Quite possibly a very short thread, but this is the place to post your summaries and/or reviews of the winter just gone.

I'll start. 2/10, in my view, for the following reasons:

* We had some snowfall on one day - on the 8th of January. It left a couple of very brief partial dustings, but for 10 minutes or so it looked quite wintry. Even more unusually, it came from an easterly!
* There was a cold spell for 2 weeks in the middle of January, culminating in thick ice on ponds and the ground froze solid.

However, even with that - it was rather forgettable, and indeed both December and February were complete write-offs.

Temperature wise, December had the coldest day (max of 1.9, on the 2nd), and the lowest min (-3.4) was reached twice, once in December and again in January. The highest temperature was 15.9, on the 15th February - all three months had days in the teens.

There was so much potential going into the winter, with easterly QBO, blocking forecast from the ECM ensembles for February and even a few very shortlived SSWs - which all helped deliver a wonderful cold winter for Scandinavia. Pah.

Compared with the winters of my youth it was pathetic. Compared with recent years? Pretty poor, truth be told, but better than the winter of 21/22, which didn't have even a single snowflake!
 

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It was a poor winter,  below average but not one of the worse for snow in the last 30 years or so. 

​​​​​​3/10.

A relentless amount of rain and wind.
Large periods without a frost or snowflake. It is worrying now that we seem to need a long counted down cold spell to just get a single wintry shower these days. 

13.5cm snow which fell in events of 1cm, 2cm, 2cm 0.5cm and 8cm.  The first three light falls did occur in one cold spell and did stick around and we had five days of snow cover at 9am.  The early Dec spell was quite wintry just not enough snow .

More snow than last winter until March came along! 

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Given below, are the final winter statistics for Edinburgh, Gogarbank from all of the data which I have available which are:

Temperature (°C):   
   
Lowest Minimum:                                                                                                                  -6.80 (on 1/12/2023)
Highest Minimum:                                                                                                                  9.80 (on 16/12/2023)
Mean Minimum:                                                                                                                     2.18
Minimum Anomaly:                                                                                                                +0.67
   
Lowest Maximum:                                                                                                                   0.90 (on 2/12/2023)
Highest Maximum:                                                                                                                  13.10 (on 23/1/2024)
Mean Maximum:                                                                                                                      8.01
Maximum. Anomaly:                                                                                                               +0.86
   
Lowest Average                                                                                                                      2.20 (on 2/12/2023)
Highest Average                                                                                                                     11.20 (on 20/2/2024)
Average Temperature:                                                                                                             5.09
Average Temperature Anomaly:                                                                                             +0.77

Lowest Diurnal Temperature Range:                                                                                       1.70 (on 10/2/2024)
Average Diurnal Temperature Range:                                                                                      5.83
Highest Diurnal Temperature Range:                                                                                       11.00 (on 29/2/2024)
   
Other Temperature Statistics   
   
Nights with minus double digits temperatures                                                                       0
Single Figures Maximum Temperatures                                                                                  64
Single Figures Minimum Temperatures                                                                                   68
Double Figures Maximum Temperatures                                                                                 27
Double Figures Minimum Temperatures                                                                                 0
   
Number of Frosts   
   
Ground Frosts                                                                                                                           36
Air Frosts:                                                                                                                                  23 (77.4% of 1991-2020 winter Average)
Ice Days:                                                                                                                                   0
   
Snow Depths (cm)   
   
Highest Snow Depth                                                                                                               2.0 (on 1/12/2023)
Days With Lying Snow                                                                                                             3
Days with snow lying at 09:00 UTC                                                                                          1
Consecutive Days with snow lying                                                                                          2 days (14/1/2024 and 15/1/2024)
Consecutive Days with snow lying at 09:00 UTC                                                                     1 day (14/1/2024)

Rainfall (mm):   
   
Total for winter:                                                                                                                       237.6 (113.7% of 1991-2020 winter Average)
Wettest Days:                                                                                                                          19.0 (on 4/12/2023)
Highest Hourly Total                                                                                                               4.8 (on 28/12/2023)
Rain Days:                                                                                                                               44 (118.7% of 1991-2020 winter Average)
Dry Days:                                                                                                                                 24

