Snowfall in United Kingdom: Snow in the United Kingdom is usually quite thrilling for most of us because it doesn’t happen very often. This is because we are surrounded by relatively warm seas, which can frequently raise our temperatures.
Here in this article we are discussing everything you need to know about the snowfall in United Kingdom, like when snowfalls occurs in UK, what is the freezing level, difficulties in forecasting of snow in United Kingdom and some interesting facts. Lets jump into the article to know. Follow chopnews to get more updates
What does it take for snow to fall in the United Kingdom?
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In order for us to survive, the air must be chilly enough and damp enough. Let’s start with the cold part.
Winds from the north or east are required to bring chilly air to the UK. Northerly winds (air moving from north to south) transport air directly from the arctic and across a frigid sea to reach the United Kingdom. Easterly winds (winds blowing from east to west) are frigid in the winter because they come from the cold continental interior of mainland Europe.
However, there is another method that requires very little wind: high pressure that persists across the UK for an extended period of time during the winter. Because the sun is faint and there is little cloud to trap in any heat at night, temperatures might decline gradually day after day if the skies are clear. However, because the most common wind direction in the UK is south-westerly, we are more likely to get comparatively mild air from the Atlantic, which brings rain, rather than the cold air from the north and east, which frequently transforms any rain into snow.
What about the humidity? Because of the chilly easterly winds and the air passing over so much dry ground, there is often insufficient moisture in the air to make snow, and we instead get some crisp winter sunshine.
We either need the cold air to collide with a rain-bearing weather front and change it into snow, or the cold air to take up enough moisture from its brief crossing of the North Sea to generate showers.
The effects of air rising up hills and mountains are also present. Because it is normally cooler higher up in the atmosphere, the air becomes colder as it rises up the hill, condensing to form cloud and precipitation. Depending on how cold the air is and where the “freezing level” is, the precipitation will be rain or snow.
What is the Level of freezing?
We frequently see snow on the hilltops but none on the ground. This is due to the fact that the air at the top is cold enough for snow, while the air at the bottom is too warm, causing the snow to melt and generate sleet or rain.
The “freezing level,” as defined by weather forecasters, is the portion of the atmosphere where the air temperature is 0 degrees Celsius. On some days, this can be as low as 200 feet above sea level – therefore snow wouldn’t simply fall on the tops of the hills; many towns and cities are higher than 200 feet above sea level.
Check your town’s elevation to determine if you would have had rain or snow on this particular day (so if you live above 200ft above sea level, you would have seen snow on this day, if you live below 200ft then you would have seen rain).
Why is it so difficult to anticipate snow in the United Kingdom?
Most precipitation begins as snow or supercooled raindrops because it is so cold high up in the atmosphere. Most of the time as it falls to earth, it passes through warmer air and melts. Rain, sleet, or hail can occur depending on the temperature of the air near the ground.
However, the freezing level (the point at which precipitation begins to fall as snow rather than rain) does not always remain constant throughout the day, or even within a day; it can fluctuate hour by hour, across the country, or even a few miles down the road.
Forecasters use a number of factors when determining how low the precipitation will fall as snow:
Where the air came from – if the air came from a little different direction, such as if it spent a longer time travelling over mild water, the air could be slightly warmer, and thus the freezing level would be slightly higher up.
Even though the freezing level is fairly high in the air, it turns out that extremely heavy precipitation can push the “freezing level” closer to the ground, as well as keep any precipitation falling as snow lower down. As a result, prolonged, heavy rain can convert to snow.
The most challenging circumstance to anticipate snow is when warm air meets cold air. Weather fronts define the boundary between cold and warm air, thus when a weather system rolls in, it will be accompanied by warm air and moisture.
While moisture is required for snow to accumulate, the warm air makes it difficult to predict whether it will shower. As the warm air collides with the cold air, it climbs to the top (warm air rises). The precipitation falls into the colder air lower down, but as the air mixes together, the cold air becomes slightly warmer and the warm air becomes slightly colder, increasing the likelihood of rain.
There is frequently a small line between who sees snow and who sees rain. The difference between rain and snow might be as small as a fraction of a degree. This is what makes snow forecasting difficult (and stressful!).
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