Stormy Weather II

[Serial_Apologist]

Fog took all morning to clear here, owing to lack of wind and cloud spread above, leading to a grey afternoon for my two-mile walkabout at a temperature of 2 degs C. Not so many about this weekend, however I am now avoiding favourite local beauty spots - walkers tend to congregate and get in each others' ways. It should start warming up more generally tomorrow, Atlantic air gradually seeping in from the west, and so next week looks likely to have temperatures more-or-less back to where they should be in mid-Jan, but with a few ??? over next weekend dependent on whether or not we are in for yet another high pressure block, allowing very cold air over E Europe leaks westwards.

Madrid has been experiencing snowfall unprecedented for 40+ years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUAkkuYi-qM&feature+emb_log

Snow is less uncommon there than might be expected - Madrid is located at high elevation - but this was something else! Meanwhile Crete yesterday experienced a record high temperature for January, reaching 28 celsius!

[DracoM]

www.yr.no is predicting a COLD end of next week / w'end.

[Serial_Apologist]

www.yr.no is predicting a COLD end of next week / w'end.

Others "in the know" (presumably!) say it's on a knife edge at this stage.

[DracoM]

Well, up here, THIS a.m., utterly, utterly VILE: driving fine, drenching rain on a viciously cold westerly, and fells for the most part in whiteout.

[cloughie]

Damp here today but at least not frosty overnight.

[Joseph K]

Sun's out. At times a powerful cold wind but otherwise a nice walk.

[Serial_Apologist]

Return to normal temps today - well, actually slightly above, though mitigated by wind chill. Tonight sees light rain speed through courtesy a weak Atlantic occlusion, with winds increasing and switching around to the WNW. The knife edge I referred to above kicks in Weds, with an eastward-moving trough grinding to a halt in the face of blocking to the NE, though in this case the blockage is more down to indecision in the jet stream's subsequent direction than strong hp to the NE: will it turn south-east and bring more heavy precipitation to the Med, dragging easterlies across the UK, or get a NE-driven kick up the backside from stronger inputs from the west? All bets off.

If anyone checked my Madrid link yesterday, if it's heavy snow you're interested in, forget it: look at this news from Japan!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-55615851

[oddoneout]

In theory milder today, but the wind that brought the thaw is not only strong but it is also damp and so it actually feels blooming cold. Fair bit of sun, but not being felt I think - I have yet to get out properly, that will come in about an hour after lunch and before the rain arrives I hope, as I can't put this outing off.

[Serial_Apologist]

In theory milder today, but the wind that brought the thaw is not only strong but it is also damp and so it actually feels blooming cold. Fair bit of sun, but not being felt I think - I have yet to get out properly, that will come in about an hour after lunch and before the rain arrives I hope, as I can't put this outing off.

Yes indeed, it has actually reached 9 C here now, and so should be feeling milder than it actually does.

[cloughie]

Yes indeed, it has actually reached 9 C here now, and so should be feeling milder than it actually does.

The damp breeze doesn’t help!

[Serial_Apologist]

The damp breeze doesn’t help!

Well, indeed, cloughie! Having read in a number of so-called scientific sources that high levels of humidity are registered by the body's nervous system as colder weather than low levels, the opposite has always seemed the case to me, otherwise by extension, dipping myself into a bath full of water at room temperature would not feel colder than standing naked in the same room temperature - curtains drawn, of course! The obverse applies to high temperatures.

[oddoneout]

Damp can play a big part in the perception of and reaction to temperature, at each end of the gradient. Damp heat is more trying than dry, and by the same token a mild but damp day can never the less feel chilly - perhaps more so in areas such as this where dry cold is the more usual(or used to be!) state of affairs.
Decades ago now I remember when Tewkesbury Abbey replaced the old fiery furnace (actually a coke stove in the nave) with some sort of diffuse arrangement(underfloor?) which didn't actually raise the temperature significantly but did dry the place out(no mean feat in such a soggy location) and so make it feel much warmer, especially in contrast to the outside conditions.

[Serial_Apologist]

Damp can play a big part in the perception of and reaction to temperature, at each end of the gradient. Damp heat is more trying than dry, and by the same token a mild but damp day can never the less feel chilly - perhaps more so in areas such as this where dry cold is the more usual(or used to be!) state of affairs.

But is that objectively right? I mean, I happen to agree, but is there (to anyone's knowledge here) scientific evidence to back it up?

[Serial_Apologist]

Spits and spots of light rain from low clouds of varying thicknesses here at the moment, with the temperature vacillating around 6-7 C and a light north-northwesterly. It now appears that everywhere is prone to a lot of precipitation between now and Sunday, with snow in the N for a time between Thursday and Friday, courtesy this stalled frontal system now straddling S Wales and the SW, expected to edge east once more tonight. I do wish the polar jet could get its act together: next week looks increasingly likely to remain unsettled and on the cold side.

[DracoM]

Brilliant, fine endlessly sunny, cloudless day!!!