[Bazmundo]

Nice hi res Envisat image from 1050z showing some smudges from snow showers in places (~30Mb):

http://hse-meris1.eo..._image_0260.jpg

[Thunderstorm]

Hi, how's been the beginning of this febbrary?

The forecast into the end of gennary talked of a severe wintry offensive, with the bridge between the high pressures Atlantic and Russian, that would have brought the big siberian cold in our Europe.

In Italy there was an inusual cold and a lot of snow, where have had storic records of temperatures, around -20° in the night, in the northern Italy and -10°/-5° in the centre. Instead our south hasn't written a story page, there was very little snow and temperatures less cold.

How much snow there was from you?
What temperatures have you had?

[Dave K]

With just 3 days of the "official" winter left it looks as if my site simple mean for DJF will be about 5.7 °C or +0.5 °C against average, which follows three below average winters. There have been 20 air frosts which is only 2 fewer than normal.

Rainfall total will be low at around 134 mm or 67% of average, but very far from the driest ( 57.8 mm in 1991/92, and two others < 100 mm ). Just the single incident of snowfall which settled and about 4/5 days of 50% snow cover at 09z.

[Ed.]

Have a feeling this thread shall become (reinvigorated..) with activity - perhaps not in the shorter term, as temps comfortably rise if not rocket once again.An increasing signal for change is afoot.

Although Spring may be springing, it is doubtful Winter's going to throw in the towel just yet..

[Andy Mayhew]

Andy Mayhew, on 30 November 2011 - 18:37, said:

I'm thinking the post Christmas Period and January give the best chances of cold and snowy weather this winter. Most forecasts seem to be going either for a repeat of last winter , but colder, (already a fail, whatever wierd mumbo-jumbo excuse you give, Mr Corbyn) or for a cold end to winter with Jan and Feb seening the coldest weather.. But I think we'll see another early spring. And overall a pretty average winter, perhaps a little above average in terms of CET.

Edit: that's based on the new SLAPin't'FACE Mk 7b lunar-tectonic forecasting model incorporating new Jovian II technology. None of which was paid for by subscribers.

The cold spell came later then I expected, but the early spring arrived as per predictions - and I reckon overall a fairly good call?

But congratuations also due to Brian Gaze at TWO who forecast:

Quote

Wintry conditions are likely to develop at times during December, especially in the north, but the coldest spell of the winter is forecast to occur between mid-January and mid-February, with milder weather tending to become more dominant across most of the country later on.

Summaries of various forecasts issued in the autumn can be seen here - draw your own conclusions