It seems to stick in my mind that research conducted by H. H. Lamb during
the 1950's, 60's and 70's found that a mild winter is preceded by a mild
autumn in 70% of the cases. This is true of a cold autumn that is proceeded
by a cold winter, again, in 70% of cases. I believe it was the only certain
'thing' Lamb could find about the British climate, everything was rather
unpredictable.

By the way, this also applied to other seasons, in general the weather likes
to stay mild or cold in 7 out of 10 cases.
________________________________
Nick

Wine is fine but whisky's quicker.....
"Keith (Southend)" wrote in message
...
Gavin,

I've brought this one up a couple of times over the years, but you
will always find a theory like this can be smashed when taking a more
deeper look through the archives. In fact without being to specific,
you've only got to look back at the years 1980, 1985, 1993 & 1996, all
these years had Novembers that were on the cold side yet the winters
following were far from mild. In fact, when I start looking a bit
closer at the last 25 years, it would appear that a cooler November
precedes a cooler winter.

So in summary, it just doesn't hold true. So all bets are up for
grabs.

Keith (Southend)

On Sun, 9 Nov 2003 19:42:43 -0000, "Gavin Staples"
wrote:

I love this one which someone put on the TWO forum. I have heard the
part,
"If November ice can bear a duck" etc. But I haven't heard the rest until
now.
I know one thing. It is certainly true from my experiences.


"A good mild November with cold failing to impose itself bodes very well
indeed for a cold winter . '47 , '81/82 , '40 , '79 , '85 ....
exceptionally
mild Novembers preceded 'em all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"If November ice can bear a duck , there'll be nothing after but slush
and
muck..........

..... But if November winde from west doth bring , the winter that
follows
shallt be a magical thing "