Yep I'm that old too, remember it well though, we were updating some ex RAF Canberra's for the Peruvian Air force all was stopped as we commenced a snow ball fight with the Peruvian reps  

I can remember that period very well, and I can even remember the Bee Gees being at the top of the charts at around that time with their song called "Tragedy" which tied in quite nicely with the general political mood at that time.

Back in those days, I was only a mere teenager who was still living with my parents who back then, were living in the village of Newhaven, which is next to Leith in the north of Edinburgh where they lived right up until the end of 2005 when they eventually moved down to Hawick in the Scottish Borders where they live these days.

Even in those days, the north of Edinburgh wasn't particularly a place which got a lot of snow overall, in comparison with those parts of Edinburgh which are higher up and further inland. As a consequence of that, it was always too late in the year by the beginning of May for me to be able to see any actual lying snow in this part of Edinburgh where I live.

However, that period back in early May of 1979 which you refer, to brought me closer to actually seeing that than any other period which I can remember as we had a biting cold northerly wind blowing straight down from the Arctic with daytime temperatures of no higher than around 6°C.

This brought frequent showers which fell as wet snow and graupel even to here in the north of Edinburgh, although it was only really over high ground where this snow would actually lie.

Meanwhile and back on topic, it would be interesting to see how close this weekend's setup gets as regards to us seeing a possible repeat of that again this time.

The big problem which we have this time is that the blocking area of high pressure is too close to the UK which largely reduces the chances of us seeing any showery activity here and because of that, it looks as though snow showers will be mostly confined to the north and NE of Scotland, although places such as Aberdeen might see a few of those showers.

If that area of high pressure was a bit further away from us though (as was the case in early May 1979), it would certainly be very interesting indeed, especially with those really exceptionally cold upper air temperatures which are forecast to reach us this weekend.

I was not even born then but the latest snowfall I remember was quite recently 29 April 2016 . Couple of inches

 https://i.ibb.co/X28yZnS/20160429-063239.jpg

This weekend might go from 22c tomorrow to 9c here on Sunday.  Possibly a wintry shower at some point. Somewhere like Tomintoul in NE Scotland might get a covering.

Jetstream showing a burst from the north for the first half of this week, not as strong as its southern branch over the Med but nevertheless comes all the way from N Greenland. The southern branch then loops around Spain before dying out and giving way to a stream across our latitude by Mon 19th. That wobbles a bit before settling down to the NW of the UK and then itself breaking up by Sat 23rd.

GFS synoptics show HP over Iceland tomorrow Sun, drifting SE but always staying to the W of the UK through the week leaving us on the cold side, though not as bitter as forecast for Mon 11th. UK then sits under a rather indeterminate col until Wed 20th when the Azores high asserts itself with some warmth and ends with a rather thundery looking LP coming up from the S on Sat 23rd.

ECM positions the HP more over the UK so not as cold, at least by day, but after Sun 17th (that is, still yesterday's 12z) develops the LP to the south to bring in NE-lies (the col on GFS keeps the cold air on the other side of the N Sea at this point)

GEFS runs much as yesterday; temp drops sharply Mon 11th, recovery to seasonal norm around Sun 17th, and sticking there through to Mon 25th. Chance of rain increasing after 17th but no clear pattern.

But meanwhile the 12z ECM is glorious.

As previous post indicate, the model output is far from stable at the moment. Even if the building blocks are the same, small differences in position make a big difference to the weather actually experienced here. Lerwick at -1C on the BBC report this morning.

But back to current output. http://www.wxmaps.org/pix/temp4 has the whole of W Europe in week 1 well below average for the time of year. something like 6C below average for parts of Germany. (That won't do the wine harvest any good). Temps struggle back up again from the SW in week 2. Rain in week 1 across S Europe, also in week 2 but by then some also moving into the W of the UK.

0z GFS FWIW. HP currently near Iceland moving S but keeping N/NE winds going through the week though weakening. Even though LP moves up from France Sat 16th it still draws in air from the E. From Tue 19th a series of LPs on the Atlantic generates pulses of warm air from the SW through to Tue 26th.

ECM similar to Sat 16th but then sets up a strong HP  over the UK, 1030 mb on Tue 19th, and more positive about a SW source for the air. (On the GFS this HP appears almost  by default by contrast with LP on the Atlantic)

GEFS v cold for now, and then good agreement on an almost linear recovery to above seasonal norm around Fri 22nd  (a few days earlier in W) and continuing to rise thereafter. Rain from the 22nd onwards, heaviest spikes in S

Or the outcome maybe somewhere between the two?

Jetstream generally westerly near the UK for a week from Fri 15th but fragmented before and after.

GFS0z - HP moving S over UK this week to link with Azores high by Sat 16th; LP on the Atlantic pushes the subsequent ridge rather to one side for the week following but that brings in mild SW-lies;HP re-asserts itself 1035 mb by Mon 25th with some really deep red colours on the chart and then hangs around to the W of Ireland so the UK is on the edge of warm/cool weather.

ECM - plays down the Atlantic influence above and instead has large area of HP directly over UK on Thu 21st, and warm too

GEFS - temps back to seasonal norm around Tue 19th and staying there (? not as warm as synoptics suggest)  and significant rain from about Thu 21st

12Z GFS ensembles seem to be ramping up the warmth a little bit, nothing spectacular but plenty of runs with 850s nudging into double figures down here.

That's good to know; it's felt parky here today. Not pleasant. 

Yep looks like ECM & GFS very similiar. Next week end and early next week could get rather warm (mid 20's) going on tonight. 

10-day summary at http://www.wxmaps.org/pix/prec4 showing dry for the UK, just a bit of rain in the NW.Temps slowly improving and better in week 2 but still cold pool over E Europe.

GFS as yesterday shows HP moving S this week to link with ridge from Azores by Fri 15th: LP quite close to S coast then but doesn't quite make it far enough N to affect UK. HP then stays around over or close to the UK through to Thu 28th with generally southerly flow. LPs on the Atlantic (Tue 19th), Iberia (Sat 23rd), Atlantic again (Wed 25th) only nibble at the edges.

ECM similar but HP weaker than GFS or yesterday's ECM and allowing W-lies across Scotland on Thu 21st.

GEFS temps higher than yesterday - back to normal by Sun 17th, then positively warm to Fri 22nd after which the mean is nearer normal but still with a number of notably warm runs esp in E. Rain on and off from about the 22nd but not a lot except in far N of Scotland (not quite matching synoptics).

I've created a one question survey about chart colour schemes. If you've got a moment I would be grateful if you could complete it. (It's subjective so need to worry about being right or wrong) 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JHL2CXF

It’s fairly representative of the GEFS up to May 21 then diverges somewhat. 

Which is the part that turns horrendous  It is somewhat an outlier, but not significantly so.

Think you probably meant to quote moomin's comment, re: the horrendous part, but understand what you did and agree, a) it's pretty much an outlier on the GEFS (waiting for the trend setter response of course) and not exactly anywhere near horrendous in terms of what has been this winter or could be a pattern. Pretty usual commentary unfortunately...

Yes it was moomin's word I should have quoted; we have our own interpretations after all. The 12z op isn't all that great but personally I wouldn't go as far as to call it horrendous. The GEFS on the whole are encouraging enough this evening and I don't have any concerns. The MetO further outlook is also encouraging today.

My comment was referencing the op going out on a limb post 21 May, using Moomin's term