How is the weather?

[krummholz]

Yes, but 1° difference means about 111 km. I didn't mean yard accuracy.

Sure, but it depends just how accurate you want to be. And 1º makes a significant difference in temperature, at least in New England and the northeastern US in general. 43º is about the latitude of Concord, NH which is generally 3-4ºC warmer than we are here. Where I grew up, in the Detroit area (roughly 42º40'), -31ºC would have been unheard of, even 50-60 years ago.

That's quite cold for a place at 44° N. -30°C in winter is possible in Helsinki, but very rare. Something like -32°C is the coldest I have experienced in my life. Typically the temperature oscillates between -5°C and -20°C during the mid winter. The northern Finland, Lapland, of course experiences colder weather: -30°C is pretty common and even -50°C can happen, but is extremely rare.

Then your winters are, on average, pretty similar to ours. -20s C is a typical low temperature during a cold snap, with occasional excursions near and below -30º. And we do occasionally get above freezing in the winter - +5ºC is not unusual during a warm spell. It's just not a normal January temperature for us.

Half a meter of snow is a lot. We certainly don't get that much every winter.

You mean total, or snow depth at a given time? Even Detroit, MI, not exactly known for snowy winters, typically gets about a meter during an average winter. We can get 3 times that here, over the entire winter. Last winter we had 3 (I think) 40 cm snows, during the January-February time frame, that left us with that 50 cm depth after compression by gravity. In places (especially higher elevations) it was even deeper.

Well, +5° winter is an outlier. Winter 2017 was like that. The polar vortex dictates how wintery winter we get and it goes in cycles. We may for example get 5 warm winters with very little snow and then the next 5 winters are very snowy. Around 2017 I was worried the climate change will make it so that winters will become too warm for snow in Helsinki (Central Europe-like winters) , but recently the polar vortex has given us winters with a lot of snow and temperatures safety below zero. In a few years we probably have warm winters again with very little snow. It is what it is...

Yes, the polar vortex affects our winters too and it is unpredictable. Last winter's 3 large snowstorms were courtesy of that atmospheric feature. I don't mind a lot of snow since I can walk to work, though a major snowstorm does affect hiking for a few days, until the staff has had a chance to groom the trails.

[Spotted Horses]

Last year we moved from Texas to California. Since then we had a hurricane come through California and I'm reading that there are lawn watering restrictions in Texas due to drought. WTF?

[vandermolen]

Atrocious weather in South of England today with Storm Ciáran blowing through - torrential rain/hail/ very high winds (110mph in some places) and here the worse is yet to come. Still, I'm hoping to get to the end of Alwyn's beautiful 'Lyra Angelica' before the power is cut!

[Scion7]

Currently 0 Centigrade here in the Carolinas.  At least I can look forward to high Seventies Farenheit in a day or so - which wasn't the case in Manchester this time of year.

[71 dB]

+3°C in Helsinki.

The Southern Finland (the most southern 100 km strip) hasn't got snow. The rest of Finland has snow.

[Papy Oli]

Atrocious weather in South of England today with Storm Ciáran blowing through - torrential rain/hail/ very high winds (110mph in some places) and here the worse is yet to come. Still, I'm hoping to get to the end of Alwyn's beautiful 'Lyra Angelica' before the power is cut!

Hope it passes through without too much damage, Jeffrey.

My parents were awake all night with it in Brittany. Shutters rattling, house howling and whilst they don't think much of gusts of 70-80 mph, a usual occurrence there, that's the first time I heard them say they were genuinely worried and they didn't really dare to go to bed at all (a first since we were living there during the '87 storm). It peaked just shy of 100mph where they are. Other parts of Brittany spiked at 120mph(max 129) with lots of fallen trees across the region. They only just lifted the red alert in their county over an hour ago.

Jersey got it bad overnight as well.

[vandermolen]

Hope it passes through without too much damage, Jeffrey.

My parents were awake all night with it in Brittany. Shutters rattling, house howling and whilst they don't think much of gusts of 70-80 mph, a usual occurrence there, that's the first time I heard them say they were genuinely worried and they didn't really dare to go to bed at all (a first since we were living there during the '87 storm). It peaked just shy of 100mph where they are. Other parts of Brittany spiked at 120mph(max 129) with lots of fallen trees across the region. They only just lifted the red alert in their county over an hour ago.

