Ecm about a million miles away from a cold spell this morning,this crud of a winter goes on.

 

More like to see 21c breached in February again then see snow falling out of the sky next month.

 

January already a write off,roll on March

Just wait .. March will more than likely turn out to be raw, cold and snowy in places. It seems that something in the atmosphere shifts in March. Time will tell but I’ve always considered March to be Nor use nor ornament.

---

This 'sensory deprivation' weather is getting to me - featureless grey overcast, no sun, not a breath of wind, no change in the sky from dawn to dusk.  A lot of December was much the same.  My lightbox has seen a lot of use this winter, and I've needed it.

---

Another moan today...

Darren Bett - goes on to say something like "We will see a change towards the end of the week with low pressures systems having more 'Omph' to them and a north westerly wind, however temperatures won't be particularly cold and we expect temperatures of 8c to 12c by Thursday."
Since when does a north westerly wind bring milder weather? Oh wait that Damn HP as front's topple around it dragging in Atlantic air!  Right now we (SOUTH UK) has a southerly wind and temperatures are stuck at +7c in overcast skies as has been the case for few days now.  

Anyone fed up of chasing cold or is accepting that this winter will be remember for nothing noteworthy to discuss/remember with exception of the mild or exceptionally mild NYE/NYD!?
I mean seriously - we are now almost 2/3rds of the winter and we haven't had a single cold spell or snap to talk of - there was storm Arwen but that was November ...where do we go from here?

---

Athens snow:

https://twitter.com/stormchaserukeu/status/1485683711748329475?s=21 

---

Athens snow:

https://twitter.com/stormchaserukeu/status/1485683711748329475?s=21

Last year Madrid got very deep snow and very cold nights but this year none and transfer to Greece so it managed to avoid UK as usual.

There are no words to express how sickened and disgusted I am by yet another winter of abject GARBAGE.

It's January and all we're getting is day after day of sun like nothing on earth this month ever used to produce and it's more or less the same every year now 

It's beyond ludicrous. 16/24 days with 3 hours or more of sun. Compare that with the revolting horror of last summer and it's endless foul, depressing and rank grey grot which resulted in July and August having even more overcast days than 2012, each recording an unreal 17 days with few than 3 hours sun 

I cannot express how angry this makes me feel. Useless weak and pitiful sun, instead of snow. in winter when it's barely 10 degrees above the horizon, then never ending featureless overcast come summer. The analogy would be a scammer stealing £50k from your bank account only to replace it with £50.00 six months down the line 

Another January that's clocked up 90 hours of sunshine. Only the 12th since 1881 and five of those have occurred since 2012. That's how proposterous this drivel is 

Jan 2015: 116.2hrs, 55.4mm

Jan 2016: 58.1hrs, 161.8mm

Jan 2017: 102.4hrs, 45.4mm

Jan 2018: 86.3hrs, 21.6mm

Jan 2019: 81.8hrs, 28.0mm

Jan 2020: 96.3hrs, 17.6mm

Jan 2021: 79.7hrs, 95.0mm

Jan 2022: 90.8hrs, 18.6mm (to 24th)

The same ridiculously sunny, snowless and dry tedium every year except for 2016, which is the last time more than 2cm of snow was recorded, and last year which despite being cold and wet was still virtually snowless and still managed above average sunshine.

It's getting more and more absurd with 4/5 looking set to record under 30mm. That's not even half the average, not even half the modern average which is way lower than the historical average when the month actually used to produce decent snowfalls most years.

I would say it's odds on that at least one of the summer months will be duller than this January. Still a week to go and it's already beaten June 2007 and July 2012 

I said the same in 2020 after the ridiculously sunny February, and as always when I make these thoroughly depressing predictions, I was proven correct. Not just once but twice - both June and August turned out duller 

Clear skies this morning again and it was 4C not having dropped below 3C. Under a high pressure in January 

Worse than pathetic when low pressure horror shows like 2014 and 2016 manage colder temperatures. The current seasonal low of -2.4C is now the worst I have ever recorded at this stage. I would imagine most places 20 degrees closer to the equator have seen lower temperatures.

