Spring moans, ramps, chat and banter

[knocker]

 

Edited February 28, 2016 by knocker

[reef]

You just know that negative anomaly to the west in the Atlantic will expand again to envelop the UK during summer. Such is the frustrating nature of our climate at the moment!

Edited February 28, 2016 by reef

[johnholmes]

56 minutes ago, knocker said:

 

To me that chart looks pretty similar to, I think it was UK Met, showed in November, cold anaomaly in the NE Atlantic and +ve temperature anomalies for most of the adjacent land masses?

 

[coldcomfort]

Hands up those who are genuinely surprised to see some cracking wintry charts emerging across the model suite now we are in official meteorological spring? Frankly snow in March just doesn't cut it for me, by this stage I'm looking for building warmth to match the lengthening days, the last thing I want to see is cold, raw and sleety conditions when it's still light until close to 7pm. However, what I want ultimately won't matter one iota, our seasons are well and truly out of kilter and having endured months of mild extended autumn across winter I am fully expecting to endure months of cold extended winter during spring...and no doubt we will also have to endure month of extended spring across summer, with October again offering the best chance of summery conds.....

Edited February 29, 2016 by coldcomfort

[knocker]

 

[Cheshire Freeze]

23 hours ago, mushymanrob said:

"its not sprinklike"?

lets see

lengthening daylight?.... check

strengthening sun?....... check

fresh spring air?............ check

birds singing springtime mating calls?.... check

springtime flowers and blossoms in bloom?.... check

warming up?................. not really

seems to me the only springtime element that doesnt fit the springtime description are temeratures, and as we all know seasons are not determined by temperatures alone! so please dont tell me its not springlike, because apart from temperatures it certainly IS!

The birds have been doing their mating calls since December! They have here anyway.

[SLEETY]

10 minutes ago, knocker said:

 

what was the actual mean temp

[knocker]

1 hour ago, SLEETY said:

what was the actual mean temp

-5C

Edited February 29, 2016 by knocker

[The PIT]

Well last day of winter goes out on a rather cold dry note. Not a single day with full Snow cover and only one day with measurable snow in the morning. A wet winter and 4th warmest winter we've recorded. Fairly quiet winter overall only three days where 60 mph gusts were recorded. 

[cornish snow]

3 minutes ago, The PIT said:

Well last day of winter goes out on a rather cold dry note. Not a single day with full Snow cover and only one day with measurable snow in the morning. A wet winter and 4th warmest winter we've recorded. Fairly quiet winter overall only three days where 60 mph gusts were recorded. 

Lucky,i never saw a flake

 

[The PIT]

Actually posted in the wrong thread doh.

Just thinking if the weather turns up as shown on the models we may see more Snow in March than the winter months combined.

[mountain shadow]

Just now, The PIT said:

Actually posted in the wrong thread doh.

Just thinking if the weather turns up as shown on the models we may see more Snow in March than the winter months combined.

Not seeing much snow on the models Pit away from higher ground. Cold rain or sleet at best for most, but even sleet would be more than what most have seen.

[jy]

Well,having waited 65 years to go through a Winter season not seeing a single snowflake last year,something I thought would never,ever happen,its happened for a second consecutive year,where we go from here im not too sure lol

[Benjamin]

With global warming, I imagine it's something we'll have to get used to.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

sigh, back to normal from tomorrow, low pressure, wet days, paying for the 9 dry days on the trot

[markyo]

2 hours ago, jy said:

Well,having waited 65 years to go through a Winter season not seeing a single snowflake last year,something I thought would never,ever happen,its happened for a second consecutive year,where we go from here im not too sure lol

I think it's time to wake up and smell the coffee,global warming is here,i've been on the road with my job for over 30 years,things have and are changing at a frighting rate. We have a lot to answer for.

