Snow reports only

ninebeanrows

Think it's about time to open up a thread to deal specifically with the upcoming cold spell which is now supported universally by the NCEP models.

St. Patricks Day itself looks like being a mixed day, it will dawn fine and probably sunny countrywide with temperatures reaching a very mild 14c in the south towards midday but cloud will increase in the north with rain towards nightfall, this will be the first signal for a change to much much colder weather.

From early Sunday Arctic air will dig south and temperatures will notably decrease with figures countrywide no more than 4 or 5c by evening.

Heavy showers will move south on a stiff northwesterly wind and it will feel bitter, showers will begin to turn to snow by afternoon and appreciation of snow is likely by nightfall almost anywhere but expecially in the north.

There is a chance of more organised features moving south overnight Sunday and into Monday as the deeply unstable Northerly winds push down extremely cold air. This is when there is a decent chance of a polar low feature perhaps forming west of Scotland and tracking down the Irish sea.

Nightime temperatures will be low as low as -6c in places, with daytime temperatures rising to 4 or 5c in the sunny spots but dipping to 1 or 0c in the heavy snow showers.

The liklthood is for shower activity to die down during Wednesday but for this to remain cold with harsh ground frosts continuing

All models are onboard this evening and the cold spell looks almost set in stone.

GFS @ 96hrs http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rtavn961.png
UKM @ 96hrs http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rukm961.gif
ECM @ 96hrs http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/ecmwf/run/ECM1-96.GIF?15-0

So wrap yourself up warm for a journey into mid-winter from Sunday