What would make the perfect winter

[Mark Bayley]

A perfect winter for me would be more that a few cm of snow to start with!

[Kay]

I am usually a cold lover, but both my husband and myself have lost our jobs in the last 2 months, my ideal winter this year would be for a few short snowy/cold spells with sunny milder days in between. But of course if one or other of us gets a job this will drastically change my outlook.

Heres hoping for 2 new jobs and a lot of cold/snowy/frosty winter weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[I remember Atlantic 252]

i wanna bring back the retro winters when i was a little boy, loads of snow, seemed to get snowy easterlies all the time, i wanna see more arctic north westerlies, used to give me loads of snow through cheshire gap, or of course the class position of 18th-20th nov 1996, (not mentioned a lot on here but one of my biggest snow memories)

any snow for me now is gone so quickly

[Zenarcher]

I want a huge storm with 80mph winds for a few days then snow so deep it reaches the top of your house.

[sundog]

I would love lots of very cold frosty clear crisp days(which is fav weather after snow) and of course a few snow events. If i got that i would be very happy. But unfortunatly i probably wont

[stormforce 10]

I would love lots of very cold frosty clear crisp days(which is fav weather after snow) and of course a few snow events. If i got that i would be very happy. But unfortunatly i probably wont

ditto

[Snowyowl9]

The Great Feb 1986...it was sheer perfection. It started at the endo of January with LP almost moving N to S after splitting just west of the UK due to huge area of HP to our east over Russia. Th LP then anchored itself over France and so an easterly started to feed in which initially and quickly brought day time temps to +4c. Bill Giles then quoted 'If you think its cold now you wait until 2 or 3 days time....the rest is history. CET of -1.1

BFTP

From november to March these are the perfect months/charts including Blast`s from Feb 86 well it started end of Jan.

Edited September 14, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[I remember Atlantic 252]

even larger teapot stinks, i wasnt around for the proper winters

these charts not possible now

Edited September 14, 2008 by mark forster 630

[damianslaw]

Loved the last week of December 1995 -for Scotland and far north of England it was one of the coldest spells of the last century.

My ideal set up would be a greenland high in situ for most of the winter ensuring low pressure steers on a southerly track and behind them we are enveloped in lovely arctic continental/maritime air bringing sparkling visibility and plenty of snow showers, at times the high would ridge south killing off showers to bring dry sunny but sub-zero weather. A winter with plenty of late Feb 2006/early Mar 2006 weather would be great, I wouldn't necessarily want a permanent freeze up, just a winter made up of of snowy spells interespersed with dry frosty sunny weather and a couple of milder alebit shortlived wet spells..

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

the last severe winter ever to hit the U.K was 1978/79 Since then there not been a single severe winter. Yes we had very severe spells in the 1980s but these were short in duration. the last good freeze was feb 1991. when we had a foot of snow and day time temps well below freezing.

Daniel

Winter of 84/5 I would say constitutes a severe winter. Dec 5.2 average, Jan 0.8, Feb 2.1. Two months of well well below average.

I think the decision to be made by looking at the posts is long period of cold weather or severe shorter spell of cold weather before milder returns. Examples are Jan 85 0.8c CET but was cold throughout or Jan 87 which had same CET but shorter cold spell but much more severe. I loved them both and Jan 87 matches anything this country has received because of the severity of the cold. I will post two typical/iconic charts from them months and see what you think.

Can't get hold of them at present will try later

BFTP

Edited September 15, 2008 by BLAST FROM THE PAST

[Thundery wintry showers]

Loved the last week of December 1995 -for Scotland and far north of England it was one of the coldest spells of the last century.

I remember it very fondly, as in Cleadon I recall it delivering a real White Christmas by every sense of the definition- falling and settling snow on and off during the day, some sunny intervals in between, and a snow cover throughout the day, increasing from about 2 inches early on to 3 inches late in the day.

My suspicion is that most areas further south may have not had such low temperatures primarily due to lack of snow cover (it seems other than Scotland, parts of N England, parts of Wales, N Ireland and Norfolk, most places had little or no snow cover) but the snow-covered areas widely got very low, e.g. -20C at Glasgow Airport.

My ideal set up would be a greenland high in situ for most of the winter ensuring low pressure steers on a southerly track and behind them we are enveloped in lovely arctic continental/maritime air bringing sparkling visibility and plenty of snow showers

I generally prefer the Greenland High setup to the Scandinavian High setup for much the same kind of reason- I find that airstreams from NW, N and NE, and also easterlies with an arctic continental source, tend to give rise to that kind of weather, whereas an easterly from a Scandinavian High will often bring more of a south-eastern European air source, and consequently a lot of dry cloudy weather. I'm well aware that if the Scandinavian High is the right shape and throws up a ridge to our north, the end result can again be sunshine and snow showers, but this can't be relied upon.

