Winter 1947: 'General Inference' and Discussion at 0600 on 3rd February 1947

'A deep depression centred off the Scilly Isles is moving very slowly east. It will be mainly dull with intermittent rain in the south and southwest of England but there will be rain, sleet or snow elsewhere. There will be a slow thaw in the south and a slight thaw in the north but it will remain generally cold' At 0600 hours-The occluded front shown on yesterday's DWR is no longer evident but precipitation amounts along it were in the range 5-10mm as shown by totals in the area from Midlands across to C.Ireland. A new occlusion is now shown from Channel Is, Torbay to w. Bristol Channel. Ahead of this is an area of moderate rain as far as Bristol and Isle of Wight. Elsewhere cloudy, with fog and drizzle in the Midlands, sleet at Leeming (Yorks) and recent snow Wick and Shetland. On the map as a whole the lowest temperature is 16°F (-8.9°C) but over the British Isles temperatures are generally just above freezing. Little Rissington and Eskdalemuir are the coldest on 32°F (0°C). Scilly and Guernsey are the warmest both reporting 44°F (6.7°C). Overnight minima have been at or just above freezing with Dalwhinnie being the coldest on 28°F (-2.2°C) and Predannack (south Cornwall) and Scilly the warmest on 42°F (5.6°C). The previous day's maxima were also generally above freezing ranging from 32°F (0°C) at Little Rissington to much higher values in the far South West, e.g. 50°F (10°C) at Scilly. Snowfall-Snow fell over many parts of Britain during the previous day (away from the south-west). Overnight however the snow tended to turn to rain except in parts of E.Anglia, N Midlands and NW England. Bearing in mind the temperatures upland areas are likely to have had far more snow (details of this will be posted later). Snow cover-still widespread in England away from western and south-western areas. However there are more reports of 'thawing snow'. Snow depth-at 21hrs on 2nd February the following places had >6" of snow, Honiley (nr Coventry), Waddington (Lincs) and Collinstown (nr Dublin). Honiley was the deepest with 7". By 09hrs on the 3rd February snow depths were rather less with Honiley still being the deepest but now down to 6".