Mild Weather

[Coast]

Just got back form Portsmouth and had the roof down all the way as it is so sunny and relatively warm. The mid November sun was a bit low but very welcome. People I was speaking with this morning (non weather types) were trying to tell me no good would come of all this mild weather and we would be in for a harsh Winter.

I just left it

[Isolated Frost]

After last December, I must confess I don't really want snow either. I was always a snow lover, but it changed my perception as it was so inconvenient getting to work and home again. My mum couldn't get out, and I hardly saw my sister for weeks and she only lives about 8 miles away!

We say 40cm at the peak in early December and 25cm even 5 days later. Aswell as 10cm of snow and -10c on christmas day. We easily managed to get round the area and ventured as far south as York on the 18th, and north as Alnwick on the 30th November.

Southern softy

[Thundery wintry showers]

Lol!

A lot does depend on how much travelling you do and where, when and how- neither of my parents had any significant problems during last November/December apart from a brief interlude around the 1st-3rd December when the snow came in sufficient quantities to leave Cleadon effectively cut off. But I know of others from the Tyne and Wear regions who had more significant problems, especially if they had regular plane/train journeys or had to drive into remote areas, and quite a number of snow lovers across the region felt that they had "too much of a good thing" last December.

I must admit that I sometimes found myself hoping for temporary thaws on those occasions during the 2009/10 winter when the snow turned to solid ice, but those experiences didn't dent my enthusiasm for snow, but rather made me less tolerant of those short-lived milder interludes (usually irritatingly termed "welcome respites" by our media) where dewpoints briefly creep above zero resulting in slush and then drop below again giving a refreeze into solid ice.

[Aaron]

During the winter of 2009/2010, the buses in Leeds did not stop running at all, and I still had to get up at 5 am and go to work despite 15 - 20 cm of snow.

During last winter, the buses were taken out of service for 1 day (which made it hell getting back), by the next day they were back up and running and going to work like usual.

The airport had over a foot of snow in December but was only closed for 2 - 3 days (compared to nearly a week at Heathrow for bloody 5 inches!), hardly any disruption..

Edited November 17, 2011 by Aaron

[Aaron]

I'm sorry but if people let things like that affect their weather preferences then there'd be absolutely no point in weather forums existing as nobody would be allowed to enjoy any weather that poses even the slightest risk to humans!

'Sorry, heatwaves caused over 2,000 people to die in the UK in 2003, you cannot enjoy it'

'Sorry, elderly people fall over, you cannot enjoy snow'

'Sorry, thunderstorms kill thousands every year, you cannot enjoy them'

'Sorry, tornadoes destroy families, you cannot chase them'

etc.

This is not the right forum for that.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Aaron

[jean91]

Concerning snow and traffic on the 8th of december 2010 in the Ile de France region which is the whole of Paris plus suburbs , it was a nightmare if you were driving a car.My sister did about 2 miles in 5 hours.My Father did 1 mile in same time 5 hour!!!!!! really a nightmare.

But i don't have a car and i was lucky as on this day i was looking after my niece and nephew ( i had a day off) and they are at the very opposite of where i live ( usually 1 hour and 30 mins )take 2 suburbian lines train with a tube ride in betweem. And this took me the same time as usual and during rush hour!!!

I was lucky as some delays were on the trains due to the fact that train drivers were blocked in traffic coming to work!!!!!!!!so trains are best during a snow traffic nightmare

When back home i immediately took a walk in the snow and was going much faster than all the cars!!!!!

sorry for this out of subject post ( answering posts ups)

Edited November 17, 2011 by jean91

[Milhouse]

Maxes of 15c in the SE today. Here it was quite a bit cooler but still i am liking the fact that i can walk around without getting too cold. There is a seasonal feel in the air and a cool breeze against your face which i do find quite appropriate for the time of year. However its not the sort of breeze that freezes you in seconds of being exposed to it.

