I've had to dig back a long way to find a colder April day maximum
temperature. Unless it warms up in the next few hours, when I the
temperature has started to fall again, todays maximum for me at
Southend-on-Sea has been 3.4°C. This is the coldest April maximum "I"
have ever recorded from when I started keeping records in 1977. My
previous record was 4.5°C on the 11th April 1986.

I had a look back at some records I have from two local sites of John
Benford and Bob Pritchard, which go back to 1960 and I find Bob recorded
a maximum of 2.8°C on the 3rd April 1964 and 3.3°C on the 14th April 1966.

Todays snow never stuck for long and only just covered the grass for a
short spell this morning.
Temperature currently 2.8°C
No sunshine recorded.
Wind currently ENE 3mph.

Quite a remarkable day.
--
Keith (Southend)
http://www.southendweather.net
e-mail: kreh at southendweather dot net

"Keith (Southend)" wrote in
:

Quite a remarkable day.

And a reminder to those that write off snow in the "global warming age"
that we can still have freak snow events (I would consider this one to be
of note given the relatively widespread snowfall).

Richard

"Keith (Southend)" wrote in message
...
I've had to dig back a long way to find a colder April day maximum
temperature. Unless it warms up in the next few hours, when I the
temperature has started to fall again, todays maximum for me at
Southend-on-Sea has been 3.4°C. This is the coldest April maximum "I" have
ever recorded from when I started keeping records in 1977. My previous
record was 4.5°C on the 11th April 1986.

I had a look back at some records I have from two local sites of John
Benford and Bob Pritchard, which go back to 1960 and I find Bob recorded a
maximum of 2.8°C on the 3rd April 1964 and 3.3°C on the 14th April 1966.

Todays snow never stuck for long and only just covered the grass for a
short spell this morning.
Temperature currently 2.8°C
No sunshine recorded.
Wind currently ENE 3mph.

Quite a remarkable day.
--
Keith (Southend)
http://www.southendweather.net
e-mail: kreh at southendweather dot net
------------
I had a feeling it might be! Struggled to 3.1C here and is now slowly
falling.
Dave

Richard Dixon wrote:

"Keith (Southend)" wrote in
:

Quite a remarkable day.

And a reminder to those that write off snow in the "global warming
age" that we can still have freak snow events (I would consider this
one to be of note given the relatively widespread snowfall).

Richard

But hardly a "freak" event, Richard, just an infrequent one.

Norman
--
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
(remove "thisbit" twice to e-mail)

"Norman" wrote in
:

And a reminder to those that write off snow in the "global warming
age" that we can still have freak snow events (I would consider this
one to be of note given the relatively widespread snowfall).

Richard

But hardly a "freak" event, Richard, just an infrequent one.

I guess so yes. I got all Daily Mail in my excitement.

Richard

On Apr 6, 6:38*pm, Richard Dixon wrote:
"Keith (Southend)" wrote :

Quite a remarkable day.

And a reminder to those that write off snow in the "global warming age"
that we can still have freak snow events (I would consider this one to be
of note given the relatively widespread snowfall).

Richard

If anone writes off April snow, or any other type of winter snow, in
GWUK, they would be potty IMO. The right synoptics can produce snow
and probably always will; I've never read anyone writing off snow with
GW and I don't expect to. The allusion to writing off snow is simply a
GC straw man.

Paul

Dawlish wrote in
:

If anone writes off April snow, or any other type of winter snow, in
GWUK, they would be potty IMO. The right synoptics can produce snow
and probably always will; I've never read anyone writing off snow with
GW and I don't expect to. The allusion to writing off snow is simply a
GC straw man.

There's been chatter on here before of winters never being the same again,
one particular poster (who I've not seen in a while) used to write off
winters even before they'd started which was always amusing.

I'm not saying it's been written about in the media etc...

Richard

p.s. Is GWUK a new acronym?!

On Apr 6, 8:15*pm, Richard Dixon wrote:
Dawlish wrote :

If anone writes off April snow, or any other type of winter snow, in
GWUK, they would be potty IMO. The right synoptics can produce snow
and probably always will; I've never read anyone writing off snow with
GW and I don't expect to. The allusion to writing off snow is simply a
GC straw man.

There's been chatter on here before of winters never being the same again,
one particular poster (who I've not seen in a while) used to write off
winters even before they'd started which was always amusing.

I'm not saying it's been written about in the media etc...

Richard

p.s. Is GWUK a new acronym?!

Hi Richard. When it is cold and snowy in winter, it will feel exactly
the same as cold and snowy winters in the UK in the past and, promise
you and everyone else, it will happen again, many times! The
difference, with the UK in a Global Warming trend, is that winters
will not be very cold as often as before and the snow events will thus
be less frequent. Also, there will still be colder than average
winters in the UK in years to come, unless GW becomes runaway (and our
economy and life as we know it would have collapsed a long time before
that happened!),......maybe in 2008/9.

