Small-scale snow events: Snow streamers, danglers and more!

In recent days, parts of Cumbria managed to accumulate over 30 cm of snow in places, purely from showers.

While it's a common misconception that showers produce lighter intensity precipitation, this is not necessarily the case, even when it comes to snow.

Like rain showers, weather models still struggle with snow showers in the same light. This is because showers as a whole are notoriously difficult to forecast.

Showers are short bursts of rain, often locally variable. During winter, when the sea is warmer than the land, showers are most prevalent over the water, and can blow in to coastal areas on a brisk wind.

Often, trying to pinpoint the exact location of where a shower may crop up can be incredibly difficult, and weather models particularly struggle with predicting their longevity.

A flow from various directions during our coldest months of the year can result in a convective snow streamer setting up in certain areas, converging to form a line of continuous showers, often moving in the direction of the wind.

Across parts of Cumbria, showers blew in from the west/south-west, with over 30 cm of snow accumulating in places within the space of 12 hours.

The cause of these are very similar to lake-effect snow, whereby a cold air mass moves across a long expanse of warmer water, such as a lake or the sea.

Nicknames are given to some of these, depending on location. For example, a Thames Streamer, which an east-north-east flow produces, a Kent Streamer in a north-north-east flow, and a Pembrokeshire Dangler in a northerly air flow.