Walsall Wood Snow

Snowing heavily and settling.

I know a lot of people in here can remember the 1980s and how most Winters that decade up till 1988 were either cold and snowy or at least had one cold and snowy spell within them. But what about the 1970s. Yes the decade started cold and ended cold but the bulk of the decade was pretty bad from a cold and snow lovers point of view from what I can tell. It almost seems as though it wasn't too dissimilar to the 2000s decade in that regard. Going back further it seems that the the first few decades of the 20th century weren't that great either, with exceptions such as 1916/17 and 1928/29 been few and far between. In fact it seems the Winters of yesteryear as some might refer to them weren't much of a thing during the last century until the outbreak of the Second World War. Even then it wasn't exactly annual, but they did undeniably become more frequent over the next 4 or 5 decades than they were previously or have been since (2008 to 2013 might be considered a short blip back into the patterns of the mid to late 20th century for our isles). Not to mention that most colder and more snowy Winters on these isles don't often come to fruition until after the turn of the New Year or close to it, I see no reason to be writing off this Winter never mind the whole of the 2020s just yet.

Snowing heavy here too now.

At 8.5c November 2020 shares the same mean CET with November's: 1899 1951 1953 1978 2002

Although very cold with a covering of snow, we didn't get great depths here in late Nov/early Dec. There was actually a brief milder interlude early to mid month when the snow and ice thawed. Not sure if it was completely. 18th Dec wasn't as deep here as some places. A very snowy day but again snow depths weren't anything special. However the morning of the 22nd finally gave a proper dumping here with big fluffy flakes falling heavily, covering side roads over enough to lose the distinction between them and the pavement. The fact it happened only 3 days before Christmas and was all still there come the day itself made it feel extra special. It was a real Christmas card image of Christmas that year.

2.8c and 69.3mm please

Oh well. I wouldn't worry too much at this stage. January or February or Spring or next Winter or someday sometime might deliver yet

I'm not even sure it's wise to write too much of December off at this stage, especially considering there's still another 10 days left of November still. A repeat of 2010 doesn't look likely it seems I know, but who can say where we'll be in a months time. A cold spell could arrive just in time for Christmas for all we know at this point. Far too early at this point to be writing the whole of next month off this long before it's started.

If I remember rightly wasn't it supposed to be cold from December or at least early January, which kept on getting pushed back further and further, watering down to the short lived cold snap in late January. This was then followed by very mild to practically warm temps in February . You couldn't make it up really. That's a point though, who saw that coming in January. At least it's only November. We've got up to and including March to get some snow this Winter.

It's true that a mild or average Winter doesn't rule out any good snow episodes within it. Though admittedly they're less likely to be frequent and especially long lasting. But just thinking of some examples. 2001/02 had a good snowy spell here just after Christmas going into the start of the New Year. 2006/07 had a good short lived nationwide snowy spell in early February. 2011/12 had a good episode for some parts in late Jan and or early Feb (can't remember exactly when). It didn't amount to much here to be honest but other parts of lowland England did well from it based on reports. 2014/15 wasn't very memorable here for snow apart from some wet snow on Boxing Day and the odd early morning dusting later on. I'm under the impression it was a bit better further north though? 2017/18 was only average overall (this would be excluding March), but we had a couple of ok to very good snowfalls in December here in the Midlands. 2018/19 had a good short lived snowy spell which gave a good covering to parts of south in late Jan or early Feb if I remember rightly. So as you can see even non spectacular Winters still have the potential to deliver some snowy goodness either locally or nationally even.

Didn't the met office also call a cold Winter for 2016/17 and thinking even further back, 2007/08?. Just mentioning to highlight how even if they were predicting a cold Winter this year, it couldn't be taken as a done deal. Hopefully this could also apply for a mild prediction, even if the law of averages are always more in a mild Winters favour. ?

Maybe overall temperature wise it was only average. From a snow lovers perspective though living here, it was better than most. After all I had 3 seperate decent lying snow events in my back garden that extended Winter. Granted 2 of them were in Spring (only meteorologically mind). But a good 3 days or so of decent snow cover from the 10th to 13th/14th December. Plus the little bonus of seeing a covering of thin to moderate lying snow when I went round my friends house on the 28th. Then I'm sure there was the odd light flurry in January and February as well. So snow wise it was a good Winter here especially when you allow for the inclusion of March's 2 events in the overall rating.

I would personally rate Winters 2012/13 and even 2017/18 pretty highly to be honest. The former had a good cold and snowy spell nationwide in late January, and late March going into early April was one of the severest cold spells for the time of year for decades. The latter also had the beast from the east in late Feb into early March, aswell as another mini beast in mid March. In this part of the country Winter 2017/18 was that bit more memorable due to benefiting from a good snow event in December as well as the later spells in Feb/March. I also saw lying snow in late December the other side of Birmingham. They were 5 years apart though. I hope we don't have to wait that long until the next one. It's already been nearly 3 years since the 2017/18. Maybe 2022/23 might be a good Winter then.

It also snowed on the 21st March 2001 here. Not a bad little event either from what I recall.

I know it probably means nothing, but I've long had a bit of hope for this coming Winter based on the fact it'll be a winter starting in a year ending in 0 and finishing in one ending in 1. Just taking the three most recent examples of Winters 1990/91, 2000/01 and 2010/11, all these had cold and snow in their respective December's especially. 1980/81 not so much I believe but even that was only one year out from 1981/82, so close. 1970/71 was also one I believe with a white Christmas in London, although going back 1960/61 wasn't up to much. 1950/51 had a cold December looking at the CET (1.2c) and 1940/41 was one of the coldest in years at that point. Hopefully 2020/21 joins the trend for having cold and snow, as well as it coming in December to add to the festive spirit as a few of those other Winters ending in the same numbers did.

Hopefully we get a white Christmas like that year too .

At 10.5c October 2020 shares the same mean CET with October's: 1680 1714 1715 1837 1903 1927 1930 1938 1983 2004

On the subject of snow in November, I remember getting the odd half decent snowfall from time to time that month round here. Although fairly often a cold and snowy Winter didn't follow. Besides 2010 of course I remember a couple of episodes in the mid 00s when it snowed in November. 2004 and 2005 I think. Not forgetting the incredibly snowy day we had here back in Nov 96 ( the only day in my time in secondary school from Sep 96 to Jun/Jul 01 our school was forced to close because of snow). It's been a while now I know, but taking a recent example of snow that was close to November, such as 10th Dec 17 ( which was a fantastic little spell round here) , you can easily imagine if the Synoptics had been 10 to 14 days earlier, which is hardly ages, you can see that it's still more than possible for November to deliver the goods.

I'll go for 6.7c please

At 13.9c September 2020 shares the same mean CET with September's: 1752 1754 1770 1800 1810 1901 1906 1911 1968 1969

I'll go for 10.7c please.

At 17.6c August 2020 shares the same mean CET with August's: 1779 1780 1826 1933 1976 1984 2004