Six Januarys in a row without exceeding 2cm is even worse than the five in a row from 1988-92 and that followed on from a run of snowy Januaries whereas 2005-16 was just more stomach churning crud bar 2010 and 2013 

ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE 

 

 

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I mean look at Istanbul.

https://twitter.com/realnewsil/status/1485717436745797632?s=21 

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I mean look at Istanbul.

https://twitter.com/realnewsil/status/1485717436745797632?s=21

https://twitter.com/airportwebcams/status/1485711805875990537?s=21

---

There are no words to express how sickened and disgusted I am by yet another winter of abject GARBAGE.

It's January and all we're getting is day after day of sun like nothing on earth this month ever used to produce and it's more or less the same every year now 

It's beyond ludicrous. 16/24 days with 3 hours or more of sun. Compare that with the revolting horror of last summer and it's endless foul, depressing and rank grey grot which resulted in July and August having even more overcast days than 2012, each recording an unreal 17 days with few than 3 hours sun 

I cannot express how angry this makes me feel. Useless weak and pitiful sun, instead of snow. in winter when it's barely 10 degrees above the horizon, then never ending featureless overcast come summer. The analogy would be a scammer stealing £50k from your bank account only to replace it with £50.00 six months down the line 

Another January that's clocked up 90 hours of sunshine. Only the 12th since 1881 and five of those have occurred since 2012. That's how proposterous this drivel is 

Jan 2015: 116.2hrs, 55.4mm

Jan 2016: 58.1hrs, 161.8mm

Jan 2017: 102.4hrs, 45.4mm

Jan 2018: 86.3hrs, 21.6mm

Jan 2019: 81.8hrs, 28.0mm

Jan 2020: 96.3hrs, 17.6mm

Jan 2021: 79.7hrs, 95.0mm

Jan 2022: 90.8hrs, 18.6mm (to 24th)

The same ridiculously sunny, snowless and dry tedium every year except for 2016, which is the last time more than 2cm of snow was recorded, and last year which despite being cold and wet was still virtually snowless and still managed above average sunshine.

It's getting more and more absurd with 4/5 looking set to record under 30mm. That's not even half the average, not even half the modern average which is way lower than the historical average when the month actually used to produce decent snowfalls most years.

I would say it's odds on that at least one of the summer months will be duller than this January. Still a week to go and it's already beaten June 2007 and July 2012 

I said the same in 2020 after the ridiculously sunny February, and as always when I make these thoroughly depressing predictions, I was proven correct. Not just once but twice - both June and August turned out duller 

Clear skies this morning again and it was 4C not having dropped below 3C. Under a high pressure in January 

Worse than pathetic when low pressure horror shows like 2014 and 2016 manage colder temperatures. The current seasonal low of -2.4C is now the worst I have ever recorded at this stage. I would imagine most places 20 degrees closer to the equator have seen lower temperatures.

Six Januarys in a row without exceeding 2cm is even worse than the five in a row from 1988-92 and that followed on from a run of snowy Januaries whereas 2005-16 was just more stomach churning crud bar 2010 and 2013 

ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE 

 

 

 

Just so I understand this correctly, you're spinning a cold, settled and near record breaking sunny spell as a poor period of weather?

You live in a rain shadow lee of the highest area of ground in the UK. If its snow your after you could literally be making a snowman 50miles west of where you are. How many of us could say that? 

Meanwhile 4 days down on the coast here in Sussex managed to deliver some sun on the friday but a cold, grey weekend thereafter. I would have happily paid double this weekend for the 3hrs or more of daily sun you so detest. 

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One year ago to the day we had 8-10cm of snow fall , now look lol 

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Now is the time of year I like to take the p*ss out of the south coast contingent by pointing out that up in scotland we've had copious amounts of the white stuff, and indeed that's what I did last year.

