Before I conclude a summary of winter 20/21 I will look back at 3 years ago today on 1st March 2018.

3 years ago today storm Emma struck many parts of the south and south west in particular:

01/03/2018 from my flat window:

12pm:

13:00

14:00

 

15:00

 

 

17:30

 

Exeter High street outside Pret A Manger around 16:30:

Exeter Cathedral 16:30

Exeter Quay 17:00:

 

 

Temperature rose from -3.5 to -2.0c later that evening and then we had a period of freezing rain sadly later that night which ruined our snow totals. What was striking was on the 28th February the night time temperature fell to -6c and it clouded over with snow flurries by the morning and the temperature never really rose when the cloud cover arrived in the early hours so we were still at -4c right up until 12pm on 1st March.

2nd March 2018:

Despite a night of freezing rain, sleet fell with ice pellets and then proper snow began to fall on the afternoon of Friday 2nd March 2018 which gave light covering when the temperature fell back to -1.0c. - Taken outside Urban Outfitters Exeter high street - Just love those icicles. 

• Well as you can see - I am feeling nostalgic!

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Back to the here and now re the summary of winter 20/21 - there is no comparison!

The easterly was a big let down given there was the potential on several occasions. The channel low on Tuesday 9th February turned into the bay of Biscay low. Exeter got nothing - maybe the odd snow flake. On Wednesday 10th after a tiny dusting! - where by you could count the flakes.

There were flurries by the evening and Thursday morning there was a dusting of perhaps 1cm at best but this fell between 05:00am and 07:00am when everyone including myself was asleep. 

This melted by 12pm but there were some patches on frozen surfaces later that night.

HOWEVER, Seeing weather forecasts like this on Wednesday for Thursday was a big disappointment: Seeing as we only ended up with snow grains and wet flakes at 11pm as the wind picked up.

If that wasn't frustrating enough then there was Saturday 13th February when this so called 'more persistent sleet and snow' was forecast: - Thinking that we would see a period of sleet/snow as the front stalled we were let down again - furthermore, given the BBC app and Met Office forecast as well as their app along with the BBC graphics - I was wrong! See below graphics from Darren Bett.

The showers on the radar evaporated as they moved inland. It was a big let down for many. There was the odd wet snowflake at first followed by ice pellets and drizzle. Snow was no where near as widespread as shown in below BBC weather graphic's.

It was very frustrating as I mentioned - The fact that Exeter and many parts of Devon and Cornwall missed out on the showers and the more persistent spell of sleet and snow which was due to fall on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well as Saturday as per above really was very disappointing indeed and worse of all there was no breakdown - later that Saturday 13th February we got drizzle instead.

The Met Office forecast esp their app as well as BBC really rubbed me up the wrong way, because they kept changing every hour - one minute they showed Exeter under heavy snow and the next light snow followed by only a 30% chance of precipitation or sleet symbol - which was then replaced by cloud - also their weather warnings for snow and ice which wasn't really necessary. I expected better from such a professional organisation like the Met Office and we were talking forecasts the same day were very inaccurate too.

There was no breakdown for many parts of the UK either. Even when many rainfall radars like - raintoday were showing Exeter under precipitation - there was nothing - yes, maybe something aloft and the odd snow grain or flake but nothing otherwise so that irritated me I did see a lot of snow streaks or bright virga from come cumulus congestus clouds at times in the distance but these showers fragmented as they got closer.

Perhaps the best chance for snow was Sunday 24th January from a westerly but even that never produced any measurable snowfall - just a slushy deposit in the early hours (between 0400 and 0800 am) whilst we were all asleep of course, and were not able to enjoy it! however, some parts of Dartmoor/Exmoor saw 2-3" of the white stuff and a whole load of cold rain for many parts of the country esp the south west, south and far south east like in early January. 

I understand it was different for those in the SE and Scotland - but for the majority that easterly was another write off. Even the SE didn't really see much snow either - London had a pitiful 1-2cms of snow during that easterly when back in January there was up to 5cms of snow in the space of 4hours. London mostly had dustings and light snow for 2 consecutive days on 8th and 9th February but little or no accumulation and then the subliming/Sublimation debate came about.  

What also frustrated me - Jiries would agree were photos of Madrid being buried in 60cms of snow. Yet they never had an easterly - then Italy, Greece all had snow as well only for the many parts of the UK to be 'snowfree' and ended up with cold rain- Also just to add insult to injury - friends of mine in kingwood, Texas having daytime maxes of -6c and night time temperatures of -15c was really pushing it for me. They are on the Gulf coast for heavens sake.

