East Lancashire snow: Monday weather latest (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire snow: Monday weather latest

9:10am Monday 11th January 2010 in News

N-ICE WORK: Huncoat weatherman Roy Chetham measures icicles

The Met Office is forecasting light sleet and snow for East Lancashire today, perhaps turning to rain over low lying areas, with a maximum temperature of 2°C.

Cloudy, windy but dry weather is predicted for tomorrow.

The heavy snow which fell in East Lancashire last week was only predicted a few hours before it began because a small area of low pressure was not spotted by forecasters.

A Met Office spokesman admitted the levels of snow were higher than predicted.

He said it was due to low pressure which formed on the cold front as it pushed southwards overnight, and the Met Office did not detect it until late on Monday.

Former TV weatherman and Clarets fan John Kettley, however, said he believed there was never any doubt that it would snow in the area.

He said: “One of the hardest things as a forecaster is to decide whether it’s going to rain, sleet, or snow.

"In this case it was always going to snow. It was just a question of how much.

"It happened because of the cold air digging in from the north behind low pressure.

"The cold air was always going to win. It has snowed more than even I anticipated. Pendle Hill must be covered in it.”

Official weather forecasters at the Met Office predict the temperature in Lancashire without any measuring equipment in the county, it has emerged.

The Met Office only has weather stations in Crosby, Merseyside, and Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Forecasts for Lancashire are made by guessing temperature, crossed referenced against data from satellites and weather stations.

East Lancashire enthusiasts said that the current cold snap, which has now been going on for more than three weeks, was the worst since the early 1980s.

Roy Chetham, a weather observer and climatologist, said his station in Huncoat has recorded the weather since 1975.

And he said along with five local weather stations in Hyndburn and three more in Lancashire, minus 11.6 was recorded.

Roy has compared the big freeze of 2010 to winters past.

Roy, of Huncoat, reveals:

* The cold snap is not as severe as 1947, 1955, 1963, 1981 or 1984
* However it is the longest lasting snow for nearly 20 years since 10 days in February 1991
* We’ve seen the lowest January temperature for 24 years since minus 13 in 1987
* It has been the deepest lying snow for 27 years since 30cm in January 1984
* His lowest temperature recorded was minus 7.2°C with eight days of snow lying (so far) up to 16cm deep. Lowest temperature in wider area is minus 10°C.

Local weather forecasts

Lancashire Telegraph 5-day weather forecast

The Met Office North West forecast

Watch our video of people struggling in the snow in Blackburn.

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