This year though...

pfft, I think we've had 2 frosts since the new year, no snow anywhere on the horizon (we had a technical covering sometime around the new year, but november wins so far) - just grey skies at 6C with the odd sunny day that pushes it to about 10C (which it did today) - It was like October going for a walk around Swanston, dodging slowly drying mud, whereas last year it was 6-8 inches of crisp snow :-(

 

Edit: I suppose the one thing it's got going for it is no mega amounts of rain or stupid storms blowing bits off my house. If this winter was a prime minister, it would be John Major.

 

Last year Madrid got very deep snow and very cold nights but this year none and transfer to Greece so it managed to avoid UK as usual.

Yes I recall a there was a lot of snow in Madrid - My friend teaches or does some TEFOL near Charmartin and sent me photos of cars buried in snow - up to 60cm of snow fell during storm Filomena on 7th January 2021. Madrid is at higher altitude but still.

A post mortem needs to look into why this winter is/has shaped up and why it's turned out so much of a mild borefest of nothingness day after day. There are sooo many unanswered questions here....??

It's actually quite eerie. We are in an easterly QBO which favours a weaker zonal flow so weaker PV and increases chances of a SSW. We have had so many background signals pointing to a colder winter - not just the easterly QBO but the eastern based weak to moderate LA Nina., Yet last year we were in a westerly QBO but still managed x3 SSW's and two reversal of zonal winds. Although it didn't deliver much it was a talking point and of interest from a meteorological perspective but why isn't the stratosphere and strength of the zonal winds (which is very strong) responding to the easterly QBO which should be weakening the zonal winds!?

What is also really odd is how the zonal winds are now powering up and the stratosphere isn't showing signs of warming at a time when it should be weakening and the stratosphere should be warming! It's a complete paradox and must give weather forecasters a massive headache.  

I can't get over how crap this winter has been in terms of delivering anything interesting weather wise. Not even for Scotland and we are two thirds of the way through it. What is really grinding my gears is that there is cold air around and snow like in southern and eastern parts of the Med (Greek Islands, Athens, Crete, Cyprus and Turkey etc etc) and most of Eastern Europe and knowing it will stay cold there and the fact that the east coast of America is now plunged into the freezer YET AGAIN is just not fair.

Maybe this is the new norm - People in Scotland reporting night time temperatures of +4c by night and +6c by day and in the south reporting 7c by night and 6c by day with overcast skies - GOSH if this isn't boring then what is!? I would enjoy reading reports from Scotland despite the south missing out on snow but the fact there has been nothing to report there from a cold or snow perspective (not even in the mountains) then it really does confirm my suspicions that the UK weather sucks! As much as I dreaded that winter of 2019/20 - at least there was cold zonality and sleet/snow falling in some parts of the UK even if it was Scotland - it was interesting!  

Please do share your thoughts and or views but surely if Global Warming is responsible for milder winters then why are we seeing cold snowy weather in other parts of the globe like SE Europe year after year or south of Europe like Greece or Spain - Prime example was that snow event on 7th January 2021 last year etc. Why is it only the UK suffering from a persistent snow drought? 

Yet when we do get snow it's in APRIL or in November like Storm Arwen last November just gone and that was perhaps the last snow most saw (if they did up north) and yet it wasn't even in winter so doesn't count as it was 2 months ago in an Autumn!?

How ever on earth can the UK climate be so boring and depressing, how the heck can the UK go through almost 8 weeks of the same old weather pattern and stagnant HP lurking around!? - If this was summer we could be seeing weeks of +30c heat and drought.

Why are we not seeing freezing fog and ice days under the High pressure and why didn't freezing fog form and frost and also note how all our high pressures are dirty highs - most often cloudy preventing the temperatures from falling properly. Even during the day temperatures are rising to +7 or 8c which is average for time of year and with no wind if felt pleasant in the brighter spells.

