Richard2901

Generally prefer March to September over October to February but it would vary from year to year. For 2013 I would say: July September June August May April November January February October March December Whereas in 2012 July was the worst month and the order would be: March September May November October January February August December April June July January pretty much guaranteed to end up bottom for 2014.

Yes this winter has been tedious and mind-numbingly boring beyond belief. There's no variety or unpredictability. Just the same old rot day in day out. Lots of cloud and wind; light rain falling almost every day. No big rain totals, no high rain rates. What is remotely interesting about that? Absolutely nothing. You can see light rain at any time of the year in this miserable country. Snow and hard frost, which you can only get for a short period, have been entirely absent and I'm in the snowiest city of the UK where we can expect close to 20 days of lying snow. There is no real mild or cold. 75% of days this year have had maxima between 5.0C and 7.5C. A lack of temperature variation without precedent. Since 16th December the lowest max has been 3.1C and the highest 8.8C. I'm struggling to recall the last time two months passed without even reaching 9C. Didn't happen in 2009/10 and even the very mildest of winters have managed sub-3C maxima. Minima have been ridiculously mild with shocking lack of frost and even sub-2C minima have been rare. What frosts there have been have been very short lived. I think there's only been about 3 days when it's still been below 0C at 9am. An unspeakably poor season that has been as interesting as watching the test-card non-stop for several hours. Tenerife's winters are more interesting. Even there the temperatures, and weather conditions, are not so repetitive and unvaried and when I was there at the start of November I saw more snow, courtesy of a covering on the top of Mount Teide, than I've seen all autumn and winter here.

Undoubtedly it has become less snowy. Ridiculously snowless since 1988. Here is a list of Januaries with no lying snow in Aberdeen between 1946 and 1987: 1964, 1973 and between 1988 - 2014: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 Plus most of the remaining Januaries managed no more than 1 or 2 days lying. It's shocking. These are the Januaries between 1946 and 1987 that managed at least 5 days of cover (average) with those in bold managing at least 10 days (snowy): 1946, 1948, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and those between 1988 and 2014: 1993, 1995, 2010, 2013 January is now the least snowy month between November and March and last decade it had less lying snow days than April did in the 1970s

A revolting, depressing write-off. Only December 2002 matches this horrific month in my lifetime.

I have only had falling snow but not lying at 9am. The 6th and 7th December had a partial covering but less than 50% cover. 24th December had a brief white cover but it was made up more of hail than snow and not at 9am. Not even a flake this January. 19th November had a 1cm cover at 9am but that is autumn not winter.

Noticed the same here. A very tedious month. 20 days have had maxima between 5.0C and 7.5C Lowest max: 3.8C on the 14th, highest max: 8.7C on the 8th. Between the 16th and 25th every day was between 5.3C and 7.0C. Temperature range has just been 11.2C from -2.5C to 8.7C. Only January 1980 had a similarly low range and that was another desperately poor winter although there was at least some snow about at New Year. Yet to even see a flake in 2014.

Given how bad December was it's unbelievable just how much worse January has turned out. In fact the first week of December had more wintry weather than the rest of the non- winter combined and it was at least dry for the first three weeks of the month. Just beyond a joke how wet and miserable it has been since 23rd December and gets more and more depressing with each day that passes. This week is worse than putrid. The last 10 days were bad enough with SE'lys, 8 hours of sunshine and 59mm of rain This week is even more ghastly. Utterly horrific and this was always what was shown in the models. There was never any real cold and snowy weather likely. Just this vile wet, grey easterly rot and the only consolation is that these truly are as dire synoptics as it's possible to get so any change from the current set-up would represent a change for the better. 4C at the moment just as it was 4C this afternoon and will likely be 4C all week That's what easterlies bring 95% of the time not a winter wonderland.

Yes it was diabolical month - just like the past month there was very little frost, almost no snow, rain nearly every day and an excess of S.E. winds. Everything I despise the most. It's because of months like that, December 2012 and this winter that I feel the post-December 2010 period is even worse for winter weather than the late 80s/early 90s. While there may have been little snow at least there was nothing as bad as any of that back then. The last three Februaries have just been awful - all less snowy than February 1998

The horror show just gets worse and worse. Yesterday I had to walk to work in rank 2C cold rain. Today I was blasted by drizzle and a vile S.E. wind and there's still barely any signs of it actually getting light due to the driving drizzle and gloom. Truly the worst winter weather anywhere on the planet. It's soul destroying Had a good snowfall on 19th Jan 1998 so non-winter 2013/14 will soon surpass that as the worst start to a winter I can remember. A desperately poor season. 13 hours below freezing in almost 6 weeks and can't even get the 2 day northerlies that were common in the 90s. It's not even as if there's been any real mild weather. None of the foehn effects that were common in the late 80s and 90s just a ridiculously narrow range of temperature and pathetically low diurnal ranges. One insipid day blending into another with nothing to differentiate. Nothing to go out and photograph. About the most pitifully boring and uninteresting season I've experienced

