All take the day off tommorrow!

[GMEDX]

From BA's website.

Customers are advised that British Airways is cancelling some services on Thursday 8 February due to the heavy snow forecast to fall overnight across the United Kingdom.
Customers are advised to check the status of their flight before they leave for the airport. To access our real time flight arrival and departure information please click here.

[Doctor Cruces]

Wish the beeb weathermen and ladies would make up their minds.

So far, I'm either going to work tomorrow OR I won't be able to because of snow.

Not too helpful.

Doc C:ooh:

[DONTTELLTHEPAX]

Tell me about it, they keeps changing it from snow to sleet, 7" to 2" and due to start at 0100 and then 0600.
last update 5" heavy snow fall due at 0300, (London Stansted).

[Doctor Cruces]

Lookin at the TAFs on the Met office site, it's gonna stop on a line through EGSS and EGSC ish, not going to reach wgere I live.

Mind you, that was 10 mins ago, they've probably changed their minds again since then

[CHIVILCOY]

Blame it on the global warming.

[Monarch Man]

TAF
TAF EGLL 072110Z 072207 12005KT CAVOK PROB40 2203 7000 BECMG 0003 11012KT BKN030 BECMG 0305 7000 -SN BKN014 TEMPO 0507 2000 SN BKN006 PROB30 TEMPO 0607 0500 +SN VV///=

TAF EGLL 071625Z 080024 10010KT CAVOK BECMG 0002 BKN040 BECMG 0306 7000 -SN HZ BKN014 TEMPO 0412 1500 SN BKN006 PROB30 TEMPO 0611 0200 +SN VV/// BECMG 0911 VRB04KT BECMG 1114 4000 BR BKN005 PROB30 TEMPO 1424 0400 FZFG FG BKN000=

let the chaos begin:E

[GBALU53]

The Met office have got it wrong before now.

So just have an open mind of what the morning might bring.

If they have got it wrong they will find a way out.

Gone are the days when they would rely on the seeweed it is all done or most of it via cyber space and not so much looking out of the window.:ugh:

[WAIF-er]

All the Met office do is look at the metars and if they spot something that is actually happening, they add it onto a new taf! I have seen this happen so many times at my unit (anonymous).

eg. TAF reads -shra. then we report +shra at 1300 hrs. Guess what, a new TAF comes off the printer with a TEMPO between 1300 and 1500 +shra!

Brilliant, thanks for the warning! :D

[StudentInDebt]

Gatwick on Sunday morning gone, nothing on the forecast except some light mist. Get the ATIS and the visibility is now below forecast but still OK, call for start and there are 1 hour airfield delays due fog - RVR500M. 30 minutes later the met office issue a fog warning :ugh:

[MarlboroLite]

Only being a mere slf


It seems that the UK Met office seems to issue severe weather warnings at the slightest sniff of bad weather!

Ever since a certain weatherman basically shot down in flames a viewers letter that hurricane force winds were on the way to batter the UK, and got it drastically wrong.:E

I have no idea how the Met office is funded, but are they protected by Crown indemnity(sp?) to stop them being sued if they get the weather wrong?, or not, so hence the reason that Severe weather warnings seem to be more frequent now

I know that forcasting weather is not an exact science as it involves so many variables, that can change at a moments notice.

[anartificialhorizon]

Reading the first TAF above posted by Monarch Man what does the abbreviation at the end, VV/// , mean?

Cannot recall seeing before .....

[MarlboroLite]

VV doesn't that mean Vertical Visibility?:confused:

[MOCA]

re VV///

http://secure.metoffice.com/aviation/taf_decode.jsp

http://secure.metoffice.com/aviation/metar_decode.jsp

VV///='state of sky obscured' (cloud base not discernable)

[Airbus Girl]

Didn't I just watch a programme on global warning that said snow was a thing of the past? We seem to have had more this year then ever!
Oh, and how is everyone now going to spend their day off? :p

[LTNman]

Reading PPRUNE:ok:

[Blues&twos]

Up at 0400 this morning to go to work. Can't get my car out of the driveway because it's too slippery. Roads in village are lethal, but main roads now all clear (0820). Is my boss going to think I'm pulling a fast one??How can I convince him?

[eticket]

Ask him to come and pick you up!;)

[flower]

Well it took me 40 minutes to get 300m and I couldn't get any further. Have come home going to give it some time and try again later.

[cwatters]

Go easy on the met folks. From where I sit they did quite a good job. S-36 hours they said there might be heavy snow but told us they couldn't tell if the snow was going to push into the UK or stay in france. S-24 the radio was making a clear forecast for snow. As a result my builder changed his plans and had his team working outside yesterday to get a fence built before the snow arrived today.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<The Met office have got it wrong before now.>>
Noooooo.. you sure? :-))

[PPRuNe Pop]

Well they got it right here!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/captainavi8tor/Views/DSCF0665.jpg

[LYKA]

Question:

Why Does LHR have a MOTNE RWY report and LTN not. e.g.

EGLL 080850Z 07009KT 1300 R09L/P1500 R09R/P1500 SN OVC004 01/00 Q0985 09290095 NOSIG

EGGW 080850Z 08013KT 1000 SN SCT003 BKN005 M01/M02 Q0985=

Any ideas?
(p.s. I know there are SNOTAMS issued for these airports - but doesn't help those aircraft en-route getting WX via ACARS)

[tocamak]

I have followed the forecasts on the bbc website and they were pretty much spot on. The weather was forecast to move in from the southwest around midnight or so and then meet me going opposite way down M5 at 04:00 for early at BRS. Thankfully found out that flight had been cancelled at 19:00 night before so someone paid attention!

