March Blizzard

7.0C. The final nail in this winter's coffin...

Just in case anybody is looking for a scapegoat for this dire winter...

That was January 7th, Gaz. I remember it well, it happened in Woodford just a few miles from me. The temperature was still about -12C at midday and only rose to about -8C despite it being a very clear, bright day. I even remember being slightly disappointed that the next night "only" managed -17C! It was probably the best little wintry spell I've experienced here.

Since 1910 March has recorded the coldest night of the year on 16 occasions. March 3rd has 5 alone, joint second with Feb 14th and second to only Dec 30th, with 6.It's quite extraordinary to think that March 2001 recorded a temperature lower than anything during December 2010! When you factor in that the coldest recorded March temperature occurred on the 14th (-22.8C) it's apparent we still have plenty of time left for a solid cold spell.

Missing: Winter. Last seen home in early 2013. Possible sightings in the USA and NE Europe throughout this month. Big reward for safe and swift return.

That was my point. There is a bit of ambiguity surrounding the term "territory". The wording of the part highlighted in bold appeared slightly misleading to me, intentional or not. For the record, I'm not disputing the content of the article.

As a resident of low-lying, urban Stockport this is a scene I'm all too familiar with. We could get a dusting here, or nothing at all, but see cars coming from higher elevations nearby with copious amounts of snow on them. It's a right piste take...

The text in bold in that article could be considered to be warm biased. It includes "territories" AND nations for the warm records, but just nations in the cold one. The odds of more records increase massively when you include territories, of which there could be literally hundreds in just one nation.

If it has then it's more an exception than rule.

Unbelievably, it looks like you're closest for many so far!

I've never seen such a precisely vague forecast.

How much of this is attributable to the fact there are more people, more people with insurance and more property to be damaged? There's a lot of buildings being built on flood plains these days.

That's somewhat reassuring, although there is a first time for everything!

To me the standout feature of this winter up until now has been the complete lack of anything cold. Even in the mildest of winters you get the odd cold snap but this winter has been completely devoid of even that. Most mild winters are 5 parts very mild to 1 part cold. This winter so far has been 5 parts mild to 0 parts cold, in other words - neat.

That's the appeal of the month to me, it can go either way. That spell felt the most "continental" I've ever experienced in the UK. It felt like I was in North Dakota in May or something! Walking the dog in the park wearing shorts and T-shirt with all the trees completely bare was quite bizarre.

That was a remarkable spell and actually very pleasant. It was warm during the day but quite cold at night. Some huge diurnal ranges and rapid temperature rises/drops at sunrise and sunset, respectively. I think it was on the 15th we had a max of about 4C under fog here yet in parts of the south east it hit around 19C. If I remember right I think Bedford even recorded some snowfall earlier in the morning!One thing that stood out to me was that in the shade there was still a distinct chill, despite the relatively warm temperatures. You simply wouldn't get that in the warmer months even with the same temperatures.A huge contrast to March 2013. A lot of people think of March as a boring month but it's one of my favourites. You can get some huge contrasts in conditions across small distances and over short periods of time. Indeed, March has the largest temperature range of any other month with a record high of 25C and a record low of -22.8C.

Knowing our luck this winter South Sudan will have a flake of snow before us!

Funny how the cold just stops at the Polish and Ukrainian borders. The positive is that it is actually there, all bottled up waiting for an easterly wind to colour Western Europe blue.

That old chestnut again!

December came in at 6.3C and January is currently at 7.2C (CET). In my book that IS very mild. It may not have felt particularly mild because of all the wind, rain and cloud but the figures paint the true picture. Minima in particular have been extremely mild.

He's in Berlin!

Generally speaking, yes. February 1947 did see some minima below -20C, though.

I'd take anything remotely wintry at the moment!

There's been a real lack of notably low minima for a while now; even February and March, and to a lesser extent January last year were characterised by low maxima rather than low minima. A far cry from the bitter nights of Jan and Dec in 2010. A shame really, I'd take a hard frost over an ice day. Ideally both!

Was this the first of a run of cold winters, WH? My Dad was born in Jan 1955 in apparently severe conditions.