THE FIRST snow of the winter left a dusting on the top of Snaefell in the early hours of Sunday morning. It’s believed to be one of the earliest falls of snow for many years and even earlier than last year’s first fall which led to one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent memory.
The dusting of snow was captured by isleofman.com on Sunday afternoon, covering the top 200 feet of the Isle of Man’s highest summit.
Earlier this week the clear skies made it easy to see that snow had fallen over the Lake District and southern Scotland. There was also evidence of sleet on car windscreens travelling across the mountain during last week.
However, the early snowfall - as early as it was - doesn’t necessarily mean that we are in for another winter like last year’s which had more snow than for many decades.
The Isle of Man Met. Office is cautious not to make long range forecasts because the Isle of Man’s weather is so unpredictable. “It often happens that the national UK forecast for our region is quite different to the forecasts we make on the Island,” said Dave Boultby at the Met Office.
The Manx Met office forecasts are produced independently from the national UK versions and are more detailed than those which are broadcast on media such as television and radio.
Until recently, the British Met office regularly produced long range weather forecasts, predicting what should happen in the coming months. However, in many cases this went disastrously wrong, such as last autumn when they said the coming winter was likely to be mild.
Three months of the heaviest snowfalls in recent memory and the coldest winter for many years has changed their thinking and long range forecasts have been shelved for the time being.
The Isle of Man Met Office has for many years restricted its long range forecasts to seven days which is no surprise when you look at what happened with the weather forecasts for the Isle of Man made by the UK TV and radio stations last week.
BBC TV and Granada TV forecast that we would have severe storms midweek - which did prove correct - followed by “more storms, heavy rain and possibly some sunshine”. In the Isle of Man the storms ended, there was no heavy rain and the sun shone brightly for two days.
It all goes to prove that the Isle of Man - in weather terms - remains one of the most unpredictable places on the planet.
All photos: Bill Dale - www.isleofmanphotos.com
