Saint Snow , re your comment on October and winter : for the SE England I would certainly consider 2008-09 to be one of the better ones of the last 30 years or so for cold and snow , it delivered the heaviest snowfall here since Feb 1991 in the February and was the first in a series of 3 successive colder than average winters . I know further north and in Scotland it was relatively unremarkable . No winter since 2010-11 has been colder in the CET though . That amazing cold and snowy snap at the end of Oct 2008 was effectively a preview of it.
On the whole though it is fair to say there is no correlation . Cold October followed by mild winter is a thing (eg 1992, 93, 2003 though none of those were exceptionally mild), while conversely the very warm October of 1995 was followed by a (relatively by modern standards) harsh winter . But no trend !
Originally Posted by: Spring Sun Winter Dread