Winter 08-09, How Will It Rank Against Others?

[Iceni]

I can't give stats, but I can say this winter has been a reasonably good one. Much more 'normal' if you are my age.

Particularly good were the 3 or 4 ice days we had in January, I took some lovely pictures of the hoar frosts. A lot of people were moaning about the lack of snow, but I liked it just as much, if not more than the snow we had later on, the countryside looked stunning.

All in all I feel I had my winter fix and I'm now looking forward to spring and summer without feeling cheated for a change.

[Summer of 95]

I think posters including myself are just adherring to the title of the thread which says winter 08-09. In meteorological terms that is 1st of December to the end of February.

It is a moot point I agree- everyone has their own definition. If this question had been asked at the end of Feb 1995 I'd have said "Rubbish winter, 3 months of rain after the warmest November since the Jurassic or something". At the end of March "Rubbish midwinter, March saved it". And 2005/6: "Nice cold snaps, where's the snow" became "Haven't seen snow that deep for a decade".

[Terminal Moraine]

2008/09 was the coldest winter here since 1996/97 which equalled this winters' mean temp' of 2.3c. 27 mornings with lying snow was the most since 1995/96 but 31 days with sleet or snow falling was exceeded in 2004/05 ( 34 ) and equalled in 1999/2000.

43 air frosts was the most since 1995/96.

[reef]

Here it was the coldest winter since 1995/96, but still 1.2C warmer than that year.

The Figures (1971-2000 average in brackets)

Days of Snow Falling: 10 (17)

Days of Snow Lying: 3 (7)

Air Frosts: 17 (18)

Average Max: 6.2C (7.3C)

Average Min: 2.4C (1.9C)

Mean: 4.3C (4.5C)

Lowest Temp: -2.8C

Maximum Snow Depth: 4cm

Longest Time of Lying Snow: 15 hours

Winter Index:

2003/04 51

2004/05 36

2005/06 53

2006/07 18

2007/08 17

2008/09 48

A pretty poor showing to be honest. 2003/04 and 2005/06 were better showings in recent years for wintry weather.

Edited March 4, 2009 by reef

[Terminal Moraine]

2008/09 was the coldest winter here since 1996/97 which equalled this years' mean temp' of 2.3c, 1995/96 was the last colder winter.

27 mornings with lying snow and 43 air frosts were both the most since 1995/96 but there were more days with falling sleet/snow in winter 2004/05 which had 34 as opposed to 31 this winter.

The accumulated snow depth of 57.0cm was the most since 1993/94.

It was the driest winter since 2006 and the sunniest since 2004, the latter largely due to a very sunny December.

[johnholmes]

interesting stats there TM from one of the higher level areas

[Thundery wintry showers]

Exeter has had its 4th Met Office "snow day" with more than half cover at 0900 GMT. The 1971-2000 average is 3 days. The total number of days of lying snow over the years 2004-2008 combined was no greater than 3 (some say only 1).

Certainly a notable season by recent standards down here. Further north and on high ground within the South West, as with the February event, there has been quite a sizeable dumping.

[Weather-history]

22nd November 2008 - 14th February 2009 CET: 2.9

Other such periods in the last 100 years that were as cold or colder still.

1990-91: 2.9

1981-82: 2.9

1978-79: 1.9

1962-63: 0.3

1952-53: 2.7

1946-47: 2.6

1940-41: 2.8

1939-40: 1.6

1928-29: 2.8

1916-17: 1.6

Edited March 6, 2009 by Mr_Data

[Terminal Moraine]

That's a surprisingly short list. If nothing else it highlights how many winters which are recognised as being cold tend to start off fairly mild, with really cold weather kicking in towards, perhaps, the end of December and continuing beyond the middle of February.

The winter just gone however was rather cold or cold from the outset and, at least under the period quoted, was never very cold but never very mild either.

[Duane S.]

In answer to the thread question and having not read the thread yet (I will later), I would have to say it ranks as 'a decent old skool winter' round these parts.

Not spectacular but looking out through my window now I can see the hills towards Dorchester are still bright white from yesterday's very impressve snow event down here. AND, not for the first time either. This is something that has been a VERY rare sight over recent years but was something you would always see, at times, throughout winters of old (70's, 80's, not old enough to remember before then). Some winters back then, of course, would be like our more recent ones but they were the exception.

As somebody who was flying the flag of sense and not concurring with those who remained steadfast in their beliefs that this sort of thing couldn't happen again in marginal places like Weymouth, I must admit I am glad we have had this winter as I too was beginning to lose faith as well.

Yesterday should've been sleet at best, it wasn't, it has restored my faith 100%.

Edited March 6, 2009 by s4lancia

[Thundery wintry showers]

I have the February stats for Cleadon in now, and it is clear that the mild second half was especially mild in that region- the mean for 15-28 February was a whopping 8.5C!

Overall, then, it turned out to be the coldest winter quarter, alongside 2000/01 and 1996/97, since 1995/96. December and January were both cool by recent standards, but not outstandingly so (both being the coldest since 2001), then February was above average, but still the coldest since 2006.

Snow-wise it turned out to be the snowiest since 2003/04, with the same frequency of snow cover (9 days) but fewer days of snow falling (15, as opposed to 18 in 2004). Those of 1998/99 and 2000/01 were almost as snowy, as I mentioned earlier. However, again it was nearly the snowiest since 1995/96 which had 21 days of snowfall and 15 of snow lying.

Thus, to sum up, for Cleadon near the Tyne & Wear coast, the winter was merely representative of the long-term average.

The stats for Exeter tell a rather different story, with December and January both well below average and February close to average- so comfortably the coldest since 1995/96. There were 3 Met Office "snow days" over the winter quarter, but Thursday 5 March added a fourth, beating the 1971-2000 average of 3 days per year. According to local reports, Exeter didn't even manage 3 such days over the past 5 years- so very notable by recent standards. Further north within Devon it has been an even more notable winter with three separate falls of 10-15cm even on low ground, which might well make it the snowiest winter there since the 1980s.