Waiting in the Post Office queue this morning I could not help overhear a
conversation between two woman who were saying it was too cold to snow. I
was going to mention that it was snowing at the South Pole with minus 25C or
I had just seen several Siberian weather stations reporting snow below minus
30C. Did they not remember January 1987 when snow was falling at minus 8C in
my area. Having given over 230 talks to the public this year I thought, "No,
I am going to have a day off".
However our weather does encourage such statements in that snow can fall
when a warm front comes along and the temperature does in fact rise. Often
the coldest night or day is the one before it becomes warmer with snow
turning to rain as the warm front passes. Thus the weather to people with no
background in meteorology, physics or geography can often reinforce the "
too cold to snow" syndrome especially in inland places that do not often get
snow showers coming in off the sea. A good example is today with a warm
front moving south east.
In the absence of any explanation from television forecasts which are pushed
for time I will do my best in next year's round of talks when, "Is it too
cold for snow" can be a question from the audience.

Ian Currie--Coulsdon and Chipstead Valley
Editor of Weather eye
www.Frostedearth.com