Statistically you could well be right but I would classify this winter as the most boring I can recall. In fact we could well be living through one of the 10 most boring UK winters of the last 1000 years. 

It's certainly been boring both in terms of the weather and in terms of the almost total lack of eye candy on the charts. Usually there are at least some phantom northerlies but this winter if you click on a random point in the GFS run anywhere out to 384 hours chances are there'll be a big roundish high pressure to our south stretching from the Azores into Europe and a big blob of purple to the north.

Not a single flake of snow here, the only decent parts have been a couple of nice frosty/foggy spells, one at the beginning of December and one this month, but they didn't last long.

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As I type this on a dull, damp and clammy afternoon, I'm more than familiar with snow-free winters at this end of Kent anyway, last time I experienced a proper snow cover (enough to make snowballs, etc) in my back yard was in March 2013. Yes, I missed out on the Feb '18 the Beast from the East with rare icy freezing rain on the coast before turned fine and sunny in the afternoon.
My 6 years old black cat is yet to experience his first proper snow cover, actually it is quite sad thinking the same could apply to the current generation of local kids.

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We are currently in a long run of poor winters but the biggest difference is the lack of really deep falls (2012-13 excepted ) and more especially drifting.

There was, as you mention, plenty of drifting in the 80s and 90s, especially down here in Kent. Then after 1997, pretty much zilch in terms of drifts. 2018 and The Beast was the exception, as it had that rarest of things: proper powder snow, ideal for drifting, with strong winds and temperatures below zero. It only lasted a couple of days (and the level snow was only a few inches), but the drifts - 4 or 5 ft high - lasted two weeks afterwards. It was a lovely reminder of what we'd lost and caused absolute amazement amongst the youngsters (anyone under 25) locally!

For those who missed it, it really has been grim.

Incidentally, if you look at the charts for 88/89, they look very similar to the current dross we're enduring. It did turn a little colder in mid-February that winter, so with luck we might just make a whole day of -5 850s down here...

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Since the double beast in Feb/March 18 we'e done really poorly here for snow here. Two light falls off less than an inch in the last week of January 2019 was our lot.  Tuesday morning gave false hope. The snow had real intensity for a few minutes turning the wet ground slowly wihte but never giving full cover. It died out after 30 minutes and the snow line did a rapid retreat to the Pennine summits.

 

Was so sad seeing people across the Peak Disctict describing photos with a CM or two as "very snowy" If things carry on as they are, this winter will be as bad as 2013/14 which gave a thin partial dusting from 5 min snow shower.

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At least 13/14 had weather with gales heavy rain and huge surf. This winter has been very PC trying not to offend the many.

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This weekend last year brought some respite in one of the most mind-numbing winters of all time.

Had a trip out to Deeside to enjoy great snowy scenes under blue skies at Dinnet and Cambus O'May. 

Even managed proper winter scenes in Aberdeen itself despite the unimpressive depth:

 

Nothing beats a white cover of snow under a sparkling blue sky and could really do with some of that now after months on end of depressing rot. However yet again it couldn't be further from those conditons as we begin another month of soul destroying hideously windy and unpleasant rank mild garbage.

This winter is in a entire different league even to last years disaster as it continues to defy belief by getting worse and worse. Barely any sign of the sun since Tuesday just endless cloudy mild muck and a revolting 7.6C min to begin the fourth month of eternal November. Looks as though we could hit 10C for the third successive day when we have not managed a single occasion all winter with three successive air frosts. 

Sick to death of this relentless dirge. The past three months have been the worst for photography since I got my first digital camera 17 years ago. Can't get any interest from the weather whatsoever making the dark evenings even more of an ordeal than usual. Can hardly ever go out for a cycle or long walk at the weekends because it's always windy and the rare occasion it relents, it turns icy even if the temperature doesn't drop below freezing. 

