Monday, December 20, 2010

20 December, 2010

Today's Top Weather Stories
On Weather & Climate Through the Eyes of Mark Vogan

BREAKING NEWS: Stay away from Heathrow: Terminals 1 and 3 are SHUT as airport warns chaos will last until at least Christmas Day

HEAVY SNOW TODAY FOLLOWS THE COLDEST NIGHT IN AT LEAST 20 YEARS FOR GREATER LONDON

CENTRAL LONDON'S KEW GARDENS PLUNGED TO A FRIGID -10C WHILST OUTLYING SUBURBS FELL TO -14C, BENSON, OXFORDSHIRE FELL TO -17C!!

BBC LONDON

Chris Fawkes brings this morning's BBC National Forecast

-18C
Northern Ireland broke it's November cold record, now it's set a new all-time record!
By Mark Vogan

Shovelling snow while it's still snowing: Workers at Heathrow try to clear the snow after all flights at the airport were grounded over the weekend (Image Courtesy of Daily Mail)


LOWEST OVERNIGHT READINGS ACROSS UK

Heathrow Airport:                         -9.4C / 15 degrees F
Northolt (West London)                 -13.6C/ 8 degrees F
Benson, Oxfordshire                      -17.0C/ 1 degree
Woodford (Greater Manchester)      -14.6C/ 6 degrees F
Pershore, Worchestershire             -18.4C/-1 degree F
Capel Curig, Conwy                      -16.3C/ 3 degrees F

The small town of Castlederg, Co Tyrone may have failed the night before at reaching a new national low, falling short of the -17.5C record set back on January 1, 1979 at Magherally, Co Down but last night it was to fail and Northern Ireland saw their 31 year old record fall with a new record -18C reached late last night at Castlederg, Co Tyrone, located near Co Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.

Frosty: A British Airways aeroplane is de-iced at Heathrow's Terminal 5
(Image Courtesy of the Daily Mail)

In today's press

NEW: England set for coldest ever night of MINUS 26C as big freeze destroys travel plans for millions
The Daily Mail

NEW: 6,000 passengers in SEVEN-HOUR queue stretching 1.2 miles as snow and ice cripples Eurostar 'I couldn't be more sorry': Heathrow boss grovels after snow chaos ruins thousands of Christmas holidays
The Daily Mail


UK snow chaos: hundreds more flights cancelled as BAA criticism intensifies
The Daily Telegraph




































Courtesy of the Daily Mail

Today's Weather across America
From AccuWeather

Feet of Rain and Snow Wreaking Havoc in California
AccuWeather

Holiday Travel: Snow will Snarl Travel for Iowa to Virginia
AccuWeather

More Record-Shattering Rain in store for California
AccuWeather

Snow Carries on in the Sierra
AccuWeather

Weather Talk
By Mark Vogan

Some parts of England as well as Northern Ireland won't warm to even -8C this afternoon. Tonight is set to plunge to between -18 and -20C in some interior valleys of northern and central England tonight 

For Kew Gardens in the heart of London to see a temperature fall all the way to -10C or 14 degrees F is pretty remarkable. Outer areas of London away from the "heat island" felt the chill bite even deeper with Northolt in west London plummeting overnight to -14C or 7 degrees F. A temperature more comparable to the Scottish Highlands were not only the ground is higher and more sheltered, but hardly anyone lives there.

Out in Benson, Oxfordshire, the overnight low fell to -17C, not terribly surprising when looking at the temperatures London were seeing. The lowest reading appears to have been at Pershore in Worchestershire with a low falling to -18.6C or -2 degrees F, a little warmer than the previous night's -19.6C at the same locale. There were two -19s, at Pershore and Shawbury with Shawbury a fraction cooler.

Today, we're seeing that push of moisture pour up from the southwest, across the Engligh Channel and this is bringing 5-10 inches of snow across the Home Counties and even a couple of inches perhaps to the Greater London area, making a terrible weather situation worse.

Many areas are fogbound today and where lows fell widely to or below -10C (14 degrees F), the temperature is going to have a tough time getting warming back into the air thisafternoon, despite sun shinning in areas outwith the banks of fog which lie in those shektered, frozen valleys.

The Scottish Central Belt has been fogbound today also and it seems many places sturggled to reach -6 or -7C just like we're seeing across much of the cold nooks of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Tonight, after some spots struggle to reach highs of -8 or even -10C, the base is already set for yet another frigid night ahead. If skies manage to clear out and with widespread snowfields for the Arctic air to work with and help remove surface heat back to space, some places around Greater Manchester (such as Woodford) and over sections of Yorkshire and across to Cumbria, even sections of the Midlands may take a oush to -18 to -20C tonight. The conditions are ripe and the air is so cold, it's not impossible that tonight, tomorrow night and even Wednesday night may see temperature run at records. We've seen that with Castlederg's -18C earlier this morning, making for a brand new national low for Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland may in fact challenge that new record tonight with another run at similar levels, could the -18C be beaten tonight even?

What's Reaching Today's Blogs?

Mammoth California Snow: 162 Inches, 164-MPH Winds
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather

Snow Map for the Christmas Day Storm; A Big Daddy New England Storm
Henry Margusity, AccuWeather

A Barrage of Storms to and beyond Christmas
Joe Lundburg, AccuWeather

Warmer Ocean Will Prevent Significant Snowstorm
Brett Anderson, Canada Expert, AccuWeather

The Extremes of the Day

Today's US Extremes
Courtesy of AccuWeather

High: 89 degrees at Laredo, TX
Low: -22 degrees at Cando, ND

Today's UK Extremes
Courtesy of the Met Office

High: 45 degrees (7C) at Isles of Scilly
Cold High: 17 degrees (-8.6) at Capel Curig (Conwy)
Low: -2 degrees at Pershore (Worchestershire)

Today's Extremes here at my house

High: 27 degrees
Low: 13 degrees

TODAY'S CONDITIONS
Snowcover: 1 inch
TODAY WAS VERY FOGGY THROUGHOUT AND HOLDING THE COOLER AIR IN, THUS PROVIDED A DAYTIME MAXIMUM LOWER THAN OVER RECENT DAYS.

Thanks for reading.
-Mark

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