I've been comparing this winter to the previous seven up to the end of the first week of January and it really is redefining the term "write-off". The mild minima and lack of frost are astonishing even compared to the similarly snowless winters of 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2011/12. Not only is it the worst in terms of wintery weather but it's also the dullest as well. A really awful winter from all conceivable viewpoints Data for each winter up to 7th January: This doesn't include any frosts or snow prior to 1st December. November had 7 air frosts, 1 day of lying snow and low of -2.0C.

This dire winter is most definitely on course to be one of the mildest on record. Just four December's were milder in the past 100 years here: 1924, 1934, 1971 and 1988. January so far has been even worse. Due to the preponderance of southerly rather than westerly winds the mildness has been concentrated at night rather than the day. Hasn't reached 10C since mid-December but the night temps are often milder than the day with minima scarcely dropping to 2C and only two slight frosts since 7th Dec: -0.7C on the 29th and -0.5C on 5th Jan. So far the mean min is closer to the long term average max than to the long term average min and is running higher than at the same stage of 1988/89. Probably the mildest for 79 years as December had the highest mean min since 1934. This weekend I noticed roses blooming in the park and deciduous trees with some green leaves still on them. It's dreadful

A change from recent years in that summer brought the best weather with above average sunshine for the first time in a decade. This helped to make it the sunniest year since my records began in 2007, with 1574 hours - just ahead of 2009. Despite the summer being sunny the greatest positive sunshine anomaly once again came during the cold months with a record sunny November managing 118 hours of sunshine - 160% of average. It was also the first year since 2006 to record fewer than average rain days. On the negative side it was another poor year for snowfall. Despite there being above an average total of 28 days snow lying the quality of snow events was poor due to a lack of northerlies. 1999 and 2006 which had only half the snow lying days were both vastly superior due to the top quality of the snow events. Most of the city had a third successive year without a continuous week of lying snow for the first time since the 1990s (1996-98). Here on the outskirts we did manage 15 consecutive days in January but for most of the city the snow melted completely before the end of the first week due to a horrible easterly wind during which the temperature never dropped below freezing for 5 days. March was the worst month of the year. Absolutely dire with woeful sunshine and a nasty cold easterly wind. The snowfall events were all appalling transitory events that had largely melted by lunchtime. Even a fall of 12cm lasted no more than a day. The worst thing about this diabolical month was the effect on spring growth with trees remaining bare into May and few daffodils having flowered by the end of April. October and December also deserve mention for being utterly dreadful and rating amongst the worst on record especially December which was a complete write-off. It brought the mildest minima since 1934 and dismal unseasonable weather over the festive period for the third successive year.

Today marks exactly 3 weeks since the last frost occurred here with yet another very windy, very mild night (min 5.2C) There have been only four other frost-free periods this long in winter since 1988/89: 1 in Feb 1993, 2 in 1997/98 and 1 in 2011/12. Another 4 frost-free nights would surpass all of them to give the longest spell since 1988/89 when there were 37 days in a row without air frost This awful month will have the highest mean min since December 1934. It has been dreadful. Even the very worst months like December 2002 had a 3-day frosty spell but there has been nothing seasonable at all this month. Can't ever recall such a prolonged windy spell as the past fortnight. There has barely been an occasion when the wind has even dropped to moderate. It seems like December 2010 was the winter equivalent of July 2006, which I hoped would see the start of a run of better summers after a poor run from 1998 but was a false dawn as it only led to the worst run of summers on record. This last 3 years for winter weather has just been a return to the bad old days of the 1990s

The winters of 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2011/12 were all almost unrelentingly zonal. All more snowless than any winter between 1998 and 2006 here. It is like we have regressed back to the late 80s/early 90s with all these relentlessly zonal write-off winters in such a short space of time.

I prefer my home town, Aberdeen. The weather in Inverness and the Moray Firth is only better when wind is coming from E, SE or S. That area is always good for a day trip whenever there's a SE wind as it can be 25C and sunshine in summer when the east coast is 14C and drizzle. However every other direction is worse. It's much cloudier overall and I hate the lack of sun here. Living somewhere with even less sunshine would be a big no.