With regard no snow ever again due global warming there is a hypothesis that predicts even more severe winters as the thermohaline (heat/salt) drift is broken by dilution of the northern ocean from melting ice and we get reduced benefit from the gulf stream.

[B Fraser]

"Ever since a certain weatherman basically shot down in flames a viewers letter that hurricane force winds were on the way to batter the UK, and got it drastically wrong.:E "

That was a phonecall and the statment on TV was actually a dig at another forecaster who rang up the BBC weather unit to advise that he could see something pretty special forming offshore and heading our way.

[Cactus99]

BHX now SNOCLO, among others I believe!!

[Trinity 09L]

Steady stream of landing aircraft overhead for 09L LHR :cool:

[tired]

Lyka - LTN is closed at the moment "for snow clearance and deicing" so that might have something to do with it.
I don't operate out of LTN anymore, but I'm under the impression that they've got no snow-clearing equipment there at all and so basically close as soon as it starts snowing. Hope the not-so-frequent operators - all the bizjets etc - know that!

[LYKA]

Hi Tired

I was aware of this - STN is also SNOCLO but has the following METAR:

EGSS 080850Z 08014KT 1700 R05/1500 -SN FEW003 SCT004 BKN007 M00/M00 Q0985 055999//=

See where I am coming from?

[Globaliser]

I was also interested in this:-TAF: EGLL 080430Z 081212 ... TEMPO 0610 0200 FG FZFG BKN001 I wonder if we'll have a return to the December reason for chaos tomorrow? :)

[tacr2man]

After being over in Aus for a few years I cant believe how 100mm of snow virtually brings everything to stop now , why? bad planning, Health and safety. once in a hundred year event excuse?:confused:

[RoyHudd]

Pray what relevance does your "few years in Aus" have to your critique of the UK's response to the temporary snow problem?

Now if you had been in Austria, I could understand where your expertise with snow stemmed from!;)

[LTNman]

- LTN is closed at the moment "for snow clearance and deicing" so that might have something to do with it.
I don't operate out of LTN anymore, but I'm under the impression that they've got no snow-clearing equipment there at all and so basically close as soon as it starts snowing. Hope the not-so-frequent operators - all the bizjets etc - know that!
Wonder where they borrowed their extensive snow removal equipment from then that was going up and down the runway all morning. It's still snowing now but the airport is open :rolleyes:

[tacr2man]

RH it only has relevance re length of time away from UK
Prior to that as a sideline to my business here (UK) I provided snow clearance services when the season required it,:)

BTW Australia has larger snow fields for sking than Europe LNF:eek:

[Two's in]

Up to 4 inches in some areas, that must be truly terrifying,

or answer (b);

Thursday February 8, 2007 5:16 PM


AP Photo NYSYR101, NYSYR103, NYSYR102, KSPIT102

OSWEGO, N.Y. (AP) - While the northern Plains and Northeast shiver in dangerously cold temperatures, the folks in upstate New York are keeping warm shoveling snow - lots of snow.

Since Sunday, the small towns of Parish and Mexico have recorded more than 6 feet of snow, and forecasters with the National Weather Service say it isn't over yet.

Another 2 feet or more of heavy lake effect snow was expected Thursday for the communities along eastern Lake Ontario, and more squalls are likely through the weekend.

``We're just trying to keep up. It's almost an unreal amount,'' said Mayor Randy Bateman of Oswego, where 70 inches of snow had fallen by Thursday morning. ``We catch up when it stops, but then it just comes again, even heavier.''

Whiteout conditions - the snow has been falling at a rate of 5 inches an hour at times - forced state police to temporarily close Interstate 81 between Central Square and Pulaski, a stretch of about 15 miles. Travel advisories against unnecessary travel were posted for Oswego and its neighboring counties. Mexico officials renewed a snow emergency declaration, and many government offices were closed.

Schools were closed for a fourth day in Oswego and Mexico.

In West Virginia, where as much as 9 inches of snow has fallen, some schools that had been closed were able to reopen on Thursday, but in most of the state, classes were still delayed, and in a few counties, cancelled. Officials had to call snowplow drivers out of retirement Wednesday to clear the roads.

The weather also disrupted travelers, leaving some stranded overnight in airports in the Midwest after flights to the Northeast were disrupted.

Temperatures in the Northeast were inching back up to something closer to normal for this time of year, but the upper Midwest and northern Plains still awoke to subzero temperatures Thursday - minus-12 in Minneapolis and 3 below zero in Chicago.

The bitter cold and slippery roads have contributed to at least 19 deaths - five in Ohio, four in Illinois, four in Indiana, two in Kentucky, two in Michigan, and one each in Wisconsin and Maryland, authorities said. Three of those victims died Tuesday when two SUVs crashed on a slick road in northern Indiana.

In Oswego, a big concern was keeping the city's 800 fire hydrants clear, said Fire Chief Ed Geers.

``We're just trying to keep on top of digging out the hydrants. When you get 5 feet of snow in 24 hours, it's tough,'' Geers said