Azazel

Looks a bit cold and miserable this far south west. Grim. Hopefully that warm air bottled up in Southern Europe starts marching north soon.

Also, I have a great memory of going to beacon hill when I was a teen to meet some friends in the snow. After a slightly dodgy drive up the A34, we began our ascent of Beacon Hill wearing no waterproof clothing of any kind and just your standard footwear. It took us over an hour to get to the top and about half way up, the path had completely gone and the snow was up to our knees. When we reached the top, we realised all of our friends already up there had sledges to get back down again, whereas me and my friend had absolutely nothing. We watched them zoom away from us down the hill, laughing and giggling as they shrunk into the distance and became tiny black specs against the white landscape. Not to be defeated, we decided to just sledge down the hill ourselves...on our faces. Mustering all our strength, we took a lunge and jump and penguin-dived face first into the snow over the brow of the hill. Slowly but surely, we began to gather pace - rocketing down the slope at a rate of knots - 2 streamline human missiles sped down the incline. At some point, I hit a badger set and flew into an unstoppable summersault. I began rolling down the hill violently, tumbling head over heels, unsure of which way was the right way up. It was then I saw my friend flash past me upside down screaming as he careened through the air like a spinning bullet in a violent pirouette. I remember thinking to myself "this was a bad idea" as I smashed off another rabbit hole with a hollow thump and I could hear the tormented cries of my friend nearby as he barrelled down the hill next to me, but mercifully, I began to come to a halt as I reached the bottom and more gentle, flatter land. Eventually I came to a complete stop and managed to catch a glimpse of my friend as he slowly and pathetically slid up against the wire-fence at the bottom of the hill, face-down and completely motionless. Amazingly, neither of us were hurt(seriously) and we managed to beat the guys on the sledges to the bottom!

I always make bacon sandwiches for whoever is around - a tradition I continued the sunday morning before last when it was snowing. When I lived in Whitchurch, I would trudge to my friend's house where we would have bacon sandwiches and then we would make suits out of bin-bags and trek the mile or so to a place called "the hangings" which has a large hill. Often large numbers from the town would congregate there - cue enormous snowball fights and sledging etc. After that, we would make the journey back home, stopping to buy ingredients for a roast dinner - soaked and exhausted, we would cook a roast then veg out on the sofa until it became time to go home.

So i dont follow the model thread closely but I saw the beast from the east was arriving saturday earlier in the week - now its wednesday next week? Is that right? I'm guessing by the weekend it will have been pushed back to the following weekend?

It’s really noticeable now even on a cloudy horrible wet day like today. Really looking forward to that first still evening above like 12 degrees when you can smell all the plants starting to come to life.

Probably got a few cm here in the end. Melting now though.

Biggest flakes I’ve ever seen currently - probably the size of TWO 50ps stuck together.

Snow. Looks like it’ll pass through pretty fast though but maybe a few cms by the end.

I can’t remember what the sun looks like. I swear it’s been overcast and dreary here for weeks now. Pure filth.

I live in the stormless, snowless black-hole of Calcutta also known as North Hampshire. This Winter so far (at the half way mark) has been another dud. Some cold days with a couple of frosts, but a 5 minute wet snowfall which melted on impact with my soaking wet patio was as good as it got. Fully looking for spring now - really need the sun to make an appearance for any early signs to start emerging.

it has been cold here with some nice frosts but without any snow, kind of a dud really. Looking forward to some slightly milder weather now which might produce the very first signs of spring.

Again, not to take away from the ‘hunt for cold’ or to be inflammatory in any way, I’m just starting to look for the signs to alleviate my SAD which is needed more than ever in this mad rollercoaster of a year. First daffodil shoots now sprouting in my usual location. Our tree has finally lost all its leaves so I expect to see some buds forming soon - think they might be in for a shock! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I hope we all see some snow soon:)

No storms in the summer and no snow in the winter. North Hampshire is weather purgatory. This vile, cold grey and damp weather is the worst winter has to offer really. I would rather it freakishly mild like nearly other winter over this.

The thunder snow event was 2004 I’m pretty sure of it. Never seen anything like it before or since.

Slight dusting in Andover and occasional very wet snow falling lightly alternating with rain. This alone equals the winter of 2019 where I saw snow falling for 10 minutes in early 2020.

Slight dusting this morning - wet flakes alternating with sleet and rain now. Nice to see but it’s already slushy and gross.

This thread is completely bipolar and difficult for someone with a very limited understanding to follow. One post will be talking about potential blizzards but is immediately followed by the next post talking about bbqs and swimsuits. I understand nothing is nailed on and most of the posting will involve charts deep into the future, but it sure is confusing! Merry Christmas to all of you anyway and I hope we all see some of the white stuff over the next couple of months.

I’ll be honest I don’t understand what any of you are saying at the best of times.

I wear a jumper most of the year - it has to get stupid hot for me to get my arms out. Last summer was bang average really. The spring was beautiful though but July was god awful and again there was a complete dearth of storms. Anyway, I’m in two minds regarding snow potential this winter. Half of me wants to be buried in snow up to my first floor window but then half of me is a little concerned with the current Covid situation. I don’t like the idea of ambulances struggling in the icy conditions and people who are sick and need help being cut off. On the flip side, it should mean less people mixing which would be good.

The wheels are coming off in the day 10 model thread. Its my fault - told my mates that snow prospects are looking decent from Christmas onwards - now everything is shunted into at least January. Oh well.

Only a few weeks until I start keeping an eye out for the first signs of spring!

Noisiest night since moving to our house 4-5 years ago. Worst sleep ever.

Today is an example of why I hate this time of year. Dank, wet and cool. It could be any day between October and March. I would love something genuinely seasonal, i.e. calm, foggy and frosty or even a proper storm, but you know this absolute detritus will dominate for the next 5 months.

I wouldn't mind an extra hour of darkness in the morning - I'm in the office anyway so it's not like I can appreciate morning light, but it is nice to have a bit of light when I get home to walk the dog or whatever. A fair compromise for me would be as another poster above said - put the clocks back forwards earlier in the year from like late February or something.