This winter ended on 13th February for many. It's a real shame given we had x2 SSW's or even 3 and x2 reversal of zonal winds as well as a very-NAO and -AO for most of the winter. When will we ever see such long periods of HLB?  Another question? Do we need to keep placing our bets on a SSW to get cold weather and snow? December 2010 month long freezing cold spell was not caused by a SSW!? So what caused that?

We did see lower temperatures than pervious winters and it was nice to see the UK/(Scotland) break a new low of -23c in Braemar and it has been a fascinating winter for model watching of course - Just a shame it never delivered goven the Met Office were constantly talking about more unsettled weather in the west and south west and disruptive snow when the two air masses meet, as Atlantic fronts moved eastwards inland - this never happened at all from my understanding.

Exeter did record more frosts than last year and the lowest temperature since the winter of 2017/18, which was -5c on NYD 1st January @ 06:00am 2021.

On the positive side covid-19 vaccinations haven't been too badly effected by the weather (in general).

Let's hope things will be better next winter 2021/22 when we are in an easterly QBO - When lockdown would have been eased and we can enjoy the snow if/when we get some and go to beauty spots like Moors, Dales, Pennines, Scottish highlands - (as it was a good season of snow for Scotland just a shame no one could go skiing due to lockdown restrictions). There will be no fines issued, given some students of Leeds were fined £10,000 for arranging a snowball fight on social media.

I can't believe winter ended so soon by middle of February but at least it was better than last winter in terms of cold and snow but rubbish compared to 2017/18 or even 2018/19.

So all in all it's been a very frustrating winter as the cold air was so close to our shores (being over Scandinavia and western Russia) for weeks on end but it never really truly came our way! So it was enough to tease though - Just so near, yet so far!

PS - Took me over an hour to write this and in detail so hope you all enjoyed reading this!

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Well that's an interesting take on the past Tally. I suppose you can't say Exeter is the most boring part of the UK. You might well have heard a loud BOOOM the other evening.

Yet my sister never heard it in the kitchen but her daughter upstairs felt the house shake and windows rattle.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-56236381

For perhaps the most boring weather in the UK you probably can't beat the Scilly Isles further west than you.

In Isles of Scilly, the summers are short, cool, and windy; the winters are long, cool, wet, and extremely windy; and it is partly cloudy year round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 44°F to 66°F and is rarely below 38°F or above 70°F.

Puts Aberdeen to shame when you think about it.

The gardens are great though.

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Another diabolical horrendous winter full of dire synpotics. Devoid of northerlies with the added misery of being far wetter and duller than recent write-off winters.

Just one decent week of weather from the 7th to 13th February which brought the only proper snowfall since 2013 with a depth of 14cm. 

The rest was unrelentingly poor - a toxic mix of cold rain and mild rain with occasional useless snowfalls that were barely measurable.

Wettest winter I have recorded and 2nd wettest season in 16 years, after Autumn 2009, with a ridiculous 323.2mm of precipiation. December was in the top 5 wettest in the past 100 years.

etc.

Hi Richard

Maybe you just need to give off some positive vibes? This is too much of a coincidence otherwise! 

Meanwhile down here, I averaged 5.3C over the winter, which is the lowest since 2017/8. February tied with December on 5.8C, and January the coldest on 4.2C. 

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Here in NW Lincs I reckon it's been a pretty decent Winter overall, and far far better than either of the previous two Winters which delivered virtually no snow at all here.  

We had 11 days with falling snow, and 10 days with snow lying, which is near enough average for here.  Although December didn't deliver here, we had a prolonged snowfall on Jan 14th which gave us 3cm snow.  The main Winter event for us was in the second week of Feb, the easterly which gave us around 7cm of snowcover.  Yes it was a very weak easterly compared to some of the greats such as 1987 and 2010, but far better than some others, for example such as the bland, damp squib easterly of Feb 2017.   

It has been an exceptionally wet Winter, with only the last week of February seeing a lengthy dry spell.  Apart from that though, fairly satisfied what we got; an average Winter for snowfall, and that's a big improvement on 2019 and 2020 !  

I'll give it 5/10.

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Winter wasn't spectacular by any means though I know Banbury did better than some , only event of note was the January 24th snow memorable because the 10cm fell in just over 90 minutes , sadly it was as good as gone in 2 days , so 3/10 for that .

