Winter 2022/23 - Moans, Ramps & Chat

[Arch Stanton]

1 hour ago, Frigid said:

SE folk must be satisfied with this winter so far. A pretty good snowfall in December with a severe cold spell, snowfall on ground for around a week. And another cold spell in January with notable mins. Only thing that let it down was the mild period mid Dec to Jan. 

Its a change from the dull, nondescript winters they get over there. 

Yes agreed, apart from the drenching that came after the Dec cold spell. Indeed, some recent winters here had barely any frost on the ground throughout the winter, whereas this winter (well since November) I've lost count its been so many. I prefer it with snow on the ground but I'll take it over perpetual mild days with plants not knowing what season it is. This is good for my garden so I'm happy, but not good for my next energy bill!

Edited January 23 by Arch Stanton

[saintkip]

33 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

It's cloudy over here, and the temperature is above zero, so no fog and no frost; possibly a better representation of the airmass than an isolated frost hollow stuck under an inversion? 🤔

Mmm about 200 square miles of frost hollow and I’m not sure Basingstoke Is a frost hollow 

[adrianh]

Been a strange winter really - we've had 2 cold spells of a week or more in Sheffield and snow on the ground too. It just feels like it never really delivered to the full potential. Not looking forward to the next few days of chilly, murky nothingness - the worst of all weather types imo.

[Team Squirrel]

2 hours ago, Shane said:

I used to be a fan of cold weather, but a £400 electricity bill in December (storage heaters...) has me looking in fear of a prolonged cold spell. Living in a flat with single pane windows is no fun (landlord wont change them and already gave me a warning for using shrink-wrap to do homemade glazing.)  

So for the 1st time in my life i am really hoping any cold spell is short. 

 

Same - £420  for our 2 bed flat despite us only putting the heating up to 20.c a couple of times, mostly 18/19.c even on coldest nights and only in the living room and bedroom, no heating at all in kitchen, box room, bathroom or hallway where it' pretty much always somewhere between 14.c and 17.c. We think our ancient and seemingly uncontrollable immersion heater is using up a lot of electricity - still we'll be out of here by summer. I can't ever seem to get truly warm. We had a bereavement over Christmas  so this winter will be remembered for being utterly cold and sad, never wanted spring so much.

[Bristle Si]

4 minutes ago, Team Squirrel said:

Same - £420  for our 2 bed flat despite us only putting the heating up to 20.c a couple of times, mostly 18/19.c even on coldest nights and only in the living room and bedroom, no heating at all in kitchen, box room, bathroom or hallway where it' pretty much always somewhere between 14.c and 17.c. We think our ancient and seemingly uncontrollable immersion heater is using up a lot of electricity - still we'll be out of here by summer. I can't ever seem to get truly warm. We had a bereavement over Christmas  so this winter will be remembered for being utterly cold and sad, never wanted spring so much.

Electric immersion heaters are notoriously expensive. Any one in here looking to move house, whether renting or mortgage, avoid any property with only an electric immersion heater, like the plague, if you can.

As for the weather i suspect the jet will fire up in 7-10 days time, bringing cold rain for many, bar far North of UK which may see a more wintry mix.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

I am enjoying this colder spell and would like it to be the dominant weather pattern up to mid March (though would be nice if we had some snow). There is plenty of time for it to be mild from then onwards.

It's not that often we get a proper cold and sunny spell in winter these days, so you may as well just enjoy it while it lasts.

Edited January 23 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Eagle Eye]

Here's my thoughts for those who don't read the MAD model thread. Slowly we see the evolution towards a more zonal pattern but I don't think a full blown zonal. I could see a setup for a brief cold spell/snap potentially evolving but not too much of note before mid February. Mis-late February may offer some help with the MJO modulation moving towards Phases 6-7 and the extension of the Pacific jet being a good indicator of the retraction of the Atlantic jet so those two may combine to offer some hope of another proper cold spell. So whilst a major SSW with a Trop response is unlikely, I don't think Winter is over by a long shot; just need to be lucky.

