I was pleasantly surprised with how this Winter was going with the early January cold spell however since then it has been very disappointing and as always February is the biggest let down. In the end it's just another pointless wasted 'winter' of the modern era.

The potentially very mild and spring-like final week of February that's being hinted at is well needed now.

It’s the worst winter I can remember. I’m not interested in snow so like it mild. The dull, grey, cold weather we’ve had for weeks is depressing. 

It's pretty grim and just enough wind to feel unpleasantly cold at times. The onlty downside to a very mild last week is that it would seriously mess up my CET prediction!

100% this. The only plus point is that it hasn’t been particularly cold. Just chilly here. I’d rather raining and 14c than this current cool murk. At least you generally get some sunshine between the weather fronts. 

Still, the sun is rapidly increasing in strength now and rising in the sky. The finish line is in sight and next stop is Spring

January 1996 - only 10 hours of sun the whole digusting month of similarly vile mild easterlies but it wasn't totally devoid of seasonable wintry weather as we had one day of snow around the 26th and also the only day with any reasonable sun was Saturday 13th so no Weekend Curse which is now relentless every single rotten month.

March 1996 - Absolutely horrific pile of easterly poison but even amongst the hellish 15 day sunless spell - the worst at any time in more than 100 years - there was still a snow on the 13th.

December 1997 - Repugnant wet dull easterly hell but managed some snow at the start of the month.

December 2002 - even more revolting than 1997 but had a lovely 3 day spell of crisp, frosty sunny weather just after mid month something we never ever get any more.

January/February 2006 - Hideous gloom dominated this diabolical winter but there was a properly cold, crisp frost spell in late January/early February again of the sort that we no longer get. Also the gloom was nowhere near as bad as this month as at least the winds were often light. Can't even get proper anticylconic gloom anymore as there is always a vile wind no matter what even with pressure of 1040mb.

Absolutely nothing redeeming about this toxic month that is so bad it feels once again it's being engineered by Satan. Perfect example of Thursday being the only day with any real sun yet for no reason it clouded over at lunchtime so no opportunity to enjoy it at all and yet again we have an utterly repellent gloomfest weekend. 3rd horrific write-off in a row. Worst possible temperatures, worst possible skies. 

Before this the weekend sun percentage was lower than every month in the past 18 years bar the ultimate horror show of June 2007. It's doing everything it can to even beat that rotten pile of festering pigswill.

Nowhere else on earth can manage the combination of unpleasant and uninteresting like the UK. Day after day of featureless skies, range of 11 degrees all month with only three pathetic frosts and no snow, 12 hours below freezing and no maxima below 4C. Revolting outlook that could result in an unprecedented third consecutive February with a mean above 5C as well as challenging 1923 and 1994 for the lowest ever sunshine total.

In four weeks time I'm off to Florida and I can't wait to get out of this toilet of a country that makes me feel constantly tired and depressed. Just wish it was for good and not just a holiday.

All in all though it's been a Winter to confound the long range models which is great in itself. We've had quite a few frosts, a beautiful late November spell with snow followed by frost and clear blue skies, and a wonderful 8 days of lying snow right in the heart of Winter, again accompanied by lots of beautiful blue skies. 

Overall it's been a 7 out of 10 Winter for me. 

In my books though, no winter can ever get any pass marks from me if it isn't any colder than average overall (the reason for that is the same reason why I would never give any summer any pass marks if that isn't any warmer than average overall), especially if that winter is also completely snowless.

This winter therefore loses a lot of marks from the fact that it began with our mildest December since 2015 with that being a month which delivered a below average number of frosts, and which was also completely snowless.

January was much colder though. It was colder than average overall with an above average number of air frosts so this winter at least gets some marks for that but even that month was completely snowless here in NW Edinburgh and I don't ever recall any other time in the past when a colder than average winter month was still completely snowless here even in NW Edinburgh.

As for this month, it has been mostly about those not very cold easterlies which have felt really cold at times, but which have never really actually been the least bit cold. As a result, out temperatures during this month are running at around average just now and it is also yet another completely snowless month here mad even worse than the fact that this month is also much duller than January which now looks set once again to be this winter's only sunnier than average month here.

When all of that is taken into consideration, this winter has been slightly milder than average here overall and although this is mainly due to the very mild December which we had, this is still enough to ensure that it can't possibly get any pass marks from me especially since it has also been completely snowless here.

Taking all of that into consideration, I can't possibly give this winter any more than 3 out of 10 (which is the same as what I gave the summer of 2024) and even those marks are mainly due to the colder than average January which we had which means that had it not been for that, I would have been scoring this winter a lot less than that.

Last winter was one week in January. This winter was 2 weeks in January (with a mild, windy couple of days in the middle), and around 10 days in February. An improvement, and TBH it's astonishing to get a below 61-90 CET month as we saw in January, but it's been very slim pickings in the fun stuff category - i.e. snow.

As this winter comes to a close, it means it's going to be at least 5 years since the last 1cm covering of snow, or indeed any covering of snow that's lasted more than 30 minutes in the middle of the night! A 9 AM snow covering, of any depth, is now a twice a decade event at best down here.