[mountain shadow]

"Their sky is obscured by almost non-stop rain and cloud, though it never gets bitterly cold.... the soil will produce all the usual crops, and a lot of them. These grow quickly, but ripen slowly. Both have the same cause-both air and soil are excessively damp".

This was written about Britain by Tacticus, the son-in-law of Agricola, who was Governor of Britain in the latter half of the first century AD.

Probably had an atlantic trough, euro high issue as well back then.

[damianslaw]

The saying is If November ice bears a duck winter will be all slush and muck springs to mind ...I actually believe a mild November is a very good forebearer for a cold winter - I was very suspicious of last years ridiculous early cold in late Nov believing it was a bad omen for further cold and snow for the majority of the rest of the winter (take out dec and this was very true..). A bit like how I was feeling in April when we had the unusual sustained warmth - a bad sign for the summer.

The most notable aspect of the current mild weather is that it is being accompanied by dry sunny conditions with little wind, normally mild weather in Nov goes hand in hand with wet windy cloudy weather and for this reason it really doesn't feel like November. It is a very unusual set up for the time of year.. in what has been a very abnormal year synoptic wise, everything this year has felt so out of sync with the season.. next year I feel will be much more traditional.

Edited November 17, 2011 by damianslaw

[Isolated Frost]

Oops sorry neforum, may have sounded a bit harsh (woops).

Yes, anyway, warm sunny spells from high pressure and cool, showery northerlies will do me fine.

[Isolated Frost]

Tbf Damian- its not such a rare pattern and as you know sticks round for a while, oh and it's not been predominantly sunny here, with a prevailing south east wind we have had a lot of cloud cover, but as you say, a fair amount of sunshine.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'm sorry but if people let things like that affect their weather preferences then there'd be absolutely no point in weather forums existing as nobody would be allowed to enjoy any weather that poses even the slightest risk to humans!

'Sorry, heatwaves caused over 2,000 people to die in the UK in 2003, you cannot enjoy it'

'Sorry, elderly people fall over, you cannot enjoy snow'

'Sorry, thunderstorms kill thousands every year, you cannot enjoy them'

'Sorry, tornadoes destroy families, you cannot chase them'

etc.

This is not the right forum for that.

In fairness to neforum2 I don't think he meant to say that at all- he was reflecting on his own experiences, and if his negative experiences of December 2010 put him off snow then that's fine- it had that effect on quite a lot of people, just as some of the older members of this forum recall the winters of 1947, 1963 and/or 1979 having a similar effect.

I generally find that when my enthusiasm for a type of weather wanes it ends up as a very temporary thing (e.g. my interest in those "sunshine and snow showers" setups is very multi-faceted and it would be a tall order to destroy most of the individual facets), but that's just me, not all others feel the same way.

To be honest, I don't get anything like as wound up over the "it's selfish to enjoy snow at all times of year" argument as the "it's selfish only in spring" one.

The saying is If November ice bears a duck winter will be all slush and muck springs to mind ...I actually believe a mild November is a very good forebearer for a cold winter - I was very suspicious of last years ridiculous early cold in late Nov believing it was a bad omen for further cold and snow for the majority of the rest of the winter (take out dec and this was very true..). A bit like how I was feeling in April when we had the unusual sustained warmth - a bad sign for the summer.

The most notable aspect of the current mild weather is that it is being accompanied by dry sunny conditions with little wind, normally mild weather in Nov goes hand in hand with wet windy cloudy weather and for this reason it really doesn't feel like November. It is a very unusual set up for the time of year.. in what has been a very abnormal year synoptic wise, everything this year has felt so out of sync with the season.. next year I feel will be much more traditional.

Superficially it might appear a strong relationship, especially after last winter, but statistics don't really bear it out. The only relationship that does generally hold is that persistent severe cold and snow very rarely lasts for more than two months, e.g. the severe spells of 1947 and 1963 both spanned just under two months, while I checked the relationship between low December CETs and the subsequent Januarys/Februarys and found a tendency for cold Januarys and warm Februarys.

