Can you imagine what the charts would have looked like heading toward 1987 or 1991. As you say, one day
Originally Posted by: warrenb
I can tell you what they looked like in 1991 - the Today newspaper had a weather column by Philip Eden back then, and it showed a synoptic chart with a high to the NE of Scandinavia. The accompanying caption said "Cold high H will move southwestwards"... it was unusual, as they didn't usually say "cold high", just "high". The high did indeed move SW'wards, and a few days later we had our easterly.
They would have used the UKMO global model for that, so it picked it out a few days in advance at least.
I'm not sure about 1987, although I do know that snow was forecast as my mum freaked out... she hated snow so very much, as the previous year she'd had to help clear the road for the hearse that took her dad to the crematorium. I also know there was enough notice for her to get in a load of food and paraffin for the greenhouse heater, which was a good idea as we were cut off for over a week.