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Fading memories of 2010


Optimus Prime

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Posted
  • Location: G.Manchester
  • Location: G.Manchester

Bit of an odd-ball topic this;

Whilst sitting down and eating I noticed something that brought back memories of a very short period of time when frosts and snow seemed limitless. Below the guttering and on the panel are marks that were left by icicles that hung for weeks in December 2009/January 2010 and more especially December 2010. 

I noticed the markings after they had all dropped off and melted in the January '11. I'm surprised they are still so visible.

 

 

 

IMG_0413.JPG

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Posted
  • Location: Crewe, Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, storms and other extremes
  • Location: Crewe, Cheshire

You're making me all nostalgic!

Yes the thing I remember about the period is the icicles as I'd never really seen them 'in the flesh' before so to speak. I remember them hanging down off the front of car number plates too. Really was a great bit of winter weather.

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Posted
  • Location: south wales uk
  • Weather Preferences: hot and sunny
  • Location: south wales uk

Didnt enjoy it one bit and have loved the winters since.....hardly any snow:laugh:

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Posted
  • Location: G.Manchester
  • Location: G.Manchester
16 minutes ago, CreweCold said:

You're making me all nostalgic!

Yes the thing I remember about the period is the icicles as I'd never really seen them 'in the flesh' before so to speak. I remember them hanging down off the front of car number plates too. Really was a great bit of winter weather.

With the snow element aside also the frosts in March and October. Classic bone chilling mornings . Misty and bright with frost.

Aside from the snow I really remember the cloudy and wintry nature of Nov/Dec '10. A dangerously cold wind early on in this period (but not as cold as the wind in March 2013!) then those orange sunsets in the evening and low temperatures associated with snow cover and misty skies. A really classic year that. For the U.K it beats 1979 & 1963 as being a year with the most instances of frost;

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/datasets/AirFrost/ranked/UK.txt

 

Unlikely to be repeated in our lifetime. 

Edited by Optimus Prime
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Posted
  • Location: N.E. Scotland South Side Moray Firth 100m asl
  • Location: N.E. Scotland South Side Moray Firth 100m asl

Yes this was a spell of very wintry weather which I thought I would never see after the warmer winters of the 80s and 90s and  I would only have memories of my childhood snowy winters of the 60s and 70s

 

Mid December 2010 70cms of snow. Temperature -5cIMG_1098_1.thumb.jpg.30fe783baefa7d2a89b8381089e7536c.jpg

 

Icicles Mid December 2010 Temperature -10cIMG_1121.thumb.jpg.f5482f93b541ca912d816c7405b0af0a.jpg

 

Lake Effect Snow Late November 2010 coming in off the North Sea up the Moray Firth from the NE.. Temperature -6cIMG_0001_43.thumb.jpg.52dd0ec1595f7a84d960d155d59dd735.jpg

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl

Yes 2010 was quite an anomaly overall, generally chilly or cold throughout, with only limited bursts of warmth, with long periods of colder than average weather, and quite often much colder than normal, thanks to strong heights wedged in over the arctic. Westerly airstreams were notable by their absence, except unfortunately during the summer. To achieve 2 winter months in the space of 12 months, at or below -1.5 degrees very notable. December 2010 was exceptional. Winter 09/10 superb for copious amounts of snow. Late November highly unusual. I enjoyed the autumn especially lots of dry sunny frosty weather. Despite all the cold and snow, we only managed a fall of 4-5 inches at best on 4 Dec.. just missed out on the 5 Jan, and we were sheltered from the easterly winds throughout much of December. Still local lakes all froze over, and even the River Kent in the centre of Kendal, the first time since 1963 I think.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

It does seem like a while ago doesn't it, but then again it was 6 and a half years ago now which is a fair while. Even the more recent very cold and snowy spells we had in January and March 2013 seem quite a while back now but even they were over 4 years ago now. Our Winter weather has been pants since then with very little snow that hasn't even stuck around for a day. I hope Winter 2017/18 has something better to offer, but after pinning my hopes on 4 failed Winters in succession now I should probably lower my expectations. This cluster of mostly mild dominated and practically snowless Winters has got to break eventually though so there's some hope for next Winter there.

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Posted
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)
  • Weather Preferences: Unseasonably cold weather (at all times of year), wind, and thunderstorms.
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)

Ah the icicles! I have a photo of a huge icicle (perhaps 3' long) hanging off a pub lantern, I'll have to dig it up. March 2013 was also great for icicles back in Chelmsford, hanging from roofs and cars in large numbers, and that was all during a period when the days were longer than the nights.

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London

I think 2017/18 winter will buck the trend of recent milder winters, that have dominated since the autumn of 2013.

I would love a return to the winters if 2008/9 - 2010/11 period, as this was the best time for colder winters since the mid 1980s, and early 90s.

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Posted
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet

A truly exceptional set of winters and one that many are probably lucky to have experienced in their lifetimes. 

