AderynCoch

August 2009 was a horrible, disappointing month here - constantly grey and rainy with lacklustre temperatures, despite real summer conditions showing up quite regularly to the southeast. The Bank Holiday weekend was absolutely dreadful - cold and wet.

Someone told me they saw snow coming down this morning. Didn't see it myself.

We haven't had a CET day below -6C since 13th January 1987. 7th January 2010 came in at -4.6C.

15th-21st January 1881 = -6.44C That's the coldest week I can find, followed by 6th-12th February 1895 (-6.29C). 26th January - 1st February 1776 came in at -6.24C. Anyway, I think we can safely say February won't finish below -8.1C.

Don't know about Japan, but the Chinese government has certainly been doing it in Beijing: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7899086.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8337337.stm

Haha, I'm trying to imagine what it would be like if such a scenario were to actually entail. Even in 1684 and 1740 I highly doubt the CET zone managed even a week averaging -8.1C.

Winter and summer are my favourite seasons due to the extremes, but spring at least beats autumn because it can easily bring an early taste of summer or a late blast of winter: whilst autumn is essentially a gradual slide from summer to winter, spring more often goes up and down like a yo-yo. For me, spring conjures up images of bright sunny skies interlaid with very heavy showers, often of hail; conspicuous rainbows inevitably follow. The odd frost can still crop up, and snow might even make a fleeting appearance. Nevertheless, things warm up and one can soon go outside wearing a T-shirt most days: it may even reach 20C before May. My perfect spring would consist of a cold and wintry March, an April with a cold first half & warm second half and a warm and summery May. The better the winter, the more I can savour spring: this year, spring should feel like more of an interesting change than an interim period where I'm left waiting for summer to show itself.

The Met Office are taking their time with the final January CET figures. I wonder what's taking them so long, as they managed to get a number of individual days done straight away. They also released December's revised data right after the month ended.

Missed it! Looked outside and it was raining, but with quite a bit of snow on the cars and grass. Must have come down pretty quickly. For a "not-that-cold" spell of weather, the snow gods have been generous. <_<

Uncanny! Has anything like this ever happened before?

Fair enough, 78/79 was notably colder. I'd definitely compare it more to 84/85 than the likes of 62/63 though. I've made a vague attempt at pigeonholing cold winters into categories, but obviously such a system would have to be much more complex to be reliable. I don't know for instance how 81/82 would fit in, as the first half of winter was certainly historic but second half essentially nondescript: the cold this winter has been less severe but more prolonged.

Fixed it for you. One can't deny that it's been very cold and snowy overall, but to me the phrase "historic winter" makes me think of such luminaries as 1740, 1895, 1947 and 1963. So far this winter can be boxed in on a lower tier with the likes of 1978/79 and 1984/85, so not really historic as far as I'm concerned but certainly commanding a reasonable degree of respect! Obviously in the context of more recent lacklustre mild winters it's been a wonderful experience, but that doesn't equal "historic" for me. Is this really just an argument of semantics?

Another morning of light snow/graupel cover. This northerly has been better than I anticipated.

The first ten days are looking even colder - the 7th has been downgraded to -4.6C (from -3.9C). Some days have been increased (the 5.3C maximum is now up to 5.5C), but a slight reduction looks on the cards.

I don't think I can call this winter "historic" unless February puts us back in the freezer, a scenario which even if it occurs at all is being increasingly delayed. This winter will however hold a unique place in my psyche, having restored my faith in the weather's ability to throw up old-school cold spells. If the near-future conjures up more cold (or even severe) winters, I will look back on 09/10 as the start of something special. If the near-future returns us to humdrum mild winters then I will look back on 09/10 as a true anomaly, a rare gift of significant cold in an era of near-autumnal winters. Either way, it will stand out. Additionally I suppose Scotland could call 09/10 a historic winter, having read that December & January were the coldest combination there since records began in 1914!

Despite the average August, Summer 2006 was still the fifth warmest on record. Furthermore, the extended summer (May-September) was the warmest on record. This winter won't even make the Top 50 unless the cold returns in February.

Looks like my 2.0C is a goner unless cold makes a significant return now. I'm sticking with it however. You never know... :lol:

Excellent, it worked! :lol: There's a slight dusting here now. Very pretty.

Looks like the gods are simply going to toss a coin on this one. Even if the ECM takes sides, will that tell us anything? If we can get such divergence at 96h, then expect more twists and turns yet.

I take it then that the worst that can happen with the UKMO (from a cold-lover's perspective I should hasten to add) is that it remains an outlier?

No snow for today it seems. The Irish Sea is completely dead right now. As much as I enjoyed yesterday's flurries, I'm a tad disappointed none fell overnight. Some stickage would have been very nice.

Agreed. The trend exists and has done for some days now. How long do we have to wait before an easterly of some sort becomes nailed on? Obviously the magic runs the GFS keeps pumping out should be taken with a massive pinch of salt, but the fact such scenarios are even being hinted at should be telling us something is brewing.

The cold and snow I've had so far has been excellent, but what's really impressed me about this winter is the distinct lack of mildness since the cold started in the run-up to Christmas. Though the cold spell we had from mid-December to mid-January was certainly wintry enough to be called "old school", it was nothing special compared to other such spells the country has experienced in previous winters, many of which have been completely forgotten. It certainly didn't beat the severe cold spells of December 1981 & January 1982 - but the lack of very mild weather when it hasn't been that cold has helped keep the CET figures down, the period from mid-December to mid-January being comparable with that of 81/82 (which had a significant mild interlude around New Year). In recent winters we've struggled to achieve cold months and cold winters overall, as any cold which has taken place has been cancelled out completely by mildness - January 2009 saw the coldest period of weather for some time, managing even to make the first ten days of the month average below 0C, but even then the monthly CET was "ruined" by just two or three days of mild temperatures. This time round, we've had mildness but it has been fleeting, and even the mildness itself has not been particularly mild (just a bit above average). It's quite telling that much of the country hasn't seen 10C since early December. Even in this mild corner of the kingdom, Crosby hasn't hit 10C since 10th December and balmy Liverpool Airport has reached the figure just once. The general coldness with brief milder incursions is in contrast with the general mildness with brief colder incursions we've become used to when it comes to winter in this country - a classical cold winter setup. As kold weather has pointed out, we won't need these doomsday charts to entail for February to end up on the cold side and the winter quarter to log an impressive CET (though they would certainly help!) - we just need the truly mild air to stay away.

...and another! :unsure:

Had an very heavy shower around 1pm, accompanied by strong winds: the cemetery close-by had near-whiteout conditions for a time! The snow was heavy enough to give a light covering, but once it passed the sun destroyed it very quickly. Some shaded areas still have a dusting. These snow showers are really packing some oomph!