No lying snow here but only the first time since 2007. The Decembers of 2006 and 2007 had no falling snow, which there has been this month, but both had much more frost. 1994 and 2002 were the only other Decembers since 1988 with no lying snow. So definitely the worst December since 2002. There has been only 3 frosts - all in the first week - and a low of -1.4C. It's not gone below 1C since the 7th. It's also been windy constantly and, unlike many mild months, sunshine has been below average. I thought last December was bad but it was a hell of a lot more interesting than this vapid borefest.

Utter rubbish. If this is a normal December why is my mean minimum running 3C above average - the same as December 2010 was below average. Why do I keep seeing milder temps during the night than what the average day temps are at this time of year? Why I have I not even seen a temp below 1.5C for a fortnight? Why is it constantly windy? December is a winter month not autumn. A month where we should be seeing regular frost and normally at least some snow lying at some point. This hideous month is one of the most abnormal December's there's been. Tedious, monotonous and unseasonable in the extreme. It's got no redeeming features for me. Just a total nightmare

It's definitely not more common than snow for my location, or even ice days despite the latter being extremely rare. Double figures during the day are not unusual but at night just totally unacceptable. It was 13C during the night earlier this week and we are suffering night after night of June minima with another execrable 9C min forecast tonight. Coupled with the high cloud amounts and pathetically low diurnal range this is a horrific spell of weather It hasn't gone below 6C since just before midnight on Saturday night so we are having to endure nights milder than what the days should be at this time of year. We didn't even get this in 1988/89, not remotely. 3-4C was typical then and only four mins were as high as 6C during the whole of December 1988, just one of which was as high as 7C. http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Aberdeen_Dyce/12-1988/30910.htm Similar story for the exceptionally mild Decembers of 1974 and 1975 http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Aberdeen_Dyce/12-1974/30910.htm http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Aberdeen_Dyce/12-1975/30910.htm December 1983 had 3 consecutive nights above 7C http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Aberdeen_Dyce/12-1983/30910.htm but even that's nothing compared to what you get now. With no let up in the dross we could easily complete a full week without dropping below 6C You just didn't get these protracted periods of ridiculously high minima and low diurnal ranges in the past. It's an entirely recent phenomenon I just hope this can turn out like December 2000 which saw a turn around after mid-month following a ghastly first half. The thought of a third successive festive fortnight devoid of snow or even frost is not appealing in the slightest.

Awful. 11.3C, cloudy and dry but damp. Dull in every sense of the word. Apart from the run-up to last Christmas, the worst winter weather you could possibly get

Another desperately poor cold spell. A wafer thin covering of snow yesterday, cold rain, sleet and wind today, more cold rain tomorrow, only 4 hours below freezing and an absolute low of -1C. We got more frost and colder temperatures from the zonality in the first week of the month 5C forecast as a min tonight which would be the joint mildest of the month. It's truly laughable. Just like last winter the "mild" spells deliver colder temps than the "cold" spells

November has been exceptionally sunny here as well. I'm up to 71.9 hours after today which is practically the whole monthly average already. Will certainly beat October's dismal total of 77.7 hours. There have been a number of sunny November's recently: 2006: 96.6 hours 2008: 100.5 hours 2012: 97.8 hours Plus 2005 will have had over 90 hours but I didn't have my recorder then. This month is on track to beat all of those provided we don't get any of the nasty unwelcome NE'lys that were showing in some model output yesterday.

Very mild and sunny day. Extremely pleasant for the time of year. Max 14.1C with exactly 7 hours of sunshine.

Completely agree with this. The easterlies of last January and March were rubbish for my location as well. Grey, miserable and temperatures barely below freezing. In January in the outskirts of the city I had a snow cover for 2 weeks but only a few days exceeded 5cm and most of the city saw rain or sleet, even under -10C uppers, that meant many days during the fortnight had no cover except in the outskirts. I had only 9 air frosts in January - the same as in the mild westerly January of 2008 and much less than in January 2009 which was milder and snowless. March had only one heavy fall of 12cm that completely melted within 24 hours and the whole 2nd half of the month had nothing that lasted more than a few hours on the ground. It was just raw, grey and horrible. Even inland had far less than what we had on the coast from the northerly in March 2006. A winter like 2001/02 where there was one decent northerly over Christmas and New Year but the rest of the winter mild and extremely boring would be a vast improvement on last years unsatisfactory offering.

Aviemore as it's much drier and snowier. I also believe it is less cloudy despite what those statistics show. There will be considerable cut-off in sunshine due to the mountains as is the case in Braemar. I don't think it is that much cloudier than the east coast and certainly much less cloudy than the west coast.

Can't remember the last day it wasn't needed. Just come back from a week in Tenerife to find an indoor temp of 8.6C. It had got as low as 7.4C while I was away and was below 10C most of Saturday and all of Sunday.