Winter forecast?

[JC1984]

Morning all,

Anyone know of any chatter on what sort of Winter we might be in for? Maybe it's a bit mystic Meg to some degree, but I'd love another cold white one...anyone want to get my hopes up?

JC

 

[Andy BB]

Dunno, but I share your hopes! Maybe a bit strange, but I much prefer camping in the winter.

 

[JC1984]

Yes, I'm the same. You can't beat those still, cloudless skies - especially if snow is on the ground. Nothing matches it.

 

[salad]

I will have snow,in about 6-8 weeks time I will see the first snow I recon .
Autumn here is quite short

 

[Shewie]

Last winter was rubbish, we had all sorts of trips planned for the snow but it never came.

Long range forecasting can't be relied on, the old wives tales are just as bad, I'll just plan week by week this time I think.

I tried following this guy for a bit last year but he ended up being so wishy washy about stuff that he just about covered every eventuality anyway

 

[Silverclaws]

Well there is a website that has been pretty accurate in the past saying contrary to what the Met office is saying, where they are saying expect a hard one this year due to solar activity not what nature is saying.

http://www.exactaweather.com/UK_Long_Range_Forecast.html

Me, I take it as it comes, prepare for winter real and anything better is a plus or a negative as the case may be, but yes a good hard cold winter might be interesting after all the mild one's we have had, but one has to remember what cold hard winters tend to do to the weak, the old and the poor. So whilst some are enjoying the fruits of winter at it's finest others may be suffering, so spare a thought for them and if you know of such people on their own, show a bit of charity and go and make sure they are alright, as poor people we may become if we ignore those with real survival issues in our modern world when real winter comes to play.

 

[Tiley]

Last year's equivalent thread seemed to promise startlingly low temperatures and snow but it all came to nothing. This year, I am trying to assume that we'll have a similar nondescript winter in the quiet hope that we'll actually get something significantly chillier! Long range forecasts are simply not credible.

 

[Silverclaws]

Then perhaps it is prudent to think we will get a continued summer which equates to yet more rain to add credence to the various hosepipe bans in place in this country from time to time. I know it's boring and not nice to look forward to the grey skies and rain as usual, but perhaps it is better than what the alternative could be for a lot of people pushed up against the wall with this recession for the mechanisms we are all told are in place to protect the poor don't always work and are more for show than action as after five days of below zero one may get if they are eligible a winter payment of ten whole pounds and the eligibility criteria has been reduced by all the new ways to describe those who have been failed.

 

[Shewie]

Then perhaps it is prudent to think we will get a continued summer which equates to yet more rain to add credence to the various hosepipe bans in place in this country from time to time. I know it's boring and not nice to look forward to the grey skies and rain as usual, but perhaps it is better than what the alternative could be for a lot of people pushed up against the wall with this recession for the mechanisms we are all told are in place to protect the poor don't always work and are more for show than action as after five days of below zero one may get if they are eligible a winter payment of ten whole pounds and the eligibility criteria has been reduced by all the new ways to describe those who have been failed.

Eh? We just want some snow

 

[Bushwhacker]

I know it's boring and not nice to look forward to the grey skies and rain as usual, but perhaps it is better than what the alternative could be for a lot of people pushed up against the wall with this recession

Absolutely, lots of people can suffer during the cold times.

 

[armie]

According to some German and Swiss geophysicists, we on the continent can expect a mild winter.

They have discovered a correlation between cold harsh winters and the Rhine area in Germany and solar activity. The coldest winters coincide with a 'calm' sun (Geophysical Research Letters, 25 august); next year, the sun will be maximally active. According to their analysis, the chance of this correlation being coincidence is just 1%.
The researchers stress that this is a regional phenomenon: an explanation is that the weaker sun causes a change in the atmospherical currents so that cold air from the north pole flows to Central Europe for a prolonged period. Other areas could very well get warmer air because of the weaker sun.
(I transcribed this from a newspaper article)

 

[JC1984]

Silverclaws - Absolutely...point taken. Especially when you look at prisons and how warm and toasty/well fed they will be...but I didn't intend to get into that.

What will be will be...my preference is for a cold and still one....but then with a nice cosy conservatory that looks out onto the north sea...I don't mind a really harsh storm to watch

 

[Silverclaws]

With snow and ice comes the inevitable stupidity when grown adults forget their maturity and caution and go out to play with bigger more devastating toys often coming very unstuck and not understanding loss of traction applies to everything even those better equipped. Then there is the snow itself, come on everyone knows this country is never set up for snow and chaos always ensues and whilst our airports close because snow is forecast Ryan air lands on ice at Vasteras in Sweden and then takes off again twenty minutes later.

The year before last I ended up breaking open xmas presents and giving them to those not intended, because vehicles had hard packed the snow on our cul de sac into a sheet of ice that was not dealt with until it melted three weeks later, in that time the inhabitants of the cul de sac aside from myself and two others were all oap's snowbound in south west Britain in the suburbs of a city. What I dished out was Swedish shoe crampons just so the oldies could get out, and get out they did, they didn't traverse the ice sheet, but at least they got out of their house.

But if one is of an outdoor mentality, head for the hills there you will find snow and enjoy the snow, just don't wish it on those that cannot afford it.

 

[Andy BB]

Sorry, but I refuse to feel guilty about enjoying snow! "Don't wish it on those who can't afford it" - good grief! Should I wish against it, or maybe join a coven so my wishes would be more effective?! Lots of guilt trips one could postulate about - what about those that die of heat-stroke in the summer, for example. And yes, things aren't perfect for older folks, but compared to much of the rest of the world they live in luxury. (The very fact they've reached old age puts them into a priviledged position on a global scale....)

So enjoy whatever weather you like. By all means do your civic bit for friends, family and neighbours, but life's for living.........

 

[Silverclaws]

Life is indeed for living but spare a thought for others, for we will be there ourselves one day.

But yes snow, the brightness of it and it's muffling effects, I love the silence of snow and light it brings in the midst of a dull grey winter, it even makes me leave the glow of my daylight bulbs to go and watch the idiocy of those who should know better, but always wear my Dutch army wool head over for the inevitable snow ball that tries to creep down the collar. But in my youth it was ice climbing on frozen waterfalls whilst winter camping up at Edale and Kinder Scout the usual peat bog frozen hard a delight to walk.

 

[Andy BB]

Life is indeed for living but spare a thought for others, for we will be there ourselves one day....

Speak for yourself- I have no intention whatsoever of growing up

 

[Dave Budd]

Personally I can take or leave the snow, but I do want cold rather than wet. Cold means that the ground is hard and I can get things done. If its not cold and its mild like last year then everything is wet and boggy, which does not make for a happy Dave when trying to get any work done in the woods! Snow can be a pain when you can't see the ground, but at least it's not muddy

 

[JC1984]

Personally I can take or leave the snow, but I do want cold rather than wet.

Absolutely...I love it! I am going to do my best to make the most of it this year when it comes. What do you do Dave?

 

[sandbender]

I predict...

For the UK - a rubbish, wet, slushy winter that will last through to March.
For here (Central Europe/East of the Alps) the coldest winter in recent memory, although with not so much snow.

 

[Ronnie]

There's a guy in the Cairngorm with some berries who reckons it will be a hard winter. I'm mobile so cant link, but the BBC covered it up here