Relativistic

Had some unexpected haar this morning but I think we're in the clear now. People forget that April's in the colder half of the year. How often is April truly warm? Same situation here. The leaves are just starting to come out. The hardy gorse has been flowering for a while now -- even saw some flowering in late January, though I suspect that was due to an abundance of sunshine (70% above average).

Christ, imagine May 1996 four years in a row...

It's been glorious here the last couple of days, with today and tomorrow set to be the same.

Concerning. Norwegian seafloor holds clue to Antarctic melting https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65192825

An SSW just five years ago led to one of the most extreme (albeit short) March spells on the CET record and a comfortably below-average month overall.

Well it's best not to assume. He's received a lot of ridicule in the past few weeks; seems like some get a kick out of mocking him. He does make himself a target but repeated mocking is in poor taste IMO. Edit: labouring the point.

Braemar dipped to -17.3C in December. As for England, somewhere in Gloucestershire dipped to -15C in December.

It really wouldn't be that difficult for the Met Office to add a second anomaly column for a modern average whilst retaining the 1961-90 anomalies (I imagine this would take a matter of minutes to implement). Both averages are useful for different reasons. Why not quote both? We've been doing it here for a few years now.

I witnessed snow falling in Edinburgh early on the 6th May 2021. Whilst it didn't settle, election coverage the same day showed lying snow in some highland constituencies. Snow settled in the Lickey hills (a few miles from my Brum residence at the time) back in late April 2016, so that's about the closest I've come to seeing lying snow in May.

Surely that's close to the running record? Very impressive either way.

What's concerning is how rapidly things have changed. It's noticeable to me and I was born in 1996. In Summer 2011 we had just one day that breached 30°C IIRC. It was a notable event at the time, and that was down in the sunny south-east!

No lying snow here but I recorded this on Wednesday evening. As the snow comes over the seat it sinks, but you can see the topography actually forces it upwards again as it approaches the craig edge. It then falls towards the city. This made for awesome viewing in combination with that sunset! 20230308_174637.mp4

Over a week of lying snow and a couple of minima approaching -10°C in Essex during December. Some parts of the south have done well this winter (in between the mild!).

Not surprised to see Altnaharra so low; when I checked early this afternoon it was still below -10°C.

Lowest official minimum was -15.4C, Kinbrace. Coldest March night since 2010.

I tend to agree with you, this wasn't the most coherent post at 3 in the morning. More to say that it seems to be easier for March to maintain it's ability to throw truly cold weather at us. The point is that since 1987, we've still had a 'peppering' of wintry Marches; 1987 itself of course, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2013, and 2018. Can you say the same for January and February? The point I raised re SSWs might hold some weight, I feel. The mid-latitude cell's coverage continues to push northwards, but an SSW, more likely to affect surface conditions later on in the season, is able to counter that somewhat. And in years where events in the stratosphere have no influence, we get a charcteristically warm modern March (2012, 2017, etc.).

This unusual obsession with March not being a month that can sustain lying snowfall is somewhat bewildering. When was March ever not a cold month by default? History tells us that; I'd estimate a dozen or more Marches since 1900 have sustained lying snowfall in the south for several days -- possibly even a dozen after mid-month. It's worth considering that perhaps March is somewhat more resilient to the effects of climate change, for whatever reason. I'd initially speculate this could be because we now more frequently rely on SSWs to give us shots at prolonged periods of cold weather, and since the downwelling effects can take several weeks, we're most likely to see the tropospheric consequences later on in the season? (To be completely clear, it's not that March is becoming increasingly more cold; it's that climate change could he affecting January and February disproportionately.)

Not in Essex. Stuck around for nearly a week. See my earlier post.

Had nearly a week of lying snow after the solstice in March 2013 down in Essex.

I would put 2012 in the 'very good' category (at least where I was at the time). Barely above freezing for the first two weeks, with a decent snowfall that stuck around for a week and one or two nights that dropped below -10*C. Then a complete flip to Spring-like warmth for the remainder of the month: sunshine and temperatures up to 15*C on some days. This set the precedent for the infamous March that followed. A very interesting month overall.

I'd love a really cold March personally. There's something fascinating about snow lying comfortably for days when it's still light till much later. March 2013 was excellent in that respect.

It must've been said about a thousand times now that tropospheric impacts won't yet be seen in the output. Patience is a virtue. As for this winter being 'pathetic', we're on a comparable number of subzero CET daily means to 2009/10, and the December spell was only the eighth time in the last half-century that we achieved 10 or more consecutive subzero daily means. If you're a cold fan, you can't be displeased with that. Granted, there have been better winters for snow.

Very interesting statistic; not one I was aware of. You able to provide the top 20?

This is an extremely bold statement. How an Earth can you say this when even leading climatologists aren't certain? Edit: I see I'm not the only one to rebuke this claim lol

All winter. There were a few sub-minus-10C nights in the south during December, and many more fell below -5C. Indeed. I saw falling snow in May 2021.