Longest Dry Spell:                                                                                                                   5 days (11/1/2024 to 15/1/2024)
Highest Number of Days without a single dry day:                                                                7 days (7/12/2023 to 13/12/2023)
Highest consecutive number of rain days                                                                              7 days (7/12/2023 to 13/12/2023)

Month with lowest Rainfall Total                                                                                   February 2024: 54.8 (89.7% of 1991-2020 February average)
Month with highest Rainfall Total                                                                         December 2023: 111.4 (148.8% of 1991-2020 December average)

Month with fewest Rain Days                                                                                              January 2024: 12 (90.2% of 1991-2020 January average)
Month with most Rain Days                                                                                      December 2023: 17 (130.0% of 1991-2020 December average)

Wind Speed (mph)   
   
Average Mean Wind Speed                                                                                     10.8 (101.5% of 1991-2020 winter Average)
Highest Mean Wind Speed                                                                                      41.4 (on 21/1/2024)
Highest Wind Gust                                                                                                   73.8 (on 21/1/2024)
   
Pressure (mb)   
   
Lowest Pressure                                                                                                      966.6 (on 21/1/2024)
Average Pressure                                                                                                    1006.5
Highest Pressure                                                                                                     1044.0 (on 11/1/2024)
   
Sunshine Total (hrs)   
   
Total for winter:                                                                                                      155.93 (95.84% of 1991-2020 winter Average)
Sunniest Day:                                                                                                          7.35 (on 1/12/2023)
Sunless Days:                                                                                                          35
   
Dullest Month                                                                                                      December 2023: 24.65 (65.30% of 1991-2020 December average)
Sunniest Month                                                                                                         February 2024: 71.93 (92.79% of 1991-2020 February average)

Month with Fewest Sunless Days                                                                             February 2024: 8 sunless days
Month with Most Sunless Days                                                                                December 2023: 17 sunless days

Conclusion:

The winter of 2023-2024 was a milder than average winter overall with very little in the way of snowfall, and with February 2024 being completely snowless here.

The number of air frosts was also below average although from that context, we have had worse winters than that in recent years.

The winter of 2023-2024 was also wetter than average both in terms of the actual rainfall amounts and in terms of the number of rain days but December 2023 was the winter's only wetter than average month in terms of the actual rainfall amounts.

In addition to that, the winter of 2023-2024 was duller than average overall with January 2024 being the winter's only sunnier than average month in the end.

Overall, a very dismal, poor and disappointing winter overall and so, I can only give it no more than 2/10 because that is all that it deserves in my books.😡

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0/10. What winter? More like a six-month autumn. Rain and wind a-plenty, no snow or even a hint of it on the higher ground in these parts, 5 days with sub-zero temps at 8am and no ice days; I can't even remember if I ever got my gloves out (except for a holiday in Germany). C/H with rare exceptions only on for max 4 hours per day - at least that'll save on fuel.

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I'll score it 1/10. As far as I'm concerned the winter was a complete fiasco even by the low standards of recent years and decades. Despite the background warming trend it remains unusual to be virtually snow free over the three month period here in the Chilterns. I fully realise it is different for people living to the south of London where it has become a relatively common occurrence. However, this winter more or less managed the feat with only a few flakes of snow on January 8th or thereabouts. 

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I'll give it 6/10.  Had some snow in each of the three winter months including a decent fall on 23rd December, falling snow on Xmas Day evening and a good snowy spell in mid January.  Things petered out somewhat in February but here at least it felt a bit more average then further south.

It was a poor winter,  below average but not one of the worse for snow in the last 30 years or so. 

​​​​​​3/10.

A relentless amount of rain and wind.
Large periods without a frost or snowflake. It is worrying now that we seem to need a long counted down cold spell to just get a single wintry shower these days. 

Very similar, but we had less snow - just two spells with a max depth of 1-2cm.

So overall, pretty abysmal.... but, depressingly, we've had worse.

That's 11 winters now without a decent snowfall (at least 10cm). Had snow lying in nearly every winter, but all have been underwhelming.

