Although if you look at Nov/Desc 2010 which was East /  North East, the whole country was in the freezer and there was a good lump of snow about.

All our classic cold spells like 2010 have one important element, and that's strong blocking in Greenland.   I can't get excited about Scandi highs if there's not GH to support it to allow deep cold to filter down.  This spell is case in point and it reminds me a lot of Feb/March 05 too.

Disagree. Perhaps you're being specific to your area, but for the many of the classic severe cold spells there wasn't a GH in sight - Jan 87 and Feb 91 to name but two.

The third revolting wet Saturday in a row 

Look's like the front-loaded winter forecast was correct. The first half may have had pathetically little frost and snow but the second half has been even worse. Not only less frost and snow but there's been a ridiculous amount of rain over the last two weeks and dismal amounts of sunshine. Just 14.6 hours sun all month so far and almost 90mm since the 28th Jan 

Truly dire outlook that will ensure this winter ends up with way less frost than even 2013/14. A sick joke. Only just made it to double digit count of frosts whereas even that horror show of relentless low pressure chalked up 17 air frosts. Also looks like every single week will return above average temperatures whereas in 2013/14 there were two colder than average weeks.

Worst winter I can remember just about sums it up. December was mind-numbingly boring, January was unbelievably frustrating with so many 0-1C minimum temperatures yet so little frost and February is the worst of the lot: an extremely unpleasant, vile and depressing month. 

Almost certain now to beat the record of 4 years 1 month without a decent snowfall of 10cm+ (Jan 87 to Feb 91).

 I agree with Tom that a Greenland High is generally required to get a decent cold spell. Those were very much the exceptions though I would only class Jan 1987 as severe.

The majority of easterlies produce rubbish like this. Most of the best snowy spells involve wind from the N or NE.

Have woken up to the thinnest smidge of snow this morning, as you may have seen in the Snow Reports thread. But I'm now officially done with keeping the heating on to prevent myself feeling cold and damp, roll on the 12 C under brighter skies by the middle of next week if some of the model outputs are to be believed.

I notice many British buy properties in the warmer climate countries but what about buying a property in USA or Canada then go and spend every winter there?  You can buy it there on both country as it allowed and with 6 month visa stay you can go there from mid-Dec to mid-March.  And having a property on standby if UK summer are poor to return back there to enjoy their hot thundery summer season.  Would work well if you have a business and get well enough income to cover your long stay abroad. I am looking into this when I start my online business here which I would get 2-3 more than I get in Royal Fail.  Now is not a right time to buy it there but when the dollars reach back to the levels before brexit then get it.  It was over $2CAD and $1.65 USD before.  I think some posters here have property in France? Still not bad as they get better summers and winters than here.  

Skies must have cleared around dawn as the temp plummeted to a continental style -0.8c just after 8am.

Clear blue skies currently with super visibility.

As I understand it, the USA and Canada can get a bit funny if you repeatedly take long holidays each year there - alternating between the two and using something like Airbnb to rent a place for 3 months each time might be a better idea.

That said, when I retire I will be moving somewhere cold and snowy, although depending on visas etc that might just be somewhere hilly "up north". Canada would be better but unless you plan to start a business (and have $2M) or have immediate family you're pretty much out of luck.

I can all but gaurantee that should I move, Kent will see a repeat of the late 70s to early 90s period all over again. :P

(And it seems just getting a cm of snow on the ground is impossible here - it really has been a crummy set of winters recently).

Yes indeed. At least yesterday I awoke to a dusting of snow and there was another dusting in the early evening. But today is just raw, damp and horrible. OK easterlies don't normally bring much in the way of snow here but surely with an easterly in mid-winter any precipitation that does ocurr should be of snow? I'm at 500ft, it's not like I'm sat right on the coast or anything.

Ah well, roll on spring.....

Big disappointment. We have been lucky in marginal events in the last few years but not this time.
In simplistic terms viewing the 850hpa charts last week it looked nailed on to be cold enough here for snow. Alas it's now 1.7c with cold rain.
Certainly hasn't been dry though on any days. I will continue to laugh next time someone says an impending easterly is looking too dry though I admit i have been made a bit of a fool as I thought we would get a good covering.
Friday mornings light covering was as wintry as it got.

