Remaining chilly to start Winter – Thursday 2nd December 2021 – Sunday 5th December 2021
Hi all,
Well what a week of weather that was. The first named-storm of the season, Storm Arwen, arrived (Friday night) bringing locally severe gale-force gusts, an inch of rain, then much colder, Arctic air followed with a surprising snow event on the Sunday.
We certainly escaped the extreme winds that Arwen delivered. These were felt to our NE and SW with some local amateur weather stations in exposed elevated locations recording over 100mph. From Oldham council’s collection of weather stations, the highest gust was on Windy Hill at 58.4mph. We got off lightly.
As I wrote my blog a week ago and even a day before the weekend, it was looking like Sunday would be the calm after the storm with plenty of blue skies and sunshine but the day’s forecast changed quickly. A small feature developed during Saturday, to the NW of Scotland, with a possible SE’ly track which meant sleet or snow was now in the forecast for Sunday.
Even going into Saturday night it was unclear how much precipation would fall and what the actual track would be. Some computer models, notably the one the Met Office use, did not have this on their radar for us. Sunday dawned and a few computer models forecast the system very well and the wintry feature tracked SE.
By Sunday morning it was clear that we were in for several hours of snow (sleet and rain if you were much further W). It snowed quite heavily at times and between 11am and 3:30pm, with a total of 5cm accumulating here in Chadderton. Not bad considering the models, that did forecast the event, were suggesting 1-3cm. And all this still in Autumn.
In fact Sunday, November the 28th, was the coldest November day I have ever recorded with a maximum of +0.1C, almost an ice day. What followed for the evening was light winds, clear skies and plummeting temperatures, aided by the snow-cover. It then turned out to be the coldest November night I have ever recorded too, at -6.3C; values that will take some beating in winter itself.
Thursday: Arctic air is back in place with a widespread frost to start and icy patches. Plenty of sunny spells on offer with a keen wind. Cloud arriving later in the day with a spell of rain overnight (perhaps a little sleet or wet-snow on the tops briefly). Milder overnight. Max 4°C Min 1°C
Friday: Rain moves away to be replaced by mostly cloudy conditions and although most will be dry, some patchy light rain/drizzle will be around. Max 8°C Min 4°C
Weekend: Colder again.
Saturday: Early rain replaced by bright spells and frequent wintry showers, falling as snow on the hills. Feeling cold in a gusty NW’ly. Max 6°C Min 0°C
Sunday: Windy but dry with sunny spells. That N’ly breeze making it feel cold once again. Frosty after dark. Max 5°C Min -2°C
Outlook: Favourable to stay on the cold side with showers at times, which will be wintry in places, more so on the hills. Some models hint at a day (maybe Tuesday) of very windy weather followed by a respite then more rain/hill-snow. Certainly an unsettled and changeable week.
Follow @ChadWeather on Twitter for the latest forecasts and weather warnings.
Thanks for reading as always,
Jon
Forecast Issued: Wednesday the 1st of December 2021 at 8:55pm
Featured Photo: Chadderton Hall Park on Sunday (28/11)
Author: Jon Baylis
