"danny" wrote in message
...
But Richard, isn't that exactly why Greece is seeing such weather? Maybe I
misread your post.. do you mean long-lived cold spells are possible in the
UK or other parts of the World?

Just in case some things have been misunderstood, as far as Greece is
concerned:

Athens has seen an *average* number of snow days this winter -until now.
Figures below are for SE Athens, alt 150m amsl:

December 2003: 2
January 2004: 4
February 2004: 3 (last one was today)

The low temperatures helped snow stay on the ground a bit longer than it
does on average, but we had by no means record low temperatures, except for
the lee coastline of Athens.

The track of lows during *this* winter has caused more snow on the islands.
This, ofcourse, is outweighed by the lack of snow in northern continental
Greece, apart from the mountainous areas, as some areas that remain
traditionally under a snow cover for quite some days in winter have received
much less snow than average -thusfar.

The few data above do not imply that the climate here has gotten any colder.
2001, 2002 and 2003 have been a bit more continental (in terms of annual
temperature ranges); this means that low temperatures in winter time
continue to be proceeded by high temperatures in the summer.

All the best,

Yannis, SE Athens