Apart from some light dripping snow a few weeks back - a mediocre winter cold wise. For rainfall it has to be 10/10, Cold and Snow 6.5/10. If we hadn't been fortunate to enjoy a family tropical sun fix over Christmas this would have been one of the most depressing winters I can remember.

Nick

 

 

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The winter index is 69, it is going to end up at least above 50 now. Overall better then many of the winters of the period between 1988-2008

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mixed bag for here in sheepland,had one really good dumping around 6" with a few top ups..plenty of rain which of course is natural..not much sunshine which is also natural it seems..winter now seems to be dragging its heels a touch...roll on spring and summer in april.Normally i look forward to summer but this year after the last 5 odd years im not so excited,maybe this year things will be different and summer will be much better than previous summers..maybe Spurs will win the prem

It's certainly been a mixed bag for me, which is so much better than constant grey drizzly days.  A couple of nice sunny days now to remind us spring's on its way now but we've had a good number of snow days during Jan and Feb as well as a couple of days of wind and rain, which I don't mind occassionally. 

I would have said it's been excellent so far, had December not been so grey and miserable, but given it was, I'll give this winter a 'good'.

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Winter seemed to drag for me, first part very disappointing second and third better,

But not enough cold and snow

So I'd say it was just average overall.

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Super.  Laying and falling snow in December, January and February.  Maximum depth of around 13cms.  Snow covering the ground for around 8 mornings so far here at sea level on the coast.  The coldest spell of this never -say -die winter is yet to come.  2012-13 - a modern classic. Even in the NW, which has avoided the worst of the snow, this winter rates above many of those in the 1988-2008 period.  Here it is a very decent winter which is going to have a strong finish.  

Reading through the posts in other threads, 2 things strike me.  First, how different the weather is across the counties let alone countries of the UK.  We all experience the weather IMBY and I cannot for the life of me understand why people object to an IMBY perspective as that is the natural state of experiencing the weather.

Second, it is illuminating just how much the weather apparantly affects peoples moods negatively.  I can see the point in allowing the weather to have a mood enhancing effect if its a positive; but to allow it to depress and spread misery is not very wise IMHO.

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Manchester Winter Indices

1978-79: 262
2009-10: 197
1985-86: 159
1981-82: 149
1976-77: 141
1984-85: 140
1995-96: 135
1990-91: 126
2010-11: 119
2008-09: 105
2012-13: 103 (up to 23rd February)
1986-87: 100
1977-78: 90
1980-81: 90
1982-83: 85
1983-84: 82
1993-94: 78
2000-01: 77
1996-97: 72
1979-80: 66
2005-06: 59
2001-02: 50
2003-04: 50
2004-05: 47
2011-12: 47
1994-95: 45
2002-03: 44
1992-93: 43
1999-00: 42
1975-76: 41
1991-92: 40
1987-88: 37
2007-08: 37
1973-74: 30
1974-75: 26
1997-98: 25
2006-07: 21
1988-89: 20

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Well the white stuff when it came was good..The dry period we are gong into is good..The rain early this year was bad..The cold to come is bad..

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Had a few good moments.. the first few days of the New year mild, settled and bright, but most of the rest.. either too wet and more recently too blooming cold. Morning of 18th Jan particularly bad, never want to go through a commute to work like that again ever.

 

Spring cannot come soon enough.

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Had a few good moments.. the first few days of the New year mild, settled and bright, but most of the rest.. either too wet and more recently too blooming cold. Morning of 18th Jan particularly bad, never want to go through a commute to work like that again ever.

 

Spring cannmakesot come soon enough.

This winter has brought 4 distinct cold spells which must be considered good if you like that sort of thing. However, it was only the January spell that delivered meaningful snow.

The wetness of early winter has at least subsided which is a good thing but the unremitting prospect of gloom from the NE is not great.

A glimpse of spring last week was indeed nice

And over here, as far as my neck of the woods is concerned, I have now nicknamed this winter as the "Cameron/Clegg Winter" - one that has been promising loads in terms of potential but ended up letting us down anyway.

 There was the one-day wonder of 20th Jan which gave me 6 cm of level snow but, again, I have seen better than that.

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It's the length of this winter which has been noticeable for me, rather than any great severity.

My index is determined by the time I have to light the woodburner and how much wood I have to collect to feed it. I've got used to not starting regular use until well into November down here, but it's been going non-stop since October this winter. And the model output suggests no esrly respite in March.

Been thankful for the dry Continental wind of the last few days, which has dried out some of the soggy pile of branches I'm going to be needing to keep me going. 

The odd thing is that despite getting a sun tan in March last year, I then found myself having to light a fire on many evenings right up until the end of May, hence the decline in my fuel stocks. 

The last two winters may not have seen a repeat of the extremely cold and snowy periods which highlighted the preceding couple, but this part of the world seems to have been experiencing a general decline in temperatures for quite a few years now.

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This winter, more than any I can remember, has been one of great teasing by the models. How many times have we been shown, for several successive runs and by almost all models, a tantalising view of some great winter set ups, which would certainly deliver memorable snowfall events across much of the country.

And yet every single one has either been wiped away completely, or scaled down heavily.

I see Kev Bradshaw's MWI his showing an above average score and I'm not surprised. Looking at the bare figures, I should be excited - indeed, using his criteria, I think where I live (about 18 miles west of him) would have been around 10 points higher due to much better snowfalls. In terms of number of days where snow has fallen, it must be around 20 IMBY. But it's not *felt* that good a winter.

Overall, I've felt frustrated. Every time it's looked like we were going to get some snow, just 2/3 days prior to the forecasted event the snow amounts have been downgraded and/or shunted southwards. When we've actually ended up receiving some snow from these events after all, it's felt a bit flat.

Even now the frustration continues. A nice looking northerly with a chunk of the PV sitting over the North Sea, which was shown on a few runs, and had the potential to deliver some great late snowfall as a last hoorah, has been whipped away.

The one meteorological event which I yearn to experience is a catastrophic snowfall event across most (if not all) of the UK. The sort that brings the entire country to half for a week or so. A national emergency. The older I get, the more I crave it.

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As stated by others a winter that promised much delivered little.

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A very much colder and snowier winter for many as the Weather Index illustrates for Manchester.  Many individuals have short memories.  We have endured many snowless winters in the last 43 years.  This for most, was not one of them.

Get some perspective

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Very good, 14 consecutive days of lying snow, several snowfalls, 25 cm maximum snow depth and over 35 cm of snow actually falling throughout January (imagine if it had all accumulated.. wow!).

February so far - 3 days with snow on the ground, maximum depth 8 cm, decent.

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A dull and boring 3 months generally. Highlights for me were the bright sunny cold spell at the start of December, the 8 or so cms of snow in January and thats pretty much it. I would have preferred far more bright, breezy and mild days and more cold crisp and sunny ones. The temperature seemed stuck in the range 2-6c for a lot of the time and when the cold came along it was nearly always associated with grey leadened skies.

Been a decent Winter here, a few decent falls and nothing too balmy and mild. Although some places only a few miles away have had hardly anything wintry. Anyway for here it has certainly been better than most of the rubbish we had in 90's-00's.

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You'd be forgiven for assuming that with something like 14 days of falling snow this winter it would have been a winter wonderland - but it hasn't really. Yes, we had a couple of inches for a day or two in January but aside from that it's been no more than a dusting at any given time. Lots of slush and "almost" scenarios sums it up!

Better than the dire late 90s winters (which had no snow at all) but still a far cry from the 80s, 91, 95 and 96.

One day we'll get a decent Scandi High, one day....

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Not over yet...This dry weather is okay..But not the cold winds...

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