Favourite Decembers, previous December chat

[damianslaw]

December is a couple of weeks away, and as the adverts are festooned with snowy images, with christmas around the corner. Memories inevitable turn to Decembers of the past. Please use this thread to discuss your opinions on favourite Decembers, general chat about Decembers of yesteryear. You may want to single out a particular weather event, a memory from christmas weather.. 

When someone says December, my first thought is darkness and dullness. It is not renowned for being a sunny month and is our darkest overall. In many years it can be our wettest month - talking from a Lake District perspective - Dec 2015 springs to mind! I always think any cold settled snowy weather is a bonus, and never expect much from the month in this respect. Cold spells tend to fizzle out quick ousted by the atlantic but not always, 2009 and 2010 proved this.

My favourite December overall is a tough one to call, I'm 43 so my memories are only strong from about 1986 onwards.. I don't remember 1981 for instance.

I'M going to go with 2009, beating 2010 just, as it produced more snow, though was nowhere near as cold, and the cold weather only arrived by the 11th. It had more impact on the back of a general run of either very wet mild winters, or just episodic ones for cold weather, 1981 was the last cold one!

2010 was superb and had we had one decent fall of snow that stuck around it would beat 2009. The cold was exceptional and seeing rivers and lakes freeze over will last etched in memory for a long time. The run up to christmas was especially magical. The cold did ebb away from the 27th after a snowfall.

1995 is my third favourite, generally cold throughout, with an exceptionally cold last week. Not much snow, but what snow did fall stuck around. 

Honourable mention Dec 2000, last week of the month brought a very heavy snowfall.

Worst December 2015 - hand down, mildest on record, wettest on record.