BIG Myth: My Area Doesn't Get Snow Like We Used To

[SFX]

Originally Posted by Eman Resu VIII

This is absolutely not a myth in the UK, it's very clear in the statistics that snowfall here is far, far less now than it was in the 1900-1960 period.

Where are the statistics?

[Eman Resu VIII]

Originally Posted by SFX

Where are the statistics?

Plenty of statistics on:
Metoffice.gov
and they do not make the data publically available you will have to pay.

The document below shows the Met Office 1961-1990 compared to 1981-2010 average for snow in the UK on page 5.
We can see that places that had, for example, 10 to 20 days with lying snow per annum in 1961-1990, now only get 5-10 days with lying snow per annum. Quite a substantial reduction.
https://nerc.ukri.org/research/partn...watersource11/

Other free data you can see shows air frost number and that has declined in likewise fashion along with snow. as is clearly evident, for example in this data for Sheffield where I live:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/dat...ffielddata.txt

This clearly shows that the number of air frosts averaged per year has dropped from 43.6 days per annum in the late 19th century, to a mere 18.8 over the last 20 years! Because most of the precpitation here is in winter, this has had a direct impact on the frequency and intensity of snowfall. The last two years have even failed to have any lying snow at all, a situation completely unheard of at any time before the 1960's.

So, the concluson for the UK is clear: Winters (especially low temperatures), have warmed up considerably, and snowfall as such has reduced in quantity and depth substantially, confirming what everybody (especially older people) are seeing - that winters on average nowadays are getting far less snow than ever used to be seen the further back in time you go


"An analysis of gridded datashows significant decreases in the number of days of lying snow for 1961/62-2004/05, in all regions of the UK, with the greatest percentage decreases in parts of southern and centralEngland and Wales (Perry 2006). The decreases are still significant when only using data from 1963/64, to exclude the potential for the very snowy winter of 1962/63 to skew the results. The trends are most significant in autumn but absolute decreases are greatest in winter, when most snow occurs. Decreases in both autumn and spring suggest that the snow season is getting shorter."

[Bisfbath]

Originally Posted by Eman Resu VIII

Plenty of statistics on:
Metoffice.gov
and they do not make the data publically available you will have to pay.

The document below shows the Met Office 1961-1990 compared to 1981-2010 average for snow in the UK on page 5.
We can see that places that had, for example, 10 to 20 days with lying snow per annum in 1961-1990, now only get 5-10 days with lying snow per annum. Quite a substantial reduction.
https://nerc.ukri.org/research/partn...watersource11/

Other free data you can see shows air frost number and that has declined in likewise fashion along with snow. as is clearly evident, for example in this data for Sheffield where I live:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/dat...ffielddata.txt

This clearly shows that the number of air frosts averaged per year has dropped from 43.6 days per annum in the late 19th century, to a mere 18.8 over the last 20 years! Because most of the precpitation here is in winter, this has had a direct impact on the frequency and intensity of snowfall. The last two years have even failed to have any lying snow at all, a situation completely unheard of at any time before the 1960's.

So, the concluson for the UK is clear: Winters (especially low temperatures), have warmed up considerably, and snowfall as such has reduced in quantity and depth substantially, confirming what everybody (especially older people) are seeing - that winters on average nowadays are getting far less snow than ever used to be seen the further back in time you go


"An analysis of gridded datashows significant decreases in the number of days of lying snow for 1961/62-2004/05, in all regions of the UK, with the greatest percentage decreases in parts of southern and centralEngland and Wales (Perry 2006). The decreases are still significant when only using data from 1963/64, to exclude the potential for the very snowy winter of 1962/63 to skew the results. The trends are most significant in autumn but absolute decreases are greatest in winter, when most snow occurs. Decreases in both autumn and spring suggest that the snow season is getting shorter."

Nice summary and certainly reflects my anecdotal experience. I moved to England in the early 1990s and the amount of snow has decreased noticeably since then.

[SFX]

Originally Posted by Eman Resu VIII

Plenty of statistics on:
Metoffice.gov
and they do not make the data publically available you will have to pay.

Thanks.

FYI Rutgers snow lab has a limited time period, but still allows one to look at each season for large regions (not helpful in this matter), but it also shows a map, by month. Which does allow one to view snow cover, and monthly departure.

https://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcove...nth=2&ui_set=2

This only goes back to Nov 1969

Since the amount of snow is directly associated with temperature, snow is a proxy for temperature, especially in regions that don't always have snow during the cold season.