It's been mostly dry and sunny in parts of the west so far this month, but most eastern areas have been predominantly dry and cloudy with the odd bit of drizzle- this sort of split quite often arises with the winds off the North Sea. It's easy to forget that November 1993 started off with a pretty similar pattern, the first half of the month was actually quite mild and the month ended up cold overall due to the exceptional second half.

[Coast]

13.0°C here at 6.00 am this morning so miles way from a 'traditional' November morning? Still a long way to go to beat the record of 21.1°C on 2nd November 1938 at Chelmsford and Clacton, Cambridge, and Mildenhall.

[The PIT]

Yes the mild is very much back although it's mostly cloudy there isn't that steady drizzle and mist

[Gord]

I've always said that it must be mild in Autumn or Winter...then lets really go for it and break some records to make it interesting. That's why the 1st October was so significant. In fact, it turns out that it might be one of the most siginificant events of 2011 as a whole.

That's the reason why I'm a bit fed up this month...it's very tricky and near impossible to break any November records this late in the month. But then what should I expect during a season that cools us down from summer to winter?!

[damianslaw]

The sun makes all the difference at this time of year. Cloudy conditions under slack airstreams with little wind suppress temps markedly much as we say occur on Wednesday when places struggled to get above 8 degrees - not cold for November but not mild neither. Take tomorrow for instance many places will easily see 13 or 14 degrees thanks to the sun.

The only time the sun makes less difference is when we have a mild long fetch south/southwesterly when temps are uniform under cloud wind and rain and sun.

[conor123]

This relentless cloudy muck that always seems to plague here is beyond ridiculous now, the only time we see the sun is on a Sunday these days :lol:

[Gord]

At least the grey seems to be of a slightly different shade of grey today...

...or maybe I'm looking too hard for something interesting!

At least the upcoming Autumnal weather will occupy us for a bit and give us something different to discuss.

[Milhouse]

The main talking point over here today isnt the mild temperatures, but the blue skies we've had all day. The temperature is 10.6c so a bit nearer the average but feeling nice in light winds.

[Bottesford]

Blue skies and sunshine here all day and feeling warm enough for walking around in a t-shirt. Lovely stuff! The less lovely stuff was the Shakin Stevens I was subjected to in Wilkos earlier.

[Cookie]

At least the grey seems to be of a slightly different shade of grey today...

...or maybe I'm looking too hard for something interesting!

At least the upcoming Autumnal weather will occupy us for a bit and give us something different to discuss.

:lol: thats funny!!

we had a very dull overcast day here today, still take this over the endless cold, I wouldn't mind a short lived cold snap!

[Milhouse]

Blue skies and sunshine here all day and feeling warm enough for walking around in a t-shirt. Lovely stuff! The less lovely stuff was the Shakin Stevens I was subjected to in Wilkos earlier.

I know, it doesnt seem right at the moment to walk into shops and have Christmas music blasting out when its so mild outside. One of them has to go. My moneys on the music.

[95 Degrees]

Nice day here today, not warm but very sunny and pleasant low november sunshine and when it's like this the Euro High is my friend but when overcast and drizzly I wish the Atlantic or cold would take over control, will end up being a very mild november across Western Europe though.

[jean91]

In Toulouse ( south west France) on a year to year ( not sure of the english word ) 19th november 2010 to 19th november 2011 ( so including the cold december ) they are at 1.68c of anomaly in the plus.for a yearly jan to dec if dec goes on mild in the south west 2011 will be a year in the books for the warm temps.

And today in Paris been a very sunny day starting cold 2c in the far suburbs and about 5c in central Paris. top temsp were nearing 13c almost every where.Got a reading of 12.7c .Should only be 9c for average of 19th november.

[jean91]

Biarritz in the extreme south west is really having its historic month 2 daily record broken and highest mean averageup to the 15th ever plus with a par with november 1988 for 10 days with top temp at 20c or over , the lastest day is today at 20.9c !!!!!

I was there in august, maybe i should have gone in november!!!

Edited November 19, 2011 by jean91