Weather winter 2010/2011

[Maggi Young]

Fred said: To be honest it gets a little wearing after a while.

 Yes, it's pretty but it's hard work too.  But perhaps it is just folks of the age of Fred and I who are soon disllusioned by the snow? Little Ellie seems to be enjoying it well enough - as was the wee lassie being towed along by her dad on a sled, (with a little snowman on her tummy, which kept having to be rebuilt by her mum as bits were bounced off en route) that we met when out with the dogs last night. She was having a wonderful time and even offered to give the Westies a turn on the sled ! What a cutie!

[TheOnionMan]

It is surprising to see so many folks in the UK and Europe with snow already, we've had none so far.  We're getting cold nights, down to about 23 F (-5 C) but daytime temperatures warming up to low to mid 40s F (5-7 C), with this weeks forecast continuing the mild trend.
1  View from my deck, no snow yet.
2  forecast for my area

[christian pfalz]

hello all,
actually snowfal and -3°c....some pics from my yuccas and co.
y. rostrata

y. reverchonii

y. recurvifolia

y. aloifolia

cylindropuntia imbricata

olea europea

larix decidua bonsai....

best regards
chris

[Graham Catlow]

We moved to Edinburgh from Blackpool 21 years ago informing my then 5year old daughter that we would have lots of snow. 21 years later we finally get what we promised her only she isn't so keen now. There is 18cm in the garden and probably the deepest snow I have EVER seen.
For those of you that live with deep snow for many months you must wonder why we think this is so amazing.
Some photos from today; taken with my iPhone so apologies for the quality.

The Eucalyptus was flexible enough to cope with the weight of the snow but the Scots pine wasn't. There were several trees in the area that succumbed to the weight.

[Graham Catlow]

A few more.

[Anthony Darby]

Here's my Eucalyptus pauciflora niphophila today. Last winter its leaves actually touched the patio table with the weight of the snow!

[Stephenb]

We thought it had been a cold month here and now it's confirmed to have been the coldest ever. The main headline in the paper today was that it had been the coldest ever November since records began here in Trondheim in 1788!!!

http://www.adressa.no/vaeret/article1557596.ece (try Google translate)

There's an interesting map showing the temperature deviation from normal on the right hand side for the whole Northern hemisphere. You can click on this map to come to another article explaining that this really is a very local phenomenon and that there are other areas in the arctic much warmer than normal (e.g., Arctic Canada). Here you can see that Mark OnionMan is an area with above average temperatures.

It's forecast to continue for at least another week, although temperature will rise to much more pleasant -10 deg C.

[Peter Maguire]

After a week of daily snowfalls, with a cumulative total of 18inches/45cms (not bad for central Newcastle), I followed some of the links on the Norwegian news site that Stephen mentioned - I see that their temperature dropped to -28.8C last night.
As our weather is currently coming from them (thanks a lot!) I think an extra woolly jumper is called for - and that's just the plants. 

[Stephenb]

As our weather is currently coming from them (thanks a lot!) I think an extra woolly jumper is called for - and that's just the plants. 

 
Not at all - we should thank you - if you weren't sharing the cold with us, it would be even colder here 

[Peter Maguire]

Ah well, looking on the bright side, all those seed pots will be getting frosted, so germination should be good when the weather improves

[daveyp1970]

Ah well, looking on the bright side, all those seed pots will be getting frosted, so germination should be good when the weather improves

Peter my sister lives in Fenham in Newcastle and her kids aren't at school and she can't get into work.

[Peter Maguire]

her kids aren't at school and she can't get into work.

She's not the only one - I'm sitting at work doing very little as the patients aren't turning up.
The main roads are fine, but it's the side roads that are 'interesting' 
It's actually melting here now, the promised 3+ inches last night turned out to be less than 1 inch, and when I was clearing the snow from the drive last night it was actually raining, so not as cold as was forecast either.
Looking forward to the summer though!

[Anthony Darby]

Still like winter here Peter. 18" of snow.

[jomowi]

Below is an illustration of 3 strata of snow on my wheelie bin.  This is an illustration (on a small scale) of what makes snow subject to avalanches in the mountains when conditions are right.  Am I correct?  I am no climatologist.

[Lori S.]

I'm no avalanche expert either, but from what I read and hear, it tends to be weak layers between harder slabs that cause avalanches, assuming a sufficient slope and snow load (as opposed to just layering of fresh snow).  

Edit - with slabs forming from wind crust, melting, rain, etc...  Weaker layers being, I think, coarse granular snow for example...