Can You Be Objective About Describing Your Winter

[Eugene]

Absolutely crap winter here apart from a two week period late Jan to mid Feb and a three day snap in mid Jan with a real lack of nice anticyclonic spells Nov to Jan when they are most effective for surface cold, when you want HP to dominate over the UK it usually comes too late in mid March when you want something more interesting weather wise.

[UV-RAY]

Absolutely fantastic winter if you prefer rain, drizzle, and cloudy skies. Otherwise the second worst winter in my 48 years if snow and cold rock your boat. We had one snowfall that deposited just under a cm, which managed to last a paltry four hours. Only 88/89 ranks worse, and that had two snowfalls both of which dumped more than this winters woeful amount.

[SP1986]

I have to say even 2006-7 and 2007-8 had more snow than winter 2011-12, which is quite bizarre, considering 2006-07 et al were much milder than this winter.

I couldn't say there was a lack of frosts because there wasn't, the 18 days of air frosts for example was around normal for this location, but the lack of wintry weather was unusual, particularly the complete lack of wintry showers in a northwesterly airflow. We had one instance of falling snow this winter, and that only stuck around for half a day!

[Don]

From a IMBY perspective, Winter 2011/12 was certainly poor compared to Winter's 2008/9, 2009/10 and 2010/11. However, the second half of 2011/12 was somewhat better than the second half of 2010/11 delivering two moderate snowfalls. Also, pre-2008, this Winter would have actually been one of the better ones of the previous 20 years believe it or not! The mild second half of February was disappointing but I have certainly experienced worse Winter's in my time.

[West is Best]

I alternate between Devon and London and it was poor in both places for me. In Devon we have been spoilt for a few years now with some fantastic snowfall. This year saw one dusting. I missed the London action on 5th Feb and by the time I arrived the next day it was a paltry affair. We had a sprinkling on 9th Feb but I personally wouldn't describe it as 'significant'.

Eminently forgettable.

[stewfox]

Absolutely crap winter here apart from a two week period late Jan to mid Feb and a three day snap in mid Jan with a real lack of nice anticyclonic spells Nov to Jan when they are most effective for surface cold, when you want HP to dominate over the UK it usually comes too late in mid March when you want something more interesting weather wise.

Was it 'crap' or average compared to last 100 years in your region.

That was the point I was trying to make.

[March Blizzard]

A very average winter in the Manchester area to be honest. I think many people have allowed the cold of recent winters to cloud their judgement of what should be expected of a British winter ie Mild and wet - and that is exactly how it's been here.

December - Dull and actually quite wet, 174mm recorded at Woodford just a few miles away from me. Also very blustery and windy. Only 2-3 instances of snow falling and only 5mm or so of short lived lying wet snow on one occasion in mid month. Maxima and minima temperatures not too far apart, distinct lack of sharp frosts.

January - see December although slightly less windy, dull and not as wet.

February - First half had low maxima and low minima, but not exceptionally so. Not as dull as either December or January nor anywhere near as wet, but not seriously dry either.

What has got me is the lack of a really cold night all winter. I think the lowest all winter was only about -6C or so, if that. A far cry from the -17C of Jan 2010 and -15C of Dec 2010.

All things considered it was as average as you could expect for a winter in this neck of the woods.

[mountain shadow]

I cannot recall a worse winter for snow and frost in my 38 years. Only one 15 minute snowfall observed with zero snow lying days.

Apart from those couple of cracking storms in December the weather has been benign.

[Harps]

Same here, living on the north coast of Ireland for over 20 years I can't remember a worse as far as cold and snow goes, we had only a handful of days of falling snow and not even a single day of lying snow which to my admittedly short memory at least, is extremely unusual. I enjoyed the first half of December with a few storms and plenty of raging cold zonal conditions bringing thunder and hail but after mid December it was a pathetically uneventful Winter, the early January storm being the only other noteworthy event all Winter

Overall..

