Nick L

Completely disagree I'm afraid. Perhaps we could bring the clocks forward earlier than late March but the idea of BST all year round, or worse, BST winter and BST +1 in summer are ridiculous. BST in winter would mean it's dark until well gone 9am in the mornings in December/January, while BST +1 in summer would mean it's light until about 11pm. I don't really get what people would do with extra evening light in the middle of December to be honest. What are people really going to be doing until 5pm rather than 4pm? The weather is crap half the time and most people would still be in work anyway.

Genuinely didn't know there was one on Tower Road. It would be a far better and healthier alternative to having several pints to get over the jetlag

Was about to suggest the same. Weirdly, I thought the same yesterday myself. Having said that, sunsets are about 10 minutes later now so perhaps we are noticing it a little? It all depends on the weather too. Having a clear evening will mean it stays lighter for longer than a gloomy one where it's dark half an hour before sunset.

It's only 7 or 8 minutes longer so I'd be surprised if you are genuinely noticing it.

A strange one really. Probably the best summer for a generation from a sun/warmth perspective, Beast from the East was superb, but I didn't hear a single rumble of thunder in the UK which is terrible. November and December were garbage.

Was pretty poor for most.

At least December 2015 was interesting because of how ridiculously warm it was!

This is one of the most frost-free Decembers I can remember, really poor in the south.

Posts about the Met Office outlook in the relevant thread please folks, guidelines state this clearly at the top.

No. You said that an SSW means nothing which is completely and utterly untrue.

It's amazing to think that the bizarre month of Dec 2015 was 3c warmer than this one!

Can we have some actual weather? Or even some sunshine?

The general rule of thumb is that any interesting astronomical event in the UK will be greeted by overcast skies.

Well, regardless of what happens going into 2019, this December has been garbage for wintry weather across southern Britain. Near absence of frosts, no wintry precip in my area and it seems to have been very gloomy too.

I think this just adds to the suggestion that the Met Office are basically done with the system. It's a good idea in principle I suppose, but the execution of it has been shambolic and pointless.

In all seriousness. The whole point of naming these things is to raise awareness, so people can prepare. What on Earth are they thinking? What can people possibly do at half 10 on a Friday night, hours before the event? Most people will be in bed and/or inebriated. I try to defend the Met Office when I can as fellow professionals, but what an utter joke. Edit: I suppose it's the Irish Met to blame here, but it should have been named long before this.

Hahahaha. I can just see the scenes in Exeter..."Oh crap, we forgot to name it! Quick! Put out a press release at half 10!"

I think even the Met Office have given up on this farce now.

Those odds are appalling. 4/1 at Heathrow?!

He beats us mercilessly every morning regardless. And my last flight with AA was superb. The American carriers are decent, it's BA you want to avoid, shocking these days.

Unless they have a uniform system across Europe for this kind of thing, with the same criteria then it's just a joke. I mean, even the same system between the UK and Irish Met have different criteria, there's no hope! It's an unnecessary confusion.

Wednesday's system has been named Etienne by the Portuguese. This is getting pretty funny now.

Mid-afternoon onwards. Leaving morning/early afternoon just adds more pressure to get back in time and could potentially wipe out a chase day.

The avatars are round on the Christmas theme

It's 9am but it's so dark outside. Imagine if we were on BST all year round