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Winter 2020/21 - Moans, Ramps & Chat


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Posted
  • Location: Shepton Mallet Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal
  • Location: Shepton Mallet Somerset
33 minutes ago, reef said:

Forgetting snow (or lack of) for the moment. This December has been absolutely grim so far. Nearly every single day has been overcast and damp with no sun at all. In fact the first 13 days have seen just 11.2 hours of sunshine here so far.

I do hope we get at least one decent cold spell this winter. It will be 8 years next month since we last had more than 1cm of lying snow, as Feb/Mar 2018 did not deliver here. It used to be the case that even the milder winters would give at least one northerly toppler which usually delivered for us, but these seem almost extinct aswell now.

UK has always been crap for  cold/snow in winter, I'm nearly 61 ,and can  count on the fingers of one hand winters that could be in any way be described as being severe. Living in the S.W  doesn't help either. 

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Posted
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Snow (Mostly)
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL

Bickering, back biting and trolling in the main mod thread (again). No wonder the mood plummets on there from time to time.  

Nothing wrong with ramping mild or cold etc... that’s what this thread is for! 

Edited by B-C
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Posted
  • Location: Solihull, WestMidlands, 121m asl -20 :-)
  • Weather Preferences: Cold and Snow -20 would be nice :)
  • Location: Solihull, WestMidlands, 121m asl -20 :-)
3 minutes ago, B-C said:

Bickering, back biting and trolling in the mod thread (again). No wonder the mood plummets on there from time to time.  

Nothing wrong with ramping mild or cold etc... that’s what this thread is for! 

I couldn’t agree more, when certain undermining words are used and directed to other members it’s not good to see, it just lowers the tone. I can’t understand if members feel upset regarding a post or posts (it’s called a report button) instead this is what we see as you said “bickering and back biting”

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.

It's all getting a wee bit childish, isn't? It's a bit like the inconvenient truth, that the vast majority of road-users think they're better drivers than everyone else... And, anyway, as yet, I'm yet to see anyone capable of reliably forecasting weather, past two or three (at a stretch!) weeks out.

And, IMO, the benchmark ought to be one's forecasting ability/reliability -- bombast, bluster, self-publicism -- or belittling all those who deign to disagree -- count for very little?:drunk-emoji:

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Posted
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Snow (Mostly)
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL
19 minutes ago, Dancerwithwings said:

I couldn’t agree more, when certain undermining words are used and directed to other members it’s not good to see, it just lowers the tone. I can’t understand if members feel upset regarding a post or posts (it’s called a report button) instead this is what we see as you said “bickering and back biting”

Yup! I guess we all have different levels of knowledge and interest.  You do not need to be an 'expert' to take an interest or comment on models or even be 100% accurate. Far from the point.  

The last thing any posters, new and experienced need is negative trolling or condescending comments.

For me over winter, I am looking for 'what ifs' and 'could be' rather than the 'it never will',  glass half full 

FWIW, I am really interested in the period post 22nd December, will it turn colder?  Is interesting to watch and will be great if stays consistent nearer the time!  :santa-emoji: 

Edited by B-C
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Posted
  • Location: Brynmawr
  • Location: Brynmawr
2 hours ago, 78/79 said:

He's absolutely right about one thing though , and that is about our dependence upon electricity for our heating ,No power= no heating .You have to have lived through it to remember that very few ordinary households back in the 60's/80s etc had central heating. All we had was one coal fire in the living room, the point being was that you could always light one to keep warm.  We didn't have a pot to p...s in when we were kids , but I don't remember sitting there cold even in the most severe winters . 

The councils switched over to gas fires during the 90's which removed peoples options on keeping warm, and immediately threw people into the clutches of the Gas companies irrespective of whether they could afford it or not.  In our previous house we had a wood burner, and a couple of years ago our boiler packed up, all I done was to get a couple of loads of logs in for about £250 and used the immersion heater for the hot water, that gave me a bit of time to save up a couple of thousand for a new boiler.  Will  be getting one put in to this place as well.  If we did  have a 47 or 63 repeat, together with power cuts and extremely low temperatures, there would be a lot of very cold people about. 

 

 

My main point was about the weather, as this is what the forum is for.  However, re our dependence on power, that hasn’t changed much since the 60’s.  I was born in 1961, so too young to remember the winter of 63.  I do remember all the other winter events, especially from the late 70’s, the most memorable being Feb 78 South west and South Wales, Jan 1982 south west and South Wales.  Living in Cardiff we experienced what was probably the blizzards of the century.  The thing is, through the 70’s there was little snow, and then blizzard after blizzard through the late 70’s and then through much of the 80’s.  Regarding power dependence, I lived through the miners strikes and experienced power cut after power cut, forcing schools and factories to close, so no different from today.

