The fact that no one else has started this thread indicates that many were disappointed with the winter just gone but for some of us in the north west it wasn't that bad and it will still be interesting to see peoples final summaries and analysis so here is mine.

Summary.

Overall I would give last winter 6/10 because on many levels it was interesting, firstly it was remarkably sunny which in itself is pleasant and helps avoid the gloom that can characterise so many winters. It was also very varied with spells of mild, cold weather and several storms.

Temperatures were just above the seasonal average with the mild weather of December more than cancelling out colder weather in January and February.

Cold spell from 28th January to 6th February brought one ice day and a low of -8.1c on 2nd Feb. Highest temperature was a remarkable 13.5c on January 9th.

Rainfall above average due to wet January with frequent westerly zonal winds and low pressure systems, however, rainfall never particularly heavy so no floods.

Snowfall was below the long term average but near the post 1990 average, snow fell on 19 days and lay on the ground at 9am on 13 days with a maximum depth of 9cms on January 29th. 

Frost was fairly frequent during December, January and February occurring on 39 nights across the 3 months of winter.

So overall it could have been worse here, sunny, varied, some snow, some frost, some gales and no spells of anti cyclonic gloom so it was better than many of the 'modern winters' of the 2000's.

It will be interesting to see other peoples results.

Andy

I'd class it as 'poor'

We did get lying snow - most notably on Boxing Day evening when 2/3cm fell. Half the kids in our close were out having snowball fights; it was great fun. And then the snow petered out, before turning to an hour or so of drizzle, which slushed-up the snow. The forecast had been for skies to clear and temps to dip below zero. This didn't happen and the next day most of the snow out of the shade melted.

We had other light falls that didn't amount to much/anything.

And that's been the story of the winter - some tantalising charts at longer range (as well as predictions by certain MRF'ers using acronymed mechanisms I hardly understand) that downgraded as the time approached.

Some falling snow, but little by way of lying snow, especially disappointing in terms sustained cold.

4/10

Atrociously poor here. I can't give it more than 1/10 as there was about 1 hour of falling snow throughout the whole winter that settled overnight but was gone by 8am.

Apart from that, just a winter of endless cool winds, bright spells and rain showers. A bog standard affair I guess, but as I'm marking against what would be classed as a superb winter, I can't give it more than a 1, particularly in light of the fact that the weather gods look likely to take the p**s out of us over the coming weeks with Easterlies when they are not welcome.

2015/16 is guaranteed to be brilliant though as I'm off on my travels that winter, and I've missed the big snow events in 2009, 2010 and 2011 as each time, I was out of the country.

1/10. Rained a bit, blew a bit, below average sunshine (I know the east coast did well), a dusting of snow one morning, not enough even to make a snowball off, and only half a dozen white frosts. Have not had to use central heating for more than a couple of hours a day all the way through.

7/10

Would possibly have upped that a point were it not for the cold couple of weeks we had in Jan I think?

A notably drier winter than last edges this up a point or two from last year, where it was purely the mild weather that got it a decent rating from me. 

Would have liked a good dump of snow for a couple of days, but nowt, and it's the fact we had a bit of a colder spell that produced nothing that stops this being possibly an 8 or 8.5

Overall, very satisfied with the generally milder temps and drier conditions. 

We had a winter? Must have missed it by blinking.

But it is a vast improvement on the previous one in terms of the lack of real storminess and I did get to see a good number of air frosts so I'll give it 5/10. An easily forgettable affair - and for once, for the right reasons. 

for our neck of the woods one or two snowfalls, with further snow shower events.  Neither producing anything above a covering.

Overall not very snowy. In fact we missed the majority of the snowy weather when it was in full flow.

That being said, looking at what is typical for our weather in the UK - i would say this was in line with what we should get. ie this has been a very average winter, which I believe followed a very average Summer. Or should that be typical.  When i say average - I mean text book.

At times quite frustrating as the weather has been predominantly North-westerly - the Irish sea has had its typical massive effect on coastal areas bringing the the usual mix of hail/ graupal, and sleet/rain when everyone else sees snow.

Overall, a bit of everything; which is typical of British isles.

so:
For the British Isles as a whole: 6-7/10
For my desired expectations 3-4/10

Well here in Northern Ireland it turned into a rather cold winter - mean temperature 0.3C below the long term average and the only region of the UK to expericence a below average winter.

I would describe it as interesting and varied with heavy rain earlier in the winter (late Autumn really) causing some significant flooding.
This was followed by hard frosts in late December (-9C) and then a wild January with severe gales causing local damage on a number of occasions - most notably around 15th. Huge waves caused serious coastal erosion to some of our best known beaches in December and January - the beach at the popular white rocks (north coast) as basically disappeared - at least temporarily according to the experts.

Several incursions of Canadian Arctic air on west-northwesterlies where cold enough to give 3 or 4 disruptive snowfalls - especailly for the north and west (probably down the the fact that airmass thickness was still low enough after its journey across the Atlantic) and all this meant a bang on average occruance of air frosts for winter as a whole -27.
All in all I was satisfied that we definitely had a winter this year (spring by my estimation is about 2 to 3 weeks behind) and a couple of below average temperature months in winter has gone - at least some way to balancing last years warmth.

About as average and normal winter as you can get,down here.No extremes at all.

Normal/average temps rainfall and frosts over the 3 months.

In a word, forgettable!

