BotB

Well, it is snowing (lightly) at LHR with 4.5 Km visibility and some low clouds that are lowering still...and fairly light winds. Let's hope it doesn't get any worse...

The forecast:

EGLL 140458Z 1406/1512 19005KT 9999 BKN020
TEMPO 1406/1409 3000 -SN BKN008
PROB30 TEMPO 1406/1408 BKN004
TEMPO 1412/1419 5000 -RA BKN010
PROB30 TEMPO 1412/1418 3000 RASN BKN004
BECMG 1415/1418 28010KT
PROB30 TEMPO 1422/1507 3500 -SHRASN BKN010
BECMG 1500/1503 35010KT=

They are forecasting it to go down to 3 Km visibility in the light snow and a ceiling of 800 feet for cloud. with periods this morning of 400 feet cloud ceilings.

Still optimistic though that it will turn to light rain this afternoon and improve from 12 noon with a higher 1000 foot ceiling. ^

However, this evening they now think the conditions will indeed worsen and we'll have lower periods again of heavier, wetter mixed snow and rain showers with low visibilities of 3 Km and accompanying low cloud again...

Hope the situation doesn't cause too many delays or cancellations...

Hope everyone can travel safely and gets where they need to be.

chucko

Some light snow showing up on the early observations:

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/EGLL.html

Joely

I'm at the airport now (GC North if anyone is wondering) and all seems ok, perhaps LTNPhobia hasn't shown up yet.

That said I'm not hopeful about my return trip, I'm flying from somewhere with snow (MUC) to somewhere with snow (LHR). Maybe I should just book a hotel now for the impending chaos.

shorthauldad

Out here we are fairly well prepared for snow - I'd worry about the LHR end of your trip, not the MUC end!

The only time I've had a delayed BA departure from MUC it was (allegedly) due to one of the baggage containers somehow getting frozen solid into the hold of the aircraft... think it was -15C in MUC that morning, and the aircraft had been parked there overnight.

shorthauldad

I can just about accept sacrificing domestics and shorthaul to protect long haul, despite the fact that I hardly ever fly long haul with BA (!), but I think BA could do a much better job of how they handle rebooking on alternative transport when services get cancelled, especially if they get preemptively cancelled the day before.

What would be really great would be for informed pax to be able to deal with things without having to actually talk to BA. So if a flight gets cancelled due to weather or strike (or whatever), MMB should be able to automatically offer a travel voucher for whatever alternatives might be appropriate. Either that or a online pledge to refund up to £xxx if you make your own arrangements.

Having to phone up BA (or join a very long queue in the terminal) is the very last thing I want to have to do when there is disruption. I want to get going with Plan B, as soon as I can!

heckenhocker

I think LTNPhobia starts her trip tomorrow, ending Thursday. If your return sector is in this period, yep, book that hotel

BA-Flyer

Is compensation paid to the airlines, or can HAL claim they are not liable for the weather?

Assuming they do pay compensation, I wouldn't be surprised if they made the commercial decision to cancel flights, as that is cheaper than investing in the necessary equipment.

csdavidson

sigh.

I'm traveling EDI-LCY on Tuesday evening. To Norwich that evening and back on 15:30 from Norwich for a 19:40 LHR-AMS flight. and Back to EDI from AMS the following day.

I suspect my travel plans will be disrupted

shorthauldad

...but it's BA's decision to cancel the flights, isn't it? Not HAL's.

Of course HAL will likely put pressure on BA (and other airlines) to trim their schedules, easier to keep things operating if LHR is down from operating at 99.9% to operating at 95% (or whatever).

BA are the ones making the "commercial decision", I think...

Greenpen

What on Earth does all that mean? Nothing like any weather forecast I've ever seen or heard. Let's have a short simple tutorial to decipher it please.

BOH

Now in plain English please

Ah, great minds think alike Greenpen

angatol

.....

T8191

IIRC thats:

BKN = broken [cloud] followed by cloud base.
TEMPO = temporarily
PROB30 = 30% probability
SN = snow
RN = rain
FG = fog
RASN = rain and snow
SHRASN = rain and snow showers
1406/1409 = from 0600-0900 on the 14th
28010KT = surface wind direction and speed.

That sort of thing. Quite easy once you get used to it. Oh, and:
LTN = severe disruption.

shorthauldad

What's the difference between RASN and SHRASN then?

LTN Phobia

Just to decipher the very relevant bits with snow, it goes as follows.

EGLL: London Heathrow Airport/LHR (4 letters ones like EGLL, EGKK are ICAO codes, 3 letters ones like LHR and LGW are IATA codes)

Tempo means temporary forecast
PROB 30 means 30% probablity
e.g. 1422/1507: from 2200 hours on 14th until 0700 hours on 15th.
"-" means light
SN is snow
RA is rain
SH is shower

So, "PROB30 TEMPO 1422/1507 3500 -SHRASN BKN010" means there is a 30% probability between 2200h on 14th until 0700h on 15th that there will be a light sleet shower at LHR.

So, now you can decipher the major parts of the report.

Or, you can copy and paste what BotB posted into

http://www.flightutilities.com/MRonline.aspx

and you shall get the answer.

Showers (SH) usually refer to the rain/snow that goes on and off. The one written without SH tend to be more steadily falling.


Oh you cheeky bear (I suppose I should say that rather than a cheeky monkey)