Arctic Hare

I do moan about our weather sometimes, but when I really think about it I actually prefer it to most places, including continental Europe, precisely because extremes are so rare. I enjoyed last December, but it would be less special if it happened every winter; a friend of mine used to live in Northern Alberta and to him -40 °C was something you'd expect at some point every year. Equally July 2006 was something really memorable (IMO more so than August 2003 away from the SE), but it would be decidedly uncomfortable if we always had Julys like that. Here in Worcs, last year we had a fantastic June, average July and terrible August -- so I suppose you could say it was an average summer overall. This year, so far at least, it's been average all the way: we have had our share of really nice days (Thursday was lovely, for example) and even on the showery days there have often been pretty decent sunny breaks. Maxes have been rather low, but when the sun comes out it's strong enough to feel pretty warm. The only absolute dead loss of a day so far has been 12 June: just 10 °C at 1pm and 15 hours of rain. Assuming July continues in the unsettled vein the models seem to indicate, it'll hinge on what happens in August. A month like the one we had last year would certainly push this summer into the "poor" category. Another one like this month so far would see it slap bang in the middle of "average". A 1990s-style August (and I don't mean 1992!) would quickly change a lot of minds: many people have short memories, especially if the school holiday season ends up being nice. It could even make the summer as a whole above average in my book.

I tend to get headaches on potentially thundery days; it's actually one of the reasons that I'm not a fan of thundery weather. Probably as a result of the headaches, I also seem to feel tense and short-tempered on such days. No other weather, even stuff I hate such as 2007-style downpours, brings on such unpleasant feelings.

Just unlurking briefly to have a whinge... What's so annoying about this month is that it's been mostly dry, the sun's been out at least some of most days... and yet it's still freezing cold half the time. When you have a summer like 2007 and it's constantly raining, you expect low temperatures even if you don't like them... but when it's dry and (sometimes) bright, I really do think 20 degrees should be possible in late June. Yet if the "warmish snap" downgrades much more, there's a real chance I could get to the midway point of the summer with my outright 2011 maximum still being from April! That's just silly. Grump.

Managed -7.2 °C min last night. In normal winters that would be very noteworthy indeed (2008/09 absolute min -7.4 °C; 2009/10 absolute min -7.0 °C) but now it almost felt like "what it should be"! Max today 2.5 °C, and more sunshine than I was expecting, so it was a really quite decent day all round.

Thought I'd come out of my shell again for a bit, as it's something actually approaching cold now. Well, just below freezing. It's so nice to go for a walk on a frosty, moonlit evening after all the mud and murk we've endured. Not quite as dramatic as last month, but that would be asking a lot!

The lane up past Dhustone? I haven't been up there this winter, and as I don't drive I can only speak from a passenger's viewpoint, but I suspect that it would be your suspension that would need to be watched just now! It's not the best surfaced road at the best of times, and judging by the state of some of the lanes around Bewdley I'd imagine it must be awful by now. The car park at the summit has been awful for years, so no change there... but, amazingly, the car park I mentioned on the edge of the village (by the cattle grid) has been completely redone and is now quite smooth!

Isn't "the last moments of winter" a little bit pessimistic? Yes, it's the end of this long (mostly) cold spell, but I'm not throwing in the towel for winter as a whole just yet. If by "winter" you mean a month in the freezer as in December then you're almost certainly right, as it's too late for a super-freeze like that to start now,* but we could certainly have a cold week still to come, say like Feb 2009. I've no idea whether we will, but then I doubt anyone picked that week up on 9 Jan! Incidentally, I stopped off in Clee Hill on the way back from Leominster today, and there's still the odd snow patch in the car park at the top of the village, which is around 375m asl. Quite a bit more left higher up the hill, of course. It felt surprisingly cold up there in the wind, despite the sunshine. * Unless someone's rebooted 1947...

Interesting temperature variation over a relatively short distance: Birmingham Airport is reporting 5 °C, yet it's only 1.6 °C here and (unlike in Kidderminster) there's still a fair bit of snow on the ground -- maybe 30% cover on the lawns.

Interesting morning, more so than I'd really expected. Woke up about 6.45, looked out... looked damp. Didn't bother looking out again until around 7.30... looked white! Maybe a bit over 1 cm of full cover here, and timed nicely so that today will go down as a "snow lying" day by the MetO definition, though where I am now (Kidderminster) there's absolutely nothing left. Reminiscent of "traditional modern" snow, that! I fancy a bit of mild weather now -- meaning double figures -- so long as it doesn't go on too long and we can get some wintry interest back by the end of the month.

