Rollo

Way back in the classic winter of 62-63 there were a few times when the met office hinted at a similar thing but as we know most if not all attempts to replace the cold failed. it must be a nightmare for the forecasters to get these situations right and they are quite correct to hedge their bets Imo.

Your rose coloured spectacles do up credit Frosty.

I think there we a few back in 1947 at the start of that infamous Jan / Feb. Cannot think of many or any since.

No real signs of the beast but yes it could be lurking for about 19 th of January,in the meantime happy new year to one and all . ( must stop drinking- New Years resolution).

I remember it well,the day you are referring to was a Wednesday and the 8 am temperature was zero with next to no wind,by 9am it was -5c z and blowing a hoolie from the east and blowing heavy snow,I walked from the uni into town and was frozen stiff and looked somewhat like an abominable snowman when I arrived at my destination!

I am one of the dying band of those members who actually were around in December 62', I have to say there is a growing familiarity with the charts being thrown out by the GFS. To expect a similar winter is still very far-fetched and to predict one would put one into the James Madden category! I thoroughly enjoyed that winter and 57 years later would be happy to experience another but be warned the traffic chaos would be much worse and power cut would be awful bearing in mind the low temperatures, the weather will do what it does but we should be all aware of what we are wishing for.

Hi Roadrunner,yes I too remember those halcyon days on the BBC weather site, you missed Steve Murrs name and he was certainly one of the leading lights, I also post only occasionally these days (used to go under the name of Asphodel in those days). Forecasting the weather certainly seem harder these days when it comes to getting proper snow into our little island,indeed we have not had a proper fall for over 4 years. Perhaps we should follow the grebes!, I wonder what became of Bill Farkin,regards MIKE R.

Lets hope it is not as bad as forecast,good luck to the whole of Ireland today.We have friends supposed to be flying back from Belfast today.

Your memories are very similar to mine,I too still retain the majority of the DWR's for that epic winterI still can remember when a high over Finland moved slowly south to the Baltic intensifying and then pushed an occlusion back westwards on Boxing Day. The fog in the south tat day was bad and lots of football matches were abandoned,as the front moved west visibilities improved rapidly and the long cold winter began. I suppose it could happen again,but it would seem at this stage to be an outside bet.Just for interest the Americens at the end of January 1963 gave a forecast for Britan for February,a much milder month with temperatures returning to thr Norm-how wrong they were.

My daughter is going to the Dominican Republic on The 28th of this month and is very concerned about this very active hurricane season,I have told her it is too soon to know if there is much to worry about but as she is registered disabled can anyone supply any info as to end of September /early October in the area.

Thanks Stodge,May is often a time for cool North East winds in my area so it is not unusual,I would prefer the first option that you mention but as ever it is wait and see developments.

,Oh dear Steve Murr out of early hibernation and very snowy possibilities,showing their face in FI that I really want to see the daffodils smashed my a few temporary inches of wet snow. Let's leave it to November 2017 to make up for this very very disappointing winter.

Quite right afer March 21st even the the best snowfalls that just might occur melt pretty quickly here up till then there is an outside chance that it may last a couple of days,given that this winter we have had about half a day of lying snow the chances appear pretty slim.

Thanks David that's the one.

Hi again David,the gnashing of teeth at the moment reminds me of early February 63' particularly in Newcastle,I forget the exact date (could check) but the forecast for the next day showed a depression off the S.W. approaches pushing mild weather North eastwards into Scotland however I woke up to find light snow falling and that the low had decided to move eastward prolonging the long cold spell by quite some time. I know times are different what with global warming etc but I find it incredible to think that what to me in the past has always proved a durable cold spell of at least two weeks could disappear down the pan so rapidly.

Following this thread on a-occaison reminds me of the song--"I'm always chasing rainbows" maybe one day we will find our pot of gold!

Cannot argue with that, but medically speaking Doctor------

So another winter appears to be passing us by, why do we take the lack of snow and cold so seriously? it is a puzzle to me but as one of those affected by this malaise I thought I would ask some of the intelligentsia here for the reason.

The 06.charts remind me somewhat of those around Chrismas 1962 when high pressure bringing very cold dry weather collapsed as a new high moved North Eastward towards Iceland,a long way to go but I am enjoying the eye candy.

Sometimes I wonder why we tear our hair out over these will they won't they easterlies Nick,is it worth it_ in my case a definite yes and by the way thank you for all your input over the years.

I guess I will just have to squirrel one out of the blue.

Your remark whilst true brings back memories of our 3 previous virtually snow free winters where the same chestnut was rolled out time and time again, to my mind the synoptics at present are different to recent winters in that openings are occurring to be snatched away close to the event. Maybe (and I hope I am wrong) we are seeing a run of milder winters for the foreseeable.

Try getting an Arctic hare Knocker,perhaps that will bring the freeze most of us want.

As usual JohnHolmes is a voice of reason here. I lived like John through the winter of 62-63 (as a young man) and enjoyed every minute of it but now with the years passing I shudder to think of the extremes that winter produced. I have not got the figures but it must have killed off a lot of the older generation to say nothing about the persistent snow and ice and what that did to the road conditions and public transport.