How many times have you been told “it won’t snow, it’s too cold”? Hundreds I expect but has it ever occurred to you how it manages to snow in Antarctica where the temperature never goes above freezing point, even at the coast?
There is only one temperature where it is too cold to snow and that’s -237°C, the temperature at which atoms freeze. The colder it gets the less likely it is to snow but it can snow, theoretically, at as high as +8ºC.
Too cold to snow?
The Met Office issued a severe weather warning yesterday for Shropshire, Herefordshire and eastern Wales, warning of up to almost 10″ of snow overnight.
I excitedly looked out of my window this morning to see this fine example of global warming at work and … nothing. The forecast had been revised for late morning/early afternoon. Took #1 to a birthday party shortly after lunch, no snow. Went to the shops, no snow. Picked up #1 at 5pm, no snow.
Finally, at about 7:15 this evening it started snowing. It’s settling despite the couple of hours of rain we had previously but unless it starts coming down heavily through the night it’s going to be a light dusting in the morning. Certainly nothing like the heavy and sudden snow we had in February.
All of which leads me to one very important question. The Met Office is the British government’s advisor on climate change, handing it carefully crafted “predictions” on the climate for decades in advance. Their predictions are used to form British government policy on the environment, taxation, industry, recycling, transport, civil liberties, energy security and more. But if they can’t predict the weather 12 hours in advance, why do they expect us to believe their apocalyptic climate change predictions and why does the British government pretend that they are a reliable source of information?
Until the Met Office stop making outrageous, headline grabbing predictions like the annual prediction of a BBQ summer that fails to materialise, complete with associated health warnings and advice to paint your house white on the outside to reflect the heat, I can’t take them seriously. While they continue to issue severe weather warnings that never happen or are completely out with their timings and predictions of how severe the weather is going to be, I will continue to treat every prediction they make with suspicion.
Weather forecasting is never going to be an exact science but missing the mark by almost 24 hours on a severe weather warning for 10″ of snow is ridiculous. The Met Office would struggle to predict last week’s football results, let alone the earth’s climate in 50 years time based on dodgy data and an obvious inability to organise a piss-up in a brewery.
Update: In the time it’s taken to type this post, the rain has turned to sleet and the snow is disappearing.
