One of the mildest Winters for some years?

[cheese]

Mildest only since 2007/2008.. with many, many more mild winters preceding it.

[Terminal Moraine]

Still a very long way to go for this winter but December was unusual here in that, although only 2 days exceeded 10c, it was consistently mild enough to make it the 3rd mildest December in the last 37 years; only 1988 and 2006 were warmer.

The absence of cold weather meant that the lowest maximum temp' of 3.5c on the 25th was the 'highest lowest' on record for the month here.

Despite that the month still managed 7 days with sleet or snow falling and 2 mornings with lying snow which is considerably better than 7 other Decembers in the last 37 years.

[Nick L]

The days haven't been THAT mild, we've certainly had far worse. But the lack of cold nights has certainly been notable.

[Rollo]

Let's face it it's been a dire winter fir cold lovers whether it is frost or snow you prefer.I detect a lot of background straw clutching,obviously it is still relatively early days but we need a radical change to occur,someone said that we have been spoilt during the last few winters which whilst true does nothing to alleviate the pain of the winter ticking by.

From my own point of view what makes it worse are the constant strong winds which add to the wind chill despite the reasonable temperatures.

[The PIT]

The surface temperature anomaly chart for December shows the UK had an average/just above average month.

 

compday.z6oJEyItY7.gif

Dunno how you got that chart the met office says for the uk as a whole it was 1.8C above average which is  a long way above just above average month.

[hillbilly]

There's been a real lack of notably low minima for a while now; even February and March, and to a lesser extent January last year were characterised by low maxima rather than low minima.A far cry from the bitter nights of Jan and Dec in 2010.A shame really, I'd take a hard frost over an ice day. Ideally both!

Both severe wintery spells of 1947 and 1986 [both subzero feb months] were the result of very low maxima and not minima,both beating December 10 ,with 1947 by a conciderable margin in fact in this area feb '47 had the same daytime temp average as dec 10 cet

[snowrye]

well my daffodils are coming

out along with the crocuses

[March Blizzard]

Both severe wintery spells of 1947 and 1986 [both subzero feb months] were the result of very low maxima and not minima,both beating December 10 ,with 1947 by a conciderable margin in fact in this area feb '47 had the same daytime temp average as dec 10 cet

Generally speaking, yes. February 1947 did see some minima below -20C, though.

[Bottesford]

The surface temperature anomaly chart for December shows the UK had an average/just above average month.

 

compday.z6oJEyItY7.gif

 

Meanwhile over here it has definitely been very mild as that chart shows! Averages for Dec are: 3c max, -1c min and for Jan: 2c max, -3c min.

During Nov we had some average days (3-4c max, 0-1c min) but as we went into Dec days have been 5-10c and nights 0-5c. 

This week its been maxing around 9-11c (warmer tomorrow), last nights min was 8.4c although we had a 'cool' night of 2.4c the night before.

 

Given I was all prepped for -5 to -16c this winter its quite a contrast! Not used hardly any heating, the windows are open now (its sunny) and my big winter coat is only out at night. I'm sure something will change soon...

[Polar Maritime]

Looking at the signals you may need your Winter coat more often by the end of next week Botty, I hope you cope ok with the frigid cold they get over there ! You are in the best place for it.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Polar Maritime

[Bottesford]

This flat is very warm and I don't have to cycle in it if I don't want to, so I say - bring it on! Keen to feel some real continental style cold.. (oh and heat in summer too of course!).

[Polar Maritime]

Im glad you are in a warmer house that your last one, will be much better insulated to withstand the cold over there ! And no more life threatening cycle rides to work..

[spindrift1980]

One notable feature so far this winter is that the vast majority of precipitation falling at high levels in the Scottish mountains has been snow, and so the build up of lying snow on north/north-eastern sides of the mountains from the near-constant stormy weather has been pretty impressive.  During the very mildest winter spells, rain at all levels of the mountains can be expected, and (so far) it has been very different to the very mildest of winters such as (off the top of my head) 2002/3 or 2005/6.  Yesterday was pretty mild though with rain at most levels.  Looks like things should cool down a bit again towards the end of the week.

 

IMBY, it's been as rotten as anywhere else.  November was actually pretty chilly, with total number of air and ground frosts into double figures, but I think there was a patchy ground frost twice in December, and the only wintry precipitation has been a few bouts of sleet or wet snow which didn't lie (but gave a slight temporary covering on higher ground a few miles up the road).  A far cry from 2009/10 and the beginning of 2010/11.  Even 2011/12, which wasn't a classic, had some lying snow in December.

 

Overall, pretty poor fare at low levels then, but definitely not the very mildest, with maxes mostly around average but a notable lack of sub-zero temperatures.

Edited January 7, 2014 by spindrift1980

[The PIT]

Well I may get an air frost next week. Wow and temps may get back to more normal levels expected for the time of year. No sign of any snow yet though so the worst start to winters carries on. Pity I haven't access to my fathers records it would be interesting if this is the worst ever start to a winter here since we started recording in 1955

The main benefit of the mildness is not having the heating on much. If it wasn't so breezy it would probably have been off nearly everyday all day.

Edited January 7, 2014 by The PIT

[SnowObsessor90]

I'm pretty sure that I remember  the bulk of 11/12  feeling milder than this one has so far although I stand to be corrected.

[Bottesford]

Another warm day here, 11.2c which is 9c above average. Think things are going to change next week however!

[Snowyowl9]

Another warm day here, 11.2c which is 9c above average. Think things are going to change next week however!

So 2c is the average..more like 6c this time of year.

[March Blizzard]

So 2c is the average..more like 6c this time of year.

He's in Berlin!

[johnholmes]

He's in Berlin!

 

yes it is wise to read where folk live before making comments perhaps?

[Snowyowl9]

Apologies..

[Derp Patrol]

Not record mild, just consistent temperatures. Most days have been 7-11C which is pretty average for winter. The only notable thing is that there has been a very small range in the temperatures. It is not notable that there has not been snow yet, we don't even see snow every year

[Gaz1985]

Yes it certainly hasn't been a very mild Winter, temps have been consistent as above poster says with not much variations. Just average temperatures for the UK in Winter time (mainly mid to high single figure max's). Things can get even milder if we get a Bartlett but that's looking unlikely to happen. And no doubt about it, it has been a wet Winter so far too.

Notably some global forecasting models were predicting a wet Winter for the UK with hardly any snow - think one of them was the Chinese model.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Gaz1985

[Nights King]

Not record mild, just consistent temperatures. Most days have been 7-11C which is pretty average for winter. The only notable thing is that there has been a very small range in the temperatures. It is not notable that there has not been snow yet, we don't even see snow every year

 

Depends where you live I think although for myself to see no laying snow at near 300m by mid January is quite rare, even in the mild winters of the 90's I tended to see the occasional day by now. Lets just hope we see at least one cold wintry spell before winter is out.

[Summer Sun]

The most consistent thing so far excluding temperatures during the day is the lack of frosts overnight I've had 4 or 5 max in the first 5 weeks of winter

 

Hopefully we won't see a repeat of the persistent cold temperatures and heavy snow in March / early April like we did last year

Edited January 9, 2014 by Summer Sun

[godber]

 

The most consistent thing so far excluding temperatures during the day is the lack of frosts overnight I've had 4 or 5 max in the first 5 weeks of winter Hopefully we won't see a repeat of the persistent cold temperatures and heavy snow in March / early April like we did last year

 Hopefully we will see a repeat of last years cold and snow. As for winter, we're barely half way through, so plenty of time for frost and snow.