December, first half was cool, windy and showery with plenty of hail and thunder and a few strong storms (easily the most interesting spell of the winter from a weather watching point of view). Second half was mostly settled and cloudy

January, a strong storm at the start of the month, dull, grey and non-eventful thereafter

February, Started off clear, sunny and cold, including the only 'cold' spell of the winter with a few air frosts, after that, a full month of grey and drizzle

Temperatures above average for the most part

Edited March 10, 2012 by Harps

[Aaron]

Was it 'crap' or average compared to last 100 years in your region.

That was the point I was trying to make.

It was average temperature rise, but both January and December had no snow accumulation - December isn't so unusual but for January it's highly unusual.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Aaron

[Richard2901]

The winter was exceptionally snowless and frost free. Comments suggesting that it was an average UK winter are utter nonsense,

I only recorded 4 days of lying snow compared to an average of almost 20. Only one post-war winter -1956/57 had less lying snow while 1991/92 had the same. Though with just 6 days of lying snow since the start of 2011 this has undoubtedly been the most snowless 14-month period ever recorded in this area

By contrast there have been several winter months having over 20 days of lying snow like December 2010 - mostly in the 40s, 50s and 60s. So from a historical perspective this winter has been more unusual for its lack of snow than December 2010 was for its excess.

Inland Aberdeenshire had a bit of snow in December but has been virtually snowless since mid-January and the average there is 40-60 days of lying snow.

This is now the third virtually snowless winter in 6 years - reminescent of the dire days of the late 80s and early 90s and contrasting with the more normal winters between 1999 and 2006 when 6 out of 8 managed at least one spell of 7-10 consecutive days of snow cover. The 2 that didn't - 1999/2000 and 2004/05 were still snowier than 06/07,07/08 and 11/12.

[Aaron]

Perhaps people are suggesting it was an average winter in their back yard

[johnholmes]

the short answer to the title is

some can some cannot!

For a pretty unbiased view countrywide maybe a read of this link will provide the answer?

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2012/winter.html

[Helvellyn]

Overall slightly above average and fairly dry - as the metoffice map suggests.

Although we did scrape an ice week in Feb in this particular pocket of east essex; with over a week of lying snow.

[philglossop]

It was an average winter regarding temperatures down here in the daytime, but night times were clearly warmer, with the need to scrape the windscreen only once (the morning of the 3rd February) and I'm still on my 1st can of de icer I bought!

In line with the previous winter when we had a day of lying snow, the only snow we saw was on 31st January from a quick passing shower (and that was at work in Plymstock some 3 miles away from here) which didn't settle. I was in London on the night of the 4th Feb, so did get my snow fix. It snowed in East Devon as that front worked in, but nothing here nor in Cornwall as for as I'm aware.

The biggest factor this winter is just how dry it's been down here- in fact I'm struggling to recall having to wear my full work wet weather gear since November. But then again we were closest to the High in the SW approaches which set the tempo for the winter just gone,

Edited March 10, 2012 by philglossop

[mountain shadow]

the short answer to the title is

some can some cannot!

For a pretty unbiased view countrywide maybe a read of this link will provide the answer?

http://www.metoffice...012/winter.html

Well, one of the mildest winters on record in NI, cannot disagree with that and given I am from the east coast of Scotland I believe I have just experienced my worst ever winter for snow and frost in my 38 years.

[knocker]

Sure it was great apart the brief cold spell so hopefully it helped the elderly and those on low incomes with their heating bills.

[Bottesford]

Around here its been a good winter in my own opinion.

It's been very sunny and had a complete lack of cold/raw/cloudy days that are only any good at putting your bills up.

The cold spell delivered a good dumping of snow - far better than anything 2010 gave us. We don't get much snow around here anyway so perhaps wouldn't rate highly on other peoples scales - but for here it was good. And it fell over a weekend meaning it could be enjoyed rather than endured.

The main thing though has been the high sunshine totals which has made this winter feel so much less depressing than many others have been. Being stuck under low cloud for two weeks isn't fun yet it happens often in our winters. But not this one.

[TonyH]

Rather mild, rather dry, no snow lying at all.