[MP-R]

I often think of roughly 20th Jan to mid Feb being the coldest part of the winter with least zonal activity so this period would be the best for severe cold before the sun starts gaining too much strength. It would be very bad luck to land up with zonality during traditionally the quietest part of the winter.

[Methuselah]

Meanwhile, things look like staying rather dire: 

 

[kold weather]

3 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

Meanwhile, things look like staying rather dire: 

 

If getting mins between -6c and -8c, glorious wall to wall sunshine and great ice/frost is dire, I really would love to see how you would have described the late December into early January spell 😀 

I'm not sure id have the vocabulary if this is dire already!

[RJBingham]

8 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

Meanwhile, things look like staying rather dire: 

 

URGH 😠

[Methuselah]

7 minutes ago, kold weather said:

If getting mins between -6c and -8c, glorious wall to wall sunshine and great ice/frost is dire, I really would love to see how you would have described the late December into early January spell 😀 

I'm not sure id have the vocabulary if this is dire already!

I guess it's all down to personal preference, isn't it? But, anyway, wall-to-wall cloud at 4C doesn't exactly float my boat...🥶

[Froze were the Days]

2 hours ago, Frigid said:

SE folk must be satisfied with this winter so far. A pretty good snowfall in December with a severe cold spell, snowfall on ground for around a week. And another cold spell in January with notable mins. Only thing that let it down was the mild period mid Dec to Jan. 

Its a change from the dull, nondescript winters they get over there. 

Well not all have seen snow...I travelled around on the 12th December and many coastal districts (Essex) and further north received nowt but rain, but yes if you like frosty/icy conditions so far this winter has been better than average just a shame we didn't get the seasonal conditions over the Xmas and New Year period.

See BBC once again has been well out with their extended forecast (as from mid-week last week)...they had Sunday and Monday down for 9c, the reality is yesterday had a max of 4c and currently sitting at 2 degrees, they really want to kick that MeteoGroup into touch, not the first poor forecast 5 days ahead I've seen over the last couple of years.

[KTtom]

1 hour ago, RJBingham said:

Even though it's freezing outside (literally) where the front door has had the sun on it, is really warm, it feels like spring is not far off now, thank heavens.

Its warmed up in the west now, currently 7 c and predicted double figures from Wednesday, trouble is we have to pay for it with cloud!  

[kold weather]

20 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

I guess it's all down to personal preference, isn't it? But, anyway, wall-to-wall cloud at 4C doesn't exactly float my boat...🥶

Yeah I understand that, I've enjoyed the good amount of sunshine lately, it's been a lovely change from the 23 out of 26 days of rain we have had before this point!

[Methuselah]

Just now, kold weather said:

Yeah I understand that, I've enjoyed the good amount of sunshine lately, it's been a lovely change from the 23 out of 26 days of rain we have had before this point!

Of course, Darren... I'm hoping the cloud moves away/disperses tomorrow night, as I do enjoy a spot of hard frost and freezing fog, at this time of year.

[RhHh]

29 minutes ago, Froze were the Days said:

Well not all have seen snow...I travelled around on the 12th December and many coastal districts (Essex) and further north received nowt but rain, but yes if you like frosty/icy conditions so far this winter has been better than average just a shame we didn't get the seasonal conditions over the Xmas and New Year period.

See BBC once again has been well out with their extended forecast (as from mid-week last week)...they had Sunday and Monday down for 9c, the reality is yesterday had a max of 4c and currently sitting at 2 degrees, they really want to kick that MeteoGroup into touch, not the first poor forecast 5 days ahead I've seen over the last couple of years.

Agree regarding the BBC forecasts. I missed the lunchtime forecast yesterday but the previous Sunday's forecast for the week was embarrassing with the lack of detail. 

