leicsnow

Agree dude, in fact last winter for many was the first snowless February for years. But it was also the first 'snowfull' November for time as well.

I suppose that explains why each season is a month on from what it should be. It should be winter November to January, spring February to April, Summer May to July, Autumn August to October. But for the reasons you stated it's winter December to February, spring March to May, summer June to August, autumn September to November. Thanks for the answer.

I was recently involved in some somewhat off-topic discussion on another topic, and I thought I'd start one on it here! Anyway, we were talking about 'sun strength' and how it affects the likelihood of a seasonal cold spell. We established that November and January are almost identical in terms of sun strength as looking at statistics they have the same length days in a given place in the UK, rather than February having a weaker sun than November as it is considered Winter and November is considered Autumn. I then clocked that October and February have the same length days, but I'm sure you know as well as I that you are much more likely to experience a cold snap in Feb in the UK than Oct. So what makes February, on average, more cold than October, if they have the same length days? Same with September and March really. I know this may sound like a stupid question but I have only recently developed an interest in weather.

Wait, if we are comparing the day lengths for probablility of seasonal cold spells, then october is the same as february, and february is almost always colder than october. In fact, february 2011 was the first snowless february for many in the UK whilst most cities have almost never experienced snow in october. With the exception of last winter, most snow arrives where I live in February rather than November to January.

Ah, that is something I overlooked so thanks for pointing that out . Maybe if we look at sunrise/sunset times for a given date in February and a given date in November for, lets say the city of London and compare? This year for November 15th was 07:18 surise and 16:12 sunset. February 14th 2012 will be 07:17 sunrise and 17:13 sunset. And that's compared to December 22nd 08:04 sunrise and 15:54 sunset. I guess you were right! Also, it would be hard to compare days in October or March as they are when the clocks change! (well you can count the day length overall)

Isn't the sun actually stronger in November than February, not the other way round, since November is considered a month of Meteorological autumn and february winter? I've always thought that November had a similar 'sun strength' to March, October to April, and September to May, except getting weaker in Sep, Oct, Nov and getting stronger Mar, Apr, May. In other words, the start of March is sort of like the end of November, etc.

From what I can remember the snow in late Feb 2005 continued into early March in the East Midlands.

A good old cold February...! Just like Feb 2009 hopefully. Stuff all the James Madden rubbish.