One of the mildest Winters for some years?

[DELETED]

The "people shouldn't wish for x type of weather" argument really grates on me. The weather will do as it pleases. If we all stopped wishing for our favourite types of weather because someone else is inconvenienced by it, we'd all have to be thoroughly miserable through every type of weather.

 

There is nothing wrong with hoping for a certain kind of weather.

Agreed. i hope thats the end of the discussion. haha

[shedhead]

The "people shouldn't wish for x type of weather" argument really grates on me. The weather will do as it pleases. If we all stopped wishing for our favourite types of weather because someone else is inconvenienced by it, we'd all have to be thoroughly miserable through every type of weather.

 

There is nothing wrong with hoping for a certain kind of weather.

Absolutely right, I and I bet everyone else in this forum has wished/hoped for a certain type of weather at some stage, as will most of the population have. We all know we can't control it, but there would be something a bit odd if for instance you set off for a weeks summer holiday in Newquay with your kids and didn't hope it would be dry...if for no other reason than rain = £££!

 

Wish for what you like, but don't think wishing hard enough will make something happen...we see that daily in the MDT and it ain't happened yet...

[cheese]

The "people shouldn't wish for x type of weather" argument really grates on me. The weather will do as it pleases. If we all stopped wishing for our favourite types of weather because someone else is inconvenienced by it, we'd all have to be thoroughly miserable through every type of weather.

 

There is nothing wrong with hoping for a certain kind of weather.

My point exactly, Nick.

[Steve C]

Anyone actually enjoy drizzle? Unless you're running a marathon

I think I can remember one of the moderators saying he liked drizzle. Horses for courses.

[Thundery wintry showers]

In the case of the climate of Cheeky_Monkey's part of the world, I don't think we could comprehend how different it is to our winter cold spells unless we actually spent a while living there (or in an equivalent climate).  It's not like getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a repeat of 1962/63- rather, most winters are considerably colder even than that.  Any comments on how well I would fare in that sort of climate would be highly speculative.

 

Incidentally when I go on holiday to France in the summer, I usually come back disappointed if it was dry all week because I fancied seeing some of those continental-style thunderstorms- though admittedly less so than if it is grey and damp all week (which is rare, but far from unknown- July 2000 for instance had just 48% of the normal sunshine at Berlin, while Paris had 270% of the normal rainfall).

 

I still hold a view that around the 20th-25th January may be the greatest window of opportunity for a snowy spell, as there is a consistent signal for a mid-Atlantic high moving eastwards, though of course nothing is certain at that sort of range.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Thundery wintry showers

[Summer Sun]

Well I had to scrape the windscreen this morning, the 1st January morning that felt more like November  Winter!  Lifted my mood somewhat until I looked at the strat and model thread!  Anyway, I said at the beginning of Winter that if it turned out to be a stinker then so be it and I stand by that.  However, does anyone else fear that our nice 5 year period of 'cooler' weather may now be over?!

 

Exactly 7 weeks of winter left yet so still time for something to arrive although the next 4 weeks looks pretty poor for coldies if the met offices outlooks are anything to go by that would then leave just 3 weeks of meteorological winter left

Edited January 10, 2014 by Summer Sun

[CongletonHeat]

Could do with it getting a bit warmer really.

[Steve C]

Still just over 6 weeks of winter left yet so still time for something to arrive although the next 4 weeks looks pretty poor for coldies if the met offices outlooks are anything to go by that would then leave just 3 weeks of meteorological winter left

must be 7 weeks, by the shortest measure. 3 weeks January and 4 in Feb.

[shedhead]

I spent a fair amount of time in Arctic Norway and I can tell you the experience of seeing an active Winter cold front go through is on another level to here.

 

On many occasions I witnessed a 10c drop of temps inside 30 mins, but the most noticeable ones were close 15c, which meant you could literally watch ice

forming on the puddles in the snow.  On one or two occasions I saw all rain turn to all snow in a matter of seconds, a process that can take several hours to

complete here at times....now that's proper weather which incidently most often occurred in their mildest winters.