Just a never ending nightmare that is like a prison from which you can't escape. It is beyond the pale when those places I posted pictures from at the top of the thread, which average about 40 days with snow cover have had none at all

 

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For anyone complaining about lack of snow and frosts at least we are in unusual company:
1) Helsinki - no snow in January for first time in records, no day with mean below 0c [source - Mika Rantanen, twitter]
2) Oslo - no snow, no day below 0c [source - Erik Solheim, twitter]
3) Denmark - country average +5.5c for Jan 2020, a new January record. No snow anywhere [source - Danny Hogsholt, twitter]

Not bad today, a bit on the windy side but at least there's been some brightness this morning. And it's now February too, which always makes things feel a whole lot better.

Hopefully the first proper spring warmth will be appearing on the models in the next 4-5 weeks.

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Looks like Richard has had winter! 


Anyway, down here, autumn has finally ended and spring has sprung

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For anyone complaining about lack of snow and frosts at least we are in unusual company:
1) Helsinki - no snow in January for first time in records, no day with mean below 0c [source - Mika Rantanen, twitter]
2) Oslo - no snow, no day below 0c [source - Erik Solheim, twitter]
3) Denmark - country average +5.5c for Jan 2020, a new January record. No snow anywhere [source - Danny Hogsholt, twitter]

amazing stats, and it’s just as bad for Eastern Europe and Russia. Winter has been a huge fail in Europe this year, clearly there is something to this warming trend. 
On a different note I let the dogs out early this morning and the birds were singing at first light - a dawn chorus on the first day of February. Completely ridiculous 

Looks like you've got to go to the Alps or the Arctic circle at the moment for snow in Europe. Live feed from Rovaniemi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp4RRAEgpeU&feature=youtu.be

 

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Terrible winter here in the Massif Central in France. Only had a wet dusting of snow in November and now stuck with mild and relentless wet with night time minimums of around 9 degrees and about 12 during the day. Just awful. Worst winter since we moved to France in 2014. Incredibly low sunshine hours for this part of the world. Just grim and depressing. Apt I suppose given the events of the last few days.

 

 

Just looked out the back door and noticed the privet hedge in the back yard are now showing the first green buds of the year. Spring is on the way (barring perhaps some rough and tumble in a few days time). 

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For anyone complaining about lack of snow and frosts at least we are in unusual company:
1) Helsinki - no snow in January for first time in records, no day with mean below 0c [source - Mika Rantanen, twitter]
2) Oslo - no snow, no day below 0c [source - Erik Solheim, twitter]
3) Denmark - country average +5.5c for Jan 2020, a new January record. No snow anywhere [source - Danny Hogsholt, twitter]

It's crazy isn't it?   And I've just checked the 0m temp anomaly chart for Jan 2020, and apart from Greenland, the far N/NW slice of Canada, and pockets of S. Asia and Africa, everywhere else was above average!  

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Looks like Richard has had winter! 


Anyway, down here, autumn has finally ended and spring has sprung

It does feel like spring isn’t too far away with the dawn chorus, flowers coming up and even a few trees budding. No complaints from me.  Won’t be long before the first UV index of 2.

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I still think we will get one huge Arctic outbreak, either end of February or early March. Weather gods do payback you know😀

Yes the charts do seem to be teasing at long last with pressure rising over the Arctic. That cold air is going to spill southwards at some point but as ever the chances of it doing so over the UK must be fairly slim.

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We had thunder and lightning this morning.

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Well, so much for high pressure being in charge during this week!!

This week was supposed to be very much the calm before that storm which is now forecast to arrive during this weekend in the form of Storm Ciara. That has at least resulted in today being much drier than of late, yet today is virtually completely overcast here once again with yet more constant grey skies and the winds at Edinburgh Gogarbank were still gusting up to 29.8mph from the WSW as at 3pm this afternoon.

That in my books (at least) is not exactly, much of a "calm" before the storm.

 

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Damn. Even the stormy stuff gets downgraded. Was looking forward to Tuesday, with a vicious low tracking across the south of England. Would have given some interesting weather, a choppy English Channel, and a cold feed for the Midlands-north. Now it's put back, is less vigorous, and further north. FFS.

 

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