I remember reading in a DK/Collins or Philips guide to Meteorology book about the Gulf Stream and another book called ICE AGE by John and Mary Gribbin. These books were published in the late 90's and early 00's (when I first got interested in meteorology) and something they mentioned was that the increase in fresh water produced by melting ice caps/ice bergs in the Arctic will slow the Gulf stream down and bring colder winters to the UK similar to what it should have for it's latitude. I got excited thinking this would go in favour of snowy and cold winters - yet here we are 25 or so years on in 2022 and we are not seeing colder winters but hearing reports of snowy weather elsewhere across the world except the UK. 

What are your thoughts on this re the Gulf stream slowing down giving the UK colder winters? Is this a truth or myth? If it is the truth which I read about some 25 or so years ago then it's taking a long time to materialise.

Sorry I repeat myself but this is the moaning trend and I just don't get this! - Do you? 

 

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Sorry I repeat myself but this is the moaning trend and I just don't get this! - Do you? 

 

I don't know what you want anyone to say? You can throw all the background signals out there that you want but they are not a guarantee of anything...and most of the drivers only show a slight correlation with any given weather scenario anyway.

If you had followed the seasonal models, they were all pointing towards a +NAO set up for winter from about August- they nailed it. 

As for a lack of SSW- it was evident early doors that the hemispheric set up was not going to be conducive for one. Last year it was blatantly obvious by late October (with the large Russian Ridge and Aleutian LP set up).

Where the winter went wrong? Well this (and the past several winters) have seen a large anticyclone reside in the NE Pacific off the west coast of Canada/N States. All this serves to so is pull cold air down through Canada and encourage the positioning of the TPV around the Canadian/Greenland locale...powering up the jet as it does so. This year the jet has looped further N, encouraging the inflated Hadley cell (which the Azores HP is part of) north. Quite a stable pattern, especially with precious little Pacific forcing to dislodge it. 

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 Please do share your thoughts and or views but surely if Global Warming is responsible for milder winters then why are we seeing cold snowy weather in other parts of the globe like SE Europe year after year or south of Europe like Greece or Spain - Prime example was that snow event on 7th January 2021 last year etc. Why is it only the UK suffering from a persistent snow drought? 

 

A bit harsh to blame Global for this. He only organises the CET competition. He doesn't dictate the temperatures ....

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I don't know what you want anyone to say? You can throw all the background signals out there that you want but they are not a guarantee of anything...and most of the drivers only show a slight correlation with any given weather scenario anyway.

If you had followed the seasonal models, they were all pointing towards a +NAO set up for winter from about August- they nailed it. 

As for a lack of SSW- it was evident early doors that the hemispheric set up was not going to be conducive for one. Last year it was blatantly obvious by late October (with the large Russian Ridge and Aleutian LP set up).

Where the winter went wrong? Well this (and the past several winters) have seen a large anticyclone reside in the NE Pacific off the west coast of Canada/N States. All this serves to so is pull cold air down through Canada and encourage the positioning of the TPV around the Canadian/Greenland locale...powering up the jet as it does so. This year the jet has looped further N, encouraging the inflated Hadley cell (which the Azores HP is part of) north. Quite a stable pattern, especially with precious little Pacific forcing to dislodge it. 

Well the zonal winds were forecast to be weaker actually I remember observing the models on weatheriscool back in November. As for the exceptionally cold stratosphere and lack of SSW's this winter I don't know what evidence suggested that the hemispheric set up was not conducive for one. We are in a mature easterly QBO - which favours SSW's esp later in the winter like the last proper easterly QBO winter of 2017/18. Last winter was a westerly QBO winter but had 3 SSW's and two reversal of zonal winds at 10 and 30hpa so I am unsure as to where or why the set up hasn't been conducive for a SSW?

An eastern based weak to moderate La Nina increases the chance of a cold winter for NW Europe. The rapid cooling of SST's in the NE Pacific is a good sign of a more colder winter for NW Europe as well - so the background signals for a colder than average winter or at least colder blocked winter was there.

