Aye even in my cool childhood winters, early Nov was always snowless, way better to get the mild SW'lys now, Northerlies really only any use to parts of Scotland and 300+ asl, until about 20th or so
Classic wishbone effect, cold enough for snow everywhere except far SW, but dry away from coasts, Pembrokeshire dangler and usual Eastern coastal areas,
the days of huge snow events! remember 3 at least
Jan '87, Dec 90 and Feb '91, one of them power went out and had to use candles, has to be one of these 3 events