Edited January 10, 2014 by shedhead

[cheese]

Exactly 7 weeks of winter left yet so still time for something to arrive although the next 4 weeks looks pretty poor for coldies if the met offices outlooks are anything to go by that would then leave just 3 weeks of meteorological winter left

But plenty of time for cold, snowy weather in March and April, eh?

[Steve C]

But plenty of time for cold, snowy weather in March and April, eh?

 

Okay, there was the notable snowstorm in the north last March (and historically March has provided historical snowstorms / blizzards) but I'd much rather that sort of weather happened earlier. I'd prefer a week or two of powdery snow with mostly sub-zero temperatures and little daytime thaw. I think from the last week in February, the chances quickly recede for this (admittedly already low here) possibility.

 

February 2012 gave a decent week of snowcover where I live, although I appreciate 2011/12 was poor for most for snow. 

Edited January 10, 2014 by Steve C

[cheese]

Okay, there was the notable snowstorm in the north last March (and historically March has provided historical snowstorms / blizzards) but I'd much rather that sort of weather happened earlier. I'd prefer a week or two of powdery snow with mostly sub-zero temperatures and little daytime thaw. I think from the last week in February, the chances quickly recede for this (admittedly already low here) possibility.

 

February 2012 gave a decent week of snowcover where I live, although I appreciate 2011/12 was poor for most for snow. 

I'd rather it happened earlier too, but beggars cannot be choosers.

[Summer of 95]

Last night was another example of something that has plagued this winter time after time: the clear night that didn't freeze. Despite never having more than patchy cloud from dusk till dawn the minimum was a ridiculous 3C. That must be at least the 15th example since November. Why is the temp not dropping at night? This winter has actually been quite good for clear nights, yet it's been the least frosty for a long time.

 

There seems to have been a total lack of inversion conditions this winter, as witnessed by the lack of cold nights at the frost-prone Shawbury (only one night below -3 there, same as here; often it's sub -5 there and only -2 or 3 a couple of miles away)- and there has only been one day, ONE, where the temp here at dawn has been below freezing, Boxing Day. The other 5 air frosts have all been recorded in the evening or around midnight before the temp inexplicably rose after 2am, usually with no cloud. November's lowest min, -1.5, was at 8pm on the 25th.

[cheese]

^^ too much of a breeze?

[Nigerian Prince]

Well there was a frost last night in central London, on the cars at least, I can imagine in the country if there are no ground frosts, it is either the wind speed is to high, or there has been cloud cover, this has not quite yet been the mildest winter so fa,r but strangely enough, in some parts of western Uk, they have had south westerly wind since the begging of October, that is rear, normally there is a break, only in 1982, I can think of that stated with west winds on September 18 that lasted to about the 18th  of January 1983, before a change to easterly winds at the end of January, so using that as a basis, the current westerly pattern is unlikely to continue till e the end of January into February.  Location Battesea, London gender Male.

[Summer of 95]

^^ too much of a breeze?

Strangely enough no- not at ground level at least. The really windy nights have been cloudy, the clear ones have had a light breeze at most. Last night though I noticed the few clouds that passed by were moving really quickly- could wind 2-3 miles or more up really be preventing the temp dropping at ground level? 

[The PIT]

We managed a ground frost but by quarter to seven it had gone. Frost is normally prevented by either cloud or wind and of course the air not being cold enough which has been the case this winter. 

There was dreadful winter in seventies Weather history may know it was it 1974???

Edited January 10, 2014 by reef

[hillbilly]

Mid January is the latest snow has fallen here,unless there is a big change this coming week it looks set to break my lifetimes record,unless the covering of hail a couple of weeks ago that lasted till the following morning counts.

I see a few members are arguing because some want snow and others do not,i guess the reason that we struggle to cope is because heavy snow here tends to come and go unlike colder climates when it lasts the whole winter,that is a huge difference and cannot be compared!