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Posted
  • Location: Solihull, WestMidlands, 121m asl -20 :-)
  • Weather Preferences: Cold and Snow -20 would be nice :)
  • Location: Solihull, WestMidlands, 121m asl -20 :-)
9 minutes ago, B-C said:

Yup! I guess we all have different levels of knowledge and interest.  You do not need to be an 'expert' to take an interest or comment on models or even be 100% accurate. Far from the point.  

The last thing any posters, new and experienced need is negative trolling or condescending comments.

For me over winter, I am looking for 'what ifs' and 'could be' rather than the 'it never will',  glass half full 

FWIW, I am really interested in the period post 22nd December, will it turn colder?  Is interesting to watch and will be great if stays consistent nearer the time!  :santa-emoji: 

Talking of nearer the time...Santa shaker will answer that, 30% at just 12days to go.....☃️ Bring it on

 

image.jpeg

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Posted
  • Location: Islington, C. London.
  • Weather Preferences: Cold winters and cool summers.
  • Location: Islington, C. London.

as someone who mostly lurks (though been posting a little bit more as of recent) i find the model output thread surprisingly unpleasant to read at times. who would have thought people would get so worked up over weather? we all have our preferences, if i had it my way the temperature would dip below 4C in November and stay there ‘til March, but people take things so personally. that’s my two cents (or 2ps ) 

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
5 minutes ago, Valleyboy said:

My main point was about the weather, as this is what the forum is for.  However, re our dependence on power, that hasn’t changed much since the 60’s.  I was born in 1961, so too young to remember the winter of 63.  I do remember all the other winter events, especially from the late 70’s, the most memorable being Feb 78 South west and South Wales, Jan 1982 south west and South Wales.  Living in Cardiff we experienced what was probably the blizzards of the century.  The thing is, through the 70’s there was little snow, and then blizzard after blizzard through the late 70’s and then through much of the 80’s.  Regarding power dependence, I lived through the miners strikes and experienced power cut after power cut, forcing schools and factories to close, so no different from today.

I recall walking to school (no gas-guzzling 4x4s back then!) through horrible, evil-smelling freezing fog... that would've been late '62-March '63. So, thank goodness we have cleaner energy these days? And lying snow, of all shades bar white, wasn't always that exciting... It was bloody cold, though!

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Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
13 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

as someone who mostly lurks (though been posting a little bit more as of recent) i find the model output thread surprisingly unpleasant to read at times. who would have thought people would get so worked up over weather? we all have our preferences, if i had it my way the temperature would dip below 4C in November and stay there ‘til March, but people take things so personally. that’s my two cents (or 2ps ) 

We’ve always had people get worked up, although it does seem to be worse than it used to be. There is a lack of realism from some people who sometimes forget what the climatological norm is in the UK. Snowfall in lowland Britain is a relatively rare event, especially in early December. Getting a prolonged freeze is even more rare.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

Today’s weather just epitomises what I hate about mild winters! 

 

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London

1983 was very mild, and this was during the period of snowier winters.

 

2 hours ago, 78/79 said:

He's absolutely right about one thing though , and that is about our dependence upon electricity for our heating ,No power= no heating .You have to have lived through it to remember that very few ordinary households back in the 60's/80s etc had central heating. All we had was one coal fire in the living room, the point being was that you could always light one to keep warm.  We didn't have a pot to p...s in when we were kids , but I don't remember sitting there cold even in the most severe winters . 

The councils switched over to gas fires during the 90's which removed peoples options on keeping warm, and immediately threw people into the clutches of the Gas companies irrespective of whether they could afford it or not.  In our previous house we had a wood burner, and a couple of years ago our boiler packed up, all I done was to get a couple of loads of logs in for about £250 and used the immersion heater for the hot water, that gave me a bit of time to save up a couple of thousand for a new boiler.  Will  be getting one put in to this place as well.  If we did  have a 47 or 63 repeat, together with power cuts and extremely low temperatures, there would be a lot of very cold people about. 

 

 

I did mention this before, and said if a 1963 or 47 happened again, it would be catastrophic. For something like this to happen on top of covid would be a nightmare for everyone. 
 

I would take a few days of snow, but not several weeks of it. No thanks!

And back in the 90s, the flat we lived in was still cold. Our radiators and boiler were old fashioned and needed updating. We had to leave the boiler on to have access to hot water. Up until 2001, my grandmother’s flat was very cold, even during a mild winter. 

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London

We also didn’t have double glazed windows in the 80s or 90s, which meant the flat would be very cold as soon as the heating went off. Condensation, water bottles in bed and sitting in front of an electric fire, between late September until early April. No fun!

