Hi all,

Beast from the East 2. The sequel. Snow until Easter. I’ve heard it all this week. There’s some truth in those headlines and with it a disappointing outlook as Spring seems to be on hold.

Thursday: Mostly cloudy and windy across the region but with it some mild temperatures. Rain will be coming up from the south but will turn patchy at times and eventually fizzle out with hopefully some late-afternoon brightness. Max 9°C

Friday: Another cloudy and windy day with some showery rain at times, mainly in eastern areas. Feeling a little cooler too, especially later with a chance that some of the rain could turn to sleet or snow on the hills as colder air arrives. Max 7°C

Weekend: Bitterly cold, windy.

Saturday: A strong easterly wind feeding in much colder conditions. Gusts to 40mph likely. A similar pattern to when we had the Beast From the East but not as cold/snowy and it will not last as long. During the day some light snow showers could develop, but at this stage no significant snow is expected. Temperatures struggling above freezing with a severe wind-chill for the time of year making it feel like -5°C. Max 2°C

Sunday: Remaining very cold with those biting winds from the east. Any snow flurries or showers tending to fade as the supply from the east gets cut off as high pressure builds. Max 3°C

Outlook: After a very cold 2-day spell over the weekend, it will become less cold but the search for anything Spring-like continues, with temperatures expected to remain below average throughout the next 5 days.

Follow @ChadWeather on Twitter for the latest weather forecasts.

Forecast Issued on Wednesday the 14th of March 2018 at 1:45pm.

Thanks,
Jon

Hi all,

Well what a week that was. The ‘Beast From the East‘ certainly delivered. The official snow depth here was 12cm on the 1st of March and we had many days of snowfall, severe wind-chill, travel disruption and then very strong winds gusting locally to 55mph. Of course, weather-wise, we’re now into Spring and we say goodbye to Winter 2017-18, which turned out the ‘snowiest’ I’ve ever recorded since my records began in late-2012.

Extremes Recorded during the Beast From the East – all new records

Lowest Temp= -6.1°C (28th Feb)
Lowest Wind-chill= -12.0°C (1st Mar)
Lowest Apparent Temp= -12.1°C (1st Mar)
Lowest ‘Feels Like’ Temp = -13.3°C (1st Mar)
Lowest Daytime Max Temp= -2.4°C (28th Feb)

But the Lowest Dew Point record of -12.7°C, from the 25th of March 2017, remained intact.

Here’s how previous winters have compared.

Comparing the last 6 winters

So can we expect something warmer and Spring-like soon?

Thursday: A cloudy damp start with some rain, sleet and hill-snow. Some settling snow is possible above 250M (2+cm), and especially so over the Pennines (5+cm), so check the roads if you’re travelling trans-Pennine routes. At the time of this blog there is a warning in place. This should all clear mid-morning with bright spells and showers following. Some of the showers heavy, perhaps wintry with hail and thunder. Max 6°C

Friday: We will start with a slight frost and some ice in places. Not a bad day in store with sunny spells and dry. Feeling pleasant in the sunshine. Cloudier later with rain overnight. Max 7°C

Weekend: Wet then drier; Sunday the better day

Saturday: A keen southeasterly wind. Rain, some heavy,  lasting most of the day. Just a few drier slots at times. Early on, there is a slight chance of some snow on the Pennines for a few hours but this is a low risk as it will get progressively milder. Max 9°C

Sunday: Yesterday’s rain clears quickly to leave a drier day with variable cloud allowing for some sunny spells here and there. Mild and it will be the first time we have reached double-figure temperatures since the end of January. Max 11°C

Outlook: Slighly cooler after Sunday with some showers at times which could be wintry. Milder later in the week with southwesterly winds dominating.

February 2018 Stats

Max 9.7°C (19th)
Min -6.1°C (28th)
Av. 2.5°C (colder than average)
Wettest 11.8mm
Windiest 44mph
Rain 60.8mm (drier than average)
Rainy Days 16
Dry Days 12
Air Frosts 14 (more than average)
Snow Falling Days 10
Snow Lying Days 6

Follow @ChadWeather on Twitter for the very latest weather updates.

Thanks,
Jon

Forecast Issued: Wednesday the 7th of March 2018 at 5pm.