AderynCoch

Shawbury reached - 25.2C on 13th December 1981. That was a new English record but it stood for less than a month until nearby Newport recorded - 26.1C on 10th January 1982 (still the English record).

Nice photos. I tried to take some of my own earlier but Saturn wouldn't show up. I don't remember seeing two planets this close before. Mars is still bright as well though noticeably less so than a couple of months back during opposition.

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.

It's not even 15th December yet never mind 15th January. How is the first half of winter "wrapped up"?

Another amazing thing - November that year was the third-warmest on record and December was still warmer than it. In fact, there has only been one warmer November than December 2015 in the entire CET record. It was also warmer than any March. It's like recording a November as cold as December 2010 (beaten only by one other December).

It really was the anti-December 2010, so bad that I could no longer say I'd been spoilt by that legendary winter month - because 2015 more than cancelled it out. An overnight frost sometime around the 12-13th is the only thing stopping December 2015 from scoring 0/10.

A shame it's not going to last.

Just started sleeting here. I'm not sure if it will amount to something more substantial overnight. Thursday is looking good for snow here. Unfortunately the models want to make me pay for it by introducing mildness in the following days. I really hope that gets watered down - I'm just getting into the Christmas mood.

That source was probably referring to December 1981.

It's been a decent November here. Not a classic but much better than last year's bland mildfest. A general cooling trend since the start of the month this time round, interrupted by just a mild blip mid-month. The weather now is very lugubrious - cold and grey with foggy mornings and murky afternoons not much above zero. No snow yet but that may be about to change in the coming days if the forecast is accurate. It's also been a dry month (about an inch of rain so far), which has been most welcome because October was far too wet.

I remember that one too, living in Sheffield at the time. I wasn't far from the sweet spot of that event according to the BBC (18cm in Hathersage). I recall the morning being quite mild and taking my jumper off when walking about. It was a good job I brought it with me though, as I noticed the rain turning to snow that evening while in the city centre. Got back home to the western suburbs (on the edge of the Peak District) to about six inches of the white stuff. Me and my housemates went sledging on the nearby hill and rolled up the mother of all snow boulders. Fun times.

I was in the northwest during December 2009 and I disagree completely! It was very wintry from about the 17th onwards with numerous snowfalls and icy pavements which lasted into January. And that was on tropical Merseyside.

So basically long-term signals for winter work as follows: mild signal = mild winter cold signal = magically overrided = mild winter

Puerto Cabezas is in big trouble. It would only take a slight realignment to the north for the worst of Iota to hit the town (EDIT - if the above image is accurate, it's already on course to do so). They've already taken damage from Eta as well. It's unusual to see such powerful hurricanes not only in November but also this far south. Joan (1988) made landfall along the southern Nicaraguan coast at Cat. 4 strength. Bluefields took a direct hit and was almost completely destroyed.

155mph, 925mb. Almost Cat. 5 now.

Growing up on Merseyside almost every snowfall felt unexpected! 16th December 2011 was completely out of the blue though. There wasn't much and it didn't stick around long but it made for a nice early Christmas present.

What a sickener for the region so soon after Eta. It looks at least like it will move through quicker but that's not saying much, and in absolute terms it's still not moving very fast.

That was a real heartbreaker. I remember seeing the forecast for places like Warsaw and Berlin and how quickly the temperature bombed as the frigid air marched westward - only for it to sink south (it was probably pretty epic in Slovakia but I wasn't here then). January 2017 was probably even worse - lying snow in Benidorm while most of the UK and Ireland was in double digits. At least I got to spend the second half of the month here, where it was real brass monkeys.

What a weird track this thing has got. Usually these late-season storms accelerate away to the northeast. Steering currents must be almost non-existent.

Those December 2010 photos are from the 6th I assume. That was probably the best rime event I've ever seen, and it compensated for most of the earlier snow having melted. Late December 2006 was a good run of cold, foggy days. Ironic that it occurred during such a mild winter (the jet stream was so far north that the Euro High moved right over us). I was in Liverpool for both of those events. Having some foggy mornings right now in Slovakia. They tend to be pretty common here in autumn.

First air frost of the season here. Low of - 1.5C.

Making landfall now at 140mph. Unfortunately it looks like Puerto Cabezas is going to take a direct hit north of the eye (the strongest part of the storm given it's currently moving west, though the small wind field might spare them the absolute strongest winds in the eyewall). It's also worth mentioning that Eta's circulation will be picking up moisture from the Pacific as well as the Atlantic at this point. I just hope the horrible experience of Mitch has at least prepared Honduras and Nicaragua better for situations like this (if at all possible).

Down to 923mb now. No EWRC either.

Already Cat. 3. Eta is still a small hurricane however. The big worry is that it expands in size and drops dangerous amounts of rainfall over an even larger area. I can't imagine an EWRC is far away.

Even June 75 probably had more snow than Dec 15 in some places. (I've already got my coat...)