The Winter emotions and moaning thread

[Aaron]

Well, places in the US have a high degree of variability, far more so than in the UK (the Midwest, the mid Atlantic and New England, even southern states). By that I mean, temperatures are wild on a daily basis, it can go from warm and sunny in the 60s to below freezing and snowy in 24 - 48 hours.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Aaron

[Thundery wintry showers]

This is very true. At Buffalo on the south-eastern flank of the Great Lakes, the highest maximum temperature for November 2012 was 21.1C and the lowest was -8.9C, a quite remarkable range:

http://www.tutiempo....2012/726627.htm

There are certain characteristics of the Great Lakes climate which would be ideal for me (e.g. lake-effect snow, sunny summers with thunderstorms, not particularly dull in winter, variable temperatures) but I doubt that I would cope particularly well with the levels of heat and humidity often associated with their summers- a typical summer month has a mean max of 28 to 30C, and during July 2012, Buffalo's mean max was a whopping 34C.

Regardless of your weather preferences, chances are that all climates across the globe will have at least some downsides. I'm sure that there are some areas of the world that I would consider to have more interesting climates than the UK without being too extreme (much of central continental Europe would probably qualify) but they are somewhat outnumbered by the areas of the world that don't.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[cheeky_monkey]

Well, places in the US have a high degree of variability, far more so than in the UK (the Midwest, the mid Atlantic and New England, even southern states). By that I mean, temperatures are wild on a daily basis, it can go from warm and sunny in the 60s to below freezing and snowy in 24 - 48 hours.

its not like that on a daily basis..yes it can swing wildly but mainly in spring and late autumn..i have seen temps swing from a max of 90f to a max of 28f in less than 48 hrs here..best time for that to happen is early to mid May and early to mid October..hence the tornado season is April through May into mid June.

[Aaron]

There is a lot of variability in winter too, especially in places like Philadelphia. In many places in the Midwest, snow obviously stays on the ground all winter.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Aaron

[cheeky_monkey]

There is a lot of variability in winter too, especially in places like Philadelphia. In many places in the Midwest, snow obviously stays on the ground all winter.

Not necessarily varies from year to year..some years can be relatively snow free.

[Weather of Mass Disruption]

Looks like the Ukraine are getting battered again - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20758885

If my memory serves me right I am sure they got hammered last winter as well! Could be a bad omen for us in the UK, we all know how near and yet so far we were last winter was!!!

Oh and the model thread has made very despressing reading of late...

Back to lurking and longing for snow...

[The PIT]

Crap winter so far and December looks like it carry on it's merry way of being crap. Going to have to find the last time it failed to Snow in December.

[SnowObsessor90]

For the most part I've moved on now at but looking the current output it still irks me somewhat about what could have been this month if wasn't for some sudden last minute developments. Damn those pesky shortwaves!

Edited December 19, 2012 by Anonymous21

[NL]

Crap winter so far and December looks like it carry on it's merry way of being crap. Going to have to find the last time it failed to Snow in December.

Obviously talking about your location Pit, as it has snowed 3 times this December here,(and stayed on the ground for a couple of days or so) still they weren't as good as the October snowfall

[Summer Sun]

IMO December is the best month for cold weather 2010 was a perfect example of that, once we move into January & February the days are getting longer and the sun is getting higher, with the exception of February (first half) this year and 2010 recent February's have often felt spring like at times

[cheeky_monkey]

IMO December is the best month for cold weather 2010 was a perfect example of that, once we move into January & February the days are getting longer and the sun is getting higher, with the exception of February (first half) this year and 2010 recent February's have often felt spring like at times

really?...how come the coldest recorded Decembers are not as cold as the coldest Jans and Febs then?

[Thundery wintry showers]

Statistics show that on average January is the snowiest month of the year, combining relatively cool waters around the UK with limited sunlight strength, although in some (mainly coastal) areas, February tends to be snowier. Due to short-term synoptic variability, however, we have seen an anomalously low frequency of snowy synoptics in January in recent years (with no notably snowy January from 1988 to 2009 inclusive) while recent Decembers have often had anomalously snowy synoptics. As a result, in the last couple of decades December has generally been the snowiest month of the year with February second and January a poor third. However this is just a statistical quirk and I'll be surprised if January and February don't return to surpassing December again during the next few decades.

Of course a snowy December is more ideal for many people as it gets many of us into the festive spirit for Christmas.

Edited December 19, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[WestCountry11]

So much for some of those Winter forecasts online that said we [uK] can expect a colder than average Winter.

