Snow

[Susie]

Dunno about that, my beer belly isn't that big, but I would win the "who has the longest scarf competition" easy!

[Jack Harrison]

beer belly

To be fair to other would-be entrants I will opt out.

Jack

[Susie]

What do you think the weather is going to do over the coming month, Jack, do you think we will get more snow down south?

[Jack Harrison]

Susie asked me:

What do you think the weather is going to do over the coming month?

If I could answer that I would be cleaning out all the bookies in the land. All I will say is that this early wintry spell has little bearing on what might happen over the next few months.

One thing I can say with confidence. At my location the nights start pulling out after 13th December. In your part of the world Susie,the earliest sunset will be next Sunday, 12th. Darkest morning around 1st January. Shortest day 21st December.

Jack

[Matsukaze]

Hi Vince,

Not entirely sure I'd recommend Selsdon Park golf course as a venue for butterfly-watching. The golfers were none too keen on some fellow hotel guests who had the temerity to walk on one of the greens. Had they noticed my antics a few minutes earlier as I searched for purple hairstreak eggs on oaks fringing the fairway...

[Vince Massimo]

Not entirely sure I'd recommend Selsdon Park golf course as a venue for butterfly-watching. The golfers were none too keen on some fellow hotel guests who had the temerity to walk on one of the greens. Had they noticed my antics a few minutes earlier as I searched for purple hairstreak eggs on oaks fringing the fairway...

Thanks for that warning Matsukaze. I see there are no public footpaths running through that land, so I will have to be discreet. Perhaps I will leave my stepladder at home this time...............

Vince

[Rogerdodge]

The golfers were none too keen on some fellow hotel guests who had the temerity to walk on one of the greens. Had they noticed my antics a few minutes earlier as I searched for purple hairstreak eggs on oaks fringing the fairway....

Obviously I don't know the type of members at the golf club you are talking about, but to a golfer, a non-golfer walking on the green is a deadly sin.
The fairway is not so sacresanct.
I personally agree with the old saying that golf is a good way to ruin a nice walk in the country..........

[Jack Harrison]

We've had very little snow here in South Cambridgeshire. But today temperature never got above minus 3 C with some spectacular frost.

Jack (bigger images by clicking on the smaller versions)

[David M]

If it hadn't been for the atrocious summer conditions here in south Wales when much of eastern and southern England basked in upper-twenties Centigrade temperatures last summer then I'd feel a bit guilty, since Swansea has been hardly affected at all by the snowfall. This morning was, however, the coldest morning in the three years I've lived down here. I had never seen my car's temperature gauge dip to -10.0C (in fact, on the grounds that it has hit -9.5C on three previous occasions I had assumed that was its limit and that no space was available to display the additional digit).

All that changed this morning. -10.0C was clearly on the gauge at 7am (bear in mind we're 3 miles from the sea).

[millerd]

There has been some unusual weather about. At Shoreham Airport on Friday evening (3rd), the temperature went up from minus 10 to plus 5 in about two hours. This is not a stone's throw from the butterfly-laden slopes of Mill Hill - I wonder what they made of it all. I went down to Dover at the weekend and witnessed 14 inches of snow disappear like magic as it rained constantly for 24 hours.

Dave

[Susie]

I read that the cold weather could be back in January and then hang on right through until March

[David M]

I read that the cold weather could be back in January and then hang on right through until March

I've read that too. However, if nothing else it may make next year's butterfly season all the more interesting as we haven't had a winter like this so far for many, many years. Who knows, overwintering butterflies may actually prosper due to the numbers of predators being killed off by the prolonged freezing conditions.

[Jack Harrison]

I used to run a website giving weather forecast for glider pilots. I limited the forecasts to five days ahead. Perhaps now, with better computer models, a “best guess” forecast out to six days is plausible. But beyond that is not far short of pure guesswork. Such factors as “omega blocks”, “el Nino” are useful pointers as to what might happen in the next month but are no more than that.

Recall how a week before Christmas, a bet on a white Christmas seemed a good gamble. I didn’t bet and am glad I didn’t. Sure there was snow still on the ground on Christmas Day but there were no new falls in England – the requisite criterion.

I and others wish we could make accurate predictions weeks ahead – we would clean out the bookies big time.

Jack