December 2012

Ever been to a well hyped restaurant and been underwhelmed by the food? or gone to see the latest blockbuster at the cinema and it failed to live up to expectations?  well that pretty well sums up the first winter month of 2012-13.
If you're a cold weather fan, snow in particular, then the internet forums were full of excitement in November to the level I have not experienced in recent years, with talk of massive northern blocking. displaced Polar Vortex, Arctic sea ice melt and early extensive snow cover in parts of Russia and Scandinavia, all favourable indications for an epic start to the winter proper, indeed even the media jumped on the bandwagon with sensationalist headlines proclaiming another December 2010 scenario.

water levels continue to rise

But December 2010 was a one in a hundred year event and was unlikely to be repeated only two years later, and so it proved to be.
It started cold enough and up to mid-month it was slightly below average but then the Atlantic unleashed upon this poor island wave after wave of low pressure systems with the same determination and ferocity that has become the norm in what has turned out to be the wettest year on record for the UK (and that was after  drought restrictions were imposed in March!)
So no winter wonderland on Christmas day (again) and as I write this on the first day of 2013 the new year has brought with it a respite from the constant rains and it certainly was a pleasure to see blue skies today.
So what about the prospects for January?  the first two weeks look to be mild and much drier, thereafter things look like getting interesting due to the SSW (sudden stratospheric warming) that is currently about to get underway.
SSW's are scientifically proven to send cold Arctic air over the UK, but how cold and how snowy is anybody's guess but it sure looks interesting at this point.

                                                                                   Hawley stats:

Christmas day. Wet, windy and mild.Yuk!

High temp:        13.2
Low temp:         -6.1
Mean Temp:      5.5
Rain:                  45.2 mm
High wind:         41 mph


*not the coldest or wettest since my records began in 2005, an average month.