisals here - thanks, it's good to see East Anglian
information.
My thoughts exactly on all counts regarding missing the main snow events
last winter and also this year, and reasons why.
Biting Northerlies with snow forecasts do seem to frequently to result in
Sunny NW'lies here.

I do remember as a child/ lad in E Suffolk that every winter seemed to
produce plentiful snow most years large drifts. I have pictures from 1956?
when the salt water Stour estuary at nearby Manningtree was completely iced
over as wre my bedroom windows regularly.
I started my met career at RAF Stradishall in 300 ft up in West Suffolk (Now
High Point prison) in Early 1963 and was snowed in for 2 weeks. There were
15FT drifts along the approach roads, but I eventually got to Oakington,18
miles away in Cambs during that spell, where there was hardly any snow. That
winter brought a day of Freezing Rain to Stradishall which broke branches
off trees and the ice coated twigs sounded like bones being banged
together.

In the 90's most winters were much more mellow in Suffolk. Recent events
this year which is definately unusual for the prolonged, occasionally severe
cold. As you note, it is the lack of snow compared to most of the country
which is most noteworthy It seems to have accumulated more significantly
just to the North, East and South of me on different occasions during last
and this winter so far.
Wattisham Airfield (13 Miles to SE) has significantly greater snowfall then
me on all occasions this month.

0900Z Snow depths for me: 7 miles East of Bury St. Edmunds.
1st 3cm, 2nd 7cm. 3rd 6cm. 4th 2cm (rain in early hours) No snow left by
1800Z No snow lying at all 5th to 16th. Light snow in evening after rain
on 16th. 17th &18th 0.5cm, 19th, 20th & 21st 1.0cm, 22nd 0.5cm, Insufficiant
left to measure by 1200Z today.

See Wattisham monthly details at
http://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynre...=REV&Send=Send

Note: No really strong winds and also there were a few milder days !

NSS Mid Suffolk