Nice one Ian

http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/12/15/letter-from-london-its-so-cold-in-cyprus/

Nice read and it reminded me of my experience about our house there was always colder than here.  Lowest air temps was 5C in the living room of the previous big house before this house we lived for 10 years which I saw 9C as the lowest in my bedroom.  I remember getting up from bed with breath mist coming out, went to turn on the central heating.  It usually come on in the mornings and evenings but few times all day if very cold outside. 

They took time to get the roads clear up to Troodos yesterday so Mark and Sarah had to park in the village and walk the rest. Worth it though as there was deep cover. In many years Cyprus has a short but brief season in those mountains and it usually starts in the new year so this is an excellent start

The way things are going, we could be the very last place on Earth to see any snow fall this winter .......

Snow falls in Vietnam

Lovely picture Dave, yes it early and big rise to 80cm on top and 60cm in Troodos square which is amazing for early Dec when they normally reach that in some winters in Jan to Feb.  Probably a bit more snow to come tomorrow from the latest Larnaca graph show some precips spikes, then after that quite dry thanks to the huge HP over the Med while UK stuck in severe zonal pattern with LP never moves away.  Wish to see it sunny in here after the snow instead of overcast conditions that we suffered on every cold spell.

I will see and last see the snow in Toronto next month. It will be hard for me to leave the snow behind when I return back here.  You can see the difference on the plane when you leave a clean white snowy landscape to dirty black/brown dull landscape here in winter months but lovely in the summer months and more amazing when it parched too.

Have seen one or two references to cold over the Indian sub continent - here is one link -

http://news247.com.pk/3695/islamabad/islamabad:-due-to-the-cold-wave-that-grip-the-whole-country,-all-the-educational-institutions-remain-closed-till-jan-11.html#.UsgRCP23bnd

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/lxy300VuJ6KuQvYDQxvqTP/Cold-wave-prevails-in-North-India-Agra-records-lowest-minim.html

Regarding above article about the cold and forecast rain moving into northern India, this same system brought heavy rain to the Gulf states as well as heavy snow to central/southern Iran and Afghanistan. 

Unlike Tehran and northern areas, snow is less common in central and southern Iranian cities. Kerman fell to -20c last night and Shahre Kord near Esfahan to -22c 

Kerman (south east): 

http://www.mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2210195#ad-image-1

http://www.mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2210004#ad-image-12

Zahedan (nr Pakistan border):

http://www.mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2210128#ad-image-0

Shiraz (south)

http://www.mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2209243#ad-image-25

http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=679574&st=1162162

Esfahan (central)

http://www.mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2209278#ad-image-18

http://www.mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2209278#ad-image-9

And a video on BBC Persian taken in Shahre Kord.... 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/interactivity/2014/01/140111_ugc_cold_shahrekurd.shtml

Ahh, so they and the Yanks have the cold this year!

 15% chance of snow in Northern parts of Thailand early next month, says it all really.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gary

A bit out the way but there's quite a harsh cold spell affecting central Asian states currently courtesy of the strong block over Kazakhstan/central Russia. Temps are widely more than 10c below average with strong winds and snow leading to blizzards in many areas.

What's also interesting is the steep temp drops associated with the arrival of the cold airmass - quite a few of the below stations were recording highs around +20c on Wednesday, followed by highs sinking to near -10c on Saturday.

Midday temps in major cities:

Bukhara -16c (around 20c below average!)

Ashkabad -12c

Samarkand -12c

Mashhad -11c

Mazari Sharif -11c

Tashkent -10c

Dushanbe -9c

Herat -9c

Tehran -2c

Cold snap mentioned above seems to have sparked off intense lake effect snow bands over the Caspian Sea, with some pretty impressive images coming out of Iran as a result... 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26024415

... and here's a slideshow of one of the worst affected areas, Tonekabon in Mazandaran - right on the Caspian itself (so  below sea level!)

http://mehrnews.com/detail/Photo/2228192

Bitter cold air with 850 temps well below -10 has filtered southwards across the Caspian as mentioned above bringing copious snow where the air mass meets the mountainous south coast of the Caspian / northern Iran.

This chart - http://www.winplot.co.uk/files/Iran04Feb2014.JPG is a synoptic chart of the southern Caspian / northern Iran at 0600 GMT today 4th February. The figures in purple at the bottom of the station plots are snow depths in cm and depths are 90-120cm along the western shores decreasing steadily to the east. The depths seem realistic given the amazing pictures in the area from the links mentioned above.

Average temps at those stations in Jan/Feb are around 11 max / 4 min. Frosts happen occasionally each winter but snow only seems to reach them every 5-8 years or so.

Now Tokyo, Japan severe snow storm warning -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26096121

Big fluffy flakes falling in Bishkek, yet another snowfall this Winter http://live.saimanet.kg/ru/cams/2#.UvbHl380IZw

A second heavy snowfall for much of Japan on Valentine's Day, including Tokyo again.  Lots of flight delays/cancellations and train problems again.

 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/16/us-japan-snow-idUSBREA1F02J20140216

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5YG3dQP7nA

Some depths:

Kofu City (130km west of Tokyo), 57cm

Saitama – (North Tokyo), 42cm

Yokohama – (Tokyo Port) 18cm

Tokyo city centre – 6cm

Quite unusual for Tokyo to get hit with consecutive snow storms I'd have thought.