Really displeased with the weather at the moment; this chilly spell could have done a good amount more had the trough not positioned exactly as it did. It'd also have been less dreary down here! Still, at least last weekend was enjoyable out of the wind.
Something does seem to have seriously gone awry with our weather patterns this year though (exceptional stratospheric events + Arctic amplification the likely culprits), as we experience yet another month of unusually few westerlies - hence it will be a surprising result if the CET finishes in the 8s, despite those crazy-mild model runs that we were seeing. Worth noting that in the end it didn't manage to be quite as balmy as what GFS in particular was depicting, at least by day.
December's not displaying any clear signals for one weather type to dominate (after a mild start perhaps) - looks likely to feature more considerable temp swings. Possibly more so than this month is now on course to have managed, what with the chilly spell having been so stunted.
I believe this little game of ours will (assuming continuation; up to GW or anyone he hands the reigns over to) become even more challenging in the years to come as 'extremification' continues to build... though this may not go on for too many more years, as there is some emerging evidence that lowering of air pollution in the mid-latitudes may increase the warming in these areas and reduce the magnitude of the Arctic amplification via lessened temperature differential.
Yep - we appear to have inadvertently been shielding ourselves from some of the warming associated with the Greenhouse effect! 
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2025's Homeland Extremes:
T-Max: 32.0°C 12th Aug | T-Min: -5.4°C 4th Jan | Wettest Day: 31.8 mm 18th Dec | Ice Days: None
Keep Calm and Forecast On