For me aged 20 at the time, the winter of 09/10 was by far the snowiest and most persistently cold winter i have experienced in my life. I recorded snow on the ground for 30 days consecutively and a peak depth on the 6th Jan of 29cm. 

For that to be followed by Dec 10 was exceptional, this was a month which saw rivers freeze over (something i'd not experienced) and for much of England the nights were bone chilling. Bar that spell in the middle (sadly) it would have been perfection. Fortunately at nearly 200m asl the snow on nearby fields did make it between the periods for a duration of 25 days on the ground and a peak depth of 23cm. 

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Posted
  • Location: Medlock Valley, Oldham, 103 metres/337 feet ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, snow, thunderstorms, warm summers not too hot.
  • Location: Medlock Valley, Oldham, 103 metres/337 feet ASL

To have back to back bitterly cold snowy Winters was fantastic. Even Winter 2008/2009 was pretty good with a couple of decent snow falls. Better than anything in the last 3 Winters!

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Posted
  • Location: Salisbury
  • Weather Preferences: Plumes and streamers
  • Location: Salisbury
On 09/06/2017 at 21:14, Relativistic said:

Ah the icicles! I have a photo of a huge icicle (perhaps 3' long) hanging off a pub lantern, I'll have to dig it up. March 2013 was also great for icicles back in Chelmsford, hanging from roofs and cars in large numbers, and that was all during a period when the days were longer than the nights.

You bury your icicles?

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Posted
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: Cold & Snowy, Summer: Just not hot
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire

December 2010 was by a long shot my favourite weather month, the depth of the cold was incredible. Shame it was such an exception that will likely never be seen again. 

Edited by Nick L
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Posted
  • Location: Crewe, Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, storms and other extremes
  • Location: Crewe, Cheshire
9 minutes ago, Nick L said:

December 2010 was by a long shot my favourite weather month, the depth of the cold was incredible. Shame it was such an exception that will likely never be seen again. 

I think people of the cold/snow persuasion should definitely count themselves so very fortunate to have lived through, pretty much, the most extreme December ever in terms of depth of cold. I don't think another December will top that in our lifetimes.

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Posted
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District South Pennines Middleton & Smerrill Tops 305m (1001ft) asl.
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District South Pennines Middleton & Smerrill Tops 305m (1001ft) asl.

2010 was my perfect winter, Days of heavy snow and blizzards with the lanes full wall to wall with snow round here, And sub zero Temps around the clock touching -20c one night. As you can see from my profile picture icicles hanging of the cow sheds around 3ft were of an abundance. I very nearly shed a tear of joy..

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Posted
  • Location: Medlock Valley, Oldham, 103 metres/337 feet ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, snow, thunderstorms, warm summers not too hot.
  • Location: Medlock Valley, Oldham, 103 metres/337 feet ASL
19 hours ago, CreweCold said:

I think people of the cold/snow persuasion should definitely count themselves so very fortunate to have lived through, pretty much, the most extreme December ever in terms of depth of cold. I don't think another December will top that in our lifetimes.

Just shows how utterly rubbish our default Winters are when something like Dec 2010 occurs most Winters in places like the Baltics & Eastern Europe. I remember talking to some random guy from Lithuania out and about & he said "This is nothing, it's like this every Winter in my country!"

Edited by Frost HoIIow
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Posted
  • Location: Poole, Dorset
  • Location: Poole, Dorset

This was taken around 22nd December 2010 about 5 miles outside of Blandford, Dorset.

Looks like a thatch roof provides the ideal conditions for lots of icicles to form! Very fond memories of this time.

IMG_1314 3.JPG

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Posted
  • Location: sheffield
  • Weather Preferences: Basically intresting weather,cold,windy you name it
  • Location: sheffield

The surprised joy of opening the front door of that day in early Dec 2010 to nearly a metre of snow will always be there. Remember ringing work and with a clear conscious saying,not a chance of me getting in today!:) Once in a lifetime though i suspect sadly.(mean with a clear conscious i could make that call!)

Edited by markyo
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Posted
  • Location: Near Romford Essex.
  • Location: Near Romford Essex.
21 hours ago, CreweCold said:

I think people of the cold/snow persuasion should definitely count themselves so very fortunate to have lived through, pretty much, the most extreme December ever in terms of depth of cold. I don't think another December will top that in our lifetimes.

'if' we are on the road towards more extreme (that's what the experts say) weather events,   then perhaps,  the wait could be less than a lifetime?

I'll have a stab, that a winter month in the next 3 years, will be remarkable .:cold-emoji: Fingers crossed for December.

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Posted
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: Cold & Snowy, Summer: Just not hot
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
2 hours ago, Frost HoIIow said:

Just shows how utterly rubbish our default Winters are when something like Dec 2010 occurs most Winters in places like the Baltics & Eastern Europe. I remember talking to some random guy from Lithuania out and about & he said "This is nothing, it's like this every Winter in my country!"

Our climate in general is just crap.

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Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)

2008/09 to 2012/13 were a great run of winters, with at least one heavy snow event in each.

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