Relativistic

I find the Met will nearly always underestimate the overnight lows, especially with extremes, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was an air frost in a few select locations.

I hope so, I've guessed 13.6C! Although it would be nice to see the CET come in at least 0.5C below the average to complete the triple whammy in one year with April and June also coming in 0.5C or more below.

That is quite cool, and to me actually quite surprising! But the Thames is a very different body of water. Another point to consider is its salt content. I'm sure the Thames in London is saltwater, if not brackish, which I believe lowers the freezing point? If this is true it would mean it would have to be a few degrees C lower than zero to freeze.

Ah yes, sorry for the mistake. Anyway, we still had a January of well below sub zero temperatures, like that of 1963. The point I was trying to make was that if the Thames were still capable of freezing over, it probably would have done so in 1963.

The last time the tidal Thames properly froze over was in 1813-14, just before the Old London Bridge was removed. The CET for that Winter was: December: 1.7C January: 1.9C February: 5.8C Yet, it couldn't even manage to freeze over in the exceptionally long lasting and cold winter of 1962-1963, when temperatures were much lower, for longer. The closest it got was small lumps of ice. Unless we get a Winter that mops the floor with 1683-84 (just won't happen) then I don't think it will properly freeze over again. Waterfalls only freeze under exceptionally cold temperatures, which due to the urban heat island effect, cannot be achieved in London. I think you are being unrealistically optimistic.

The Thames will never freeze over again properly because a bridge that was in place which slowed down the flow of the river is no longer there. It may have frozen over a bit in December 2010 if this was still the case.

Some pixels appearing in Norway.

I find when the temperatures are pretty cold, sub zero as an example, you can deal with being in shorts and shirts more than you can at say 5C. It's like my body puts up a resistance to these temperatures but when it's not too cold it doesn't really put up much of a resistance and I begin to get cold (apart from my legs). Don't know if anyone else finds this too.

I wear them through Winter. My legs seem to be immune to cold.

No shorts?

14C in the sun and calm, still weather. 17-21C if there is more than a breeze. In Winter, -5--7C, clear blue skies and sunshine with no or little wind, and a thick frost.

I love the darker days as well. Don't know why, I just do!

Thanks for the link, will read over it, I didn't realise there was a Wikipedia page on it! I actually followed the thread last year but I was a novice back then and didn't understand most of it! Should have a much better understanding this time round. Again, many thanks.

Thanks guys, this information is really helpful and I much appreciate the explanations. It's a little technical for me at the moment but I'm sure I'll get to understand it soon enough. Once again, many thanks.

Here is my understanding of the PV: As we head towards Winter the differences in temperatures at lower and higher latitudes create a vortex in the stratosphere and troposphere around the Arctic regions. Differences in temperatures in the stratosphere over the Arctic due to several factors (eg Rossby waves) can cause changes in the Stratospheric Polar Vortex which then feed down to the Tropospheric Polar Vortex. These changes can affect weather patterns at sea level. Dramatic changes caused by events such as SSW's can cause the PV to split or displace, which will have massive effects on weather patterns. But how? For example, does a PV that is displaced over Greenland cause high pressure to build here? Or does it do the complete opposite? Basically, my question is; in what way does the positioning of a split/ displaced PV affect weather patterns such as pressure systems, zonal/ meridonial winds, etc? I appreciate this may get a bit technical (for me at least!), but I will try my best to understand. Any answers would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Thanks to the wet weather earlier in the year wasp numbers are significantly down on last year.

A mixture of almost everything.

Wasn't December cooler than average in the first half? I seem to remember many places getting snow in the first half, the milder weather seemed to kick in mid month.

I wouldn't trust WSI, I'm sure they forecast last October and November to be 2C below average across North Western Europe and the temperatures actually ended up the other way.

I really hope Autumn is cooler than average, I would love to see frosts throughout November (last year was terrible with just two frosts in the last few days), and a real chill in the air by October. It would also be nice to finally see a significantly below average September, as I have yet to live through one!

13.6C please

I would only say it is conclusively man's fault if the Antarctic Ice was doing the same thing. There is still a chance it is man but it seems odd that one is going up and one is going down.

I hope it's seasonal. I'll make my guess at a later date.

Thanks and yes, nothing wrong with preferences

Yes I agree. I think the anomaly could end up sub 1C, somewhere around 0.9C.