Monday 26 December 2011

A very mild Christmas



At this time last year we were just emerging from our biggest December freeze for 120 years. Snow lay on the ground. albeit in the form of large icy patches, and after a maximum temperature of just minus 0.9 Celsius on Christmas Day, Boxing Day dawned with a low of minus 6.8 Celsius. This December, mild, but unremarkably so, has not seen temperatures anywhere the values recorded last year. Yesterday (Christmas Day) was the mildest in this area for 13 years, and today, with the temperature nudging 13 Celsius, is also the mildest Boxing Day since 1998. Last year, the temperature failed to rise above 10 Celsius during the whole of December, but for snow lovers the rest of the winter was a dismall failure. A few flakes of snow were observed in the rain on 3 days during January and no snow fell in February. So what of the rest of the winter of 1998/1999? Apart from a brief snowy spell at the beginning of the second week of February, southwesterly winds prevailed bringing plenty of mild changeable weather; and this winter?........

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