Certainly is. Wasn't cold here at dawn. 6'c with broken cloud

. But here we had a good Frost this morning but soon melted 

 

I hadn't realised she was still on the throne in 1986!

More prunes needed obviously! First subzero December, of course I meant to say 

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More prunes needed obviously! First subzero December, of course I meant to say 

Heh, I'd gathered as much - was just pulling your leg.

It'd be nice if we could see some more "lowest in 120 year" events. even with things as they are, they should still be possible once in a while...

Meanwhile down here the thickness is starting to fall as the plume of warm air cools somewhat.

http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=europe&TYPE=GIF%3ASKEWT&YEAR=2019&MONTH=12&FROM=3012&TO=3023&STNM=03882

The inversion shows up really well on that sounding - go up 800 feet and it's a toasty 15C!

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. But here we had a good Frost this morning but soon melted 

I suspect the South Coast had clear skies before me and some drier air so maybe that's why. I was up at 5am to go to work 

 

 

Heh, I'd gathered as much - was just pulling your leg.

It'd be nice if we could see some more "lowest in 120 year" events. even with things as they are, they should still be possible once in a while...

Meanwhile down here the thickness is starting to fall as the plume of warm air cools somewhat.

http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=europe&TYPE=GIF%3ASKEWT&YEAR=2019&MONTH=12&FROM=3012&TO=3023&STNM=03882

The inversion shows up really well on that sounding - go up 800 feet and it's a toasty 15C!

 

The Shard is just over 1,000ft tall. I wonder what the temperature difference was between the bottom (chilly fog when I got to London) and the top this morning!

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It'd be nice if we could see some more "lowest in 120 year" events. 

 

Unless we're talking the May-August period, I agree!!

 

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 We've had decent (10cm+) snow events in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2018 and 2019 as well as smaller snow events in 2015 and 2016. Not to mention the first subzero CET month December since Victorian times! To say that decent UK winters are a thing of the past seems very odd. If you'd told me that in the late 1990s or early 2000s I might have believed you.

You must admit you've been lucky! At Chichester in only the neighbouring county, snow events meeting your 10cm+ criterion were 2009 & 2010 (which only lasted 4 days) and smaller falls in 2013 and 2018. 

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The Shard is just over 1,000ft tall. I wonder what the temperature difference was between the bottom (chilly fog when I got to London) and the top this morning!

If it was poking above the inversion, the dewpoint (-30 ish) would have been more noteworthy!

I felt that was a missed opportunity when I went to the Shard a few years ago. They had all manner of stats available, but I'd have been far more interested if they'd placed thermometers at intervals up the tower (say at ground level, 25%, 50%, 75% of the way up and at the top), together with a display showing their current readings.

 

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You must admit you've been lucky! At Chichester in only the neighbouring county, snow events meeting your 10cm+ criterion were 2009 & 2010 (which only lasted 4 days) and smaller falls in 2013 and 2018. 

 

I'm a couple hundred miles north, but I've got to agree with Rob's assertion that since the late-00's, decent snowfalls have become more prevalent

Indeed, from the late-80's to late Dec 00, a good fall of snow (that wasn't immediately washed away as the ppn turned to rain) had become very rare - 2 or 3 tops in that 12'ish year period (and one of those - the deepest at somewhere around 15-20cm - was all but washed away within 12 hours).

I've had 6 or 7 snow events of at least 10cm since.

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I'm a couple hundred miles north, but I've got to agree with Rob's assertion that since the late-00's, decent snowfalls have become more prevalent

Indeed, from the late-80's to late Dec 00, a good fall of snow (that wasn't immediately washed away as the ppn turned to rain) had become very rare - 2 or 3 tops in that 12'ish year period (and one of those - the deepest at somewhere around 15-20cm - was all but washed away within 12 hours).

I've had 6 or 7 snow events of at least 10cm since.

I agree, the 2010s have been much snowier than the 2000s and probably the 1990s here. 2012-2013 had over 80cm in total.

However the overall temperature trend is still up. 

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If it was poking above the inversion, the dewpoint (-30 ish) would have been more noteworthy!

I felt that was a missed opportunity when I went to the Shard a few years ago. They had all manner of stats available, but I'd have been far more interested if they'd placed thermometers at intervals up the tower (say at ground level, 25%, 50%, 75% of the way up and at the top), together with a display showing their current readings.

 

I work just next door to the Shard and I agree that would be interesting. I remember craning my neck up during sleet showers trying to see if it was snowing at the top!

