BB FANS

It's all gone but we have had a heavy sleet shower in the last 2 hours. But they are still forecasting more tonight.
Though it looks like the far South-East are set to get the worst of it with 10 - 15 cm forecast.

Overnight low was -0.1C (was -1.5 around 11PM) ,daytime high was 4.6C. Currently it's 2.2C.

The Barometer has climbed back to 1016mb from 1010mb.

Wind direction is North-North-West (334 Degrees).

Forecast for tonight is around -2C which will create a skating ring on the roads due to the lack of gritting. The through roads in town will get gritted along with the main road but the road I have to take to work won't be and neither will the industrial estate.

This estate is quite high and gets very icy so you have to crawl off the estate down some fairly steep roads before you meet the next hill that again won't be gritted. Second gear to minimize the braking letting the engine slow you down normally works though last year I think it was someone got a car in their garden near one of the bends.

Presently there is a lot of surface water everywhere to we'll have to see what happens. Worst case is the water freezing followed by snow on top so you don't see the ice !!

the snow has gone here, just wind and rain

'Humans Are To Blame'


Humans are to blame for climate change and it will continue for centuries, the world's leading scientists have said.

The conclusion was revealed in a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at a meeting in Paris.

The IPCC is made up of 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations and its findings could influence government and industrial policy worldwide.

Its report projects global temperatures will rise between 1.8C and 4C by 2100.

Sea levels will increase by 18cm to 59cm by the end of this century.

And it forecasts more rain, more powerful storms, droughts and heatwaves.

It says it is more than 90% likely that human activities have caused most of the warming in the past 50 years.

But crucially the report did not suggest what countries would have to do to reverse the trend.

Details of what action should be taken are expected later in the year.

The last IPCC report, in 2001, said the link was merely "likely", or at least 66% probable.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber from the Potsdam Insitutute for Climate Impact Research said: "With this report, any last doubts should be dispelled that humans are 'over-turning the climate screw'.

"Hence, we have a responsibility to correct this dangerous development by drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions." [img=http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13566144,00.html]sky[/img]

Never knew it was supposed to snow today!! Was on the bus in a bit of a daze then looked out the window and was quite shocked, in actual Aberdeen it was pretty heavy. Guess who the bright spark was that only had a fleecy hoody thing?

Heavy Snow warning from MET Office affecting from Wales across the midlands into East Anglia and the South.


Here last night produced one of the coldest nights with -2.9C. It's currently -1.7C and is forecast as low as -5C.

The forecast temperature wise was correct. Recorded -4.8C. Currently it's -4.4C.

I see a current temperature ,according to Google ,for Aberdeen or -12C.

Wow - it seems that you're having a real winter over there! Keep yourselves warm!

Winter's heaviest snow heading in

Snow fell in Scotland overnight. Photo sent in by Ian Rodgers
Weather forecasters are predicting the heaviest snowfalls of the winter so far over most parts of Britain overnight.

The snow, which is expected to fall for several hours, could be 15cm deep in hilly areas of Wales and the Midlands, and 2cm to 5cm deep in the south-east.

The Met Office has issued an early warning of severe weather.

The Highways Agency has warned of poor driving conditions on Thursday morning, and rail travellers can also expect disruption in some parts of the UK.

The BBC Weather Centre says snow will begin falling at about midnight or in the early hours of the morning in Wales and south-west England and then move north-eastwards.

"It will be the worst snow we'll have seen this winter," said BBC weather forecaster Nina Ridge.


If the weather is severe, don't travel unless your journey is essential
Highways Agency spokesman

The Highways Agency (HA), which is advising drivers to check weather forecasts and road conditions before they set out, said 400 salt-spreading vehicles were on standby.

"It's possible that the heavy snow could affect central and southern England during the times when people are setting out to travel to work or school on Thursday morning," the HA said in a statement.

"If the weather is severe, don't travel unless your journey is essential."

People who must travel are advised to take warm clothes, food, water, a torch and a spade in case of a breakdown.

Measures to prevent delays

Network Rail said train lines in Kent and Sussex were most vulnerable to snow and ice because they took their power from the rails rather than overhead lines.

