The Beast from the East....

[Dod101]

Dod,

It certainly does look that this little lot is worse than usual, even allowing for the tendency of the reporters to exaggerate, so it's looking like my prediction "be gone in a week or so" might well be wrong. Sorry about that.

Experience will out! Looks like you were about right. It is just a week since our first snow and it is this morning fast disappearing, and raining, with temperatures still on the cold side but significantly above freezing. Still a lot of snow around but no problems. If this had all happened in January it would have caused less fuss I hope but would probably have lasted longer

The so called Red Alert is ridiculous and I am not sure it is reporters exaggerating but society in general from our silly Nicola Sturgeon down, in Scotland at least. The Met Office is between a rock and a hard place.

Dod

[kiloran]

Experience will out! Looks like you were about right. It is just a week since our first snow and it is this morning fast disappearing, and raining,
Dod

And the snow is now reappearing near Glasgow. About 3-4cm since around 7am, and it's still snowing

--kiloran

[AleisterCrowley]

I was over in Greenwich yesterday expecting a chill wind off the Thames, but it was mild and pleasant with some sun - hovering around 10C midday.
Similar in Slough today, with more cloud.
Hopefully no more 'beasts' this year, but I can remember going home for Easter with snow on the ground.
I can also remember an Easter heatwave in 2011, with temperatures >70F.

[madhatter]

On Sunday after the thaw I saw 4 inch thick ice beginning to melt in water filled buckets in the garden.

Yesterday there were swirls of movement in the pond (frogs) and the first signs of buds breaking on the apple tree. Accidentally nudged the yew tree with a ladder while pruning the apple and disappeared on a cloud of yew pollen. Catches me out every year, that does.

[Dod101]

Experience will out! Looks like you were about right. It is just a week since our first snow and it is this morning fast disappearing, and raining,
Dod

And the snow is now reappearing near Glasgow. About 3-4cm since around 7am, and it's still snowing

--kiloran

Yup No sooner had I written that than the heavy rain we were having turned to snow and it has been snowing hard for the last 2 or 3 hours!

Dod

[ten0rman]

Dare I tempt fate? Here in West Cumbria, we've had very little snow indeed, and none forecast.

Obviously I've been watching the forecasts, and noticed that the Amber warnings have always carefully curved round us leaving us in the yellow. Yet not too far away, 30-40 miles, there are roads still blocked!

ten0rman

[UncleEbenezer]

Here we had a two-day wonder. Some moderate snow with wind on Wednesday and Thursday, though by Thurs it had warmed up to the point where snow was both falling and melting. Friday it was almost all gone, barring patches in sheltered/shady spots and where it had drifted.

Yet today, many of the shops appear to have no milk, blaming weather for non-delivery!

Tried local co-op and other local co-op: none. So this evening I made a short diversion via a studentland main street with lots of mini-supermarkets. The ex-Morrisons shop had no milk either, but I finally got some in mini-Sainsburys.

[AleisterCrowley]

Yep, completely out of milk in Slough Tesco tonight (after several days of mild and damp weather)

[vrdiver]

Watched the weather / news report last night. A chap reporting in Scotland said "I'm standing on at least five feet of snow" which sounded impressive, but this implied the wire fencing either side of the lane were at least 8 feet high.

Another reporter stood against a backdrop of icy but visible tarmac saying the road was blocked and the community were "isolated and forgotten".

BAFTAs all round, or at least an honourable mention in the fantasy section!

[Dod101]

Having had a very rough 2/3 days last week with about 10 inches of snow, that was not the problem.The problem was the very strong winds which accompanied it and caused a massive amount of drifting, causing roads (particularly narrow country roads which would you believe often lead to farms which have got large dairy herds) to be completely impassable. Milk tankers usually make a daily trip to these places to collect raw milk and take it to a pasteurising and bottling plant from where it is delivered to shops and supermarkets. If the first bit of that chain is broken it can take time to get back into a routine again. That I think explains the milk shortage, that and people stock piling in panic.

I also think the snow was very localised. One area had very little and another close by had at least a foot.

Dod

[scotia]

I drove up from Surrey yesterday to just south of the Campsies. Main roads all clear, but piles of snow where our neighbours had been enthusiastically clearing their driveways. So I had to get the snow shovel out and clear my driveway. I'll tackle the back garden today - and get the bird feeders replenished.

[UncleEbenezer]

Oh my!

The white stuff is in the air again, and we have a yellow snow warning.

Darkening to Orange Snow warning for tomorrow, when I have to get in to town to sing in a concert. That's the same level we had here in the Two Day Wonder of a couple of weeks ago. Guess I'd better take those sandals with a bit of a grip, in case I find myself having to walk home afterwards.

[robbelg]

They're calling it the Mini Beast from the East

Who thinks up these names?


And how do we get them to stop?



Rob

[scotia]

I'm sure I saw at least one flake of snow at Twickenham. Is it time to announce a COBRA meeting?

[UncleEbenezer]

I'm sure I saw at least one flake of snow at Twickenham. Is it time to announce a COBRA meeting?

Shouldn't think so. We already have a distraction right now (big diplomatic spat with Russia): why would we need another?

Besides, what took you to Twickenham? Isn't that even further for you than for me?

[PinkDalek]

...

Besides, what took you to Twickenham? Isn't that even further for you than for me?

I’m guessing the answer is ITV.

[scotia]

Correct Guess!
I should be sitting in a boat, trying to tempt brown trout to snatch one of my enticingly tied flies (the season started on Thursday). But there's a perishingly strong east wind with the odd snow flurry, and I'm no longer as daft as I used to be in my younger days. So the TV had to suffice.

[JMN2]

Snow most of the day and now hail, like someone would be throwing sand at the windows.

[bungeejumper]

Look, can I just say that crap weather and freezing temperatures were always Scotland's thing.

How typical of the English and their Welsh sidekicks to take even that away from us.

Don't worry, Mr Snorves, there are enough things you can keep for your very own selves. We'll start with the midges, perhaps, and then continue with Nicola.

As for the pipes, it depends on whether they're filling up with oil or just with some red-faced geezer's hot and unmusical breath.

BJ

[Lootman]

many years ago, me and the missus camped at Loch Lomond and woke at 4am to find our tent filled with a swarm 10 million killer midges.

We then closed up the tent and headed to the campsite showers alive with the little bastards. On out return, we dismantled the tent and zipped it up tight in the bag before heading (and not stopping) until we got to Cambridgeshire.....we we unzipped the bag, rolled out the tent under the warm sunshie and ran to the pub.

When we got back, there was not a midge in sight....Bwa-ha-ha-har!

At Uni I had a Scottish girlfriend for a while. She invited me up for New Year and Hogmaney, and I was flattered enough to go there. It was somewhere near Peterhead. Two things stick in my mind about that trip:

1) It was so cold, my eyes hurt and my snot froze. That's never happened since.

2) A local wag in the pub in Peterhead told me "We have two seasons here - winter and June"

3) Nothing grew there except heather. The only vegetables people could grow were root veggies and cabbage, hence "neeps and tatties", I guess.

OK, that's three things, but you get my point. My God, the climate there is miserable.