Peter H

I was born in 1955 and I remember weather so cold you could pour water on the pavement or driveway and it turned to ice in a matter of minutes, and that was in winters other than 62/63. This cold spell has really been a bit of a damp squib as they say around here. Not particularly cold today although still a tiny bit of snow on the ground and that was from last Thursday. Around an inch was lying on Monday morning but it was all gone by lunchtime. Still, quite a bit up over the hills but it was very disappointing at lower levels around here. Long range charts now look pretty benign for the next couple of weeks, by which stage we're almost be into the meteorological spring. Roll on summer. I'm done with this winter now.

Seems to be firming up for something pretty cold and wintery from the second half of this week and even into the next. Still, they said the same thing a couple of weeks ago.

Notice the BBC noon forecast today were running with the cold theme from the middle of next week and the possibility of some snow, as Simon Keeling has been saying over the last few days. Doesn't look as if it'll last too long but you never know. Charts are even hinting at something of a northerly next weekend.

I think this sounds like a bad James Madden Fantasy

Hopefully, a March like 1974 and an April/May similar to 1975. Mild and settled is what I'm after, but it'll probably just be a continuation of this dreadful Westerly/South westerly. Appalling weather

I don't think that further outlook has changed all winter. Seems to be virtually the same every time I look at it

That's over 600ft asl which is pretty high and you're well inland, so no wonder you're in a wee snow pocket. Not that dissimilar from the geography of the Glenshane pass over here, and it alway's snows up there. I'm pretty much at sea level here and only a mile or so from the coast so it's not really that conducive to snow unfortunately. We do get snow events from time to time, but it has to be proper cold for that to happen and the last one was December 2010 which really is quite a long time, even for these parts. Really, the only difference between this winter and 2013/14 is that it's been slightly colder and that's about it. Pretty much snowless and frost free. Charts for the next two weeks are still pretty dire so I've no idea what Simon Keeling was on about yesterday. Clearly a case of getting into James Madden mode http://www.weatherweb.net/wxwebtv2.php

You must be really high up. like the Glenshane Pass over here. We only really get snow when there's proper cold, and we haven't had that in over 4 years now.

Me too. With winters as crap as this one I can't wait until the clocks go forward and the brighter evenings, but that's another 9 weeks away and it seems a long way off. Recent springs here have been pretty crap, although we've had a few March blizzards thrown in, but mainly for the hills. To be honest I've seen more snow in my lifetime in March/April than December/January/February. Like you say, March really is too late. Even mid to late February is too late. I think the last decent spring in these parts was 2008 but, I think summer was pretty crap that year.

It was warm last year, but not because of the summer. Roll on spring summer. Can't wait for the bright evenings again. Hope spring is dry, warm, and settled but probably not. By the law of averages this persistent westerly flow must end sometime. Seems as if it's been going on for years now.

Again what's new. Just the same old

What's new

Are you attempting to out do James Madden by any chance

P.S we had rain all day yesterday which really was miserable. From around 1pm until 11 pm. Yuk. Temperature hovered around 4-6C all day.

Yep, same here. We had a wee skiff last Thursday/Friday but that was about it. The west/Northwest of NI had quite a few good snow events last week but it never really filtered down to the greater Belfast area, which is unusual.The severe cold that was forecast never really materialised and it's just cloudy here tonight. Not even any frost on the ground. Like you, can't see anything happening the rest of the winter in this part of the UK either. The charts for the next couple of weeks really are dire, despite Simon Keeling of Weatherweb.net getting all hyped up about the end of next week for some odd reason. Roll on summer when we can look forward to winter 2015/2016. Thoroughly fed up with this one now.

Probably James Madden

Still nothing to speak of with regard to snow at this end. The charts really kept us going for a few days, but the severe cold never really came off. Charts for the next two weeks look pretty dire. A wee skiff last Thursday/Friday but that was about it, so it's looking increasingly likely as if this will be a largely snowless frost free winter yet again. Parts of the west of NI did have quite a few bad snowy days last week, but it never managed it down here.

I might just buy a snow shovel from Tescos now

Yep, the NAO appears to be the key to UK weather during the winter. This season (like the last)) it's been pretty much positive.

Well, we're rapidly running out time for this winter to be anything other than a soggy snowless mess. Long range models kept us going again for three or four runs until this morning. At one stage they even hinted at an easterly developing, and several charts were similar to December 2010, but this afternoon they all flipped again. Last winter was similar, and we kept expecting something which never happened. After we get to about mid February we can really forget about it in these parts. Late February more often or not is actually quite spring like. The sun is really too strong at that time of the winter.

So do astrologers

Indeed, but forecasting for any more than a week or so ahead really is something of a guessing game. Even meteorologists admit that. Remember the Met Office's prediction of a "barbecue summer" a few years back which turned out nothing of the sort ? Most of the winter forecasts I've seen over the last few years have been dead wrong.

The models are teasing us again this evening.

Because we say this every year and it never happens. As predictable as James Madden's big freezes.

In the 1970's 1974/75 sticks out as a really bad one. Also 1979/80. 1970/71 wasn't great either. Likewise 1973/74. All the rest were reasonable, culminating in the so called "winter of discontent" 1978/1979. Apart from 1981/82, probably the best winter in the last 40 years. Had 2010 continued into January/February it would have been record breaker. I'm glad I'm old enough to remember 1962/63