March Blizzard

5.6C please

Isn't Calgary capable of 20C in the depths of winter when a Chinook rolls into town? Or is it more like mid teens?

Thanks for your input. I understand that the prevailing conditions are largely unsuitable for snow here, but, in terms of snow amounts, why are our easterlies not as potent as they perhaps should be? Is the disparity in temperature between land and sea too small? Surely there's no lack of moisture?

Would you then agree that, in fact, all forecasters are damned if they do and damned if they don't?

Which has always baffled me, if only a miniscule amount of equivalent rainfall produces so much snow then doesn't the UK suffer from "snowmageddon"? Why doesn't the east coast have biblical amounts of "Lake effect" snow coming off a relatively warm North sea? It seems like the UK should, theoretically, get much more snow than it actually does? Parts of Japan get pasted with the white stuff, why don't we?

Poor Piers, he's damned if he do and damned if he don't!

Not much chance of seeing many stars where I am, you can get past the seemingly constant cloud cover but you can't get past the light pollution that comes with living in the second largest conurbation in the country. Only a few of the brightest ones are visible here. I suppose if I could be bothered to go on a clear night it's not too far to the Peak District.

Add me to the "not fussed" list. The same goes for weather, it doesnt effect my mood either. I tend to find the shorter days more "atmospheric", if you like. I, too, tend to be more alert and active in the darker/colder months. I enjoy the summer as much as the next man but there's something about an almost lack of real "night" in mid June that doesn't sit right with me.

I'm not too sure, Barry. It's unlikely but by no means impossible, the likes of Pershore, Shawbury, Topcliffe, Redesdale Camp have not been too far off in the last few years. Loads of stations in England just shy of -20C in Jan and Dec 2010, and to a lesser extent Feb this year. But your right, another 6 or so degrees lower than that is a big ask. I'd just like to see England record a sub -20C at some point soon.

The coldest on record for England is -26.1C I think. 10th Jan 1982 in Shropshire.

Indeed. If you check out the UK mapped averages on the Met Office website even March slightly edges out December for number of days with snow/sleet falling. December, however, has significantly more days of lying snow than March, roughly comparable with Feb. Jan the most of both.

There's no denying that Feb has more "cold capacity", if you will, than December. Feb has 8 sub zero CET months to December's 7 (I think) Also, Feb's coldest of -1.9C is much colder than the -0.8C of December's coldest. However, in turn January occupies the top 6 coldest CET months ie the coldest Feb comes in 7th place overall. It makes sense really, December struggles due to the warmer seas/air masses but has short days in its favour. February struggles with longer days but has cold seas and air masses in its favour. January fills the middle ground and gets the best of both worlds.

In terms of CET isn't the mildest December on record milder than the mildest February on record?

Again the strength of sun in February is being overplayed. February is roughly on par with November and end of October in terms of sun strength. Early March 2001 was indeed severe with a low of -20.6C, a minimum temperature not surpassed until Jan 2010.

Yep, quite frosty here in stockport, too.

I assume you mean me? (Snow Blizzard?) I'm not impatient about anything, I said I wasn't really fussed, but for purely selfish reasons I would love to experience a bitter winter on par with the coldest of the 20th century at some point.

If I had my way I'd have the upcoming winter to resemble Dec 2010, Jan 1963 and Feb 1947...that would be great. I can fully understand why some of the older members of NW who may have experienced the colder winters of the 20th century wouldn't want the same, but as a 23 year old I've had the misfortune of enduring rampant mildness in winter for my whole life with only a few exceptions. I would be very grateful to experience just one consistently very cold winter over 3 months. The last few years have shown us it is still possible and, in a way, wetted the appetite for it. Ultimately, though, I'm really not too fussed what winter 2012/13 has in store. It is what it is. If it is mild I hope plenty of Atlantic storms make up for it, if it is cold I hope we see deep snowfall and record cold. All types of weather have their charm and I'm sure to enjoy the winter regardless of the weather.

Yeah, isn't it amazing how some of the biggest and/or most famous blizzards and deepest recorded snowfall worldwide have occured well into March? Great Blizzard of 1888 started on the 10th/11th if i recall correctly. My profile pick was taken in March in Minnesota, yet some people think they should be rubbing on the suncream and whipping out the deck chairs at that time of year. I bet most people in the UK would be quite surprised if you told them that March was, on average, colder than November.

I think some people tend to exaggerate the sun's strength in late winter, there is often talk of "Strong sun" and "long days" in February and March but when you compare the length of days early-mid Feb is on par with the last few days of October/early November and even the first 11 days of March are on par with early October. However, you very rarely hear of a strong sun when these months are discussed. I think it's psychological, in Feb/March the days are getting longer and (sometimes) warmer which after such a long period of darkness gives the impression the days are longer than they actually are. It's easy to underestimate the length of a day at a time when you know they are getting shorter as much as it is to overestimate the length of one at a time when you know they are getting longer.

So according to that forcast Dec 2012 needs to rival Feb 47, after all, he does say it will be "much colder and snowier than December 2010". We can all dream! Is it actually possible for a December to be as cold as the aforementioned Feb?

9.4C please

I would like to know, too. They MetO seem to be dragging their heels about it, Woodford has been offline for about 4 months now. I just hope they sort it out by winter, not having an official station close to the 2nd largest conurbation in the country for so long is bad form.

Thanks Reef! Looks like we should be in for a below average year based on the most recent 30 year averages, but how about for the 61-90 and 71-00 averages?

You know you've had a poor winter when your min temps are competing with the Greek isles! That cold spell was much of a non event here in northwest England, too. The "real" cold seemed to abruptly stop half way across England, here we were recording just 1 or 2 degrees below zero, if that, while just 100 miles away they were recording -15C in East Anglia near the coast.

If December does the same each season will have a representative month 0.5C below average. Out of interest, assuming September comes in at exactly 0.5C below the 61-90 average, what does the average CET for the remaining 3 months of the year have to be in order for 2012 to go under the annual 81-2010 average?