Dales Conditions This Week?

[Robert Scott]

Alex, I think you could be mistaken. In April to June referred to by John, the fields above Long Preston were dry. Do not be confused by the old sewage lagoons alongside the Skipton by-pass.

 

[Pitlamp]

Just in case it's of interest to anyone travelling to the Dales this morning (Sat27th); we have a very light dusting of snow but I'm not aware of any travel problems on the west side of the Dales and the A65 is fine (at least at Clapham). Bit parky though, so wrap up well . . . . .

 

[dunc]

This side (that being west) seems to be escaping the worst of it this time, just hope it stays that way until after next weekend!!

 

[Pitlamp]

Interesting that the media has been banging on this morning (Sunday) about there being "record low temperatures" last night. Only a few days beore they carried a news item about this being a record warm year - despite the fact that there's still about 10% of the year to go.

It was certainly very cold last night but nowhere near a record. Does anyone remember that exceptionally cold winter in the mid 80s? They recorded around -27degC  somewhere in Shropshire one night. I remember having to light a Primus stove under the van sump (fortunately it was a diesel van) outside Greenclose to warm the engine oil to reduce its viscosity.

One effect of this cold spell of course is that rivers in the Dales are now pretty low.

 

[graham]

Interesting that the media has been banging on this morning (Sunday) about there being "record low temperatures" last night. Only a few days before they carried a news item about this being a record warm year - despite the fact that there's still about 10% of the year to go.

Record low or record low for November?

As to the record warmest year, I suspect that the stats guys now know that it would take exceptional over the next month to stop this being one of the warmest years on record overall.

never forget - as Whitlackington always does - the difference between climate and weather.

Oh, and just to confuse the situation further

The weather has been unseasonably warm in Chicago over the last few days with temperatures hitting 20C (68F) on Monday afternoon.

A record of 21C (70F) was set for November in 1918, while the average temperature for Chicago at this time of year is 7C (45F).

BBC

 

[kay]

Interesting that the media has been banging on this morning (Sunday) about there being "record low temperatures" last night.

It was certainly very cold last night but nowhere near a record. Does anyone remember that exceptionally cold winter in the mid 80s? They recorded around -27degC  somewhere in Shropshire one night. I remember having to light a Primus stove under the van sump (fortunately it was a diesel van) outside Greenclose to warm the engine oil to reduce its viscosity.

Yes but was that November?
The media reports I've heard have been talking about November records. Although we often have snow in November, it's usually not till Jan or Feb that the temperature drops to -5 and below.

And with today's obsession with youth, a lot of the people in the media  probably can't even remember the mid 80s :tease: (let alone 1962-3)

 

[paul]

Can we at leat try and keep this useful thread to actual conditions in the Dales and leave the Pro- and Anti- Global Warming arguments to the long-running thread in Idle Chat?

 

[dunc]

Well said Paul, along with all the other resources, information like this is useful.. 

 

[khakipuce]

Dunno what it's like over there at the moment but over here (about 15 miles west) it's just put down about 3-4 inch in a couple of hours

 

[Duncan Price]

...
It was certainly very cold last night but nowhere near a record. Does anyone remember that exceptionally cold winter in the mid 80s? They recorded around -27degC  somewhere in Shropshire one night. ...

Yes but was that November?
...

Certainly was - it was -15?C in Brum and the water in my student flat was frozen for a week.

 

[bren]

up at Dow cave today.Couldn't get to park rash out of kettlewell without a 4x4.Had another 3-4cm snow at about 5pm so will probably be quite treachourous as it was pretty icy and compacted so take care.

 

[Rachel]

About 3" of snow in my front garden in Clapham 

 

[Alex]

The roads are now clear but last night they were very treacherous, due to the snow. Assume over the coming days water levels in caves will start to rise due to snow melt, unless it snows again.

 

[Pitlamp]

Fair comment Alex; I noticed that Richard Kavanagh's descriptive index for the colour of the river at Helwith Bridge (on the CDG Visbot) has changed from "Lager" to "Pedigree" - not sure why but there's certainly a fair bit of water piling up on the hills as snow ready to flood our caves at some point.

 

[bren]

Anybody know what the roads are like in swaledale.it's rained pretty much all day and the roads are fine.I'm hoping to get up to crackpot tomorrow.Is it a no-brainer without 4WD? Cheers

 

[Pitlamp]

Friday 10th December - big thaw on the west side of the Dales today. Expect caves to be fairly wet this weekend. At least changing will be less unpleasant than last week.

 

[dunc]

And walking to the caves a little less taxing!

 

[seddon]

Chapel le Dale resurgences in reasonable big flow this evening, Ribblehead looking very wet also. Expect lots of snowmelt until it passes through.

Winter drawers on!

 

[langcliffe]

Winter drawers on!

They've been on for some time...

 

[seddon]

But still with shorts, of course. Let the knees tingle!