Answers on a postcard to The Daily Fail & Daily Excess please.



SATURDAY will be another day of showers and longer outbreaks of rain in London & The South East as an active weather front crosses the country from west to east. There is a good possibility of this front developing a 'squall line' feature as it does so. Squall lines tend to be intense but fairly short lived as they sweep through at speed. A brief spell of very heavy rain and some strong gusty winds are the key elements to be aware of.

A similar feature is looking very likely on NEW YEARS EVE, hence my comment in the post above, and this one could be more troublesome looking at the current signs. More on that nearer the time. In between the two SUNDAY will be another day of showers or longer spells of rain, so a dismal end to what the Met Office have officially declared as the wettest year on record for England

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/

Its hard to believe we started 2012 in the grips of one of the worst droughts on record, the turnaround has been quite remarkable.

Thanks for reading and posting. Moley

Moley: is it possible to determine approximately how much snow would have fallen instead of rain, if it had been cold enough over Xmas??

Is there a formula that can work out X" of rain = 10X" of snow (I am sure it's more complex than that!!)

Good question SOT and the general concensus is that 2.5cms ( 1" ) of rainfall would produce 25cms ( 10" ) of snow. It can vary according to a whole lot of factors, but here in the UK the 10:1 ratio is the most reliable.

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/346/

More news regarding the River Thames, and I note the main area of concern now is for the Reading and Caversham locality.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20856822

The Thames Flood Barrier has also been called into action twice in the last 48 hours in response to the threat of flooding from The North Sea and Thames Estuary, as Low Pressure and High Tides ( Full Moon ) combined to raise sea levels. That Barrier is one marvellous piece of engineering work.

Thanks for asking your question SOT, and while I can't promise to have all the answers, I will always try and seek them out so fire away !!

Moley

Edited by Moley. My apologies for confusing SOT with Kremmen, but the answer is still the same !!

While Im editing, I thought I would add this link which relates to Squall Lines. I hope you find it usefull

http://www.wiseweather.co.uk/id78.html

Moley

I have had worse insults - but to be fair, not that many

Easy mistake

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Lets be careful out there !

***SATURDAY DECEMBER 29TH @ 1915 hrs***

Apart from a few showers, today turned out slightly better than I originally thought, and my predicted 'squall line' fell apart just as it was approaching the London area. It got to within 25-30 miles of us here in LBH, but hands up, I got it wrong

SUNDAY now looks as though it will remain mostly dry for much of London and The South East until late afternoon and evening at least, but MONDAY is proving difficult to predict, even at this relatively short range. My hunch is that the New Years Eve firework display in The Capital may be dampened somewhat as the rain is reluctant to clear away to the east. I hope I'm wrong.

Looking back, this week marked the 50th anniversary of the start of one of the worst winters in living memory and I am sorry to say my memory is not that good. I was 9 years old at the time but apart from some vague and distant memories of playing in the snow covered streets around that time, I can't say I remember much else. Perhaps other readers of this topic can share their memories and experiences ??

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weath ... -1963.html


Thanks as always. Moley

I remember,, after the snow had been down a couple of days, it was quite easy to walk on top of the crust of ice that had formed over the snow. Then suddenly break through, and have snow up to the knees.
I also remember watching on the Black and white TV. Farmers digging up carrots with a pneumatic road drill.
Then on a Friday when it was bath night, I had fill the copper with snow to get hot water. The water butt was frozen. Didn't have the luxury of a bathroom, just toilet outside the back door.

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Posts often deleted................Why? I don't know.

Thanks for the feedback Batty Bat.

I can just about recall The River Thames freezing over at Windsor, and the sea freezing over on the Kent Coast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DalYSIRU4rQ

Although its not shown in this video, there were snowdrifts up to 20ft deep in some parts of the South East.

Moley

I don't remember it as I was only 3 .... but my mum told us how bad it was. We moved house early that year and she said it was awful. Didn't it go on until about April ??

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I do not suffer fools !!!!!

***UPDATED DECEMBER 31ST 2012 @ 16:30 Hrs***

As we count down the final hours of 2012 the weather today just about sums up whats been a very soggy year for much of the country, despite the fact we were still in drought conditions for the first 3 months of the year at least.

Most of the London area should be seeing the last of todays rainfall in the next hour or so, the Capitals Firework Display should avoid being a 'damp squib' . Further south though...Surrey, Sussex and Kent, will most likely be hanging on to the rain until after midnight. The further south you are, the more likely you are to see in The New Year under an umbrella....if you are outside of course.

Now the good news for those of us fed up with all this rain, and especially the poor folk who have suffered from flooding in recent weeks. The New Year looks like heralding in a spell of much drier weather as an Azores High begins to make its presence felt close to the UK from January 1st 2013. How we could have done with one of those in the summer !!

Signs are that the southern half of the UK should remain mostly dry for the next 5-7 days once this last rain band has cleared off into Europe tonight. It won't be particularly sunny, anything but most of the time, but it should stay fairly mild for a few days at least, with a hint of fog and frost towards next weekend. This pattern could well remain into the 2nd week of January 2013, and its then we MAY start to see something a little more wintry.

Well I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time and trouble to read my ramblings in 2012, and thanks to everyone who has posted. I wish you all A HAPPY, HEALTHY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. Moley