March 22nd – Mini Update
Hi All,
Not what we needed really as the rain forecast for Friday duly arrived and turned to snow overnight and into the morning in a line north of Northampton. Ireland, the south-west of England and Wales in particular also got clattered with torrential rain topping 30mm plus. We had heavy snow here but it’s gone now as the combination of a strong, drying wind and 5°C temperature has thawed it. Further south I know some of you missed the rain completely and have had decent temperatures, I’m happy for you.
The big question mark and the reason for sending this mini-update concerns later today and Saturday. We have another band of rain moving into the the UK later today and through the night and the big question mark is whether this will fall as further snow through the day and lead to a covering and more course / pitch closures. At present I’m sad to say that’s how it’s looking with a ridge of cold air pushing south and that means snowfall will occur further south than today, but I must stress it could easily fall as rain and in addition, the exact amount of snow / rain / sleet falling is difficult to predict. Certainly The Midlands north are a safe bet for more snow on Saturday, with the question being how far south this snow line extends down to. Ireland may also be affected along the east coast of Leinster during Saturday, particularly over higher ground, but the snow showers should become more isolated as we go through the day on Saturday and Sunday at present is looking dry.
As usual with the inherent unpredictability of snow, I’d suggest clicking on the radar on Meteoblue through the day to see where the moisture is actually falling because this is the best guide. To view this click here.
The next question I’m getting is “When is it going to end and will it affect Easter ?”
Well, we’re still in a trough pattern and so the potential for cool / cold air to cause issues remains and will remain until the pattern shifts, either sideways or upwards. The predicted signal from the jet stream is still there for a change towards the end of next week, with a milder southerly / south-westerly airstream pushing temperatures up, so all we can do at present is hope this comes to pass and knuckle down for one more week possibly.
I’ll be doing my usual update on Monday morning, so I’ll have more of an idea then if the predictions are still on track. I’d love to say “Have a good weekend”, but I know it’ll be a tough one for most.
All the best
Mark Hunt
moldgc
Hi Mark, Thanks for the update, Tuesdays blog was excellent and very helpful.
I have over a foot of snow here in North wales and its still coming down heavy. I have a couple of questions you may be able to help me with please.
Firstly when filling in rainfall data, what do you put for snow, do you calculate its melted depth and add this to the data or not?
Also is there a high risk of hypoxia on my greens with this snow since I put down a dusting of lawn sand last week to try and get some colour back them.
Many thanks
neal carter
Hi Mark
This time last year in Banbury it was 21 degrees! Oh for that now! Hope you are well.
mark.hunt
Hi Neal,
21 C, now what’s that like, can’t remember mate ????
Fingers crossed for a pleasant Easter..
Mark
colin jones
Hi Mark, Thanks for the updates, Mondays was a belter …very helpful.
I have over a foot of snow here in North wales and its still coming down heavy.
I have a couple of questions you may be able to help me with please. Firstly when filling in rainfall data, what do you put for snow, do you calculate its melted depth and add this to the data or not?
The other question was is there a high risk of hypoxia on my greens with this snow since I put down a dusting of lawn sand last week to try and get some colour back them.
Thanks
Colin
mark.hunt
Hi Colin,
Tricky with snow because it depends on whether it’s wet snow or dry snow as to its water content.
As an average the conversion is 10:1, that is depth of snow to mm of rain, so 30cm (300mm) of snow = 30mm of rain, powder snow is a little less and wet snow a little more.
Regarding hypoxia, I think you’ll be grand Carl because typically the plant will tend to suffer the effects of Hypoxia when it starts to grow and requires oxygen in larger amounts to respire. Currently we have very low soil temperature, so the growth potential is low and hence so is the oxygen requirement through respiration. It’s important (but not always easy) to maintain a good soil oxygen status especially in spring when growth initiates, so when you can get to the green without compacting, smearing the surface, bang some holes in 🙂
Good luck…
colin jones
Thanks Mark, total so far after 60 hours and we have 2 feet of snow!. My greens are firm and well aerated underneath all that white stuff, just as well because its going to horrendous when it melts!
mark.hunt
That’s now my worry Colin, that it’ll hang around all week and thaw over Easter, probably from Thursday onwards.
It’s like a very long, bad dream….
Mike Butler
Heightington about 2″ wet snow thawing now but expect another covering tonight early Saturday.
In contrast Kidderminster 350 feet lower hardly any snow!
Mike
mark.hunt
Hi Mike,
Snowing hard here, but 1.9C so not settling, fingers crossed for a break in the weather at Easter.