Got up to have a drink... it's snowing here in Bewdley. Light and rather wet, but it *is* settling on the road. Looks like the main precip will be further west, of course. Edit: sleety rain now and dusting is melting. Not the most awesome snow event of the winter!

It's -0.7 °C here. To be honest I'm not getting excited, and might not even still be up were it not for the cricket, but maybe someone will get a nice surprise.

Rob McElwee just now on BBC News mentioning "Wales and higher ground of the Midlands" for snow. "Higher ground". Oh well.

Perhaps more significant than the headline temp: the dew point at Brum Airport is now -1 °C.

That's a bit more encouraging. Not all that far away from you, but it's still up at 2.6 °C here.

A pretty grotty day here as well. It's been around 5-6 °C since the early hours, with no sun, but plenty of murk and light rain. Feels cold, but isn't actually cold; the worst type of winter weather. A nice northerly with bright, cold days seems very attractive just now... shame we're not getting one Edit: some interest regarding Friday with this afternoon's output. The updated MetO regional forecasts now suggest wintriness on Friday morning -- and the NAE +48 follows suit, with snow shown over most of Wales and the Midlands for the 06-12h segment: NAE +48 (Fri morning)

I'm just being mischievous here, as I know the setup is different, but I seem to remember an event when that looked likely, but against most of the forecasts the cold fought back and we had another day of snow, giving a weekend that before the last few winters was a real highlight. Yes, I'm talking about Feb 2007...

A little freezing rain in Bewdley this morning, but by mid-morning it had changed to plain old rain, and we've escaped the problems parts of Shropshire have seen. In Stourbridge later, and it looked as though there was the vague remnants of a desultory dusting of snow on the edge of the town centre (near the bus/rail stations) but nothing more than that. I'm quite glad about missing the real freezing rain, to be honest, as I've only experienced really widespread freezing rain once (December 1995 in Bristol) and it was extraordinary. For example, I saw a 4WD Audi creep out of a side road at, literally, 5 mph... and it couldn't stop at the T-junction. At all. Just slid out halfway into the main road, entirely out of control. Thankfully there was hardly anyone else out so no contact, but it was scary even to watch, never mind for the driver.

Still, I noticed today, just the tiniest bit of slushy ice still remaining in the shady spot behind the front garden wall where I shovelled it about a fortnight ago! Nothing at all still around in the open, though. Yet another gloomy day today -- it was briefly almost bright in late morning, but that was as good as it got. Max 3.0 °C, so actually a cold day; it just doesn't feel that way after last month!

A very Merry Christmas (and indeed Happy New Year) to everyone; make it a good 'un! :smiliz34:

My min on 3-4 Dec was dead on zero, which is a right pain as (I think) that doesn't quite count. Apart from that, the last time I didn't have one here was the night of 22-23 Nov. So 14/15 consecutive air frosts, counting tonight, but 15 consecutive zeros or below! I also can't recall a recent spell containing, as this one has done, four ice days (and a 0.0 °C max) - at any time of the winter. Snow cover hasn't been so startling. Seven consecutive mornings with snow lying by the Met Office definition; ten in terms of any sort of cover. My 14-day mean is now -1.41 °C. That's quite exceptional for this location at any time of the year - I didn't get close to that in January - and absolutely amazing for a spell that started in November.

Here are a couple I took in Brinton Park in Kidderminster this lunchtime. There were any number of other people with cameras, too! I only had a very basic camera with me, so the quality isn't that good, but hopefully it gives an idea.

Just about a "semi-dusting" here. Snowing light-moderately, and temperature down at 1.4°C, but it's too wet to do any better. Still nice to watch.

Absolutely chucked it down a little while ago, with big flakes, but now back to the teeny tiny stuff. Radar suggests no more serious snow now, so nowhere near Dec 2000 levels (the best "band from the west" snow I can remember here) but I don't mind. Everything looks white again - well, orange - and all's right with the world.

A balmy -0.3°C here in Bewdley, but like with others it's settling instantly, so we now have a nice white dusting on the roads again.

Now snowing here in Bewdley. Very light and teeny tiny flakes, but lamp-post watch has done the trick. Temp -0.6°C.