[Costa Del Fal]

I'm not saying this winter has been normal because as we have seen records have been broken. However, I still think a large problem is the expectation of snow from weather enthusiasts here (understandable I may add) when the uk winter climate has never been renowned for that. People seem to expect the whole country to be under a blanket of snow for most of the season when it's so rare. The Gulf Stream and Atlantic will always put our chances down and it will always have taken good Synoptics in the past to deliver. Didn't see anyone complaining during 2008-12 period where we had good snowfalls? Was the climate rapidly changing then....? Only seems to be during the milder winters we say this. The default uk winter has always been mild and wet! 

Again I am not saying this winter has been normal as such but even the average days of snow falling for most of us isn't that great and no doubt the averages include days where just sleet showers fallen. Probably only takes 1 flake to fall. 

Anyway, they always say Easter has more chance of snow than Christmas and it looks like early March at least may give is the best chance possible to salvage something. However I'm not surpised March often delivers snow as the seas reach their coldest points and the polar vortex naturally begins to break up, inevitably allowing that bottled up cold air to finally leak to the mid latitudes. Often the case.

best of luck for all those hoping for some snow this week. Saw feet of the stuff in Lapland a couple of weeks ago - dare I say it was bordering on too much! They were using tipper HGV's to take the snow away as there was no room left to pile it up!!!

[jy]

34 minutes ago, markyo said:

I think it's time to wake up and smell the coffee,global warming is here,i've been on the road with my job for over 30 years,things have and are changing at a frighting rate. We have a lot to answer for.

sadly you may well be right

 

[markyo]

43 minutes ago, Costa Del Fal said:

I'm not saying this winter has been normal because as we have seen records have been broken. However, I still think a large problem is the expectation of snow from weather enthusiasts here (understandable I may add) when the uk winter climate has never been renowned for that. People seem to expect the whole country to be under a blanket of snow for most of the season when it's so rare. The Gulf Stream and Atlantic will always put our chances down and it will always have taken good Synoptics in the past to deliver. Didn't see anyone complaining during 2008-12 period where we had good snowfalls? Was the climate rapidly changing then....? Only seems to be during the milder winters we say this. The default uk winter has always been mild and wet! 

Again I am not saying this winter has been normal as such but even the average days of snow falling for most of us isn't that great and no doubt the averages include days where just sleet showers fallen. Probably only takes 1 flake to fall. 

Anyway, they always say Easter has more chance of snow than Christmas and it looks like early March at least may give is the best chance possible to salvage something. However I'm not surpised March often delivers snow as the seas reach their coldest points and the polar vortex naturally begins to break up, inevitably allowing that bottled up cold air to finally leak to the mid latitudes. Often the case.

best of luck for all those hoping for some snow this week. Saw feet of the stuff in Lapland a couple of weeks ago - dare I say it was bordering on too much! They were using tipper HGV's to take the snow away as there was no room left to pile it up!!!

Disagree strongly i'm afraid,2008-12 period was a colder time in the uk but the worldwide affects didn't mirror this,the change has occured,like it or not our climate will change beyond anything any of us will have ever expected,sorry to say any less is basically wrong.

[Costa Del Fal]

43 minutes ago, markyo said:

Disagree strongly i'm afraid,2008-12 period was a colder time in the uk but the worldwide affects didn't mirror this,the change has occured,like it or not our climate will change beyond anything any of us will have ever expected,sorry to say any less is basically wrong.

I am certainly not denying our climate is changing. To be fair it always has changed, rather it's rate of change is increasing imo. I'm not saying climate change does not exist and I should have made that clearer. 

Yes the 2008-12 period was still part of an overall changing climate, again not denying that but what I am trying to get across is that spells of good and bad winters come and go and they have done for decades. There are plenty of very mild nearly snowless winters in our past and blocks of snowier ones come along too. It has happened before and will happen again in future.

I just think that as the snow enthusiasts have been let down for a few winters in a row, it's added a bit of an overly pessimistic this is the end of winter altogether attitude. Things are always changing and I have no doubt climate change will as the name suggests continue to alter things down the line but as before, good and bad winters will follow. 

[MP-R]

In all fairness Costa del Fal, I think weather enthusiasts expect snow at all, not necessarily for weeks on end - even deepest mainland Europe struggles to get that. I expect a bout of snow in at least 2 out of 3 winter months in the same away as I expect a bout of heat in 2 out of the 3 summer months. It's a bit simplistic saying we should just expect the Atlantic to rule the roost all winter as that's very rarely the case.

