wrote in message
...

Thanks for the replies, it was a serious question and had always
believed that the coolness was just a 'local' variation in the big
scheme of things. I just wonder what the next phase is going to
bring?

It is anyone's guess. In 2000 we had record rainfall, call that a 100 year
event. Last year, in 2012, we had record rainfall again so now we seem to be
having 100 year events every 10 years. 2004 was a record warm year, another
1 in 100 year event, so perhaps we can expect a record warm year in the
next year or so.

OTOH, perhaps the Atlantic has warmed to the extent that the system has
passed a tipping point such that each year from now on we will have monsoon
rain just like we had last summer, oups! spring and autumn.

Meanwhile, the Arctic sea ice will continue to thin, and may just melt away
one summer not to reappear again. How will that affect the climate globally,
in the NH, and in the UK.

Meanwhile, the solar cycles have developed a double peak and this cycle is
very weak. Are we entering another Little Ice Age when there were few
sunspots for 70 years? Have we increased the CO2 levels enough to prevent
that happening so temperatures will continue to rise? Or is the weakening
Sun the reason global temperatures have not risen appreciably since 1998?

I was wrong about the ice on the woodland path being from an aircraft. Was I
also wrong when I told Weatherlawyer that there would not be another ice age
in our lifetime?

BTW, I blame the heavy snow at Christmas 2010 and recently on warmer
Atlantic SSTs due to global warming. The higher specific humididty has
meant that snowfalls have been heavier and more disruptive.

Cheers, Alastair.