HOWEVER, What is very evident and has been for the past 5 years now is for High pressure to ridge over NE Pacific or SW Alaska which quite often opens the door to an Arctic plunge of air-mass into Canada/N America - We are seeing this this year with Seattle and the Pacific NW seeing exceptionally cold and snowy weather esp Seattle and Vancouver etc and many parts of N America and we are seeing exceptionally cold air flooding down the central and eastern seaboard of the USA which then interacts with our jet off the coast of Eastern most states and providences like Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and fire's up the jet and flattens any ridge trying to build. We are seeing countless low pressure systems forming off the eastern seaboard of the USA/Canada and heading north eastwards towards Greenland.

Last year was a prime example when we saw exceptionally cold weather in southern states most of January and early February. I also remember in February 2019 when we had an exceptionally mild and dry month - yet N America had exceptionally cold weather and again looking at the chart's - the pattern tells the story - as per below:

High pressure off the SW coast of Alaska and NE Pacific. 

As you can see HP blocking over NE Pacific and SW Alaska but the cold Arctic air plunging down into N America and Canada and then low pressure forming off the eastern Seaboard and sweeping North eastwards towards Greenland and northern latitudes and high pressure builds to our south. This was in February 2019 when we had exceptionally mild and dry weather.  

 

NYE 2021 - again you see the same pattern - high pressure NE Pacific cold air floods N America and Pressure builds to south or south east of UK and NW Europe get's exceptionally mild southerly winds over Christmas 2021 to NYE and into NYD as well as first week of 2022:

Anyway - you get the idea - so my point is that if the UK wants to see colder and average weather or a sustained cold spell we really need to see heights/ HLB blocking reduce over the NE Pacific/SW Alaska? Correct?

Another thing to add is that I would have thought that the cooling of SST's in the NE Pacific/SW Alaskan coast would have promoted  lower pressure in that region but NO - high pressure all the way - so this isn't helping our chances for those who want to see blocking and or cold and snow.. 

I still maintain that our best chances was around Christmas or before and this failed! 

 

---

 

Yes I recall a there was a lot of snow in Madrid - My friend teaches or does some TEFOL near Charmartin and sent me photos of cars buried in snow - up to 60cm of snow fell during storm Filomena on 7th January 2021. Madrid is at higher altitude but still.

A post mortem needs to look into why this winter is/has shaped up and why it's turned out so much of a mild borefest of nothingness day after day. There are sooo many unanswered questions here....??

It's actually quite eerie. We are in an easterly QBO which favours a weaker zonal flow so weaker PV and increases chances of a SSW. We have had so many background signals pointing to a colder winter - not just the easterly QBO but the eastern based weak to moderate LA Nina., Yet last year we were in a westerly QBO but still managed x3 SSW's and two reversal of zonal winds. Although it didn't deliver much it was a talking point and of interest from a meteorological perspective but why isn't the stratosphere and strength of the zonal winds (which is very strong) responding to the easterly QBO which should be weakening the zonal winds!?

What is also really odd is how the zonal winds are now powering up and the stratosphere isn't showing signs of warming at a time when it should be weakening and the stratosphere should be warming! It's a complete paradox and must give weather forecasters a massive headache.  

I can't get over how crap this winter has been in terms of delivering anything interesting weather wise. Not even for Scotland and we are two thirds of the way through it. What is really grinding my gears is that there is cold air around and snow like in southern and eastern parts of the Med (Greek Islands, Athens, Crete, Cyprus and Turkey etc etc) and most of Eastern Europe and knowing it will stay cold there and the fact that the east coast of America is now plunged into the freezer YET AGAIN is just not fair.

Maybe this is the new norm - People in Scotland reporting night time temperatures of +4c by night and +6c by day and in the south reporting 7c by night and 6c by day with overcast skies - GOSH if this isn't boring then what is!? I would enjoy reading reports from Scotland despite the south missing out on snow but the fact there has been nothing to report there from a cold or snow perspective (not even in the mountains) then it really does confirm my suspicions that the UK weather sucks! As much as I dreaded that winter of 2019/20 - at least there was cold zonality and sleet/snow falling in some parts of the UK even if it was Scotland - it was interesting!  

