I go by the meteorological season since December is the LEAST coldest month of the meteorological winter season and January sits in the middle being the MOST coldest month while by February we start to feel the effects of solar input. If we went by your method, November and December would be more like Autumn rather than Winter while January is the most Winter month. I'm just taking into account a cooling down and warming up lag across the seasons.

I tend to see this from different perspectives. For the 'feel' of the weather in terms of quality of light, strength of sun, daylight length I do think that winter goes from early November to early February. By mid February (at least in the south of England), there is enough strength in the sun for it to feel spring like. Similarly, a hot day in mid May can feel like mid summer. So I can see the logic about balancing the seasons around the solstices and equinoxes , e.g. Winter = November 6 to February 5, Spring = February 6 to May 5 etc. 

But I also know full well that with the heat lag in the UK, temperature wise the seasons are better defined as approximately Winter = December 20th to March 20th, Spring = March 20th to June 20th and so on.

Finally, I do recognise for convenience and consistency, the Met Office definitions for the seasons do make sense and are probably a happy medium between the two above. 

Not a glimmer of sunshine yet again and only two days in eight that have managed even half an hour, both of which were rendered horrible due to wind. The most depressing, woefully bad run up to Christmas I've ever experienced. Utterly dire. Even 2015 wasn't this bad with Christmas Eve being at least feeling reasonably seasonal with 7C and sunshine. Light years ahead of the unremitting dross that's been spewed out since the middle of the month this year.

That’s my view of the definition of when winter starts as well, given that we are surrounded by water, have a massive ocean in what is the default upwind side, and that ocean has a conveyor that brings huge quantities of heat from lower latitudes.  If we had a continental climate then the lag would be significantly less.

I go by the meteorological definition as well, but I can see the logic of the astronomical interpretation, as the period between the winter solstice and the spring equinox is a bit colder, on average, than the standard Dec/Jan/Feb mean. Same applies to the summer equivalent in terms of mean warmth as well. 

Not down here it isn't. Mid/late Dec mean max for Faversham (91-20): 8.4C, for mid/late March: 11.2 (both +/- 0.2 or so). There's no contest - by mid-March it's unequivocally spring. Snow is rare at any time, but almost unheard of from mid-March onwards.

Of course, last year winter was exactly one week in January, it being autumn up until then and spring thereafter. Hopefully winter will be a bit longer this year, but as ever I *won't* get my hopes up!

It has been very sunny here until the last day or two, and to be honest, I find winter sunshine to be highly overrated. It's harsh and it's glarish and offers nothing of value at all. 

We have to wait until around mid-April, or even May, to get any sense of spring here. I find March to be the ugliest and most lifeless and toneless of all the months. 

It certainly beats 6°C, rain and wind, either way.

Yes seen only Uk get no sun or frost under HP as it been horrible month with so much rain dull and static tempps. Hopefully 2025 change that and correct our seasons back again. 

Yes - what happened to the Christmas warmth date records?!

It was notably mild here, both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (15 and 14°C respectively). Not quite record breaking, just very mild.

Last updated 36 minutes ago

Today

This afternoon will start generally cloudy but the cloud will tend to break up later, revealing bright spells for many. 

It will be dry and slightly milder than the previous day.

Grey slight drizzle and murky here still but another couple of hours to fall into the 'bright spells for many' camp. Or not.

Still I've been able to tidy cut the grass, plant a witch hazel I've had my eye on for some time. Searching for a crab apple 'Evereste' but struggling to find a place that will tell me the rootstock they use.

In short, I'm making the most of the weather before...

Edit.

The bright spells never materialised as I expected.

But  only four days later, the mild air came back, all the snow melted. A week later, the cold returned but this time with frost, not snow - and ever since then, to add insult to injury, northerners have been going on about what a splendid snowy spell it was. Indeed, but south of the M4 it wasn't 😠

It was bone dry here from when it kicked in late November. The models had forecast two or three little features to bring snow here that didn't come off. Another one was modelled for the 19th December (more frontal, moving in from the west) and I remember driving home (westwards) that evening hoping to get a 1-2cm covering.

Saw the first flake, in my headlights, about 8 miles east of home, and they just got thicker and thicker. Always a beautiful sight seeing them in the 'inverted V' of light cast from motorway lights. 

Finally, I had my snow (pounded down for a good few hours, leaving a good 16cm here - and more to my northwest)

Happy days!

Anyway, and back to the present, the interesting options for snow from this snap have all but disappeared now for me.

Yes, 2010 was one of the biggest disappointments of recent decades, despite having some wet snow for a few days it was galling to see what seemed like everyone else with feet of powder snow. The only bigger disappointment was that time around 2000 when heavy snow showers were forecast on Christmas Day, coming in off the North Sea. A massive shower cloud duly moved in as the afternoon light faded, it became very still... and then pelted down with icy cold rain. Bah humbug!

(Of course, it all balances out. My fond memory of 2018 with several inches of powder and a -14.8 low won't ring many bells, and the fantastic 2-week easterly at the end of Feb 2005, with snow every day for 2 weeks will ring even fewer!)

Perhaps Jan 3rd wasn't the best day to agree to this work ....