Winter as a whole 4/10 - we had some decent frosts , the Easterly that didn't deliver was still cold enough to enjoy.

Hopefully in 32 weeks we will be licking our lips at something a bit more spectacular 

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Quite a good snowy and frosty winter up here

COLD & WET (A lot of that was snow) NEAR NORMAL SUN

This data is from Swanston weather station in south Edinburgh

Mean Temp: 3.3 C (-1.8 C)

Rainfall: 351mm (152%)

Sunshine: 183 hrs (98%)

Days with sleet/snow: 37

Days with snow lying: 34

Max snow depth 27cm (10/2)

Ground Frost: 41

Air Frost: 33

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7th wettest winter on record for England and Wales and for the NW England and north Wales region. 

That has surprised me because this winter didn't feel as wet as last winter.

Could be that February 2020 distorted my perception of that winter because a sizeable portion of that winter's rainfall fell during February.

Another factor could be that there was far more falling snow days and snow was on the ground this winter unlike last winter. That might have added to the impression of a "drier" winter to its predecessor. 

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Amazing when reading this thread how varied the experience has been across the country, this winter we have had laying snow for extended periods in Dec, January, February and as I look out of the window now it is snowing and laying.

A good snowy winter here by any measure.

December 2020

Max temperature = 13.0c

Min temperature = -1.6c

Mean for the month = 6.8c (-0.3)

Rainfall = 118.0 mm (average 75mm)

 

January 2021

Max temperature = 13.7c

Min temperature = -3.6c

Mean for the month = 4.5c ( -0.6)

Rainfall = 158.3 mm (average 71mm)

 

February 2021

Max temperature = 14.2c

Min temperature = -3.6c

Mean for the month = 5.8c (+0.7)

Rainfall = 52.3 mm....probably nearer 60mm realistically due to the freeze not capturing all available snowfall (average 64mm).

 

A bang on average winter temperature wise. Wet and very unsettled with gales at times. The jet stream was further south this time around. Snowfall was observed on a few occasions at altitude in December and January. February was drier, milder and sunnier. The noteworthy week long freeze and snow events between 7-13th February are completely masked by these figures.

Overall a 10/10 winter for me. My definition of a proper winter is a week long freeze at some point in the core of winter. We achieved that ! 

It could have been a tad drier though. 

 

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I've added in the final stats for the last few days of Feb which took the mean to 4.55C. 

Whilst I fully accept that many people enjoyed the winter my view is it was one of the most boring I can recall. 

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/weather-news/5654/winter-2020-21-summary

 

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8/10

Started off with thundersnow on the 4th dec, rest of December up to xmas a bit of a washout, but Xmas to Mid-feb I had 3 significant snowfalls which stuck around for about a week each. End of February was boiling hot (10C!!!!) but at least it was sunny.

Wagged finger for Edinburgh Council being tulipat gritting pavements. We all bought yaktrax this year because the pavements got so treacherous after a refreezing, no sign of the pavement gritters. To rub it in, the last couple of days its been cold but no snow/rain forecast and they've had the gritters flying round 24/7 😞

Just quickly read the Met Office summary available here:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2021/2021-winter-february-stats

The temperature section is interesting. Provisionally anomalies to 1981-2010:

UK: -0.21C

England: -0.03C
Wales: +0.06C
Scotland: -0.57C
Northern Ireland: -0.30C

 

I was quite surprised and had expected the negative anomaly to be bigger in Scotland. Given the north to south variation I expect that much of southern England was slightly milder than the 1981-2010 mean which would probably be consistent with the stats I posted for Berkhamsted at the start of the thread.  

 

 

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Just quickly read the Met Office summary available here:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2021/2021-winter-february-stats

The temperature section is interesting. Provisionally anomalies to 1981-2010:

UK: -0.21C

England: -0.03C
Wales: +0.06C
Scotland: -0.57C
Northern Ireland: -0.30C

 

I was quite surprised and had expected the negative anomaly to be bigger in Scotland. Given the north to south variation I expect that much of southern England was slightly milder than the 1981-2010 mean which would probably be consistent with the stats I posted for Berkhamsted at the start of the thread.  

 

 

Interesting stats Brian. In Leeds it was a great Winter and easily the best for some time. To see it being only a fraction below average shows how mild the last few have been. 

I think the rainfall and sunshine amounts are the most interesting.

Eastern areas have had a soaking. The wettest winter on record in Tyne and Wear and the 2nd wettest for other eastern regions.
Extremely dull in central Wales and Sussex.

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