Please do share your thoughts and or views but surely if Global Warming is responsible for milder winters then why are we seeing cold snowy weather in other parts of the globe like SE Europe year after year or south of Europe like Greece or Spain - Prime example was that snow event on 7th January 2021 last year etc. Why is it only the UK suffering from a persistent snow drought? 

Yet when we do get snow it's in APRIL or in November like Storm Arwen last November just gone and that was perhaps the last snow most saw (if they did up north) and yet it wasn't even in winter so doesn't count as it was 2 months ago in an Autumn!?

How ever on earth can the UK climate be so boring and depressing, how the heck can the UK go through almost 8 weeks of the same old weather pattern and stagnant HP lurking around!? - If this was summer we could be seeing weeks of +30c heat and drought.

Why are we not seeing freezing fog and ice days under the High pressure and why didn't freezing fog form and frost and also note how all our high pressures are dirty highs - most often cloudy preventing the temperatures from falling properly. Even during the day temperatures are rising to +7 or 8c which is average for time of year and with no wind if felt pleasant in the brighter spells.

I remember reading in a DK/Collins or Philips guide to Meteorology book about the Gulf Stream and another book called ICE AGE by John and Mary Gribbin. These books were published in the late 90's and early 00's (when I first got interested in meteorology) and something they mentioned was that the increase in fresh water produced by melting ice caps/ice bergs in the Arctic will slow the Gulf stream down and bring colder winters to the UK similar to what it should have for it's latitude. I got excited thinking this would go in favour of snowy and cold winters - yet here we are 25 or so years on in 2022 and we are not seeing colder winters but hearing reports of snowy weather elsewhere across the world except the UK. 

What are your thoughts on this re the Gulf stream slowing down giving the UK colder winters? Is this a truth or myth? If it is the truth which I read about some 25 or so years ago then it's taking a long time to materialise.

Sorry I repeat myself but this is the moaning trend and I just don't get this! - Do you? 

 

That the reason why I stop recording the weather data here since 2012.  We had more variety of weather and temperatures ranges like Spring to early summer i used to get 20-25C diurnal ranges during HP days now no more due to cloudy days.  I had a talk with Eric Rick Cyprus weather fan who own the professional weather station with grass and fence around it.  I told him I wish to have that but not in the UK only if another country to invest.  He did the snow chasing this morning by driving his car with Kita Weather logo and went live on Facebook that I watched with nearly 700 viewers.  He extremely lucky that he live there where Cyprus offer huge weather variety and rarely boring more like USA and Canada with more variety. 

Lets face it winter 2021/22 is a disaster from a wintry weather point of view.

Surely, Surely Surely something has to break at some point as the slow moving hindrance of high pressure moves to a more favourable position.

January 1991 was like this. I'm not too sure what happened next, I would have to check the archives. 

 

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I am using the heating alot considering what a mild missed winter this apparently is.
Freezing cold and snowy winters in the UK have always been the exception rather than the norm. The correlation between them is imperfect too- in my area I remember 2005-06 being consistently cool to cold but largely snow free due to frequent high pressure clashing with most of the colder days , while in 2006-07 we had almost wall to wall mild westerlies but then managed a decent snowfall (the best in a few years) with pretty much our only cold snap of the season in February!
If anything if it's going to be a mild non winter I wish it would just get on with it so I can flick the over priced potential war inflated gas off and see the daffodils then bluebells come up ASAP.

Lets face it winter 2021/22 is a disaster from a wintry weather point of view.

Surely, Surely Surely something has to break at some point as the slow moving hindrance of high pressure moves to a more favourable position.

January 1991 was like this. I'm not too sure what happened next, I would have to check the archives. 

 

Yes I remember that used to be -2C to 0C at nights and 0 to 2C day time but that was 90's we had more variety and choice but this time might not happen and repeat over the summer months with over cast HP days.  HP no longer providing sunny weather non-stop as now you get 1 on first day of HP then straight to cloudy weather for weeks.  Watching live from Kita Weather Cyprus snow chasing and with snow walls up to 1m deep along the toad and still snowing there.  Was 1m wall to now less as he descending to lower levels of Troodos.