Penellype's Weather Channel 2

[Nicos]

Thanks for the explanation Pen.

Another year with late frosts would mean a second year for us with no apples, plums, pears,cherries
Fingers crossed ….

[Penellype]

Unfortunately there looks to be little chance of a significant change in the weather pattern for some time. The polar vortex is very strong, leading to the strong jet stream that is fuelling these low pressure systems. We can therefore expect more wet and windy periods interspersed with drier calmer days from brief ridges of higher pressure. Hopefully the jet stream will be further north for the rest of this week which means that the worst of the wind should be to the north of Scotland, but it will still be windy at times.

I believe this is the first time there have been 3 named storms within a week since the naming system started in 2015.

What is starting to happen, in the stratosphere, is some warming over Europe. This moves anticlockwise round the pole, and seems likely to weaken and/or displace the polar vortex within the next couple of weeks. IF this propagates down into the troposphere (where weather occurs), it should dampen down the jet stream a bit, which would at least mean that the low pressure systems contain less energy and therefore less wind.

The downside of this is that a sudden lift in temperature over the pole sometimes translates to high latitude high pressure (blocking) a few weeks later. This could then lead to a cold spell just when we don't want it, in April. However, nothing is certain and all depends on if the blocking appears and where.

[Bren In Pots]

For the last couple of days it's been wind, snow, hail and rain here.

[Purple Primrose]

Force 7 and rainy all day so no chance of gardening.

[Jungle Jane]

My bubble wrap house I made to protect the peach from rain/leaf curl & some geraniums,it was being blown about,couldn’t cope with the wind,I took it down thinking it hasn’t rained anyway,it’ll be alright. We’re having the heaviest downpour of rain at the moment,oh well lol

[Plot70]

I went to feed the hens during a lull in the rain.
There was a short blast of hail causing me to retreat to the shed and the hens to retreat to there roost.
It wasn't good for doing anything else outside.

[Chippy Minton]

Each storm is an entity in itself, which is why they get separate names. They're apparently being driven along by a very strong jet stream. However as a resident of the North-West I can safely say - enough with the rain already. There's water coming out of the grass! Not bothering putting the fence back up until later in the week looking at the forecast, wind gusts for Franklin are higher here than for Eunice. Wind gusts to mid-week are not much lower.

[Nicos]

That’s what I was wondering Bren.

[Bren In Pots]

It seems to be a new storm every day wonder why they didn't group them together.

[Nicos]

Oh good grief..it’s never ending is it?

[Penellype]

Another named storm, Franklin, incoming tonight into tomorrow. There is a yellow warning of wind for much of England and Wales and an amber warning for N Ireland. There is also a yellow warning of rain for parts of the north west today - check your flood warnings if you live there. The ground in many places is now saturated so be aware of the possibility of surface flooding or standing water almost anywhere.

[Penellype]

Couple of hours of heavy wet snow here this afternoon - still some on the grass but otherwise it is melting.

[Purple Primrose]

Bit of snow this morning but it's been a fine, sunny day so it mostly melted by lunchtime.

[Bren In Pots]

It’s been snowing here for the past hour Pen.

[Penellype]

I hope everyone survived the storm undamaged.

There are still warnings today, tomorrow and Monday for wind and rain for parts of the country. Some of the models (but not the Met Office) are also showing the threat of heavy snow for the central band of the country this afternoon. Please be aware of this if you are travelling in this area, particularly on higher ground. This is the GFS forecast for 3pm: