is this cold snap classed as 'normal'?

[palm lad]

seen the forecast about 10cm of snow in central and the east of the UK but milder air will move in from the west on sunday

just curious to know whether this will class this winter another 'cold winter' or is this cold snap just normal as in what we were used to getting back in the milder winters years ago?

hopefully mostly all the hardy palms and also Cordylines should survive these conditions, well i think so anyway!

cheers, PL

[billdango]

Its certainly not normal for southampton as in most Winters the lowest night temperature rarely goes below -2c and thats only on a few nights a year?

In December 2010 we had 2 nights at -6c and about 10 others at between -2 and -5c.

So far this year we have had only one night at -5c and that was last night.

Tonight at time of typing this it is already -2c and will certainly reach -5c again by dawn.

Hopefully this is not going to be an ongoing trend for future winters as I and most other forum members can't afford to keep replacing expensive plants each year.

rgds billdango.

[Tom2006]

It's been a very very mild winter until now. The snowfall is nothing but the cold spell could last for most of this month especially in the east.

[Nigel]

This winter ( for the UK ) until now has been milder than normal. Even if you include the last few days. The last few days are not abnormal winter lows.
It depends what happens the next 2 or 3 weeks whether you can call this winter normal or not. It could get ugly yet or it can get milder and stay normal.
The same applies to most of Europe barring the last couple of days, but what is hapening there is not normal now. It exceptionally cold but even so if the cold departs in the next few days it will probably not be remembered as a severe winter but a mild winter with a short spell of severe cold.
What is abnormal is the size of the high pressure , its possibly the biggest ever recorded ,thats abnormal and worrying.
The consoling fact is that this is not the same weather that caused the last 3 winters, its something different so if it goes on another 2 or 3 weeks then the odds are probably same as winning the lottery to get 4 bad winters like that.
The GFS shows a huge low sweeping into europe next week, and the high pressure disappearing, that will mean severe snow and serious problems but after that it will all be over with luck.

[Adam D]

It's been normal up here so far.

Some snow, some frosts, some mild days, some sunshine and a couple of windstorms.

[cordyman]

This winter ( for the UK ) until now has been milder than normal. Even if you include the last few days. The last few days are not abnormal winter lows.
It depends what happens the next 2 or 3 weeks whether you can call this winter normal or not. It could get ugly yet or it can get milder and stay normal.
The same applies to most of Europe barring the last couple of days, but what is hapening there is not normal now. It exceptionally cold but even so if the cold departs in the next few days it will probably not be remembered as a severe winter but a mild winter with a short spell of severe cold.
What is abnormal is the size of the high pressure , its possibly the biggest ever recorded ,thats abnormal and worrying.
The consoling fact is that this is not the same weather that caused the last 3 winters, its something different so if it goes on another 2 or 3 weeks then the odds are probably same as winning the lottery to get 4 bad winters like that.
The GFS shows a huge low sweeping into europe next week, and the high pressure disappearing, that will mean severe snow and serious problems but after that it will all be over with luck.

Where is the huge high pressure sitting over right now? Is it kept in place by the Atlantic?

How many unique setups exist that we know of that can cause long Narnia spells? Last two winters obviously,
Were yet to see if this pattern can stick around
are there any more known of?

[Nigel]

Cordy the last 3 winters were caused by the Arctic Dipole Anomoly a new weather pattern not seen before. This is caused by melting sea ice in the arctic allowing high pressure to form where it didnt form before and disrupting the PV. Thats why the Uk was colder than europe, NOT NORMAL.

This weather pattern now is nothing new. Its a cold siberian blast which happens at this time of year periodically. The unusual thing this time is size of the high which spans all of europe and asia to the other side of siberia. Thankfully its showing signs of breaking up next week.

[jezza]

It would be nice if we have this huge high pressure system in the summer!

[Las Palmas Norte]

Our morning news showed a fairly heavy snow fall in Rome, Italy. Public facilities and transportation where being effected as would be expected.

Cheers, Barrie.