Jersey got it bad overnight as well.

Hope your parents keep safe Olivier.
Not too bad here for now but maybe the lull before the storm.
In the middle of the night there were very high winds. I was worried as there was no sign of our cat who is usually asleep on the sofa. So, I got fully dressed having called for him with no response, found a torch and as soon as I opened the back door, to begin my search, he just nonchalantly sauntered in!

[Irons]

Hope your parents keep safe Olivier.
Not too bad here for now but maybe the lull before the storm.
In the middle of the night there were very high winds. I was worried as there was no sign of our cat who is usually asleep on the sofa. So, I got fully dressed having called for him with no response, found a torch and as soon as I opened the back door, to begin my search, he just nonchalantly sauntered in!

The storm was forecast to hit us 6am this morning. Expecting Armageddon but nothing of the sort. Typing this at 9.45 and rain stopped, peaceful with even the sun peeping through.   

[vandermolen]

The storm was forecast to hit us 6am this morning. Expecting Armageddon but nothing of the sort. Typing this at 9.45 and rain stopped, peaceful with even the sun peeping through.   

Heavy rain here but not too bad at the moment Lol.

[Dave B]

In southeast Missouri, 38 now but going up to mid 40s. We moved here 5 years ago from Massachusetts and are glad we're no longer back home for the winters. One year, 12 snowstorms in a row, one blizzard which hit with 23 inches of snow already on the ground. Here, maybe one snowfall of 5 inches. Quite a welcome contrast.

[DavidW]

Currently 0 Centigrade here in the Carolinas.  At least I can look forward to high Seventies Farenheit in a day or so - which wasn't the case in Manchester this time of year.

I remembered it being 80 a few days ago.  Now it was freezing this morning (I also live in the Carolinas).

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Atrocious weather in South of England today with Storm Ciáran blowing through - torrential rain/hail/ very high winds (110mph in some places) and here the worse is yet to come. Still, I'm hoping to get to the end of Alwyn's beautiful 'Lyra Angelica' before the power is cut!

How did it go Jeffrey?  Did you end up losing power?

I think that it went down into the 20's (F) last night, but I missed the local news this morning.  Yesterday, we had a combo of snow and rain (no accumulation).  I did bring in one of my porch plants (a large potted thyme) and cut back and put a large garbage bag over a lemon verbena plant to protect it.  I think that I'll try overwintering it in the basement again this year.

PD

[vandermolen]

How did it go Jeffrey?  Did you end up losing power?

I think that it went down into the 20's (F) last night, but I missed the local news this morning.  Yesterday, we had a combo of snow and rain (no accumulation).  I did bring in one of my porch plants (a large potted thyme) and cut back and put a large garbage bag over a lemon verbena plant to protect it.  I think that I'll try overwintering it in the basement again this year.

PD

Not as bad as anticipated PD and thank you for asking.
 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Not as bad as anticipated PD and thank you for asking.
 

Happy for you. 

PD

[Maestro267]

I was surprised at how little of Storm Ciaran we seemed to get in South Wales. Our storm systems tend to move up from the southwest or west so I thought it'd hit us eventually but not really. It was quite wet last night and this morning and the wind picked up a bit but nothing major.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I was surprised at how little of Storm Ciaran we seemed to get in South Wales. Our storm systems tend to move up from the southwest or west so I thought it'd hit us eventually but not really. It was quite wet last night and this morning and the wind picked up a bit but nothing major.

Glad that you and the area are o.k. 

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I saw an article on the BBC's website saying that thousands of people in Surrey were without drinking water.  Has this happened to any of our members here and has the problem been fixed?  I remember Jeffrey in the past saying that he had an issue in his area with that.

PD

[Irons]

I saw an article on the BBC's website saying that thousands of people in Surrey were without drinking water.  Has this happened to any of our members here and has the problem been fixed?  I remember Jeffrey in the past saying that he had an issue in his area with that.

PD

Not aware of this until Mrs Irons informed me Guildford and Godalming had water supply cut off.

[Harry]

The weather in the Netherlands, Hmmmm lets see...RAIN, RAIN AND RAIN, torrents! For weeks on end.

[pjme]

Yet today the weather is quite friendly on the Belgo-Dutch border. 10° C, wind and some rain later this week.