487 replies to this topic

[bobbydog]

Alex Deakin summed up this winter- "a bucketload of c**t"

[January Snowstorm]

I thought this thread was designed for those who wish to have a good moan about the weather right now??

Anyway what's been an absolutlely chronic Winter for Southern Ireland good to see it continue
Afterall we wouldn't want a siberian blast from now on because it would de filled with 'what if's'
A truly dreary dank Winter for my location with little if any sunshine. Indeed the 4 hour toppler last weekend was like a breath of fresh air with good sunshine and a hint of Spring. Too late now just looking for a bit of heat and an early start to Spring.
Bring on the masters golf

[bobbydog]

January Snowstorm, on 21 February 2012 - 21:50 , said:

I thought this thread was designed for those who wish to have a good moan about the weather right now??

nope, read the very first post...

[DiagonalRedLine]

For a Winter, I must confess this one has been somewhat disappointing - this particularly true for snowy potential. With the last week or so of Winter likely to be mild, this has got to be my 4th, or possibly 5th least favourite Winter I have experienced here. To me, Winter 2006/2007, 1998/1999 and possibly 2007/2008 (though I admit not having much memory of that Winter) seemed to be a little more inferior than this one with the lack of snow. What has saved this current Winter so far from being a true nightmare here is...

1) Cool spell at the beginning of Decemeber delivering the odd spot of sleety weather.
2) Fairly decent cold period during the first part of February providing the odd few snowy outbreaks, with the odd brief 10cm dumping.
3) Some reasonable sunny periods with some fresh days.
4) A reasonable number of Cold Fronts churning out squally rain.

Bad points about this Winter here...

1) Not much frost.
2) Needed a few more heavy rain periods. Not personally a fan of the light rain/drizzle that I feel occurs a bit too much at times.
3) Could have done with a little more snow with the Solihull Snow Shield smashing to pieces a little more.
4) Barely much proper hail, except for the odd bit which fell from one or two odd showers throughout the season.
5) That High-Pressure system to the South-West remaining as still as a statue and being a culprit for stopping Lows undercutting High Pressure to the North-East/East

Strangely enough, although I mentioned this being an uninspiring Winter for snow, one thing that it gets respect for was that 10cm dumping of snow - something that doesn't occur every Winter here, so am grateful for that. I think it could be argued that I had my expectations set too high this Winter thinking we would get another cold spell similar to those experienced from the last two Winters. Another issue is that I tend to determine how good, or bad, a Winter has been depending how much snow and cold we have had. As such, I feel there is perhaps some inaccuracy towards this in my summary regarding this Winter. Maybe if it was not for those aspects, I may have appreciated this Winter more. I'm just hoping next Winter will bring more snowy surprises to the cold/snow fans to the West of the UK especially, although Spring may just bring in a few white surprises. In fact, just imagine if this Spring suddenly turned out to be more snowier than this Winter? Probably not impossible, but probably unlikely.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Terminal Moraine, on 21 February 2012 - 21:17 , said:

The Azores high is responsible for my least favourite weather types at all times of year and I would be quite happy never to see one near these shores again.
In winter we have the option of dry, cloudy and mild weather or a north/south split where all the rain falls over north western hills and the rest of us wallow in the cloudy mildness with occasional spells of drizzle or light rain as once active fronts die a slow and agonizing death as they are slowly swallowed.
And then in summer the A.H has the temerity to ridge north eastward to bring endless days of dry, warm weather with sunny spells and fair weather cumulus, which spread into broken sheets of stratocumulus during the afternoon.
It's the meteorological equivalent of Mogadon and just complaining about it makes me lethargic to the point of stupefaction.

As always I admire your ability to express unconventional views in a way that doesn't generate any negative reaction!
Despite being more of a warmth/sunshine fan than you I do share many of your sentiments regarding the Azores High (I have seen it referred to as the "Abores" high before, which may be appropriate)- not only does it prevent cold snowy setups in winter, it is also an effective suppressor of convection/thundery activity in summer. When it comes to the summer I may well be among those strongly interested in heat and sunshine, but rest assured that I will be hoping for that pesky Azores High to stay well out of the way, with the main source of heat and sunshine instead being a combination of Atlantic troughing and high pressure to the east. And as for the winter- it can stay away all the more.

[AderynCoch]

Today here is about as bad as it gets in winter - grey, drizzly and very mild. If you can compare the weather to food, then this is a potato - not a jacket potato filled with butter and smothered with molten cheese, just a standard spud. Bland and without excitement. A potato.

Tomorrow's exceptional mildness might be of interest if I get sunshine, as I could walk around in a T-shirt, but I'm not counting on it.

[sundog]

The weather this month has been exceptionally dull at my location. Day after day of dull mild damp weather generally. This month had potential but in the end its been every bit as bad if not worse then the rest of this terrible winter here.

[Bottesford]

It has turned pretty dull this week- well at least in Bracknell where I am this week. Meeting with people who've come to UK from India and USA. What a dull impression our weather is making!

