"Yokel" wrote in message
...
Assuming that the main part of this winter has gone - and if the severe
cold
does not return soon it would be a cold Spring rather than a cold Winter -
I
had a quick look through my records. They are not to the official
standard,
but they do allow a comparison of "like with like". The observatory
location is in my "sig" at the end of the post.

There were *three* winters at this site in the 1980s which set records the
current winter has not even approached.

1982 - A real Siberian blast arrived in January, and overnight 13/14
January
our thermometer sunk to -14C, and that with a significant easterly blowing
so it was not just a radiation night over snow. It hasn't been below -11C
since. We also had 21 days with snow lying that winter - this year we
have
had 12 (3 in December and 9 consecutive in January).

Meanwhile in Wishaw in 1982 - the temperature remained sub zero from the
evening of the 5th of January until the afternoon of the 12th. Every day
from the 6th to the 11th (6 days) recorded a sub -10ºC minimum. Helped
undoubtedly by the 18cm's of snow on the ground deposited on the 4th and
5th. This 6 day feat also happened in 2010 (but not every day was an ice
day). The absoloute minimum was -18.3ºC during the early hours of the 11th,
1982. Four degrees lower than it's 2010 counterpart, but the temperature
eclipsed this feat three times in December 1995. Snow lay for a total of 16
days in Jan 1982 here, but for 17 days in 2010... and 16 of them were a
continuation from 15 lying days in December 2009. In 1982, the mean
temperature for the 2nd half of the month was +5.6ºC, but in 2010 the same
statistic was a much cooler +2.6ºC. January 2010 was overall 1.3ºC cooler
and had much deeper snow lying than it's 1982 counterpart. But the really
cold month was December 1981, which trounces December 2009 or January 2010
temperature wise, where January 1982 does not.

1985 - From 13-18 January the temperature remained below freezing, a
record
of six consecutive "Ice Days". We have had no more than two together at a
time this winter. 1985 had 12 "Ice Days" and no less than 104 days with
frost in the year between December 1 1984 and November 30 1985.

January 1985 was a cold month indeed in Wishaw, colder than December 2009
and marginally cooler than January 2010. The first 28 days had consecutive
air frosts and the maximum temperature only reached above 5ºC on the final
three days. There were often coverings of snow that would last a few days,
but nothing deeper than 10cm's here. There were only 2 ice days here that
month. But with 24 days with lying snow and 28 air frosts, it was the
coldest January (and still is) since 1979. December 1981, February 1986 and
December 1995 were all colder here though.

1987 - On 12 January the temperature did not rise above -6.7C. No Ice Day
since has even got near this, the maximum is normally about -2C or -3C at
worst. For "afters" we had 18cm of level snow down on 19 March that year.

Yes, a classic snowy month. Temperature wise on par with January 2010 in
this area, but the temperature extremes (lowest max or min) can't quite
match 2010, mainly because it was invariably snowing every night during the
peak of the cold period.
Where it does win easily is in depth of snow. The peak depth in January 2010
was 31cm, but January 1987 had a whopping 65cm here. With a full week off
school I had the time of my life. We didn't have to build igloos, we only
had to tunnel them out under the snow. Despite the great depth, it had all
gone by the 22nd of the month.

And in the very first month of my records, January 1980, the temperature
only rose above freezing on 6 of the 31 days. This year was actually
close,
only 8 days in January with no frost.

In this area January 1980 had it's fair share of frosts and snowfalls, but
all of them were fairly transient.

All the above records still stand and so have stood for over 20 years. As
I
am one of those who accept the evidence for global warming - and can see
the
signal in the annual temperatures for my own station - I do not expect to
see them broken (except possibly the snow depth) unless we get something
truly exceptional.

However, I get the impression from other contributors that the situation
varies across the country and, in particular, the further north you go the
more severe in relation to past years this winter has been. It would be
interesting to see some similar statistics from other locations and see
how
exceptional - or otherwise - this winter is depending on where you live.
--
- Yokel -
Yokel @ Ashurst New Forest
SU 336 107 17m a.s.l.

I don't think the departure from average in January has been all the
different whether you are in the north or south of the country, but where
the real North/South split lay was in December 2009, but neither month can
hold a candle to December 1981, February 1986 or December 1995 for
temperature records in this area. And neither can hold a candle to January
1987 or February 2001 for volume of snow at any one time. Well, not since
1980 at least.
What I can say is that it has been the most prolonged cold spell since -
well, aside from the odd day or two, it's still ongoing around here. Too
early to put it fully in context on a historical level.

Alex.