2/10

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-1/10  !   don't remember one this bad. There was virtually no sun, snow falling twice for about 45 mins and zero snow lying. On top of that it was the wettest February I have recorded in 15 years of measuring so it could be longer. After a relatively dry January it has been one of my wettest winters with almost 50% of annual rainfall, 250 mm. 50 wet days in driest region (formerly?) in the Country. And it was often that cold rain with temps below 10C. Flooded ground and mud fest everywhere, footpaths flooded so you couldn't even go out since Christmas even if you had wanted to suffer the wind and rain. Golf courses have been closed for weeks and I couldn't even do my usual winter hobby of astro photography as there wasn't one clear night when the moon was right. Just one frost in February, -0.4C !
WInter 2023-24 Summary:
Summary for period 01/12/2023 to 29/02/2024

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute)  7.4
Mean (min+max)   7.3
Mean Minimum     4.7
Mean Maximum     9.9
Minimum          -5.4 on 18/01/2024
Maximum          17.0 on 15/02/2024
Highest Minimum  11.8 on 22/01/2024
Lowest Maximum   0.0 on 02/12/2023
Air frosts       14

Rainfall (mm):
Total for period 249.7
Wettest day      18.0 on 08/02/2024
High rain rate   38.8 day 31/12/2023
Rain days        50
Dry days         41
Wind (mph):
Highest Gust     72 on 02/01/2024
Pressure (mb):
Maximum          1038.6 on 16/12/2023
Minimum          974.0 on 22/02/2024
Days with snow falling         2
Days with snow lying at 0900   0

 

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A very poor winter overall. We did have a nice spell of sunny frosty days in January which froze the ground and made it possible to get out without sinking into the mud. And there was a seasonal spell of freezing fog back in January. 

Apart from that very poor indeed. I think we had a couple of brief showers of wet snow but nothing I can really remember. 

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WInter 2023-24 Summary:
 

I hadn't realised Cumulus could do a seasonal summary - but so it can. Handy!

My stats are pasted below, very similar to yours of course but less extreme in terms of temperatures. My anemometer is sheltered, the true max was in the low 60s as far as I can tell.

Summary for period 01/12/2023 to 29/02/2024

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute)  7.5
Mean (min+max)   7.4
Mean Minimum     4.7
Mean Maximum     10.1
Minimum          -3.4 on 02/12/2023
Maximum          15.9 on 15/02/2024
Highest Minimum  11.1 on 24/12/2023
Lowest Maximum   1.9 on 02/12/2023
Air frosts       12

Rainfall (mm):
Total for period 195.2
Wettest day      19.2 on 18/02/2024
High rain rate   100.2 day 18/02/2024
Rain days        48
Dry days         43

Wind (mph):
Highest Gust     24.0 on 22/01/2024
Average Speed    1.8
Wind Run         3954.9 miles
Gale days        0

Pressure (mb):
Maximum          1041.18 on 16/12/2023
Minimum          975.38 on 22/02/2024

Days with snow falling         3 [NB - includes sleet]
Days with snow lying at 0900   0


 

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The data (and my own experience) tells me that winter was nothing remarkable here. Temperatures were I think just a little amount above average (albeit not enough to show in the 91-20 anomaly maps: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2024/16/2024_16_MeanTemp_Anomaly_1991-2020.gif 

It was however, like many other places, significantly wetter than average: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2024/16/2024_16_Rainfall_Anomaly_1991-2020.gif 

In one surprising statistic (especially given the shorter daylight hours) it was more or less the sunniest part of the UK through the winter (along with parts of Moray): https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/anomacts/2024/16/2024_16_Sunshine_Actual.gif  

A good week of proper snowy wintry conditions made a poor winter into an okay one, just nothing special.

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I hadn't realised Cumulus could do a seasonal summary - but so it can. Handy!

My stats are pasted below, very similar to yours of course but less extreme in terms of temperatures. My anemometer is sheltered, the true max was in the low 60s as far as I can tell.

