Stormy Weather II

[DracoM]

Given overnight and present temps, I am surprised there is no snow, but the frost is hard enough to look exactly like it.
Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!
-6C so far!

[BBMmk2]

-3 this morning! Slightly warmer now. Heavy cloud. Snow?!?!?

[Joseph K]

Cold, but the sun and lack of wind made for a pleasant walk around the lake this morning (c. 9-10AM) as well as the iridescent frost, there were at least a couple of people taking pictures but unfortunately I didn't bring my phone with me.

[Serial_Apologist]

Rather less cold than I was expecting, given last night was the coldest at -4C, the first moderate frost. Mild enough not to require gloves on the bike.

[oddoneout]

Freezing overnight but less frost to be seen on cars and roofs in the morning for some reason. Sun all day and light breeze so pleasant to be out - except that the pavements were tricky. At some point water had run across the surface and frozen and except where in full sun wasn't melting. It wasn't always clear where the icy patches were - black ice effect? - and the extent of the spread made it tricky finding a way round in places. I managed both my two brief forays without mishap but with a fair amount of anxiety!

[teamsaint]

In times past, this would have been a perfect winter's day: dry, very frosty and cold. Ideal walking weather for getting the blood pumping round! However, with one eye on the smart meter steadily climbing upwards there's not quite so much pleasure involved.

Different forecasts are giving out a lot of contradictory information as to whether we get any snow here or not so we'll just have to see what actually happens.

It really is a downside of smart meters that they have the ability to keep people constantly worried about their bills. Not that they don’t have reason to be concerned of course.
Maybe a bit of ignorance is bliss.
I’m resisting a smart meter as long as it makes sense. But then my meter is easily accessible just outside the back door, so keeping tabs is easy enough.

Cold here of course, but we had a lovely few hours of sunshine. Managed a modest 40 minute run around 9.00 which was pleasant conditions for running, though running gloves are nice to have when it is like this.

[Serial_Apologist]

Freezing overnight but less frost to be seen on cars and roofs in the morning for some reason. Sun all day and light breeze so pleasant to be out - except that the pavements were tricky. At some point water had run across the surface and frozen and except where in full sun wasn't melting. It wasn't always clear where the icy patches were - black ice effect? - and the extent of the spread made it tricky finding a way round in places. I managed both my two brief forays without mishap but with a fair amount of anxiety!

The air became drier - this would have become apparent by wet bulb and dry bulb thermometer readings once more diverging.

[BBMmk2]

Was -5C last night. Then first thing this morning, my wife our boiler not working! Sunny but -3C now!!!!

[Joseph K]

Heavier frost last night so today in some places it's like a dusting of snow. Most of the lake was frozen and once again I forgot to take my phone with me to take pictures of a sunny winter's wonderland of a day. It's not slippery underfoot too which is nice. Hopefully tomorrow will be not dissimilar!

[oddoneout]

The air became drier - this would have become apparent by wet bulb and dry bulb thermometer readings once more diverging.

I thought that might be the case but was misled I think by what seemed to be moisture rather than frost on the ground. As it turned out it was also frost, but not the pretty white version of the previous day.
Minus 2.5 minimum overnight in the woodstore by the back door, lower in the open, and has only now got above 0. Assorted forms of murk drifting around but the actual cloud cover looks pretty thin and high and so the sun might manage to break through by the end of the day.

[Serial_Apologist]

It fell to - 3 here last night, and has not managed to rise above + 1 all day. After some frenetic exercise borne of misfortune yesterday I've taken it relatively easy, doing my weekly laundry today rather than tomorrow when all-day fog is a possibility: a 15 minute after-dark walk around the block, avoiding slippery white sparkly stretches of pavement. Visiting multiple retail outlets for cards etc at this time of year, necessitating continually bringing out the wallet containing bank cards amid bustling distractions, caused me at some point to lose my senior citizen travel card. As I can't do photos to send for a replacement online, I had to go through the burdensome procedure of photocopying documents and getting a new passport photo, and mailing them to an address in an industrial park in Arbroath! The nearest photo booth in one of the two local railway stations turned out to be no more, and so I had to cycle up the steep hill to the one in my regular Sainsburys. These now only take payment by card, so it was just as well that my travel card was not in the same pouch. The procedure involved observing apparently competing instructions on screen and from a barely audible female voice track in very broken English to the backdrop of a noisy pre-Christmas supermarket, and it was not clear at what point one was required to insert to make the £9 payment. I must have got it right, though for a few stressful moments I did wonder, crouched by the point of evacuation (sic) for a few minutes while the mechanism made oddly digestive sounds before spewing up. From my gaunt appearance I have at last caught up with my years! After posting a new email arriving from the travel card replacement site informed me that included with all the other stuff should have been a postage stamp: this had not been included in the original list of requirements! I can only hope they will waive this when it comes to sending me a replacement card - as it is this will surely take considerably longer than the stated 10 days: last month a friend informed me that a birthday card had taken 2 weeks to reach her over in Woolwich, and that was before the present posties' strike. Tomorrow begins the lengthy business of sending Xmas cards - last year I was still getting mine midway through January; goodness knows what this time around will be like!

[Joseph K]

Sorry to hear of your hassle, S_A.

Seems tomorrow won't be as nice as today - mostly cloudy it seems.

[teamsaint]

What a painful process S-A. Hope your card is sorted here.

Quite pleasant here for a few hours today, but very cold now.

There is a tempting 10k run starting and ending at the Southampton football stadium tomorrow morning. But the 1000 competitors, 9.00am start ( leaving home at 7.00) and £40 cost including petrol, means that I’ll probably head down the woods for a run in the morning instead. The paths there are mostly very good for running in any weather, and the woods are very extensive. Main problem is poorly controlled dogs.

[oddoneout]

Very cold last night - my outside thermometer shows -7 minimum, which the Met Office recording station confirms. There was freezing fog during the night so some very pretty scenes in the garden, and the sun is breaking through in places so up the road I can see trees similarly coated. There is an oak tree still decked out in its golden autumn leaves which looks especially striking against the blue sky and twinkling in the sunshine.

[Joseph K]

Snow over night, and it's snowing now. Foggy. Maximum of about 1C today, I think.