I have relatives in Toronto and unfortunately they don't have online business immigration which is odd as the government haven't thought about income tax renevue would be very good for online business retailers that will pay tax from the sales they made?  I would start the business here then inject the surplus money to a Canadian bank account which you can open one there until it reach enough level to buy a property. I would rent it out for short term during my time away to get income to pay for property tax, house insurance.  I see some landlords here offer rent for short term which is 6 months.  I would buy it very close to my relative's home so they can check the property and collect rent.

I read about people going there for long stay that would give them funny looks. Some posters in the Immigration forum said they would book a plane ticket for 2-3 weeks stay and when you get there, you can change your return ticket to be later.  They don't put stamps on the exit point when you leave.  Last time they ask me why you here, I told them I am visint my uncle and my other relatives.  If they say why you staying here for 3 months? How they will accept you answer that I want to see the show for the whole winter season? 

I absolutely agree with Darren on this. Something has happened with our winter weather patterns since 1997 (although I would go back further and say since 1987). We're at altitude for this part of the SE and 2010 was poor compared with winters of 30 or 40 years ago. The lane we live on was - at least four or five times a decade - blocked by drifts up to eight feet deep. There has not been a snowdrift of any significance on this lane since 1991.

Buxton could be a good bet Darren. :-) 

Its actually a nice place 😮, a spa town, with good transport links.

Also tomorrow's MetO forecast says it all:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/gcqwurqwy#?fcTime=1486857600

Some of the snow capitals of the UK are quite grim lonely places but Buxton isn't one of them. 

What I wouldn't give to see a forecast like that down here!

Buxton does look like a decent option, especially as the average summer highs are only 19C - I hate hot weather.

There's still at least 25 years to go until I look to retire (assuming finances work out!) but I'll certainly keep it in mind!

In the meantime, hopefully whatever's flipped in our climate will flip back again, I'd like to see some decent snow before I'm old.

Dalwhinnie might be alright for you. A mean high of just 16C in the summer months and 2C in the winter, plus plentiful rainfall which would undoubtably give quite a lot of snow with those temperatures.

It's also recorded frosts in every month of the year and holds the UK-wide record low temperatures for June, September and October.

It was meant to dry up in the afternoon but for the 3rd Saturday in a row it’s just raining relentlessly with no hope of clearing up

 
Since I am bored out of my mind being stuck indoors yet again I’ll present another rotten easterly from the past. So many of them it could almost become a daily feature. All I need to do is look at some charts from pitifully dull and dreary winter months and Bingo!

Today’s historic rotten easterly is a truly lamentable effort from 10th February 1926:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/ra/1926/Rrea00119260210.gif

Some examples of the delightful conditions this beauty produced around the country:

Aberdeen – Max: 35F, Min: 32F, 1.4mm of snow and hail mix, no sunshine
Renfrew (near Glasgow) – Max: 37F, Min: 31F, Trace of snow, 0.6hrs sunshine
Liverpool – Max: 37F, Min: 32F, no precipitation or sunshine
Birmingham – Max: 35F, Min: 31F, no precipitation or sunshine
Gorleston (Norfolk) - Max: 36F, Min: 33F, 1.2mm of rain and hail mix, no sunshine
Croydon – Max: 35F, Min: 34F, 0.1mm of sleet, no sunshine
Southampton – Max: 39F, Min: 36F, Trace of drizzle, no sunshine
Guernsey – Max: 43F, Min: 41F, 0.1mm of drizzle, no sunshine

Scintillating stuff!

Considering that the pressure readings in Aberdeen are around 1036mb currently, this is extraordinary!

That's unusual - In Exeter we had 3 hours of light snow, it didn't melt at first but because it was more of a flurry the flakes just floated around in the wind - but there was light snow for 3 hours and proper wet flakes but it never settled and by that time I was at work and temperature had rose to +3c and the snow turned back to sleet then drizzle with ice pellets.

This sort of precipitation was similar to the event of 4th Feb 2012 if anyone can remember, when here in Exeter the temperature was -5c by night and rose to -2c by 6am with some light snow which fell and gave a dusting for a few hours before turning back to sleet and then rain - but perhaps not dry snow and not as long lasting. - So near yet so close.

On the plus side it was nice to see snowflakes in the air on the Quay and many children not seen the snow in a while with some it's the first time ever! - It's been since 2013 since snowflakes were actually seen falling in daylight where it was actually noticeable - just a shame it never got heavy or stuck and the fact it wasn't that cold didn't help either.