[Thundery wintry showers]

We managed a ground frost but by quarter to seven it had gone. Frost is normally prevented by either cloud or wind and of course the air not being cold enough which has been the case this winter. 

There was dreadful winter in seventies Weather history may know it was it 1974???

Well it it does you can come up here and work out how to cut a soggy lawn. Yes the grass is growing now. So is the Privet hedge

The winters of 1970/71 through to 1975/76 were all milder than average with below-average snow amounts (some more so than others) but you are probably thinking of 1974/75 which was exceptionally mild, with a westerly-dominated December, a westerly-dominated January and an anticyclonic February.  That winter was preceded by an unusually cold October and followed by an unusually cold spring.

 

I spent a fair amount of time in Arctic Norway and I can tell you the experience of seeing an active Winter cold front go through is on another level to here.

 

On many occasions I witnessed a 10c drop of temps inside 30 mins, but the most noticeable ones were close 15c, which meant you could literally watch ice

forming on the puddles in the snow.  On one or two occasions I saw all rain turn to all snow in a matter of seconds, a process that can take several hours to

complete here at times....now that's proper weather which incidently most often occurred in their mildest winters.

I can believe that- it appears to be fairly common for a cold front to bring a quick change from around -5C 850hPa to near -15C, especially in some of the mobile westerly type winters when an arctic north-westerly follows behind a depression.  Perhaps we get too much airmass modification over the Atlantic in this country to enable us to have as many of those dramatic frontal passages.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Thundery wintry showers
Deleted next post rather than writing a double post

[CongletonHeat]

Well it it does you can come up here and work out how to cut a soggy lawn. Yes the grass is growing now. So is the Privet hedge

OK as long as you scrape my car windscreen every time there is a frost and arrange me a helicopter flight to work when the roads are blocked with snow.

[cheese]

OK as long as you scrape my car windscreen every time there is a frost and arrange me a helicopter flight to work when the roads are blocked with snow.

Which is almost never, so count your lucky stars you were born in the UK and not Norway. Mildies don't realise how lucky they have it - they complain whenever a tiny little bit of snow falls, but they completely forget that 90% of the time, it's mild (even though it's probably pouring with rain). The UK is a mild (and boring) weather paradise.

Edited January 10, 2014 by cheese

[The PIT]

OK as long as you scrape my car windscreen every time there is a frost and arrange me a helicopter flight to work when the roads are blocked with snow.

Well buy a windscreen cover if a little bit of frost bothers you. As for helicopter when the roads are blocked I think I'm safe on that one. 

[The PIT]

The winters of 1970/71 through to 1975/76 were all milder than average with below-average snow amounts (some more so than others) but you are probably thinking of 1974/75 which was exceptionally mild, with a westerly-dominated December, a westerly-dominated January and an anticyclonic February.  That winter was preceded by an unusually cold October and followed by an unusually cold spring.

 

At the present time we're on to beat 194/75 if it stays the same. I've noticed next weeks temps are gradually creeping up in value.

[CongletonHeat]

Well buy a windscreen cover if a little bit of frost bothers you. As for helicopter when the roads are blocked I think I'm safe on that one. 

And you can put up with a bit of long grass on your lawn I'm sure or tarmac over it if it bothers you that much. I hope you're right about the blocked roads as I don't get paid if I can't get to work and as I live at nearly 1000 ft in a little village and roads here are obviously not a priority for clearing.

Edited January 10, 2014 by CongletonHeat

[Bristawl Si]

It hasnt felt exceptionally mild here but i guess temps of 8/9/10c is mild for January. Havent seen a single snowflake this winter.

i've noticed how my heating's been clicking off after an hour in the morning and mid evening, so that's a plus.

This winter is certainly reminding me of my childhood and teens - early/mid 70s here were wet and mild with v little snow year after year. Same goes for mid/late 90s into the noughties.

Mind you 2011/12 was virtually snowless as well.

Depressing stuff - if February cant deliver cold and snow for at least one week then roll on an early warm Spring - not a lover of late cold in March or April.