MP-R

15 minutes of interesting weather as that squall line passed through. Absolute whiteout of rain and gusty winds. Quite impressive. Calm now and stopped raining.

Good for getting the windows open!

01/02 winter a good example.

Just in time for me to leave the country for 2.5 weeks . My eyes will be on the 26th Jan onwards for my return. It does after all take time for a SSW to take effect… (assuming one happens at all)

Had rather hoped for some sunshine today, but no, still cloudy.

Hope everyone in this marvellous thread had a wonderful Christmas. Looks like a brief window to get out for a walk tomorrow on hard surfaces before the next dousing on Wednesday… Two weeks until I can jet out of this country for some much needed sun!

Comparable to December 2015 here for dullness and wetness, just not quite as excessively mild.

Do you live in a cave? We’ve had mild/warm air for ages already. It’s around this time that the winter base state starts to bed in and, unless it’s been anomalously cold beforehand, that means temperatures drop to reflect the season we’re in. At least try and be objective about things…

I’d take either to be fair, but yes I think 03 takes first prize. The unsettled first third also more interesting than 22’s.

I presume you mean March 22?

If Jan and Feb don’t produce any goods, it’s unlikely March will either tbf without a miracle!

Wow interesting. Our last white Christmas is more recent than theirs!

I think most of the hatred comes from cold and 'dull' springs. Cold 9 times out of 10 also means dull by spring, especially the further into the season one goes. On occasion, you get the cold and bright combination which, as you say, can be very interesting if convective, or has its own appeal like April 2021 - although I prefer warmth with April strength sunshine, I still enjoyed this month very much despite its chill. Similarly, although I prefer warmer temperatures, the appeal lessens through autumn because it normally also means dull. Ideally I'd like warmth in spring and progressively cooler through the autumn, along with lessening sun strength.

Grim yet again. It just goes on and on…

Our best window for SSTs vs still weak sun wrt snow is roughly Jan 20th - Feb 10th, also the coldest part of the winter… similar to the equivalent July/August period for warmth. Although I’ll be away for most of Jan, I’ll be looking for signs of a proper cold spell dropping during this period for my arrival back on the 26th.

I get your enthusiasm for climate change but, despite it, we will not change climate 'zone' in our lifetimes. That would be quite the feat. Re hitting 40, it was impressive but I personally wasn't taken aback given how easily we hit nearly 39 in 2019 and 2003... For all we know 40 had already been hit somewhere in the UK in those heatwaves but no station recorded it. Anyway, I look forward to seeing what my nominated 1947 comes up against next.

I think we would have to change climate zone for that to happen. All the longest heatwaves in our history have been due to lasting high pressure systems, often with a dry easterly feed. Our most humid heatwaves often involve trough influence which eventually takes over and cools things down, putting a cap on longevity. As much as I'd love a longer version of August 2020 as a heat lover, I don't expect one any time soon.

Crikey… didn’t expect 2020 to beat 1975. 1975 is of course hands down a ‘better’ heatwave but 2020, however brief, was a real heat and humidity monster.

My highlights pretty much echo this. The January spell was also notable but I was in Spain for all of it. I was also away for half of the September heatwave and missed a cracking storm on the 10th! One other highlight, undeserving of July, was a very heavy thunderstorm on the 09th which brought the highest rainfall rate of the year. 1. Interesting… the last time I saw that was early January 2003 after the very wet end to that December. 2. Got woken up by thunder and lightning later that night too. Aside from the above, the snow on 08th March was nice to witness. The only aspect of that month that wasn’t like a typical November.

I really hope so!

Followed by cloud filtering in from dawn onwards tomorrow…

So rancid out there today. Lights on in the house too. ‘Bored’ doesn’t come close to how I feel about this weather. Can’t wait to get out of this putrid climate for a few weeks in January!

If a post that you put a lot of time into was deleted when it shouldn’t have been, which seems to happen a lot, make sure to copy the text. Can always repost it, or put it in here at worst.

Not this myth again… comes out every year

Indeed… dull and very wet then dull and dry. Although, the weekends were sunny.