The problem as I see it, as has been all winter, is the lack of deep cold to tap into. Certainly zero of interest for this patch in terms of snow, which is only marginal less interest than this weeks chilly spell was ever likely to bring, despite some comments. 

Having said that, I feel you might be underplaying your potential somewhat, but time will tell 

Nothing of interest for southerners but the local authorities in Scotland and the Islands will be on high alert. 

Should be chilly and seasonal further south with a few wintry showers and i wonder if we will tap in to much milder SWesterlies with an early taste of spring from 2nd February as shown by the GFS.

-ve AO and cold pool to the East a premium this year and will prob need a pattern change in mid Feb or March before we see any significant snow in the South.

Agree with the Doc and it's what I said earlier in that the charts look good with the deep blues and purples but as Neil and Steve said, the source isn't cold enough.

Let's hope the trough stays further N and pushes a little more E like some of the runs

Chilly is the word... with a gradual trend to average temperatures by the end of the 1st week of Feb. The outlook is very good for the Scottish hills and ski industry though.... as it is for the Alpine ski slopes. Scandinavia is cold but all very boring with dry weather away from the W coast or further E across Sweden and Finland.

Looks like Brian's forecast, yet again, has called right. The risk of low level and widespread snow now hinges on the soundings of something developing from mid February, a.k.a the last chance saloon....

Way to many sensible posts in here for my liking 

Indeed.

Snow down here is very rare without some sort of Continental influence. Come to think about it, snow is very rare down here full stop!

This cold spell here has been "rather cold", nothing more bar yesterday morning. Expecting the forthcoming spell, if it happens, to be about the same, tbh.

The northerly is nailed on now, and it would have been a perfect set up for the north west, but unfortunately the uppers aren't quite cold enough for widespread snow. Great for the hills again though!

Dean I have just checked the archive data and for that date the t850 here was about -12°C with 500-1000hPa values around 515dm. That is significantly colder than anything shown in the current output I'm afraid.

I was talking about the whole of Britain, a LOT of the GEFS bring those 850s down, the ecm isn't that far off and ukmo looks really good,

gfs op isn't that great for 850 temps but it's over a week a way it will change,  for better or worse,

i know now people are being cautious but where's the fun in that??

I don't think it's being cautious, it's being realistic. I was spot on over the last coldish spell wasn't I? (Facebook) I'm even less enthusiastic about this one, and that's saying something. All I will say is it's still a way out yet, and it currently looks decent for northern and western parts IMO

Next Wednesday afternoon /evening - looks like showers turning to sleet and snow in many parts, especially the west and north west:

UK wide snow event on Wednesday. Surprised by all the pessimism this morning looks plenty cold enough for snow even in the south.

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/gfs/royaume-uni/precipitations/102h.htm

Yes, the northerly as currently shown in the models is not comparable to the Jan 2004 event at all. The cold air then was drawn from much further north, there was some genuine height rise to the south of Greenland and the Azores High was situated over the Canaries. 

Looks like the northerly is arriving a day early according to the 06z runs. Was expecting the North westerly until Thursday. Time will tell. - Just hope it brings some snow to the south - we missed out last week,.

 That chart is from the northwesterly.

Just looking at the temps I think it would be rain for the south at least on Wednesday not sure why GFS graphics show snow. The ECM though is certainly cold enough for snow for the south.

Because as gets proved ad nauseum every single winter - they are absolute garbage. 

amazing synoptics anyway. Just the issue with the uppers. We are more likely to get snow from the slider as the cold air will be embedded already. Even though hi res shows snow from the cold front on Wednesday, I cant quite believe it

http://modeles.meteociel.fr/modeles/gfs/runs/2015012406/gfsnh-0-210.png?6

An early outing for the pub run the process of incremental upgrades continues, now all we need is for those uppers to be upgraded as well over time

http://modeles.meteociel.fr/modeles/gfs/runs/2015012406/gfsnh-0-222.png?6