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I'm a couple hundred miles north, but I've got to agree with Rob's assertion that since the late-00's, decent snowfalls have become more prevalent

Indeed, from the late-80's to late Dec 00, a good fall of snow (that wasn't immediately washed away as the ppn turned to rain) had become very rare - 2 or 3 tops in that 12'ish year period (and one of those - the deepest at somewhere around 15-20cm - was all but washed away within 12 hours).

I've had 6 or 7 snow events of at least 10cm since.

Same here in the East Midlands.  

We didn’t get much in the way of snow in the ‘70’s either.  We had a couple of memorable winters in the early sixties, another in ‘81.  Then in 2009/10, we had several days of moderate snow that stuck around and got topped up over Christmas and into the New Year, although it was no great depth.  The most memorable was of course Nov and Dec 2010, which gave us record depths here and stuck around for weeks. 

Considering I was born in the fifties, I haven’t seen many snowy winters, so this winter has so far been nothing unusual. 

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Since 2010 snow has been in very short supply here. Even allowing for “what must not be named” there has been an abject lack of any significant lasting snow here for over six years, especially compared with many other areas considered less prone. Surely it has to end soon?

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Here in Surrey, I've found that cold and snowy winters tend to come in clumps (though even in the middle of a clump you still get one or two mild winters). There was one clump in the 1960s, then a run of mild winters in the early to mid 1970s, followed by another clump from January 1978 to January 1987. After that, there was a big gap, apart from February 1991 and the winter of 1995-6, up until February 2009 (Dec and early Jan 1997 were cold but largely snowfree, and one or two other winters had the odd snowfall but nothing long-lasting or really severe). That last clump finished in January 2013 - we missed out on the March 2013 snow here - and even the 2018 Beast didn't give us much snow though of course it was severely cold.

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Ideally, all temp records set under Foehn effect conditions would have some kind of indication of that in their notes.

Their sensitivity to the precise wind direction and moisture profile of the atmosphere usually makes them ineligible for climate trend analysis. While the highest possible temp can be expected to be higher in a warmer overall climate, the required combination of wind direction and atmospheric moisture profile will always be an extremely rare and special event.

Exceptions do exist, mind - places where the topography is fairly smooth, yielding similar results from a variety of wind directions that drive air down the slopes of high ground. I saw a brilliant example of this while on a research trip in northern Finland a decade ago; the tundra environment was cut through on a mountain side by a swathe of ash trees.

The wind was right for the Foehn effect to be in play, so we trekked over there. Our handheld thermometers registered a jump in air temperature of over 10*C, from well below zero to a few above. This was in mid-March.

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Since 2010 snow has been in very short supply here. Even allowing for “what must not be named” there has been an abject lack of any significant lasting snow here for over six years, especially compared with many other areas considered less prone. Surely it has to end soon?

The lack of snow from the north has been remarkable here in Ireland. Snow from the west doesn't seem to be showing any trend but it definitely has become slushier and slushier over time to the point where it has become more of an eyesore than a delight. The 'BFtE' last year did bring some blizzard like conditions but it was was more like a dust storm than the real thing. Amazing to witness though but no substitute for the real thing from the north. 

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This thread is about unseasonal winter warmth, but as is not untypical for our damp corner of northwest Europe, we may experience a much colder than usual early spring.

The QBO is turning negative and we are in deep solar minimum, so it is quite likely that just as the trees and flowers are thinking about budding, we will be plunged into the freezer (for the time of year, being late March/early April).

Something to consider. Unfortunately, the QBO is turning easterly too late in the season to rescue this sorry excuse for what is laughingly termed "winter".

 

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Since 2010 snow has been in very short supply here. Even allowing for “what must not be named” there has been an abject lack of any significant lasting snow here for over six years, especially compared with many other areas considered less prone. Surely it has to end soon?

aha your long enough in the tooth Doc to know you don’t walk into a casino and bet on black because the past 8 spins landed in red. Snow will come when conditions are right. Sadly with some long range models we may have to wait until next winter to see any, unless as has been suggested by some we have a cold spring. All very depressing if it’s true winter weather your after. 😊

Just in, the UK's December record may have been broken in Scotland on 28 December. A provisional maximum of 18.7C was recorded at Achfary, according to the Met Office:

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1212043438268567553

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Just in, the UK's December record may have been broken in Scotland on 28 December. A provisional maximum of 18.7C was recorded at Achfary, according to the Met Office:

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1212043438268567553

Flashing away on FB as breaking news so I guess its official now.

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