wrote in message
...
Having had a week of not so bitter weather with temps around 5C I was
expecting it to be colder today. So why, with 850 hPa indicating -8C here,
sub 528 dam, is it 6C and raining in the showers?


Long fetch off a super warm North Sea below 850 hPa melting the snowflakes
aloft. Sadly for you SE folk the days of sig. snow at low level are getting
rarer, unless the North Sea cools down more again in winters, it will remain
thus. At altitude, in places like Luton, snow will continue to occur
regularly but it will not be bitter. You are quickly becoming like the south
coast whereby the only time you will get sig. snow is if the 1000-500 hPa
thickness falls below 516 DAM, or you get a more continental air fetch or a
"special" synoptic setup like a slow moving front with a fetch off colder
land. Snow lovers need to gain latitude or altitude, preferably both.

Sorry :-(

Will
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http://www.lyneside.demon.co.uk/Hayt...antage_Pro.htm
Will Hand (Haytor, Devon, 1017 feet asl)
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