Recent Cold/Snowy British Winters (2013, roach, locations)

[raheel12]

Since 2009 every winter in uk has been cold and pretty snowy compared to the past.2009 and 2010 brought record snowfalls and temperatures dipped well below -20 C in Scotland. Telegraph in 2000 said children wouldn't know what snow is but its been 4/5 consecutive cold and snowy winters.

Skiing in Scotland Has been on par with alps in recent years with about 2-3 meters of snow.





Before Coming to Britain I was told winters were mild and not snowy but Its the exact opposite. Every winter from 08 has been really snowy and cold. Though I was told mid 2000s were horrible british winters with less snow.

March 2013 was the coldest march after 1962.

Any of you remember December 2010?..Was the coldest December in Uk ever since 1910.

recent winter brought loads of snow again.

Are British Winters Changing?

[easthome]

Originally Posted by raheel12

Since 2009 every winter in uk has been cold and pretty snowy compared to the past.2009 and 2010 brought record snowfalls and temperatures dipped well below -20 C in Scotland. Telegraph in 2000 said children wouldn't know what snow is but its been 4/5 consecutive cold and snowy winters.

Skiing in Scotland Has been on par with alps in recent years with about 2-3 meters of snow.





Before Coming to Britain I was told winters were mild and not snowy but Its the exact opposite. Every winter from 08 has been really snowy and cold. Though I was told mid 2000s were horrible british winters with less snow.

March 2013 was the coldest march after 1962.

Any of you remember December 2010?..Was the coldest December in Uk ever since 1910.

recent winter brought loads of snow again.

Are British Winters Changing?

Im beginning to wonder myself! Its not only been the winters though in recent years the 'Summers' have been cool and rainy too, something to do with the jet stream being further south than it should be (caused by the melting ice caps so Ive heard) however this Summer just gone was a bit more like the ones pre 2007 and apparantly the jet stream has returned north to where it should be so after 3 or 4 cold snowy winters Im hopeful that the winter weather will be a little more 'normal' ie cool and cloudy.

[britinparis]

The entirety of Britain has a cool, maritime climate (Koppen: Cfb - Oceanic climate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), and, despite Global Warming - this isn't about the change any time soon. While this generally means mild summers that are a mix of sunshine and cloud, chilly and very overcast (but not excessively cold) winters and regular but light precipitation year round (no dry season) - it is even more characterised by extreme unpredictability.

This means that although this "martime climate" pattern is the norm over an average of 50, or 100 years - the climate varies dramatically from one year to the next - or even from decade to decade. Surely Global Warming and Climate Change are having an exacerbating effect but in fact the British climate has been like this for centuries.

So while generally you can expect mild to warm (but not hot) summers, and chilly cloudy (but not very cold) winters - this pattern is disrupted by cold snaps and heat waves and other types of "abnormal" weather. It is true that the last three winters have been excessively cold by British standards. But in fact it hasn't been cold all winter.

Last year (2012-13) was actually quite mild during December and January. February to April were brutally cold and snowy. This was followed by a wonderfully hot dry summer - the first in about 6 years.

Another remark to make is that the weather in the UK is influenced by the fronts of the Atlantic Ocean as much as the season or time of year. A cold snap could descend from the Arctic any time from October to early May. A "heatwave" can occur from April to early October. Some years summer is wet and winter is dry, some years it's the other way round.

Part of the problem (and modern popular culture which is greatly influenced by America) is that even in Britain many people don't understand our own climate... and get stressed out/worried about these abnormal "snaps" of crazy weather. Actually climates like Britain's are extremely rare in North America (the only place which has anything even approaching it are parts of west coast Canada). Hollywood has led us to believe that summer should be hot, winter should be cold and snowy, spring should be lush and green and autumn a riot of colour and wind. This is the climate in the United States! It is not realistic to expect England to be like this at all - and the more you learn to love the unpredictability and relish in the surprises that the British climate can bring - the more you'll learn to love it.

(That said, I do think there is some truth in the argument that Climate Change is destroying/weakening the jet stream - which brings western Europe warm wet weather from the Caribbean and means that we are much much warmer than comparable locations at similar latitutes on other continents - ie. Labrador in Canada, or Eastern Siberia - giving Britain an even more unpredicable and at times, colder, climate than it had before)

[Amy1190]

I also believe that Britain's climate is being affected by a shift or weakening of the Atlantic Gulf Stream. Rising sea levels will slowly achieve this. Britain's climate is slowly morphing into a more continental climate, whereby winters would be significantly colder and summers would be more prone to heat waves and droughts. It's not the end of the world, but it will cause problems further down the line.

[P London]

The recent cold winters are nothing spectacular its happened before

Winter of 1946

Winter of 1962

Winter of 1990

January 1987 Southeast England snowfall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and more to come...

[cushla]

I remember very cold winters 1962/3 lasted for months, we had snow most winters, same with summer some like 1959 and 1976 were very hot, it seems to go in cycles.

[flamingGalah!]

Not every winter since 2009/2010 has been cold & certainly not snowy everywhere. Last winter was infact very mild, it was the spring that was cold & made it seem like we had a long cold winter. In terms of absolute minimums last winter was my 3rd mildest in the last 12 years...

Do I think winters are changing? No. Do I think we are seeing more extremes due to climate change? Yes

[dunno what to put here]

It varies. Last winter here was definitely cold, albeit not very, and was very snowy. In Leeds, we probably had around 70cm of snow between January and March. Obviously not on the ground at once. In fact, I can't remember a winter that had so many frequent snowfalls as last winter. We had around 25cm on the ground on the morning of 26 Jan, and then severe drifting snow in March - some roads needed JCB diggers to clear the snow.

It was quite cloudy though, so the absolute minimums never fell very low - only -7C in January, which is really quite weak.