Old man winter sure is catching up for lost time across Europe following a slow start to this winter. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] We’re in a very different setup now compared to just 2 weeks ago following the warm-up on the North American side of the hemisphere which allowed arctic-siberian air FINALLY into Europe. Ever since, it’s been gaining ground with snow and cold spreading west and when looking at the snow cover comparison between now and this time last year, it’s strikingly similar.

Check it out for yourself.

One real difference is the lack of snow over the UK but that should chance at least some over the upcoming 7 days.

Check out the ECMWF’s forecasted snow cover by 24 hours over Asia.

Here’s Europe. Note that it has the UK well covered. Obviously we can take this with a pinch of salt but certainly in the coming days, we can expect at least hills to turn white and for some low lying areas, snow will come, particularly over eastern areas later Wednesday through Friday. Be sure to watch today’s Europe video which discusses this further.

With high pressure over NW Russia and low pressure over the Med Sea, bitterly cold air has been sweeping into Europe but heavy snows have been causing havoc in the SE, particularly over Romania today. Check out the image at the top of the page showing the big accumulations witnessed today in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. This picture was sent to me by twitter friend Nicorel Nicorescu.

Here’s another great shot of the huge drifts generated by the powerful winds associated with the storm.

Below is a close up look at the UK ‘snow cover at 00 hrs’ according to the ECMWF. The areas it shows 1″, perhaps but the other areas with less, I think it is ‘seeing sleet or snow in the air’. Very plausible tonight.

Note the growth by 120 (below). Also plausible given that is chilly with some in places tonight and that’s with a WESTERLY flow which some don’t think it can be cold with a westerly but keep in mind what’s been said for days now. Look at how cold it’s been over N America and track where our air’s coming from!

If it can snow with the westerly, there’s no reason to think it can’t with a colder EASTERLY through the 2nd half of the week. A lot depends on moisture availability.

Finally here’s the UK snow cover seen by 168!

More tomorrow.

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