jemtom

Yet another picture perfect day here, with not a cloud in the sky for the 4th day in a row. Overnight min 4.2c, already up to 11.1c at 11am, with another 13 or 14c on the cards this afternoon. Apart from 6" of snow and a temp of -3c it's hard to imagine anything more prefect than this for mid February.

Hard to imagine a more perfect day here (which follows another perfect day yesterday of unbroken sunshine, light winds and a max of 13.4c) with wall to wall sunshine and a noon temp of 13.1c. The tortoise is outside sunning himself again, the birds are singing and I've just seen the 3rd bee of the year - however it could be the same one I saw over the weekend just winding me up... :lol:

I didn't go though the other years in detail, but I did mention them. Clearly the white stuff was much more prevelent in the early part of the period, with much, much less snow lying across the last two Winters. The fact things have gotten worse wrt snow/snow cover across the last 2 Winters was precisely my point.

It's worth taking a look at the daily cam pix from Uppsala Sweden thread that I've just started - Winters seem to be disappearing elsewhere to, perhaps even more dramatically than here.

An interesting and useful site for monitoring snow cover in Uppsala north of Stockholm Sweden. Images go back to 1999 on a daily basis, so it's possible to check snow cover on all days. Clearly the white stuff was much more prevelent in the early part of the period, with much, much less snow lying across the last two Winters. Perhaps even more so than over here, the rather older members of the population must really wonder what has happened to Winter as they used to know it. Enjoy. http://www.uu.se/carpediem/2008/

Tommy Tortoise resents the implication that he might have been manipulating data. He has however been manipulating a bananna today - rather successfully in fact...

I don't think you need to John - as you say interesting stats which speak for themsleves, loudly and clearly.

I remember back in the 80's a builder in the Devon area took up the challenge to wear shorts to work every day during the Winter for charity. He got a huge amount of publicity and hopefully his chosen charity benefited, but he was basically called crazy for wanting to do so - even for a good cause. Across the last 3 or 4 Winters wearing shorts to work around here in Winter, though far from the norm, is by no means extrordinary - in fact I saw 3 people on site yesterday. In essence, at least in these parts, Winter is no longer taken seriously. There were far more people on the beach a week ago last Sunday than I've seen on many a Summers day. Obviously not so many in the water, but plenty of paddling and sand castle making was enjoyed - in late January for goodness sake!!! For me we now have 3 MAIN seasons. Spring, Summer and Autumn, with the lowest temp of the year just as likely to occur in Nov or March as it is in Jan (in fact probably more so). Spring for me is Jan-April, Summer May-Sept and Autumn Oct-Dec. It might seem a bit crazy to suggest February is a Spring month, but one look out into my back garden tells a different story. All the trees are in bub, the daffodils are dying having blossomed pre Xmas, there's frog spawn in the pond, birds are mating, the tortoise is mooching around in the 9" of lush grass and it's 12.1c. So yes, Winters are disappearing, at least here they are. Edit-: Talking of the tortoise he's probably a very good indicator of how things have changed around here climatically. Tommy has been free range in the garden for 25 years. Back in 80's he'd normally hibernate from about late Oct til early March, during the 90's that became mid Nov to late Feb and since the turn of the century about early Dec to Mid Feb. Last year he reappeared on the 12th Feb, this year it was yesterday afternoon, having gone down in early December (no wonder he's looking knackered... ) I guess a case could be made for him becoming increasingly hardy with each passing Winter, but I rather think much of this is down to the fact it's just doesn't get cold enough these days to keep him inactive - hopefully his overall well being will not suffer as a result.

None, we're there already across much of the south... :lol:

I think northern areas will probably see more snow at times during Feb and March, especially over high ground, but for the bulk of England and Wales it's probably game over for another Winter - not that the game ever started for most of us.. :o

Like PC I'm sure he'll justify his forecast through todays very localised snow event, but in reality the 2nd half of January looks set to be the complete opposite to what TS predicted.

I'm not disputing that fact Eddie, just highlighting what a sad state of affairs things are in. Cold Januarys are like hens teeth and even normal Januarys seem to be almost impossible to achieve these days.

OK tks mate. Good call btw Geordiesnow, only 6.5c out with half the Winter still to go....

10.4c, perhaps even a tad higher. If July and August turned out to be as anomolously warm as I expect Jan and Feb to be we could be even higher, but I don't think they will be anything other than slightly above average.

Is that an official site??

What a classic..

Yep, possible, but not probable IMO - who would have thought SKIFREAK would be the fave by the mid way point....

I think my local one must be 200% full by now... :lol:

Thats probably because it's only been cold a couple of times in the last 5 years....

I think the latest Glen Ogle ob (08:00hrs) is worthy of a mention. WNW 76mph, gusting 107mph, with an ambient air temperature of -1c. Brrrrrrrrr.... :lol: Anyone fancy calculating a windchill equiv temp from that??....

I'm sure you were more than happy to put the old dear right though LN.... A "live real time arguement" must have made a welcome change from all your virtual ones on NW. Morover of course you were safe in the knowledge that if she'd gotten a bit lairy (like Ian Brown can do on here) you could have taken her down one on one - probably.... Only a bit of fun I might add.

Yes I very much think we have PIT. Having grown up down here in the sub-tropics, living in the Yeovil area in the early 80's taught me just how cold things can get in this country. We'd bought a new 2 up 2 down house, with the 3 bar electric fire in the living room being the only heating the property had. Despite leaving the doors open all evening upstair to allow the bedroom and bathroom to warm, we would regularly wake up with thick ice inside the window (which faced north). Also on one occasion I remember waking at around 6am, lifting my glass of water to my mouth and nothing happened. Then all of a sudden in the dark frigid room the ice that had formed on the surface gave way and I ended up soaking myself and half the bed in freezing water - you can imagine that went down well with the new wife! Nowadays we wouldn't entertain living like that. It was just the done thing back then and I remember at the time my inlaws had no heating whatsoever, making us rather soft with our 3 bar electric fire and me the butt of a few Cornish softie jokes. One thing of note regarding living this way, we all seemed to suffer from far fewer colds and viral infections during the winter months - did anyone else notice that?

Actually OON you are quite right to be sceptical re skateboarding ducks. My research has proven that the average length of a ducks leg (we're talking about the bit available to actually produce forward momentum here) is 51.71mm or 2" to you and I. Note-: This research excludes the Canadian Shovel Duck who's legs, just to be awkward, measure 75.7mm (3") when fully extended in the mating pattern. Now according to global experts in the rather odd world of skateboarding (street/urban not rural) skateboards have to exibit a central clearance (middle of the board) of 63mm, or in good old English 2 1/2". So my friend, unless said duck was either using an illegal board (instant $1000 fine) or was innocently grazing close to Porton Down (or in the unlikely event is one of the only 3 Canadian Shovel Ducks in existance) in the few week prior to the allegation, then he's a lying ducker.

Most of us can only dream about that amount of snow and we probably often do. What a great place to live, to say I'm green with envy is a massive understatement. I really do feel like calling you lots of names having seen those pix, none of them very pleasant.... Only joking

In short - No.