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Daniel

Winter of 84/5 I would say constitutes a severe winter. Dec 5.2 average, Jan 0.8, Feb 2.1. Two months of well well below average.

I think the decision to be made by looking at the posts is long period of cold weather or severe shorter spell of cold weather before milder returns. Examples are Jan 85 0.8c CET but was cold throughout or Jan 87 which had same CET but shorter cold spell but much more severe. I loved them both and Jan 87 matches anything this country has received because of the severity of the cold. I will post two typical/iconic charts from them months and see what you think.

Can't get hold of them at present will try later

BFTP

Sorry here we go

Then following are temps on the 24th of each month

BFTP

Edited September 15, 2008 by BLAST FROM THE PAST

[Thundery wintry showers]

That 12 January 1987 chart is a pretty good illustration of the kind of Scandinavian High setup that can deliver the classic setup of towering Cb cells and heavy prolonged snow showers, another good example was the February 1991 chart I posted up earlier.

[Snowyowl9]

The 12 January as far as showers were they were on the light side falling from just blue skies blowing in the wind small cumulus coming from an east/NE, during a monday as I remember with lots of sunshine extremely dry magical flakes of very powdery snow slow falling flakes, after the overnight snow and blizzard from 2 nights before.

The amazing thing is though the sun didn`t thaw anything not even frost on a gate incredible that was one the coldest days ever :lol:

Edited September 15, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[Devon-Nelly]

Some snow would be nice :lol: .

But i would personally like to something similar to the cold snap we had in late December 2000.

It was my first white xmas as i lived in B'pool at the time, we had snow on the ground for 5 days (good 2 to 3 inches or so), and temps down to -8c, and up to 0c-2c during the day.

But that type of cold snap wouldn't produce any snow down here, so easterly winds with heavy dry snow on and off for several days would be nice.

[sundog]

Some snow would be nice :lol: .

But i would personally like to something similar to the cold snap we had in late December 2000.

It was my first white xmas as i lived in B'pool at the time, we had snow on the ground for 5 days (good 2 to 3 inches or so), and temps down to -8c, and up to 0c-2c during the day.

But that type of cold snap wouldn't produce any snow down here, so easterly winds with heavy dry snow on and off for several days would be nice.

I remember that cold snap in late Dec 2000 well,i got some snow out of it aswell. I thought it was a fairly potent cold snap that one and im surprised its not mentioned more often,and also the cold snap of late Feb 2001, in Dublin on the 27th it snowed for the guts of 24hrs.

Edited September 15, 2008 by sundog

[West is Best]

Daniel

Winter of 84/5 I would say constitutes a severe winter. Dec 5.2 average, Jan 0.8, Feb 2.1. Two months of well well below average.

Indeed Fred. And February 1986 at -1.1C was colder by far than anything 1978/9 produced. That was severe empirically, not merely by memory. In fact the winter months from November 1985 though February 1986 were colder than the corresponding four months of 1978/9. February 1986 is the great forgotten winter month, except by a few of us. It was bone dry (an example of how awful easterlies can be) but bitterly, bitterly, bitterly cold.

From a purely selfish perspective now that I cycle to work I don't in some ways want anything too ridiculous! But a large part of me would like to see the cooling trend continue with a decent winter once again. Some snow, deep crisp and even would be nice - especially if it happens to fall in the run up to Christmas.

Edited September 16, 2008 by La Nina

[Tucco]

Indeed Fred. And February 1986 at -1.1C was colder by far than anything 1978/9 produced. That was severe empirically, not merely by memory. In fact the winter months from November 1985 though February 1986 were colder than the corresponding four months of 1978/9. February 1986 is the great forgotten winter month, except by a few of us. It was bone dry (an example of how awful easterlies can be) but bitterly, bitterly, bitterly cold.

From a purely selfish perspective now that I cycle to work I don't in some ways want anything too ridiculous! But a large part of me would like to see the cooling trend continue with a decent winter once again. Some snow, deep crisp and even would be nice - especially if it happens to fall in the run up to Christmas.

The winter months CET for 1978-79 was 1.6C, compared to 2.9C for 1985-86. If you include March instead of November as part of the winter, 1978-79 is colder still

Main problem with 1985-86 is lack real depth of snow, it score well and days snowfall and lying but depths were limited.

