damianslaw

Not wanting to sound political, but I woukdn't be surprised if part of reason government stepped in with cap on energy prices partly influenved by tip off of early forecasts for the winter, after all they see more information than we do. These early warnings of cold winter at least intially feed into current narratives about reducing energy use. Listening to some reporting there appears to be a view that we can cope with a cold start, but not a cold winter Jan onwards.. Couple of weeks time and the Lake District will pull on its full autumnal cloak, resplendent in brown, gold, yellow, orange, ochre, crimson and red.

BBC NW forecast just now misleading showing 15 degree here at 5pm, yet it is below 13 degrees now and only set to drop.

This morning's rain moved through quickly. It was a squall line.

Fantastic archives. Snow so early unusual.

96-97, 10-11 spring to mind. 96 I think was la nina as well.

There were a pair of cold Octobers some 29-30 years ago now in 1992 and 1993. Oct 92 was consistently cold notably latter part, I think snow fell in northern parts. Oct 93 I remember a very frosty spell mid month. Shap recorded -9 degrees, some winters fail to deliver such a low. Please share memories and stats of these months.

You mentioned cold winters, yes there were a few brief cold spells Dec 87 to Feb 94, Dec 90 mid month, late Nov 93, late Dec 93 in the north, mid to late Feb 94 but with exception of Feb 91, nothing particularly notable. The cold autumns of 92 and 93, chilly summers of 92 and 93, June 91 and cool summer 88 cancelled out by general anomalous warmth rest of time.. Autumn 88 to Autumn 92 waa exceptionally dry as well.

Can't have been 9th, 10th 2009, there was no snow then, are you thinking 16th/17th that is when the snow started from memory, I think Thursday 17th, definately a Thursday as I drove to NE England and snow was falling.

Long way off but next weekend could bring first wet snowfall for very highest lakeland tops.

Those in the north who like cold and snow would happily take another 20-21. it had its moments, plenty of light snows, just lacked a big snowfall eveng here. Dec was a sandwich month, cold start and end, similiar to 2008, Jan was generally cold, Feb cold first half, mild second. Overall very 08-09, and quite 00-01.

I'd say from about 20th on the sun really loses its warmth, by early November it hasn't any.

Power cuts par for the course in the 80s, regular occurance round here.

Reference to west Cumbria reservoirs, think this refers to Ennerdale which serves a very small catchment area - West Cumbria and isn't prone to excess demand. Haweswater and Thirlmere serve much of the Manchester area and consequently the NW region is much less exposed to drought than Yorkshire, the Pennine reservoirs serve them. We've had a good amount of rain in recent weeks but still below where we should be.

88-89, 89-90 winters up there with warmest on record, apart from Feb 91 there wasn't a cold month between Dec 87 and Feb 94.

Said the first true mid autumn day is the first day of the season that fails to bring double digit maxima.. often occurs by mid October, and if these synoptics verify we will be heading into that marked shift deep Autumn proper.

A very lacklustre day in the main, one of those instantly forgettable ones. Really isn't much to say.

Inevitably this thread has become a bit of a let's reminsce about previous winters in context of speculating how current signals may pan out and then matching these to what happened in previous winters. That's all fine, provided we don't step too much into winters of yesteryear chat, inevitably I'm just as guilty for that, especially as we move deeper into Autumn.

Yes ideal conditions, hard frosts at night, daytime maxima low single digits, sunshine and light winds.. only a very slight thaw.

A more amplified jet would do the trick, a deep longwave trough digging south into central europe would cool things down.

Models continue to signal a change to colder unsettled by mid month, azores high kicked west and ridging north, UK moves on to the cold side of the jet. In the meantime we remain locked on warm side.

Thursday 8 February was the main snowy day of that month. bitter east winds blew snow across most of the UK, continuing through the 9th but less intense, and into the weekend but easing all the time. The following week was half term, the snow stuck around throughout it, great sledging times!

The cold arrived just after christmas in 08 and lasted only a couple of weeks. Quite similiar to 2020-21. With reference to 00-01, December was very mild until Christmas, then there waa a short very cold spell that fizzled out at New Year. Jan and Feb 01 were quite cold but nothing severe. Snow and cold lovers would probably take another 00-01 over most winters since 12-13 any day. Incidentally Autumn 2000 was exceptionally wet and this continued into December.

Yes Feb 91 in eastern parts was very snowy, but less so in the west, same as Jan 87. Months such as Dec 81, Dec 09, Jan 10 brought more snow in the north and west than the east. Difference between easterly months and northerly months.

2009-2010 brought the perfect deep mid winter freeze. 1981-82 ditto.

Weather warnings usually broadcast for high impact events from memory as there was no alternative. Probably equivalent of orange amber warnings. Yellows will soon become permanent because they denote just a bit of rain or wind nowadays. I ignore them. Many a yellow warning just means normal weather here.