yes or no

Yes

might have to wait 15 years

I would say Yes.

10 years ago or so, some people said we wouldn't see another sub-zero CET month in this country again; December 2010 proved them wrong about that big time. So if we could have the coldest month for almost 25 years, which came only a year after the coldest overall winter for about 30 years, I don't see why we can't have another wintry spell like January '87 or February '91 again.

As long as we don't get to experience another Oct 15th '87, that's all I'm saying.

Probably - but February 1986 was much more impressive and one of the coldest months of the 20th century. Some areas had sub-freezing average highs.

Who wants '87 (which lasted a couple of weeks in the south) or '91 (which I didn't even notice) when you could have '63 or '47?

I seriously doubt there is anyone out there that wants to see a storm like that again, especially those people that were severely affected by it. Also worth remembering that it cost almost 20 people their lives, if I'm not mistaken.

Id take a December 2010 to imby.

Sure there will be. And there will be better Winter months that will surpass 87/91 

Just a question when it will happen.

Yes - and December 2010 was in a class of its own - It really was.

If one of the options is 'there is actually no way to predict the probability of such events outside of the remit of the more reliable models at 6-10 days lead time' then fine. Otherwise I have no sensible comment to make

Cmon guys its July! Get it together until at least October!

Of course it'll happen again, but nobody can say when. Hopefully I'll still be alive to see the next time!

That said, since the 90s there's been a real decline in snow events and that has to be tied to something - I know not what, though. The last time we had 8 inches of snow on the ground, for example, was 1995 - the same time as we had enough snow for icicles.* 1997 was the last time we had a high of -1C or lower. (FWIW, there were 5 winters in the 80s with ice days, 3 winters in the 90s, none at all in the 00s and one so far in the 10s.)

2010 was especially disappointing as although it was cold and yes, there were the first ice days in over a decade, they were barely below freezing... and we only had two dollops of snow, neither of which lasted more than a handful of days. Compared to what was going on north and west of London it was most underwhelming!

2005 was the last proper easterly down here, we're really overdue one.

* Some might say that due to people having better insulation etc icicles are less likely. That's not the case IMBY, though, as my house has exactly the same insulation (or lack of it) as it had in the 80s!

Depends.   Is time travel possible?  And if so, will we discover it in our lifetimes? 

How can you have a question like that when Dec 2010 was probably as severe? Seems to answer itself

Indeed, although having checked the calendar I think yes and in 71 and a half and 75 and a half years time would probably be the only definitely correct answer. 

YES...Of course!

It's interesting to compare different experiences.

The frequency of snowfall has obviously decreased, and temperatures have steadily increased in winter - more so than summer. The 1961-1990 period was quite chilly (1963, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1987 - anyone surprised?), and both 30-year periods since then have been milder than the one before.

However, we've had a decent number of snowfall events here. We had 10 inches in January 2013, and a similar amount in March 2013. About 6-7 inches in Feb-Mar 2005. Around a foot in Nov-Dec 2010. 6 inches in February 2009, 7-8 inches in January 2010. 6 inches in December 2009. And a lot of smaller snowfalls.

However, our largest single snowfall on record, from what I can gather, was 40cm in January 1995, and that hasn't been approached since - not even close.

In the West Midlands (and Hampshire Alps) no doubt, but down here:

1987 - daytime high of -8C, 15 ice days, 30 foot snow drifts, >2 feet level snow, cut off for a week and bread and milk delivered by Chinook

1991 - over a week of ice days, over a foot of level powdery snow, daytime high of -5C.

2010 - 5 ice days (daytime high of -0.4C being the coldest), 7 inches of wet snow (which lasted 2 days before melting) and another 3 inches of snow on the 21st (which lasted 2 days as well - although there was a small remnant around for Christmas Day).

(Then again - we had a wonderful 2-week period with snow on the ground here during 2005, while others missed out - it's all swings and roundabouts!)

I could have included the spell from mid-December 2009 to mid-January 2010 which saw some incredible snowfall locally 

Yep, Reading was in the sweet spot for that. I had almost 40cm (from one single fall) where I am.

2010 was an amazing 36 hour wonder down here. 

5-6 inch of powder fell overnight, and a top temp the following day of -2.5C. The thaw set in the following night and that was it.