[SussexSnowman]

1 hour ago, Froze were the Days said:

Well not all have seen snow...I travelled around on the 12th December and many coastal districts (Essex) and further north received nowt but rain, but yes if you like frosty/icy conditions so far this winter has been better than average just a shame we didn't get the seasonal conditions over the Xmas and New Year period.

See BBC once again has been well out with their extended forecast (as from mid-week last week)...they had Sunday and Monday down for 9c, the reality is yesterday had a max of 4c and currently sitting at 2 degrees, they really want to kick that MeteoGroup into touch, not the first poor forecast 5 days ahead I've seen over the last couple of years.

Being someone in the procurement profession, I remember them re-tendering this service and the Met Office losing out in the tender process. 

Lowest cost never equates to greater value. Be interesting to see who wins out when the contract is re-tendered. MeteoGroup have been pretty awful when forecasting cold I’ll say that much.

[Arch Stanton]

3 minutes ago, SussexSnowman said:

Being someone in the procurement profession, I remember them re-tendering this service and the Met Office losing out in the tender process. 

Lowest cost never equates to greater value. Be interesting to see who wins out when the contract is re-tendered. MeteoGroup have been pretty awful when forecasting cold I’ll say that much.

Agreed, Meteogroup are dreadful. I noticed a long time ago how their forecasts, in particular their graphics for snow showers are way off the mark. It was a few winters back and we were under a mild westerly with +7c to +10c temps for the majority of England & Wales, but Meteogroups graphics looked like something out of Narnia with loads of 'white' shower blobs all over Wales and Dartmoor; it was complete fantasy and nothing could have been further from the truth.

[alexisj9]

3 hours ago, kold weather said:

If getting mins between -6c and -8c, glorious wall to wall sunshine and great ice/frost is dire, I really would love to see how you would have described the late December into early January spell 😀 

I'm not sure id have the vocabulary if this is dire already!

Its not the same here, or where he is, more or less a constant 3 ⁰c and cloudy, although some sun has been around on other days I suppose.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Going out to school run in 3c felt very warm compared to this mornings -6c! How bizarre! I could feel the sun on my legs. Lush!

[matt111]

2 minutes ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

Going out to school run in 3c felt very warm compared to this mornings -6c! How bizarre! I could feel the sun on my legs. Lush!

I did notice the warmth of the sun today which was nice. Despite the higher temperatures expected later in the week with it looking cloudy it probably won't really feel much better than it did today. In fact inside it'll probably feel colder as there won't be any sun to warm the house up. 

[Wynn D Woo]

5 minutes ago, matt111 said:

I did notice the warmth of the sun today which was nice. Despite the higher temperatures expected later in the week with it looking cloudy it probably won't really feel much better than it did today. In fact inside it'll probably feel colder as there won't be any sun to warm the house up. 

It definitely felt like an early spring day this afternoon when I popped outside, the warmth in the sun is certainly noticable now

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Despite temps being lower, we are having the heating on less than we did when it was mild and wet. The fact that it has been sunny and dry makes a huge difference. Just shows that a cold winter spell doesn't necessarily mean that the heating will need to be on more often.

In regards to the strengthening sun, I can't really say that I've noticed it yet. I don't usually start to notice until around early Feb. Though I have certainly started to notice the lengthening daylight hours in the afternoons.

Edited January 23 by Weather Enthusiast91

[matt111]

2 minutes ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

Despite temps being lower, we are having the heating on less than we did when it was mild and wet. The fact that it has been sunny and dry makes a huge difference. Just shows that cold winter spells doesn't necessarily mean that the heating will be on more often.

Yes the only day during this cold spell we've had the heating on longer was yesterday when it was cloudier but apart from that it's only been on in the evening when it usually is. During the dull, wet weather it was often on during the afternoon as well.

 

4 minutes ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

In regards to the strenghtening sun, I can't really say that I've noticed it yet. I don't usually start to notice until around early Feb.

I guess it could also be down to the fact we've hardly had any sun in recent weeks. It's certainly been a nice change.