Yes it's a bit annoying when the TV forecasters say it's going to be cold when the numbers on the map say average or just below.  As you, I am now looking forward to some sunshine in the forthcoming less settled spell!

The last lying snow here in November was 14 years ago! I'd say make the most of it while you can, the snow-killing warmth we "enjoy" down here in winter is moving ever northwards, of course.

Here in Edinburgh, our entire season has been one example of that because we did get a lot of snow on one particular day last November which was so bad that it caused the buses in Edinburgh to stop running for only the first time since the Beast from the East Event in 2018.

Yet, even that particular event lasted for only a single day as the following day was much milder with double figures temperatures and of course, we have had no lying snow here ever since then.

This means that we have had one day of lying snow within this season, but that didn't occur during this actual meteorological winter and that is why this winter has been completely snowless here up until now.

Furthermore, one other peculiarity above this winter (which is why I rated it 3 out of 10 instead of just 2 out of 10) came from the fact that our one and only ice day occurred in December which on this occasion, looks like being this winter's mildest month and that is the exact opposite scenario to what you would normally expect as ice days would usually be more likely to occur in colder than average months, and not within a milder than average month.

It really was only a small uphill wedge of the city though

Yes, and that was all well documented on here by Jerry at the time so I know all about that and I did notice some decent snow coverings on the Pentland Hills in the distance over that time.

In my report on the final statistics for January in the particular thread which I created for that, I also highlighted that and the fact that a little bit of that had also reached those higher and more inland parts of the south of Edinburgh. Furthermore, that was also all based on those reports from Jerry which I had mentioned.

However, the south of Edinburgh is higher up and more inland than the rest of Edinburgh and is therefore more likely on average to get snow and to get snow which sticks around for any length of time.

The result of this is that the rest of Edinburgh is less likely average to see lying snow, especially the more coastal parts of Edinburgh such as Leith, Granton and where I am in NW Edinburgh.

In those locations, it is very rare for there to anything more than a slight dusting of snow and very rare for there to be anything which lasts for any length of time.

Even in those locations though, we would usually typically expect to see a little bit of snow on any given winter month, especially in a month which has also been colder than average and yet throughout this winter, we have had absolutely nothing here in NW Edinburgh all winter in the way of lying snow so that is what has been the basis for my moan on this subject (this is the moaning thread after all) especially given that other locations such as Blackpool and even the south of England which hardly ever see any snow saw at least a bit of snow during that time, hence the reason why I have rated this winter so poorly as I can only base that on the conditions in the location where I actually am.

I don’t even want to be seeing those easterlies in June because at that time of year, they just bring in a lot of low cloud, cooler temperatures and that east coast haar to these parts.

Having said that, the much stronger sunshine at that time of year means that all of the low cloud and haar always burns away so that we usually always get a bit of sunshine then but the days usually always start off dull here and even when the Sun does come out, it still ends up being much cooler than more inland areas with that.

It being raw in the wind is the only saving grace for me. At least it feels a bit different to the interminable autumn. One needs a coat to nestle into.

A really crap lack of frosts, though. 

Horrendous mild in February can 'sod off' full stop. Almost t-shirt weather 🤢

It's just beyond credulity. The same spectacularly vile, unbearable and ultra depressing E/SE horror day after write-off day. There is no other direction it ever blows for continuously for weeks without a break. Last dry day was the 12th, last frost the 9th, last sunny day the 6th. 0.2 hours sun so far this week with only one day since the 9th managing 1 hour.

It's just the same miserable stinking, unhealthy rubbish every rancid day. There is nothing remotely bearable or tolerable. Even the Faeroe Islands during a bad month would get more breaks than this.

Truly at breaking point. It's a human rights abuse having to endure this. My body feels like it's shutting down and Fitbit readiness score has dropped to 23 this week when it's always between 50 and 70. Impossible to do any outdoors exercise. Even stepping out in this is a punishing ordeal.

Need the heating on constantly in the house to keep this damp, horrendously cold, sunless and windy filth out and still I wouldn't be surprised if the average indoor temperature has been the lowest I've ever recorded in the 20 years I've had my weather station. Not something I can easily analyse but there is nothing to heat it up except for the central heating.

Once again there aren't an appropriate selection of words in the English language to allow me to articulate the complete and utter hatred I feel at having to live here. It's an endurance not a life.

Had pencilled-in a trip to the Lakes. When I first pondered this, it was about a fortnight ago and I assumed cold was a cert. 

Need that very active/wet front on Sunday to move through about 6 hours sooner

In the old days, when we used to get snow down here, that was an increasingly common sight - even at 1C, having a dewpoint of 0.9C makes the snow melt quite quickly. It's the same thing we've seen down here in summer, dewpoints seem to be a fair bit higher than they were even 20 years ago. The last two summers have had 19 or 20C dewpoints down here, and I remember 25 years ago discussions on usw as to whether a 19 dewpoint was even possible in the UK - this was reported at one of the US bases in the UK, and the consensus was that no, it's unlikely to happen, and that the "wet bulb" had dried out!