Even people who would "write off" the winter would never say that we
would get no snow anywhere, at all. There's the GC straw man - and
there are many that are constructed. I don't believe that of anyone.
What they are probably really saying (but probably, also, stirring up
the cold masses with a modicum of hyperbole) is that the chances of a
colder winter are now reduced and the chances of a severe winter are
very much reduced. Neither of those should allow someone to write off
a winter as the actual winter weather is, essentially, unforecastable
in October/November time and looking back, colder than average winters
do occur.

2008/9 could be cold and I'd offer you 1/4 next winter's CET will be
colder than the long term Manley average.

GWUK.
The UK is responding to the world's warming in it's own sweet way. As
is every other area on Earth. How a particular area will respond, or
will continue to respond in the future is not really predictable.
Hence GWUK: the UK's small-scale response to Global Warming. I coined
the phrase a few years ago. It drives some mad, but it works for me
and others!

Paul

On 7 Apr, 08:33, Dawlish wrote:

Hi Richard. When it is cold and snowy in winter, it will feel exactly
the same as cold and snowy winters in the UK in the past and, promise
you and everyone else, it will happen again, many times!

I know!! I've been an advocate of this on here for many years !!

What they are probably really saying (but probably, also, stirring up
the cold masses with a modicum of hyperbole) is that the chances of a
colder winter are now reduced and the chances of a severe winter are
very much reduced.

There has clearly been a shift in the circulation type in winter
months since the late 1980s that has led to less easterly outbreaks
and generally less prevalent easterly-type blocks. The question for me
is whether this is tied to changes more in the global circulation
brought about by global warming or whether we're just seeing a peak in
any multi-decadal North Atlantic Oscillation-type behaviour and this
will drop away and we'll head back to more blocked winters. It's our
NW Europe version of the current debate as to whether the hurricane
numbers are increasing in the Atlantic Basin through global warming on
top of the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation.

One study I've seen suggests that periods of global warming lead to an
increasein the NAO: although Philip Eden's westerly index (for
January) he http://www.climate-uk.com/indices/01.htm points to a
peak mid-90s and a falling away since then. I believe the Met Office
are doing some short-term climate runs for the next 10-20 years and it
would be interested if we see a return to a more blocked NW Europe.

GWUK.
The UK is responding to the world's warming in it's own sweet way. As
is every other area on Earth. How a particular area will respond, or
will continue to respond in the future is not really predictable.

Do you mean our response as a nation or the response of the atmosphere
around our shores?

Richard

On Apr 7, 1:49*pm, Richard Dixon wrote:
On 7 Apr, 08:33, Dawlish wrote:

Hi Richard. When it is cold and snowy in winter, it will feel exactly
the same as cold and snowy winters in the UK in the past and, promise
you and everyone else, it will happen again, many times!

I know!! I've been an advocate of this on here for many years !!

What they are probably really saying (but probably, also, stirring up
the cold masses with a modicum of hyperbole) is that the chances of a
colder winter are now reduced and the chances of a severe winter are
very much reduced.

There has clearly been a shift in the circulation type in winter
months since the late 1980s that has led to less easterly outbreaks
and generally less prevalent easterly-type blocks. The question for me
is whether this is tied to changes more in the global circulation
brought about by global warming or whether we're just seeing a peak in
any multi-decadal North Atlantic Oscillation-type behaviour and this
will drop away and we'll head back to more blocked winters. It's our
NW Europe version of the current debate as to whether the hurricane
numbers are increasing in the Atlantic Basin through global warming on
top of the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation.

One study I've seen suggests that periods of global warming lead to an
increasein the NAO: although Philip Eden's westerly index (for
January) hehttp://www.climate-uk.com/indices/01.htmpoints to a
peak mid-90s and a falling away since then. I believe the Met Office
are doing some short-term climate runs for the next 10-20 years and it
would be interested if we see a return to a more blocked NW Europe.

GWUK.
The UK is responding to the world's warming in it's own sweet way. As
is every other area on Earth. How a particular area will respond, or
will continue to respond in the future is not really predictable.

Do you mean our response as a nation or the response of the atmosphere
around our shores?

Richard

I agree with a great deal of what you say. It's just not clear whether
there really has been a change in pressure patterns as a result of the
present GW trend, however it is clear that the UK's patch has warmed
in response to it, over the last 25(ish) years.

GWUK - It is the response of the atmosphere around our shores to the
GW trend. The UK climate is responding to worldwide changes in a way
that nowhere else is. That doesn't make us all that unique though as
other parts of the atmosphere are responding in their own sweet way
too and their ways are often significantly different to other areas -
hence, in my view, GW USA and GW Fiji etc.. This warming trend is
linear neither temporally, nor spatially. It will progress in fits and
spurts and some areas will warm much quicker than others. Some areas
of the atmosphere may even show temporary cooling trends. The trend
may also stop, or reverse, but that hasn't happened yet and is
unlikely to, IMO and in the opinion of most.

As for the cause of the trend: 1/8 CO2 and GW being anthropomorphic in
origin - but that still leaves the "1" which is the doubt I've always
had.

Paul

PS I used to feel it was 1/9 - similar to the IPCC view, until I read
many arguments about the influence of the sun on our climate. There
you go. Someone who has changed their mind on how they feel about GW!