Personally I'm not bothered whether it snows at Easter or not, it takes something pretty out of the ordinary to get snow that late in the southern half of the UK. So many more synoptic situations will bring snow at Christmas.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

5 minutes ago, MP-R said:

In all fairness Costa del Fal, I think weather enthusiasts expect snow at all, not necessarily for weeks on end - even deepest mainland Europe struggles to get that. I expect a bout of snow in at least 2 out of 3 winter months in the same away as I expect a bout of heat in 2 out of the 3 summer months. It's a bit simplistic saying we should just expect the Atlantic to rule the roost all winter as that's very rarely the case.

Personally I'm not bothered whether it snows at Easter or not, it takes something pretty out of the ordinary to get snow that late in the southern half of the UK. So many more synoptic situations will bring snow at Christmas.

eh? that's the way it is though, I expect nowadays the Atlantic to dominate from late Nov through to at least Mid Feb, whenever it dosen't is rare and a bonus especially early Dec to mid Jan, to me is the most westerly/stormiest period of the year

[MP-R]

22 minutes ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

eh? that's the way it is though, I expect nowadays the Atlantic to dominate from late Nov through to at least Mid Feb, whenever it dosen't is rare and a bonus especially early Dec to mid Jan, to me is the most westerly/stormiest period of the year

You're a month out, generally I'd expect Atlantic weather to get going in October and be lessening throughout January. There's a reason February is on average such a dry month.

Ah well, I think we've established your corner of the world has it's own climate, cold winters of the 90s and all...

[Costa Del Fal]

44 minutes ago, MP-R said:

In all fairness Costa del Fal, I think weather enthusiasts expect snow at all, not necessarily for weeks on end - even deepest mainland Europe struggles to get that. I expect a bout of snow in at least 2 out of 3 winter months in the same away as I expect a bout of heat in 2 out of the 3 summer months. It's a bit simplistic saying we should just expect the Atlantic to rule the roost all winter as that's very rarely the case.

Personally I'm not bothered whether it snows at Easter or not, it takes something pretty out of the ordinary to get snow that late in the southern half of the UK. So many more synoptic situations will bring snow at Christmas.

Again, I am not saying all we should have is Atlantic dominated weather. Unfortunately I don't have the time to cover every side to my posts to prevent this sort of thing so I apologise If I haven't made myself clear. Although I have been studying the UK climate/weather for more than long enough to know our climate is more complex than just the Atlantic being in control! I have seen plenty of wild variation. However it is the form horse by some margin. Some winters see it more than others. That is just the variable nature of things. Swings and roundabouts. Many of our 'average' snow days I reckon are from PM wintry showers from Atlantic lows though to be fair. I accept these wintry elements have been lacking this year but i remember quite a few evenings with wintry showers in the south west over the last couple of years. They do exist and will exist again in future.

It's all about perception, expectation and experience. If one expects every single winter to have to have lying snow you will always be disappointed and disgruntled but if you have the context to know how much the Atlantic can be relentless you lower expectations/become less disappointed. I like to see it as taking the rough with the smooth. Good and bad periods come and go. They make up our averages. Average is really just a fine dot on a broad scale of possibilities and often we are leaning much more to one side. 

Science suggests a bulk of our colder winters has coincided with solar minimums. If correct, a bout of colder, snowier winters may not be too many years away again.

All in all, far too complex for me to go into more detail at this time of the evening. lol

Edited February 29, 2016 by Costa Del Fal

[MP-R]

Well thanks for taking the time to post that Costa. Maybe I should expect each winter to be dominated by the Atlantic, at least then most years my expectations will be exceeded. Sadly, having managed lying snow in the mildest of winters past, it's very difficult to lower my expectations. I will however state that I do not expect winter 09/10 every year lol.

I think in any other winter, given the synoptics we've had, more of us would have had one if not two snow events already. Jan 18th and Feb 13th come to mind here.