On 31/01/2016 18:38, GKN wrote:
As I get older I am finding the UK winters more and more depressing and
boring and just long for some decent weather.
Each year now the same old repeated weather patterns seem to get locked
in with wind, rain and gloom with constant
flooding and damage to peoples property.
It seems that after a brief respite in the new year its back to the same
old south westerly trash pattern.
I find it very tedious here in Essex, and we are the driest, but god
knows how the people living further north manage to deal with this never
ending
train of storms from the Atlantic.

Yes the climate has changed since I was a child, but I never remember
winters like the way they are now. I will not discuss
the possible causes as I do not have the answers, but it appears that
October till April now is a time to dread.

December was unseasonably warm, but no compensation for what it
delivered, I do feel that dry & cold winters are a thing of the past
and if this is the alternative I'm not too sure how we adapt to the way
things now look set.

Just a quick moan, as you may guess I'm sick of it!
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Do you know I was just sitting here thinking the same. Reading stuff
from the younger members on TWO clutching at a three day spell of 4C as
a cold spell and quoting the "cold" winters of 3cm of snow as something
to aspire to makes you realise how much the climate has changed. Here
in Essex we had many winters not on the cold winter list (pre-2000) with
the odd blizzard or bitterly cold Easterlies. I don't think we've had a
bitterly cold Easterly for several years now. Rarely was there a winter
without snow showers off the North Sea. I was once stranded in Southend
when the rest of the Country had no snow at all. Perhaps the most
obvious missing instance wasn't even considered as a snow event. Rain
moving in from the West and hitting the cold continental air giving
several hours of snow, maybe 3-4" which turned to rain and melted the
same day. Hasn't happened for years. 2010 was no big deal here. Better
than most in that 20 year period but no blizzards, no deep drifts. This
winter has been one of no extremes (here) - just a bit of wind, damp all
the time but no heavy rain, invariably long dingy spells (aka today).
Difficult to keep the winter interest going with the same progged for
the next two weeks.
Dave