Summary for period 01/12/2023 to 29/02/2024

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute)  7.5
Mean (min+max)   7.4
Mean Minimum     4.7
Mean Maximum     10.1
Minimum          -3.4 on 02/12/2023
Maximum          15.9 on 15/02/2024
Highest Minimum  11.1 on 24/12/2023
Lowest Maximum   1.9 on 02/12/2023
Air frosts       12

Rainfall (mm):
Total for period 195.2
Wettest day      19.2 on 18/02/2024
High rain rate   100.2 day 18/02/2024
Rain days        48
Dry days         43

Wind (mph):
Highest Gust     24.0 on 22/01/2024
Average Speed    1.8
Wind Run         3954.9 miles
Gale days        0

Pressure (mb):
Maximum          1041.18 on 16/12/2023
Minimum          975.38 on 22/02/2024

Days with snow falling         3 [NB - includes sleet]
Days with snow lying at 0900   0
 

Nice to confirm that our data is so similar given that mine is still run from my original Chinese Fine Offset station from 15 years ago (In a home made Stevenson screen). Who said that this Chinese rubbish wouldn't last ! Mind I have replaced a few bits from the late Ron Button's (remember him from USW?) kit. My anemometer stopped transmitting in February so wind data can be largely ignored.

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1/10 would be generous, maybe gets that from the ice day, like last year pretty much zero snow measured in microns... plenty of rain though.

Summary for period 01/12/2023 to 29/02/2024

Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute)  6.6
Mean (min+max)   6.6
Mean Minimum     3.8
Mean Maximum     9.4
Minimum          -7.9 on 18/01/2024
Maximum          16.1 on 15/02/2024
Highest Minimum  10.7 on 15/02/2024
Lowest Maximum   -1.4 on 02/12/2023
Air frosts       18

Rainfall (mm):
Total for period 282.2
Wettest day      27.2 on 04/01/2024
High rain rate   53.0 day 12/12/2023
Rain days        53
Dry days         38

Wind (mph):
Highest Gust     47.0 on 21/01/2024
Average Speed    5.0
Wind Run         10844.5 miles
Gale days        0

Pressure (hPa):
Maximum          1038.81 on 16/12/2023
Minimum          973.42 on 09/02/2024

Days with snow falling         1
Days with snow lying at 0900   1

Total hours of sunshine        0.0
 

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Not a lot to add as I have few statistics. The wettest winter I can remember. Floods notable and still remain. Snow negligible but the few flakes that sat on frozen pots in the back garden lasted near enough a week. Lowest temp I think about -7C on the heaths and lower down. Ice days? I can probably forget those if they even occurred.

Black frost in the ‘easterly’ interesting to see or perhaps not. The most notable white/hoar frost was last night so not in the technical winter. A lot of fog. Murk off the sea common, hill fog the same but radiation fog not a lot but a few days I recall. Sunshine notable by its absence. Gloom, a common enough occurrence and enough to cover the landscape in depressing vibes. Aberdonian perhaps, though it seems that far north had the sunniest winter in the UK.

Advance warning: When the technical droughts begin, I'll remind everyone, even if they are not Namibian in nature.
This is not Africa or Death Valley.

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Poor winter - Not one snowflake or frosty night/morning in the whole month of February.

A few flakes in early-mid January during a colder spell but nothing note-worthy to be honest! One night down to -7.5c and parts of Devon down to -9.0c which was the coldest night min since winter 2020/2021.

February was absolutely dire throughout the whole country to be honest. I mean a CET of +4.0c above normal is very unusual, especially given we were in an El Nino winter which usually favours colder ends.

Despite having at least two SSW's nothing delivered, despite the Easterly QBO and Frozen Scandinavia - no cold air came our way! A BIG disappointment - Even the GFS/JMA/ECM/MET etc models had a poor season too. February should have been blocked/cold and dry or an easterly which never came about - all models forecast a colder February even Met Office.

I don't know what else to say really....! Just relentless wind and rain and followed by drizzle and more rain. El Nino winters do usually favour wetter winters but usually have backloaded winters so I am keen to know why it was so so wet... is it because of the consistent above average SST's temperatures in the N Atlantic?

We had more snow in the last day of November 2023 than the whole of winter 23/24.

Just shows that even in an easterly QBO, El Nino and despite repeated SSW or SW's - it doesn't always mean we will get colder and blocked weather. Despite rapid Siberian and Scandinavian snow cover doesn't necessarily mean we will get cold weather either.

I can only give this 1/10 due to the cold night-time min 3rd week of January i think it was either the night/early hours of 17th or 18th January.

 

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