A friend in Shropshire reckons they had quite a howler last night. I reckon we escaped it because I've done my back again so haven't cleaned the car of late.

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

Moley

Well on the South Coast it was very strong, trees all be it an old oak lost its bowe last night seats chairs tossed around and massive waves down on the front at Hastings, amazingly a very still morning, cold but sunny and Blue sky, an odd grey cloud passes but a nice day all in all

Bucks

^^^ Thanks for posting from the South Coast Bucks, long time no hear and it is always useful to get first hand reports.

Before I look ahead I thought I would just quickly mention the events of yesterday evening in London and parts of the South East. During Thursday afternoon a lively looking weather front was heading from west to east across the South of the country and just as it reached the London area around 6:30pm it took on a life of its own. The heavens opened, rain, sleet and hail were accompanied by vivid lightning strikes and booming thunder across much the Capital.
It was quite a show !!

So back to current and future developments.

The weather is really beginning to crank up again here this evening ( Friday ) as the next low pressure system sweeps in from The Atlantic, and the Met Office predicted wind charts below are a good indication of what we might expect between now and Christmas:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... &lat=51.52

In a nutshell, it is a continuation of some very unsettled weather with strong to gale force winds and heavy rain being a feature even in our region. What I would imagine is the last main shopping day before Christmas ( Saturday ) is going to be wet and windy for a time. The worst of the gales once again along the South Coast.

I'm trying to keep a close watch on the developing storm predicted to reach London and The South East late on Monday and into Christmas Eve morning. Potential wind gusts of 50+mph in the Capital, and 70+mph along the South Coast.

Thank you all for reading and posting.

Moley

Is it going to be OK for Santa on Xmas eve ?

Those reindeers don't like gales and rain

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

Follow him here...

http://www.noradsanta.org/

_________________
When a crash seems inevitable, try to hit the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

Well I'm sure the old fella won't be letting anyone down but he and his reindeer are going to be battling some serious headwinds on their east to west journey around the globe

All joking aside, the winds which have been affecting much of London and The South East for the last 24 hours are strengthening again this evening and a nasty little front is approaching our region from the west as I type ( 6pm Saturday ). This has already produced some quite severe conditions to our north and west. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain and hail being quite widely reported. I'm glad I don't have any plans to go out in it.

The Met Office now have weather warnings in place for the whole of the UK for Monday and Tuesday ( 23rd/24th ) for both wind and rain so the run up to Christmas is looking a bit grim. It's obviously a time of year when many folk will be travelling to be with friends and family so I would urge anyone planning a journey to please check the latest Met Office and traffic and travel updates on a regular basis.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... 1387843200

Have a safe journey.

Thanks as always for reading and posting. Moley

Just to add to my post above:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/25479183

Travel safe folks. Moley

*** UPDATED SUNDAY DECEMBER 22nd 2013 @ 02:15 hrs ***

As regular readers of this topic will hopefully know, I don't hype my predictions so please bear with me.

The developing low pressure system out in the Atlantic and heading our way is giving some cause for concern. It may well be one of the deepest low pressure sytems ever recorded in the north Atlantic, and its current heading shows it tracking just to the north west of the UK.

If it follows that track then most of the Uk is in for a spell of very stormy weather on Monday and Tuesday.

My concern is this will coincide with the peak travel time in the build up to Christmas. Please make your family and friends aware.

Moley

*****UPDATED SUNDAY DECEMBER 22nd 2013 @ 22:30 hrs*****

I am no meteorologist, just an amateur who happens to be interested in the weather and as part of my hobby I like to pass information on via this topic, and put my own interpretation on the information available.

The real professionals are the folk I pay particular attention to, and from their posts tonight on the weather websites I'm a member of they are expressing growing concerns about the developing situation. These are people who don't do hype or try and attract media attention, quite the opposite in fact, which is why I respect their thoughts and forecasts.

From their latest updates tonight they seem more or less agreed that we are facing an unusual set of circumstances in the next few days. Chris Fawkes BBC forecast earlier today mentions the Jet Stream, one of the strongest on record :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/25485532

The low pressure system this spawns is also likely to result in a near record low for the North Atlantic as it approaches the UK. The track of this low is still uncertain, but one way or another it will have an impact on our weather between now and Christmas.

For London and the South East winds are likely to increase significantly from around midday on Monday ( December 23rd ) and an approaching weather front will produce heavy rainfall and increasingly strong wind gusts. The peak is expected to reach our region between late evening and the early hours of Tuesday.

Some of the projected figures I have seen suggest that localised flooding and wind damage to property may occur.

Potential rainfall : 25 mm's ( 1" ) in 6 hours. 45-65 mm's ( 1.75 - 2.5" ) by Tuesday afternoon.

Potential wind gusts : 50-60 mph inland, quite possibly higher *

60-70 mph on the South Coast, again quite possibly higher **

Wind gusts in the English Channel may go some way beyond that for a time and may exceed 90-100mph.


* http://xcweather.co.uk/forecast/northolt

**http://xcweather.co.uk/forecast/tn35

Christmas Day should bring a respite to our region but it's short lived as yet another low pressure system heads our way on Friday/Saturday. ( 27th/28th ) In the next 8-10 days some parts of the South could be looking at rainfall totals of 120-150 mm's ( 4.7-6" ).

I hope I am hopelessly wrong with these predictions, but forewarned is forearmed.

Moley

Amateur or not, I for one appreciate your considered view gathered from editing and slicing together data from various reliable sources

Its far too easy for some of the tabloids to hype up every heavy storm. which leaves the ordinary man in the street (who has forgotten his umbrella) confused and skeptical

Thanks for the heads up Moley