e2e4 Chester Congress : 18-20 January 2013

[David Robertson]

WEATHER ADVISORY No.2

Yes, the Met Office (& BBC) have rowed back a bit overnight; things look somewhat more optimistic. There was no overnight frost up the road in Liverpool last night. And the Met Office has dropped its 'precipitation probability' for Friday from 80% to 60%. That's pretty much 50-50 it will snow at all; and if it does, not heavily. Fingers crossed

[Nick Burrows]

It depends where you are travelling from. The Met Office still says my journey from Oxford to Chester should be met with Blizzards and 10cm+ of snow...

[David Robertson]

Yes, good point. People travelling from south of Chester seem set to face serious snow if current predictions hold

[Sean Hewitt]

WEATHER ADVISORY No.2

Yes, the Met Office (& BBC) have rowed back a bit overnight; things look somewhat more optimistic. There was no overnight frost up the road in Liverpool last night. And the Met Office has dropped its 'precipitation probability' for Friday from 80% to 60%. That's pretty much 50-50 it will snow at all; and if it does, not heavily. Fingers crossed

Which probably means it'll be sunny tomorrow

Seriously, I'm cautiously optimistic. At least we're not in Buxton!

[Peter D Williams]

WEATHER ADVISORY No.2

Yes, the Met Office (& BBC) have rowed back a bit overnight; things look somewhat more optimistic. There was no overnight frost up the road in Liverpool last night. And the Met Office has dropped its 'precipitation probability' for Friday from 80% to 60%. That's pretty much 50-50 it will snow at all; and if it does, not heavily. Fingers crossed

Which probably means it'll be sunny tomorrow

Seriously, I'm cautiously optimistic. At least we're not in Buxton![/quote

This on the BBC weather site and it does not look good for Friday lets hope it is wrong but does appear to be getting colder. If chess players can get to the hotel it wont matter if they snowed in. Hopefully it be gone by Sunday. People should keep checking for weather updates and travel updates.

United Kingdom

Warnings



Thursday 17 January Published at 12:47

UK Warnings


Weather Warning

Thursday 17th January 2013

RED WARNING of SNOW for parts of southeast Wales.

A band of snow, heavy in places, will spread northeastwards across Wales and the southwestern half of England, during Friday morning, lasting through the afternoon and evening across much of Wales, the Midlands, southern and parts of southeast England. Winds will strengthen, leading to drifting of lying snow.

Many parts of the Red Warning area are likely to have 20-30 cm of snow with strong southeasterly winds causing blizzards, severe drifting of lying snow and thus severe disruption. The public should avoid all non-essential journeys.

Please watch for updates to these warnings.

Valid from 0300 until 2100 Friday.

Thursday 17th January 2013

AMBER WARNING of SNOW for western and southern England and Wales.

A band of snow, heavy in places, will spread northeastwards across Wales and the southwestern half of England, during Friday morning, lasting through the afternoon and evening across much of Wales, the Midlands, southern and parts of southeast England. Winds will strengthen, leading to drifting of lying snow.

Accumulations of more than 5-10 cm of snow will occur quite widely, with 15 cm in some western parts of the Amber area, falling within 3-6 hours. The public should be prepared for disruption, including altering travel plans.

Please watch for updates to these warnings.

Valid from 0300 until 2100 Friday.

Thursday 17th January 2013

YELLOW WARNING of SNOW for most of England, Wales and the southern half of Scotland.

A band of heavy sleet and snow will spread northeastwards across Wales and the southwestern half of England, with rain turning increasingly to snow across Northern Ireland through Friday initially over high ground, but later to low levels. Winds will strengthen, leading to drifting of lying snow, whilst blizzards are likely over high ground. The snow will turn to rain and sleet across southwest England through the day.

Meanwhile, snow showers affecting North Sea coastal counties of Scotland and England will move further inland during Friday.

Accumulations of snow will be very variable in the east, with 2-5 cm in places and possibly 10 cm above 200 metres, whilst heavier falls are expected across southern, central and western areas, with 10-15 cm or more possible in some areas. This warning should be viewed alongside other warnings issued for Friday.

The public should be aware of the risk of significant travel disruption.

Valid from 0100 until 2355 Friday.

Thursday 17th January 2013

YELLOW WARNING of RAIN for Northern Ireland.

Rain during Friday will become heavy for many places and may turn to snow for a time over hills, above about 200m. Between 20 and 40mm is possible. Winds will be strong with gales over coasts and hills. The public are advised to be aware of the risk of localised flooding.

Valid from 0005 until 2359 on Friday.

Thursday 17th January 2013

YELLOW EARLY WARNING of ICE for England, Wales, eastern and southern Scotland, and Northern Ireland

The band of snow will slowly weaken through Saturday with further accumulations over central areas. Further snow showers will spread into many eastern areas. During the evening ice will form in many areas where there is snow cover, lasting into Sunday morning.

The public are advised to be aware of the continued risk of disruption to transport during this spell of wintry weather.

Valid 0005 Saturday to 1200 Sunday

[David Robertson]

WEATHER ADVISORY No. 3 - Armageddon version

The Daily Mail has entered headless chicken mode predicting an avalanche of snow, frozen ducks, and a total national lock-down. It stops just short of calling for a UKIP vote to stem the tide of Brussels-inspired precipitation heading our way

[David Robertson]

Reportedly? If that's a Daily Mail report, it will be a foot deep by now

[Mick Norris]

The BBC website forecast for our postcode was for it to start snowing at 6 pm, and it did - the snow is now a thin layer outside

If it is correct for Chester, it will be snowing there from tomorrow morning

[David Robertson]

"Sizeable amount" in Frodsham (10 miles away) at 8.30pm. Family event of mine, Friday night, cancelled from their end

[LawrenceCooper]

This thread is in danger of meltdown

[Carol Williams]

This thread is in danger of meltdown

That's snow joke

[David Pardoe]

I guess those in the west or midland areas need to keep an eye out for traffic news on the M6, and do the normal vehical checks before setting off, etc....
and I suppose a few will take a precautionary half point bye today......
Looks like Chester will actually be on the outer fringe of any significant snow falls, unless some sudden change to the outlook occurs....

[Alex Holowczak]

I guess those in the west or midland areas need to keep an eye out for traffic news

From Oldbury, in the Black Country:

Weather - snowing
Road conditions - slushy
Traffic - not a lot of it, just travelling very slowly

[Mick Norris]

Weather on BBC TV NW News this lunchtime "Chester - snowing heavily"

[Andrew Camp]

Gutted I'm missing this now. Wife and daughter playing but I had already committed to taking a group of juniors to the EPSCA Rapidplay. So it seemed to make sense to also agree to work one of my allotted weekends duties on Sunday. Now the Rapidplay is cancelled and I can't go to e2e4 instead because of working on Sunday.

Sigh. Not often we get a local congress either.

Good luck to all players and organisers though.