AutumnMists

Personal preference I suppose Maybe more like 2009-2010 which saw the cold and snow before, during and after Christmas. I just think snowfall Too early such as 2010-11 (where it disappeared just after Christmas and never really made a reappearance) is a bit boring and then there is just a big long wait until the next interesting thing arrives (the heat that starts to arrive in the late Spring). 2008-09 was my favourite recent Winter, we had a decent small fall at the start of December, regular light falls in January and then of course the infamous February 2009

That's what I'm hoping, I'm more of a person keen on seeing the cold in January/Februaury time rather than November/December time

Last year, the CFS never really knew what it was doing (take a look at the archives) and there were other models pointing to a milder winter such as the UKMET for example. Honestly, we are in a better position than this time last year. This time last year, firstly, we were seeing temperatures in the high teens down South, and we were in the middle of watching the models starting to flip towards a milder winter.

Depressing weather here in Oldham today, drizzle, very windy and the occasional heavy rain outburst ... No clear spells in sight

I didn't say the cold was unexpected. Forecasts in November 2009 were pretty accurate for December 2009 and therefore everything was okay in the end. One thing I will say though is that it ISN'T November it's OCTOBER, we DON'T know what will happen in November and we certainly don't know what will happen in December, so if I was you I would stop worrying because in all seriousness no predictions can be made yet. I can suggest taking a look at the CET thread for November though and that will give you a taste about what we could expect in November (temperature wise). Wait a couple of weeks and the discussions will start hotting up.

I think it was the back end of November (2009) where the temperatures overall where average/milder than average but the rainfall was much above average, here in the Pennines there was regular flooding from the water on the hills. I also remember there was an extremely brief and half hearted cold snap at the end of November/start of Decemeber that brought some wintry stuff to Scotland and Northern England although the accumulations where nothing to bother about. Two weeks later though in mid-December, the cold came back with a vengeance

Warmer second half .. 7.6 please

As I said though, there have been worse winters than last. Some people I think have been a bit misunderstanding as to what a mild winter can actually do ... in that last winter was one of the more snow friendly mild winters. Regards to this winter, 2008/09 does seem to ring a bell in my head

Trust me though, this stage last year the outlook was looking much more grim than it is now.

I think there have been winters much much milder with less snow in general than last year, such as 06/07, various winters from 1996-2000, 01/02, various winters at the end of the 80's also. I understand that it was your opinion you were getting across though. Of course, opinions do matter in topics like this, as mild winters do bring a massive amount of 'localized' falls and therefore, unlike winters which are pure colder and snowier than average, snow accumulation and temperatures can vary between locations as little as 5-10 miles away, if not less.

That's one decent point though, Amid all the hope and possibility of cold this Winter, I wouldn't at all be surprised if it turned out mild.

I remember very well the winter of 2007-08 in which we experienced 5cm on February 1st 2008, 10cm on March 25th 2008 and 8cm on 6th April 2008. Was an interesting Winter/Spring although overall it was of course mild and each cold snap was very shortlived, perhaps that's why it is very much forgotten.

Well the last time we did have a cold snap in October was 2008 (I think it was around 27th-31st) ... a decent winter followed that Also October 2010 also had a very very brief coldish spell around mid month if I can recall although this was nothing more than a couple of overnight frosts and fog, with the odd nights snow in the Highlands. 2008/2009 was a nice little Winter though, well, for half of us it was ... Northern parts of England and Scotland had a brief cold spell at the start of November, here we got 10cm that lasted 4 days. Then January had around 3 simple cold snaps mostly in the first 20 days of the month with around 5cm for each, then of course we had February which we got around 20-25cm, lasted for two weeks

I'm going away from 29th december to 6th january, let's hope I don't get caught up in anything Something tells me the heaviest and most widespread snow will arrive January/February this Winter ... Also, perhaps a small brief snap end of November/start of December with some local average falls lasting a few days That's what I want anyway, not too sure if it will happen

How on earth do average charts mean a mild and wet Winter?

They did forecast some for this week last weekend. Pretty normal for this time of year

Your forgetting that the previous winter (09/10) had snow cover for a long time also. 2009/10 for me was the snowiest.Are you getting confused between 2011 and 2010? Both November and December featured milder than average temperatures although 2010 of course didn't (nor did December '09) It all depends on what you define 'worst' winters ... although not many people would consider 2008/09 or 09/10 not severe. My apologizes if you are referring to winter months rather than whole seasons.

Hopefully some alright weather for us until the end of next week ... Little rain but not no rain, a bit of sunshine but overcast never too far away, temperatures peaking into the low 20's or mid-late teens. Perhaps tapping off towards average as we head through the latter end of the week

Snow? Heatwave? Blue Skies for a month? Warmth until November? Lol.

Not the best of days today :X

Summer '08? '09? '10? There is no evidence for that interpretation of the jet stream.

Heheh, too many times has that happened! I see what you mean but I'm sure, somewhere in the UK, the temperature will rise above 30 next month and will be just a touch higher than the hottest temperature in Autumn. I could be very wrong though. This year so far has just been an exact repeat of 2007 (except for April in which 2007 was really hot in April. Still though, this year of course we had good weather in March)

No chance, August will see the hottest

A cracker today ... 11.5'C. Thankfully the rain held off a touch although showers enrolled themselves in the early afternoon. The rest of the week looks daunting

Yes, September has been a delight these past few years, thankfully. This hasn't always set off a dry and mild theme for the following Autumn, though