You make the point with your statement that away from coasts, most of the
Country does not usually get snow in cold snaps from showers. Apart from
relatively rare polar lows or extreme conditions such as Jan '87 where
showers come well inland, most 'snow' events on the mainland, just as you
say, need the advancing front, usually a warm or occluded one. In our part
of the world this means the temp rising to near freezing before and during
any snow, then rising further as the front passes.

I've always assumed the saying is another piece of old Country weather
folklore based on this observation over Centuries, just as many of the
others. One has to say, to the uneducated on the finer more scientific
points of the weather, it does appear to be true. I long gave up trying to
'correct' otherwise uninterested people, it is like banging ones head
against a brick wall. As a youngster, my mum always made the point,
obviously a modification of the 'too cold' observation, that snow always
soon turns to rain. At that time, to me she always appeared to be right.
Then came 1963!

--
Pete

---------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed above are entirely those of the writer and
do not represent the views, policy or understanding of any
other person or official body.
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Ian Currie" wrote in message
...
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