so chaps, I've been a 'lurker' since joining in november 2010, and purely by chance when the most glorious modelled charts unfolded before the memorable December 2010! and ironically i decide to post something some 8+ years later when i see I'm the only member logged in! so what's changed when there were 100s of members only the last few days when i had to scroll through post after post?! i'll tell you what's changed, just a slight trend/direction (possible anomaly, but no doubt likely attributed to the direction of the jet stream - as flagged by the MO in recent tweets) that the models have picked up on all of a sudden that deviates from the direction that we were all set on heading - i.e. sustained cold and guaranteed chances of snow - as we interpreted it. granted, very disappointing to see. so this is a NUDGE to all - lets not forget, it's only late January and all the drivers (telecommunications) have not changed - they remain the same as eloquently explained by the likes of @chionomaniac and @Catacol to name a few (and apologies for omitting others) (and a big acknowledgment to all those for their knowledgeable an positive posts) - and lets not forget that big players such as the jet stream can all of a sudden take a more favourable route that then resumes our route to cold. lets resume optimism