On May 14, 7:37*pm, Nick Gardner wrote:
On 14/05/2013 18:32, Nick wrote:

By contrast, the year from hell might be:

January 2008
December 2012

Jan 2008:
Mean = 7.4°C
Rain = 78 mm
Sunshine = 68 hours

Dec 2012:
Mean = 6.8°C
Rain = 168 mm
Sunshine = 83 hours

Hell?

Jan 2008 was one of the softest, most pleasant Januaries I've ever
known. And the sunshine levels were OK too.

I prefer cold and snowy winters - though not springs. I was trying to
think of the January that at my location (Southampton) gave the worst
combination of mild, dull, wet and windy (my definition of a poor
January) in recent years and came up with 2008. Could have equally
well been 2007 and 2004 to be honest, though 2007 had a longer settled
spell at the end and 2004 had the interesting "thunder snow" episode.

That said, mild *and dry and settled* Januaries are not at all bad.
Jan 2012 I would rate quite highly.

OK Dec 2012 was a bit wet but with over 80 hours of sunshine, you cannot
moan man.

I don't know what it was like where you are but hell? Are you mad?

Again, not all those months were "hell" - it was just a flippant
comment - but I was trying to find the worst example of each month
that I could remember. Struggling to think of a December worse (from
my preferences for mid-winter weather) worse than 2012, though that
might be saying something positive about recent Decembers.

Nick