Near here at Widdybank Fell remained below freezing all month in Feb 1986

Mark

Teesdale,Co Durham

[I remember Atlantic 252]

i remember dec 00, from boxing day until new years eve, i had loads of snow in the small hours of the 28th, 29th and 30th cold all day with thick rime

28th

and then snow on new years eve before 2001 started with a mild thaw, i remember it raining at the turn of the year

decent cold spell

Edited September 16, 2008 by mark forster 630

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Indeed Fred. And February 1986 at -1.1C was colder by far than anything 1978/9 produced. That was severe empirically, not merely by memory. In fact the winter months from November 1985 though February 1986 were colder than the corresponding four months of 1978/9. February 1986 is the great forgotten winter month, except by a few of us. It was bone dry (an example of how awful easterlies can be) but bitterly, bitterly, bitterly cold.

From a purely selfish perspective now that I cycle to work I don't in some ways want anything too ridiculous! But a large part of me would like to see the cooling trend continue with a decent winter once again. Some snow, deep crisp and even would be nice - especially if it happens to fall in the run up to Christmas.

Indeed Richard, there was snow at the start of the cold spell and that stayed put for the whole month. Frost penetrated to the depth of 1 metre down....very severe. The sheer persistence of the cold is the most memorable, a neighbour gave me and my mates an old car bonnet and being from Swansea I lived on a hill and near a field....it was the best sledge ever!!!!! Oh those were the days. My boy is 3 1/2 now so a snowy spell would be great...Redhill has some hills :lol:

BFTP

Edited September 16, 2008 by BLAST FROM THE PAST

[TEITS]

I would like to add that rather than a prolonged cold spell I would love to see an exceptionally severe blizzard. The ideal set up would be a Greenland HP becoming established bringing the cold airmass from the NE. I would then like to see a very deep LP tracking along the M4 or slightly further N. The corresponding weather for me would be heavy snowfall and very strong winds from the E. I would require alot of luck with the track of the LP because those to the S of the LP would see snow then rain, turning back to snow as the LP pulls away. If the LP tracks just to the S of me I remain on the cold side of the LP so the precip would start and remain as snow.

[Tucco]

Wouldn't mind a repeat of these days

Jan 14 th 1987 Snow shrs with gust of 77mph at Warcop Range.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119870114.gif

The ultimate for me has to be 14/15 Feb 1979

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119790214.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119790215.gif

Strength of the wind plus heavy snow and sub zero temps, perfection.

Mark

Teesdale,Co Durham

[Pennine Ten Foot Drifts]

If I ever experience another January 1982 I will be happy :lol:

An absolutely fantastic almost two day blizzard, followed by a week of icy cold clear days. For me, a sixteen year old living in a village in mid-Wales, it was heaven. We were cut off for five days, had no electricity, (not so terrible though as our heating was provided by wood burning stoves), were off school for a week, spent the time building snow tunnels in the huge drifts and making sledging runs down the lanes, (as the snow was piled up between the high hedges).

To be honest if the rest of the winter is rubbish, but we get two weeks like this, I'll still be happy !

Edited September 16, 2008 by Pennine Ten Foot Drifts

[West is Best]

If I ever experience another January 1982 I will be happy

An absolutely fantastic almost two day blizzard, followed by a week of icy cold clear days. For me, a sixteen year old living in a village in mid-Wales, it was heaven. We were cut off for five days, had no electricity, (not so terrible though as our heating was provided by wood burning stoves), were off school for a week, spent the time building snow tunnels in the huge drifts and making sledging runs down the lanes, (as the snow was piled up between the high hedges).

To be honest if the rest of the winter is rubbish, but we get two weeks like this, I'll still be happy !

Gosh I remember that winter too. There was some staggeringly cold nights. In fact I think the UK min was broken was it not at around -25C? I can recall getting up to drive to school (A level pupil) and the cold was sooooooo intense everything was solid. The car battery simply couldn't function in the cold - nada. Fantastically cold spell.

[Anti-Mild]

Gosh I remember that winter too. There was some staggeringly cold nights. In fact I think the UK min was broken was it not at around -25C? I can recall getting up to drive to school (A level pupil) and the cold was sooooooo intense everything was solid. The car battery simply couldn't function in the cold - nada. Fantastically cold spell.

The UK record is -27.2c which has occurred on 3 occasions: 11/2/1895, 10/1/1982, and 30/12/1995.

I think the English record was set on the 10/1/1982: -26.1c at Newport.

I was only 7 at the time but I distinctly remember mini-icebergs drifting down the Tay in the centre of Perth, which also happened in December 1995.

Edited September 16, 2008 by Anti-Mild