[seabreeze86]

Awful winter here 1 day of falling snow and a handfull of frosts. Also the lack of sun has been a dissapointment just seems we have had the same type of days all winter. I no there has been differences but cant wait to see the back of this winter lets hope for some suprises in march and april then a long hot summer we are due one.

[Richard2901]

Certainly one of the most boring and uninteresting winters here. So much for it turning out to be the opposite of 2010/11. It has followed exactly the same pattern with the best of the cold and snow before Christmas and the post-Christmas period a virtual write-off. The only difference is that this winter the pre-Christmas cold was dire as well.

February has been just ghastly and easily the worst month, starting with a horrible grey easterly bringing the usual static temps and nothing weather, then a cloudy mild high with drizzly atlantic muck spewing over the top of it for the middle part and now more ridiculous unseasonably mild tripe to end

Normally we do quite well for sunshine from this set-up, due to the mountains breaking up the cloud, but this week has been very cloudy with less than 4 hours sunshine in the past 3 days. Yesterday the cloud cleared in late afternoon only to return by morning and today has been the same with the skies clearing just before sunset.The brief snow at the weekend has been the only weather of interest for more than a fortnight now.

Just 4 days of lying snow this winter which would equal the worst I can remember (1991/92). However 2007/08 had only 1 day lying at this stage and 5 of the eventual total of 7 days came in the last week of March and during April.

The lack of frost has been shocking and certainly far worse than 1991/92. I had 26 consectuive frost-free nights up to 13th January and currently have had just 1 air frost in 15 days. Current model output is truly abysmal with little if any frost likely in the next week. Last year had the least frosty late winter/spring since at least 1945 and so far this year is even worse

[damianslaw]

Must say there have been long periods this winter when the models have been dire for snow and cold prospects - the 4 week period between 19 Dec and 13 Jan being a particularly tring period broken very temporarily by the frosty spell between 13-16th only for another 2 weeks of nothingness until the very good cold spell of the 28 Jan - 12 Feb. However, we are now back in one of those trying periods again.. indeed it has felt like one long 'trying' period since late sept. The period 3 Dec - 17 Dec was by far the most interesting period of the winter - depsite the rampant PV and westerlies we did manage some decent injections of polar air to bring some level snow at times and some huge totals to the hills.

The worst period of the winter for me was the christmas-new year period - thank goodness I had the festivities to enjoy as model watching certainly made for very unpleasant viewing.

We need a major shake up - we will get one in spring no doubt but too late for any decent long lasting cold and snow. I'm confident next winter will deliver the cold snowy goods to the northern half of the country - we have been spoilt the last three years and got pay back this year it seems.

[A Scottish Winter's Tale]

Ah it's not all bad!

[frostbitten]

Winter 09/10 and winter 10/11 seem like they where extraordinary exceptions and this winter has been normal service resumed. Absolutely rubbish winter here and what seems to be the norm in our current climate. I fully expect next winter to be more of the same unless I emigrate to Canada or Alaska.

[Weather Ship]

Wonderful winter in these parts. Very little frost and very mild. Kept the old people lke me very happy;

[0zzy]

TBH I’m not a huge fan of cold snowy weather, if I had my way it would be 20C and sunny all winter.
But I can see it from a cold/snow lovers prospective that this hasn’t been a very good winter for snow as we have had hardly any frost and a relatively small amount of snow here.

Edited by 0zzy, 27 February 2012 - 08:10 .

[AderynCoch]

Well 20C and sunny it isn't. Today was another one of those "potato" days (see my earlier post) - mild, grey and drizzly.

The second half of this month could easily come out worse than last February. Very poor indeed.

[Eugene]

Some people really do hate nature it seems, why else would they want 20C and sunny all winter, god knows what the world would be like without any seasons, i suppose like bottesford you want 24 hour daylight 365 days of the year, doesnt matter that would completely screw nature up does it, only ME matters.

Edited by Eugene, 27 February 2012 - 19:57 .

[Snow? norfolk n chance]

AderynCoch, on 27 February 2012 - 19:34 , said:

Well 20C and sunny it isn't. Today was another one of those "potato" days (see my earlier post) - mild, grey and drizzly.

The second half of this month could easily come out worse than last February. Very poor indeed.

As I say, i dont class the 2nd half of Feb winter, winter in my opinion is from 15th Nov to 15th Feb, Spring started well good few warm sunny days, and 2 more to end Feb

[AderynCoch]

The second half of February is definitely colder on average than the second half of November. The only factor which works in November's favour is shorter daylight hours and weaker sunshine, but that counts for nothing if you don't get the right synoptics (which you hardly ever do in November).

[cyclonic happiness]

Eugene, on 27 February 2012 - 19:56 , said:

Some people really do hate nature it seems, why else would they want 20C and sunny all winter, god knows what the world would be like without any seasons, i suppose like bottesford you want 24 hour daylight 365 days of the year, doesnt matter that would completely screw nature up does it, only ME matters.

Blimey Eugene!
It's not going to happen so why get so upset about it, we'll get a decent winter one of these days.
I'm glad that spring has sprung now anyway, it's been so dire for cold this winter.