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
4 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Today’s weather just epitomises what I hate about mild winters! 

 

But, I would argue, even in a mild winter you can still feel cold. Today it doesn’t feel warm at all or mild. The damp conditions make it feel quite chilly. 

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Posted
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Snow (Mostly)
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL

12z rolling out, and the question I have is will it rain into next week...any guesses on the answer? 

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Posted
  • Location: Basingstoke
  • Weather Preferences: In summer, a decent thunderstorm, and hot weather. In winter, snow or gale
  • Location: Basingstoke
1 hour ago, MP-R said:

Today’s weather just epitomises what I hate about mild winters! 

 

Yes, if its going to be mild and Atlantic driven, at least make it stormy, rather than relentless light rain/drizzle and just breezy.  A mild winter is actually ok if it contains interesting weather.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
1 hour ago, Sunny76 said:

But, I would argue, even in a mild winter you can still feel cold. Today it doesn’t feel warm at all or mild. The damp conditions make it feel quite chilly. 

Yes my comment wasn’t aimed at you in any way, more an observation of how boring, dark and dull today is.

7 minutes ago, SummerShower said:

Yes, if its going to be mild and Atlantic driven, at least make it stormy, rather than relentless light rain/drizzle and just breezy.  A mild winter is actually ok if it contains interesting weather.

The problem is then that the interesting weather comes when the wind direction is north of west, by which time it’s no longer mild... Mild in winter is just arduous unless unusually so and with sunshine imo.

Give me some raging cold zonality any day a la January 2015 or mid January 2018, followed by a snowy slider. Today feels more like late October.

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Posted
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Snow (Mostly)
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL

Around the 24th, interesting. In FI for now, but I’m watching, oh yes, watching image.thumb.png.38ff88069bc2cd09bc6ccc6def4a4d92.png

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Posted
  • Location: wigan
  • Location: wigan

well  I wouldnt say Im Blinkered.....i appreciate your words valleyboy, but to say the seventies didnt have much snow i must disagree. But then that depends on your location. i worked both in a factory and a railway station during the whole of the seventies.  Each year Sussex coast got pummeled with very heavy snow showers blowing in off the Channel. Most of the newspaper london trains never got to the coast, as they were stuck by snow somewhere between Victoria Station and Lewes, which like now suffers flooding, but in my days that was banked up snow. and third rail trains stuck many times, as their contact shoe became separated from the live third rail. We had white Christmas in seventies, probably one only but other winters we battled blizzards, high winds and chills that made water freeze within 25 minutes. It snowed regular in Amsterdam, bringing the city to a stand still, Schiphol was more or less out of action during those times.. I never saw snow after about 1983.  In Wales where i moved to Pembokeshire, i never saw a flake in the 6 years i lived there but not that unsual as we were on the edge of the Gulf Stream, which was why the area has such a marvelous wildlife gold coast. i seem some extraordinary sites from Skomer island seeing the masses of sand eels looking over the boat side, the seals, gannets, Puffins Shearwaters and much more. I became a pembokeshire Coast national Park warden, and a wildlife artist the best times  of my life

I also saw the first pointers of global warming, (that scientists  warned about in 1989)   This was my trip of a lifetime and dream to drive From Wales, fly by Hoverspeed from Dover to Calais and drive 2,500 miles and back through European countries (pre Euro) to stay in Vienna for three weeks to visit The Living daylights locations. I also hired expensive ski equipment, along with cold weather thermal gear, plus a £200 two week course on learning to ski in  Pembokeshire on dry slopes. 

 

However on my late mothers birthday I arrived 3/4 way on my journey, and stopped at the snow capitol of Europe Salzburg. I know this to be true, because I inherited a few hundred postcards of sent to a doctor in Westminster, to a learned friend in Salzburg.  These cards had hundreds of scenes showing Salzburg under feet of snow, with post marks from the 60's right up to 1984.

However when I arrived I was very disappointed, that instead  towering Alp mountains looking spectacular, I got out of my car into 60%F on December the 19th 1988, with just a T shirt on. All I saw was rock for miles around me. I couldn't believe there was bright sun, a spring like day near Christmas, which is wasnt What i had paid out so much money to see. But i was still another 250 miles roughly from Vienna, so I really thought i would definitely see snow in Vienna very near to Eastern Europe.  I arrived at 10pm at night in  thick fog you couldnt hardly drive in.

