The following quote is taken from an article by an F.E. Lumb. Sorry that I
do not know the exact source but it is some kind of meteorological journal
from the 1980s.

My question is: do the isotherms, and particularly the tongue of warmer
water in the channel, still exist?
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I remember the snow referred to well. Equivalent rainfall measurements for
the 24 hours ended 6pm 8 February 1983 are given as follows: Lowestoft 2.7mm
Clacton 2.7mm
Margate 17.1mm
Folkestone 23.3mm


i.e. nearly ten inches of snow in one 24 hour period alone at Folkestone.
And given that Folkestone weather station is, I believe, on the seafront, it
is a fair bet that there were several inches more, at least, on the Downs
between Dover and Folkestone.

I remember it well: there were three to four inches on the Monday night, a
similar amount on the Tuesday, followed by the foot or so on the Wednesday,
when it snowed really hard all day, all from showers coming in off the North
Sea. There were further falls as well over the next few days. We measured
48cm of level snow in our front garden in East Kent, and that after limited
daily thaws had melted some. 18-20 inches of lying snow was apparently
widespread.

"The snow or hail evidently fell from convectice coulds caused by the
heating of the cold air by the relatively warm sea...along the coast of
East Kent the heavy snow were the result of the formation of
cumulonimbus....

"The outstanding feature [of the January isotherms] is the long tongue of
relatively warmer water which extends through the Straits of Dover into the
Southern North Sea. In February the sea surface is slightly colder...but in
every February the pattern of the isotherms remains. Consequently when the
wind is north east the extra heat and water vapour gained by the air near
the sea surface will cause low level instability to be a little stronger
along the coast of Kent from Margate to Dover than on the coast of Suffolk
and Essex. Provided there is a markedly stable layer in the lower part of
the troposphere the tops of the convective clouds will be only a little
higher on the coast of East Kent than on the Suffolk and Essex coasts...

"The heavy precipitation at Margate and Folkestone therefore points to the
conclusion that on 8 February 1983 the stable layer was weak enough to
enable some of the cumulus clouds, formed by the rather stronger convection
near the east Kent coast, to break through and develop into attendant heavy
snow/hail showers."

"Richard" wrote in message
...
The following quote is taken from an article by an F.E. Lumb. Sorry
that I
do not know the exact source but it is some kind of meteorological
journal
from the 1980s.

My question is: do the isotherms, and particularly the tongue of
warmer
water in the channel, still exist?

.... see the thread entitled: "Comparison of SST's: current and
historic": follow the links in that thread (at the bottom of the
original post) for a couple of maps that show that the tongue of warmer
water is still the for latest information, see:-
http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/brack5.html

I assume that the steady west to east current up the Channel is
responsible for the 'plume' of relatively warmer water - but I'm not an
oceanographer, so this statement might be corrected.

Martin.

--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

snip

Thankyou, Martin. I will check this out.

Richard

My question is: do the isotherms, and particularly the tongue of
warmer
water in the channel, still exist?

... see the thread entitled: "Comparison of SST's: current and
historic": follow the links in that thread (at the bottom of the
original post) for a couple of maps that show that the tongue of warmer
water is still the for latest information, see:-
http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/brack5.html

I assume that the steady west to east current up the Channel is
responsible for the 'plume' of relatively warmer water - but I'm not an
oceanographer, so this statement might be corrected.

Martin.

--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm

"Richard" wrote in message ...
The following quote is taken from an article by an F.E. Lumb. Sorry that I
do not know the exact source but it is some kind of meteorological journal
from the 1980s.

My question is: do the isotherms, and particularly the tongue of warmer
water in the channel, still exist?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


It does. good excuse to highlight THE classic snowfall of the era.
hoping for a repeat? May I call you Dickie?

It does. good excuse to highlight THE classic snowfall of the era.
hoping for a repeat? May I call you Dickie?

Before you dissipate in a cloud of...er, cloud.

Are you by any chance descended from 80s cheap adolescent aftershave Blue
Stratos?

Dickie

The following quote is taken from an article by an F.E. Lumb. Sorry that
I
do not know the exact source but it is some kind of meteorological
journal
from the 1980s.

My question is: do the isotherms, and particularly the tongue of warmer
water in the channel, still exist?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


It does. good excuse to highlight THE classic snowfall of the era.
hoping for a repeat? May I call you Dickie?