An abnormal, exceptionally dry, sunny and windy extreme zonal winter that brought nothing of interest at all.

11 days of lying snow mostly 1-2cm apart from one day of 6cm which seemed fairly localised to my part of town.

No hard frost at all with nothing lower than -4C which is appalling. Even with an ice day on Boxing Day it failed to beat -4C the following night.

It was the sunniest on record with 324 hours sun but never very pleasant due to the relentless nagging cold wind which rarely let up. The frosty high from 8th - 12th Feb was the best period but maxima reached 8-11C so more like spring than winter.

Overall score: 2/10. 1 for managing the bare minimum of snow unlike last winter (which of course was a 0/10) and 1 for not being as revolting. Basically it was another year when winter forgot to put in an appearance

Great Winter, plenty of snow, lots of snow days for the kids - can't ask for anything more, roll on Spring and Summer :-)

JD 

3/10.  Far superior to last year, which can NEVER be said enough.

A few sleety showers. 

Pluses- dryish, bright, some frosts, a few decent cold fronts, some decent pM cloudscapes.

Minuses - lack of snow, lack of extreme cold (I can tolerate this for short periods), no icicles, no laying snow of any real merit at sea level.

Roll on sunshine and warmth

5/10 For me...............so many more frosts than last year, saw falling snow and on 4 occasions it gave a slight covering.

Huge improvement on last year

4/10 here. Average overall but with several snow falls, four days of lying snow and an average number of frosts. Saw quite a lot of ice. A total contrast to last winter but will not be remembered as anything special.

A bit like Aberdeen's Winter here. A few days with snow cover but never more than a couple of cms [away from NW of city]. A good number of frosts but nothing below -4.8C in my garden. Some pleasant sunshine at times though a couple of windstorms. Lower than average rain but not exceptionally so.

Meanwhile in the family home in Highland Perthshire which is far more exposed to the PM Westerlies there were approaching 40 snow lying days though only a couple with any depth [15cms+] and these were shortlived. Nothing below -10C for the second successive Winter there.

I'll give 5/10 Just  for being winter. 

i would probably give it a respectable 7/10 because despite the lack of wintriness it was a winter without extremes which was very welcome after the previous one! The extra sunshine when the days are at their shortest was also fantastic. If we are not to get a winter wonderland I would also quite happily settle for next winter to be the same as the one just past.

I hear you!

1.5/10 for me.

0.5 - For the coldest night time temperature of -5c measured on 29th December in Exeter city which was the coldest/lowest since 3rd February 2012

0.5 - For the a brief period of wet snow (more like flakes in the wind for a few minutes) after a hail shower on Thursday 29th January.

0.5 - For some wet snow in the morning after a shower 2nd February, followed by more hail showers - but by then temperatures had risen to balmy +6 or +7c.

No snow, merely some wet flakes lasting no more than a few minutes after a shower end of January and a period of sleety rain and then a few splodged wet flakes one morning in February. But Most of the showers missed Exeter/East Devon, south SOmerset and West Dorset. Lot's of hail showers - but the showers were too brief and light too.

There were many showers over night which could have been snowy, there was also a period of wet snow one morning but I missed it!

Temperatures rose in the showers during the night time bringing cold or icy rain, we had plenty of ice-pellet type showers and soft hail showers which was nice to see whilst it lasted, but in general - Southern England never really had a proper cold spell. However, the coldest day of the winter was still on 29th December at +4c max and a minimum that night time minimum of -5c in Exeter city - perhaps the coldest since 3rd February 2012. - So at least it got colder one night than throughout the whole of the winter of 2012/13 put together.

On the positive side - At least we saw some sharp frosts end of December. It was never as wet and windy as last winter, but all in all it's a disappointing one. The northerly wind (end of Jan) never really reached the SW - it was more of a N. Westerly wind which became northerly for a day then changing wind direction once again. - We never really had a proper blocking, no Scandi HP (like now), no easterly wind at all. It was disappointing and despite many area's getting more snow than last winter - the cold weather never really lasted that long did it? come on, let's be honest!? Oh and NICE to see London record the first snow fall in almost 2 years. - The reward - 1cm. Whoop whoop!

The North west did well as did N. Ireland, SW Scotland and Sheffield. But for the south it was more or less a non-event unless you lived on Dartmoor or Exmoor. I heard the SE has done badly this winter in terms of snowfall too!?

It's 5c with drizzle outside as I type and I can still feel that raw easterly wind and whilst it isn't as strong as yesterday - had this weather pattern had occurred a few months ago we could have been looking at -2c with snow grains/snizzle or flurries giving dustings of snow, but NO that's asking for too much, because this easterly and Scandi HP has come two months too late.

Oh well, onwards and upwards! - On the positive note. - At least it wasn't as wet and abysmal as last year, but then again I don't think a winter could be as bad as last year, because last year's chaotic devastating floods scrapped the bottom of the barrel for many of us.

Let's bring on spring - Hope it warms up.

2.5 / 10

Here in western Ireland, Winter 2014/2015 will be best remembered for being totally forgettable. Largely dominated by weak westerlies, the winter brought much rainfall, but rainfall with little intensity. Frost days were well below average and what did occur were pretty insipid. Snow days were plentiful but it rarely stuck on the ground for more than a few hours. Winds, while never really strong , were persistent which led to a constant wind chill that gradually was to wear one down as the winter wore away. Only saving grace of the winter was a thundersnow event in January and the only reason for my 2.5 points.