Ok,i know we are only in to Winter just and there is some way to go yet,but this mild spell is forecast for next week too.

Would it appear that the cold spell in early December was a flash in the pan [was that the Winter for us],or can anyone care to guess as to if we [uK] will see colder weather returning going in to 2013 and beyond.

Cheesed off with this mild/damp and rainy weather we have at the moment. It feels like it did in October and November. It is 11.6c outside right now,with thick mist thrown in for good measure.

Edited December 19, 2012 by WestCountry11

[Summer Sun]

Credit must go to met check they called a wetter and milder than average December

http://www.metcheck....ONAL/winter.asp

I know the CET is below average at the moment but signs are it will continue to rise over the coming week and a bit so they won't be far off

Edited December 19, 2012 by Gavin.

[Aaron]

In my back yard at least, this month should be at least average.

[Snowy Easterlies]

IMO December is the best month for cold weather 2010 was a perfect example of that, once we move into January & February the days are getting longer and the sun is getting higher, with the exception of February (first half) this year and 2010 recent February's have often felt spring like at times

its only psychological that the days are getting longer in January, technically sunset is still before 5pm for the whole month, i agree once we get to mid February the days are much longer, and i'd rather have snow before mid feb but i will still take it after mid feb, but to say snow in january is not good because of the "stronger sun" is total tosh, but you are a mild ramper of course so no shocks there

[Froze were the Days]

Got a feeling that January will be milder than this month, west based NAO spells disaster in terms of cold for this little Island.

[sundog]

Got a feeling that January will be milder than this month, west based NAO spells disaster in terms of cold for this little Island.

no one can say for certain if there will b a west

based nao lasting for most of jan.maybe eventually it could go east based. writing off jan at this point is rather premature imo. of course your feeling could be right but could also be very wrong.

Edited December 19, 2012 by sundog

[NorthernRab]

Credit must go to met check they called a wetter and milder than average December

http://www.metcheck....ONAL/winter.asp

I know the CET is below average at the moment but signs are it will continue to rise over the coming week and a bit so they won't be far off

CET does not equal UK.

Edit: Sorry, that sounded unduly harsh. What I mean to say is that the Central England region is but one of quite a few areas in the UK and so to pick out one of them and to say that MetCheck performed well in this one particular area when they were speaking about the UK as a whole isn't particularly impressive at all.

Edited December 19, 2012 by NorthernRab

[Village]

Well I have had three days of snow this December and the deluge was enough to screw up all the major roads in Essex. It was white everywhere.

By the time it eventually melted a few days later we then got hit again with freezing conditions day and night and the hoar frosts brought back the white christmas look again for days. It was absolutely bitter. Even Southend on Sea on the coast was -4C at 11am on one day. We had three days on the trot in Essex with temps below zero all day.

Its only just warming up now.

[Weather of Mass Disruption]

With all this wet weather about we can only dream about seeing a winter like this again. Nice to see the BBC reminiscing though!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20785406

[LomondSnowstorm]

CET does not equal UK.

Edit: Sorry, that sounded unduly harsh. What I mean to say is that the Central England region is but one of quite a few areas in the UK and so to pick out one of them and to say that MetCheck performed well in this one particular area when they were speaking about the UK as a whole isn't particularly impressive at all.

No, and also, they mentioned a lack of NH blocking when we've had a predominantly negative NAO and AO with a signal for this to trend negative again into the start of January.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I remember posting in the model output thread a while ago that we would probably get a cold second half to December, with a wintry northerly incursion shortly before or around Christmas, unless low pressure became slow-moving over the eastern Atlantic sector, but I considered that as being one of the less likely possibilities, hence my forecast of a cold December overall (around 2.5C CET). Essentially, though, that's what we've ended up with- the most common way to get a mild outcome in the UK in spite of extensive northern blocking.

[mike Meehan]

I'll be watching what happens to Moscow and Scandinavia - the latter has warmed up recently but Moscow remains very much brass monkeys - if the Russian high with its cold temperatures extends back towards Scandinavia we could see the beast from the east yet though it will take some time - probably a cold snap mid Jan to mid Feb.

At least if we get a proper beast from the east we stand a chance of getting some decent powdery snow - far better than the slushy type substance we get on N Westerlies down here.

Otherwise if the weather is to continue in the current vein, I say roll on spring.

The other thing I wonder about after a relatively wet 8 months is when the next drought is due? - these patterns normally even out on the long term.

[Aaron]

Finland and Estonia are bitter right now - but the deep cold has stopped short of Sweden.