I booked in placed car in underground hotel car park. and slept next morning until breakfast was served to my room at 8.15 am. I looked outside and saw nothing but dark roads and thick fog.  through out the rest of my two weeks there, I saw not ONE flake of snow. Even out of Vienna at a resorts in the hills above, the one I was going to was in Semmering.  but That was closed, all ski lifts closed,  the engineering feats of snow barrier's around road tunnels was totally bare of any white stuff. I still cant believe all my snow chains, ski equipment, were never taken out of the boot and used.  It was like a hammer blow, and I knew something was wrong with our world at that point, and when i actively started getting involved in Global warming, (early days of course that no one took any notice of)... The term beast from the east has been used by newspaper media since 2010. It is incorrect fake news. We had bitterly cold east winds every other year in Sussex during the seventies. We didn't call it a beast, it was just cold winds that clashed with the few low pressures from the atlantic that actually made it to Eastern Britain. The 63 winter was cause by a combination of Freezing easterlies with a blocking scandinavia High, the low pressure tried to cross southern England, but were stopped by the blocking high with nowhere to go, they sat stationary, and just snowed and snowed for days , it relented, but came back with a vengeance hardly 7 days later, and that was it.  The stationary pattern held for weeks, the temperatures continued to decrease even lower, more South West fronts tried to break in, but all they did was add more feet of snow to already huge snowdrifts.

No one knew what caused the lack of winter in 1989 In Austria and Switzerland, but many locals told me , they never seen anything like it, that the whole of the alps from France to Italy were completely devoid of snow. 2010 seems to be a talking point, but having moved to Blackpool then, i have to say, we just got a couple of inches only, and some ice, it had all gone in 7 days. 2011 saw a snowstorm off the irish sea Canadian air flow . that had laying snow of 3 inches in Blackpool gone the next day. So the only real snow I had ever seen, was in the seventies. by  93 when we moved to Blackpool, I found the climate very different from the normal drier South East.

 

 

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Hi, after many years of lurking in the shadows, finally taken the plunge and come into the light, now registered but unfortunately can’t contribute much as after many years still trying to get my head round what many on this site seem to be far more knowledgeable about however, always a fantastic read and I follow daily the chase for winter ‘nirvana’ as many call it and summer ‘oven’ at the right time, keep up the amazing work everyone does and who knows I may even throw my hat in the ring occasionally but may not get it right!! 

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Posted
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

88/89 was an infamously mild winter, dominated by the Euro/Bartlett High. The lack of snow in the Alps would have been more due to lack of precipitation than anything else.

I've seen a few winters here - not far from Vienna - and it's been hit and miss. January 2017 was very cold, the coldest since at least 1987 and perhaps longer but February was mild.

2017/18 started and ended cold (especially late Feb/March) but the middle was mild.

2018/19 wasn't particularly cold but had a lot of snow.

2019/20 was a horror show - mild December, average but almost snowless January (thanks to our old friend the Euro High setting up shop again) and a spring-like February.

This winter is still young and hasn't been that mild so far but it's still disappointing. Just cold and grey with temperatures day and night in the 1-5C range at the moment. Unlike most of Britain it doesn't (or at least shouldn't) take much to deliver the goods here but I'm stuck in a frustrating limbo - close but no cigar.

By the way, I hate the way "beast from the east" has been trademarked to refer specifically to the events of late Feb/early March 2018. Before then it had always been used to describe any significant easterly in winter. Now it can't be used generically because of the confusion that would inevitably ensue. 

 

Edited by AderynCoch
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Posted
  • Location: Shepton Mallet Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal
  • Location: Shepton Mallet Somerset
4 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

1983 was very mild, and this was during the period of snowier winters.

 

I did mention this before, and said if a 1963 or 47 happened again, it would be catastrophic. For something like this to happen on top of covid would be a nightmare for everyone. 
 

I would take a few days of snow, but not several weeks of it. No thanks!

And back in the 90s, the flat we lived in was still cold. Our radiators and boiler were old fashioned and needed updating. We had to leave the boiler on to have access to hot water. Up until 2001, my grandmother’s flat was very cold, even during a mild winter. 

Tend to agree ,it's one thing clowning around in it for a few hours , but completely  different when you're obliged to spend eight hours plus in it to earn a living. There were times back in the 80's when I was so bl..dy cold that I didn't know what to do with myself.

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Posted
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Snow (Mostly)
  • Location: Hinckley, Leicestershire 123m ASL

And the mood is back up on the mod forum! (Yay!) it’s buzzing and exactly the reasons the majority of us come here. Looking more and more that something colder is on the cards for Christmas. 

Could be a really good watching period coming up. :santa-emoji: Keep believing! :santa-emoji:

Edited by B-C
Typo/fat fingers/trying to eat at same time
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Posted
  • Location: frogmore south devon
  • Location: frogmore south devon
2 minutes ago, Broadmayne blizzard said:

GFS ensemble no 18 is essentially a repeat of the Great Christmas Blizzard of 1927. Check it out

IMG_1634.JPG

The country would grind to a halt if that happened 

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