AderynCoch

A lot of high cloud but it didn't spoil the view. Saw the whole thing. I'm buzzing right now! Nice prominence at four o'clock by the way.

Made it to Mazatlán in Mexico. Clear skies this evening, not sure about tomorrow. Crossing my fingers!

Glad to be in sunny Mexico at the moment, though it's supposed to be 27C in Slovakia on Sunday. Greetings from Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast:

Not wanting for sun here in Mexico at the moment; in fact there's too much off it (it's very strong). Here's the aptly-named Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán, just outside Mexico City:

In Absence of True Seasons yes, you're spot on (Cancún). I'm in Mexico City now. High of 29C but much less humid than Cancún.

Don't think I've seen sea this blue before:

Greetings from Cancún in Mexico. It's already very sultry here - I can't imagine what August is like! I'm hoping to see the total solar eclipse in Mazatlán on 8th April.

damianslaw It wouldn't be so bad if winter hadn't been such a letdown but I feel like I'm still owed something wintry, especially after that diabolically-mild February. I'm getting bland 2014 vibes from this spring so far.

Forget the UK, I've practically given up on winters in my corner of Central Europe too. Having no snow since before Christmas, even above 500m, is simply horrendous. After a frustrating snowless "cold spell" in January, which only really brought one notably cold day (nothing special in the context of an entire winter), my patience was "rewarded" with the warmest February ever, a full 7C (seven) above average. At Slovakia's longest-running station (Hurbanovo, dating back to 1872) February this year actually matched the warmest ever March in terms of average temperature. Just shockingly, shockingly bad and with March looking like offering no wintry compensation. I need to move to the mountains.

Going back a bit but there's January 1795 (coldest CET month ever) and January 1796 (joint second-warmest January in the CET record). EDIT - just realised it's been mentioned, but it's worth mentioning twice so sod it!

Every day here since 3rd February has reached double figures; the lowest maximum all month has been 8.0C on the 1st. And the ten-dayer is just more of the same. What an unspeakably bad February and yet another complete fail of a winter, a diarrhoeal discharge straight from the devil's behind. How much more of this crap am I expected to take?

What a terrible winter this has turned into. Early December could have been excellent had it been a touch colder but as it was I mostly ended up with cold rain. Those same synoptics later in winter probably would have delivered but of course they haven't repeated in the slightest. I haven't seen snow since before Christmas and there isn't close to any on the horizon - an absolutely appalling situation. It's bad enough for Bratislava but what makes this winter truly abominable is the situation in the nearby Little Carpathians: I can usually rely on them for wintry walks when the city is snow-free but I haven't had a single opportunity since before Christmas. I can't put into words how vile that is. I was really hoping for something decent this winter - not necessarily amazing, just decent - after last year's luckless abomination. Sadly however a similar thing has happened this time round. Just bugger off.

Sadly turning into yet another failed winter here. No lying snow at all in January, which is absolutely appalling for my location, and nothing on the horizon. I've had no luck over the last two winters. No luck at all.

Depressing.

Beyond the scope of this thread but 1740 laughs in your faces with a Jan-Apr average of 1.5C. 1684 even managed 1.4C, though monthly averages are only calculated to the nearest 0.5C.

The 30-day mean from 8th January to 6th February 1838 was -2.58C. Also: 25th January - 23rd February 1855 = -2.31C 22nd January - 20th February 1895 = -2.75C

First day since I came back to Britain on 22nd December that it's actually felt like winter. Sunny for most of the day and I could actually see my breath. Heading back to Slovakia tomorrow where it's going to turn very cold on Sunday but Mother Nature is doing everything she can to avoid delivering snow.

Picked a good day to walk around Sheffield. I'm battling horizontal rain at the moment:

I think I saw a bit of blue sky earlier. Anyway, back to wrapping presents.

Landed at Liverpool Airport earlier in a pretty hairy crosswind, then got greeted stepping off the plane by almighty gusts. It's good to be back.

From bright snow-capped mountains to cold rain in Košice (in eastern Slovakia). It's lashing it down here. This is probably the last snow I'll see for a while:

High Tatras from the train. The sun came out at a propitious moment.

At Zwanenburg (near Amsterdam) January 1838 had a mean of -6.6C, the second coldest month ever recorded there (since at least 1736). Only January 1823 was colder (-7.0C). 19th January 1838 had a daytime high of -16.6C. Januari 1838, een zeer koude maand WWW.METEOLINK.NL De winter van 1838 was een zeer koude winter met een gemiddelde temperatuur van -1.6 graden. De koudste maand van deze winter...

This winter famously became known as "Murphy's Winter" after Patrick Murphy predicted a cold spell peaking on 20th January - which is exactly what happened. It's one of the coldest spells ever recorded for the CET. I just wonder how the worst periods of cold in 1684 and 1740 compared. A low of -26C was reported at Beckenham in Kent on the morning of the 20th. It was -11C in Greenwich at noon. Weather in History 1800 to 1849 AD PREMIUM.WEATHERWEB.NET Though January 1838 had a very low CET of -1.5C, the coldest month-long period that winter was below -2C (I don't remember the exact dates). 1855 and 1895 also had month-long CET spells below -2C.

I'm back in Britain over the Christmas period so don't expect anything wintry! Slovakia is also heading for a stupidly mild Christmas so at least I won't be missing out.