Special trains will de-ice the tracks and spray anti-freeze on them, and heaters will stop points from freezing.

Transport for London, which runs the Tube network, said it had ordered more than 4,000 tonnes of salt.
Wintry scene in Thropton, Northumberland. Photo sent in by reader Dave Jefferson
Temperatures have plummeted. Photo sent in by Dave Jefferson

Snow plough trains will be deployed if there is heavy snow and a helicopter will be used to spot the worst-affected areas.

"We can't guarantee there won't be any disruption, but we're doing everything we can to try and keep things running as smoothly as possible," a Network Rail spokesman said.

Britain's airports are also on standby for severe weather.

Heathrow, run by BAA, has about 30 snow-clearing vehicles ready for the worst.

A BAA spokesman said it was "impossible to say" if there would be any delays to flights.

"Our priority is to keep the runways operational and minimise disruption."

A number of airports, including Gatwick and those in Scotland, said they were not expecting extreme conditions, but others are braced for a blanketing.




A spokesman for Manchester Airport said it was expecting 3cm of snow from 0500 GMT to 1200 GMT on Thursday.

It was calling in extra staff to drive snowmobiles and equipment to keep runways clear.

And a second task was to work out how many diverted flights it could handle from other airports affected around the country.

Meanwhile, at Birmingham Airport, a spokeswoman said: "Our snow equipment has been serviced today and we have extra snow volunteers on stand-by who are trained to use it.

"We have also got extra staff in the terminals, so we're doing all we can."

Thirty extra staff are on stand-by at Bristol and the runway has been sprayed with de-icer. Any snow that does lie will be removed by three mechanical brushes.

Senior managers at Cardiff International Airport are meeting to work out plans to prevent any flight delays.

Schools closed

Snow has already affected Northumberland and parts of Scotland.

In Grampian, 16 schools in Aberdeenshire were either closed or partially closed on Wednesday, and the A939 Cockbridge to Tomintoul road was also shut.

Temperatures plummeted overnight all over Britain on Tuesday with the lowest recorded in Sennybridge, Powys - minus 9C (16F).

Last month a snowfall of less than an inch caused widespread travel chaos.

Heathrow and Gatwick cancelled more than 20 flights, the Tube was badly hit and 340,000 rail commuters suffered delays and cancellations. BBC

Here comes the snow




Note Pink areas area heavy rain ,Red areas are Very Heavy Rain. Any White areas ,over land ,that show are Downpours. But due to the temperatures this will more than likely be snow and not rain.

Images courtesy of the Met-Office website.

If anybody is interested the format to get the image is

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/ima ... ddhhMM.gif

Where

yyyy = year
mm = month
dd = day
hh = hour
MM = minutes. Note images are either 00 or 30

It took some time a while back to work it out as the image is mapped so you can select regional radars by clicking different areas of the image from the website so even if you try to save the details from the link you don't get the image. Had to study the source code to finally work it out.

Also not sure how many days they keep the images for.

Temperature is dropping fast now.
Currently -1.1C and dropping at around 0.1C every 2 minutes.

Looks like the area has started to move



Temperature has stabilized at -1.3C from it's initial sharp drop.

Temperature have been down to -1.5C but has risen slightly.

The Barometer is slowly dropping. Currently 997mb.

The area of precipitation is slowly moving North-Easterly still with some intense areas. If you scroll the page fast enough you can see the movement ,but the better way is to goto the Met Office website and either manually or automatically select the different frames. It will play as an animation if selected.

Thanks larry. It's kinda spooky watching the snow slowly creep up the country....none here yet.

There has been some snow in Aberdeen tonight

This'll be the last one tonight.
There is a noticeable change from the 2330 to 0000 images in position plus there are Red areas starting to appear which means it's getting heavier.

It's still fine here as well .
Temperature is fluctuating ,in the last 25 minutes it's been down to -1.7C but is back to -1.4C.

The Barometer is still falling slowly and is currently 996mb.

If I can wake-up early later this morning say 7ish I'll take a couple of the cameras out to capture the fresh snow ,assuming we have some by then ,before people and traffic mess it up. Though trying to match that fantastic frost covered scene that Jezi did will be hard work .