What a stupid response. Heating needs to be on all the time over winter. There is no saving because it's mild.

I hate this crap and  would pay good money not to have to suffer it. For as long as I do, I'll make full use of this thread to moan about it 

I cannot quite fathom why people should object to you moaning in the moaning thread. .

Moan with impunity

we’re allowed to find it funny though. 👍😀

I fully agree because even when it's mild in winter, I still need to have my heating on to a certain degree.

To me, if somebody wishes to discuss the plight of the homeless or an inability to pay heating bills, that would be better done over on the Up In Arms forum along with all of the political stuff over there, rather than here on the main weather forum.

I know that this is the moaning thread but at the end of the day, this is also the main weather forum and so it is important for all of us as members in my view to ensure that what we are actually moaning about is entirely related to the weather and nothing else.

wow, just wow.  I guess you may never have stopped to think about anyone else in order to put your own problems into perspective, by problems i mean the weather not being your preferred type in your case.

Some people cannot afford heating or do not even have a space to heat, i think my point sailed over your head, or in your malaise you just never tried hard enough to understand it.

Never mind i guess this is the moaning thread, ill just keep out of it in the future as moaning about people moaning is daft. 

Personally, I do agree with those points which you have mentioned but as I mentioned above, there are other forums out there for that sort of subject.

2012/13 had a cold & snowy January & March

Spot on (although it was Saturday nights IMBY). The sledges took some hammer that winter!

As I said in the current conditions thread...

Dull, damp, about 10c too warm.

Awful weather. Walked to work with my coat open and just a tee-shirt underneath; I should have it zipped up to the chin, wearing a hat and gloves, with a hoodie on as well underneath, and still feeling the cold.

In the lead-up to Xmas, this is crap.

Wouldn’t be surprised now if there wasn’t even another frost this month. Yesterday had a maximum only slightly above average, at 6.8C, yet despite clear skies and calm winds overnight the temperature dropped no lower than +1.4C.

Now, as it's dark the temperature is soaring. Well past the daytime max of 7.9C to 8.6C now and god knows how high it will get. Probably yet December night in double figures for the umpteenth time since 2015

This week will turn out close to the mildest pre-Christmas week on record.  Will get very near to the 8.1C mean recorded for 18th -24th December 2015 – just two years ago - with the next two days likely to record double digit means. There are just no words to describe how awful this is. Even 1988 didn’t plumb these sort of depths. Four days reached double digits but minima dropped to between 2-5C as opposed to the nonsense we’ve seen this week and in the past two Decembers.

As bad as this has been, it looks set to plunge further into the abyss in time for the holidays with a truly toxic outlook for Christmas yet again. The gloom looks like setting in over the weekend, with impeccable timing, to be followed by the vilest Christmas day for decades with weather warnings out for flooding for the 4th Christmas period out of six

2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20827290

2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25512391

2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35193682

2017 https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/met-office-issue-heavy-rain-warning-for-christmas-day

and the effects of the mild crap earlier this month are still being felt: 

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/christmas-festivities-cancelled-for-village-battered-by-storm-caroline/ 

Anyone who thinks this is preferable to a bit of snow and frost has a screw loose

I cannot fault your logic.  Again, you've nailed it.

Just noticed that the models has me down for southerly gales on Christmas Day night and again on Boxing Day night.

I'm already bored of this winter now and ready to do this  . . .

Current readings here. Pretty much the same story for the last few days with RH values stuck between 95% and 98%. As Richard rightly points out above, this is absolutely toxic, unhealthy weather. 

Looks as though this mild & dank air will be gone from many areas by the end of the day on Xmas Day though, thankfully.

You've been beaten to that one already!

Down here, we had:

Feb 91 - the "wrong kind of snow", over a foot of powder and several ice days.

Nov 93 - six inches of snow fell at the end of the month, but it wasn't enough to get off school!

Dec 95 - the biggest icicles I've ever seen (eaves to the floor on some of the bungalows around here), snow lay on the marshes throughout Jan 96 too.

Jan 97 - the last midwinter easterly, the last time there was powder snow here, the last time we saw a high of -1C or lower here and the last time there were icicles.

Four decent events out of 10 years (3 of which involved the elusive powder snow) wasn't bad at all.

The AMO switch can't come soon enough for me, this gloomy, mild murk is just crushingly dull.

Fun fact: the current gap since I last saw an inch of snow (March 2013-Dec 2017, just under 5 years and counting), is the longest such gap in my 38-year lifetime. No sign of it ending any time soon either!

This years Christmas Eve weather brought to us courtesy of the ghost of Ebenezeer Scrooge. 

It is pitifully miserable and devoid of festive cheer. It is the worst day of the month. Dull, depressing and wet. Temperature down on yesterday, which is not surprising since the midnight to midnight mean of 12.3C was the highest I have ever recorded in December, but still well above average  at 7.6C currently with a max of 9.4C since 9am (warmer during the night as usual )

It's been dry and bright over the past few weeks, both during the cold and mild spells, but bang on cue the holidays arrive and so do the most putrid, useless and unpleasant conditions imagineable

This weather is the equivalent of finding a stocking stuffed with broccoli on Christmas Morning then being served a Christmas Dinner consisting of a hard potato and bowl of gruel sprinkled with turkey shavings. Simply Vile

When are we likely to see the AMO switch Darren?

I’ve done some reading and my best guess seems to be another 10 years of a positive phase - at least?

Deep joy ! ;-) 

Yup, it should have flipped within 10 years. However, before it does there are likely to be years where it's nowhere near as positive as it currently is, which should give us an earlier taste of colder conditions - that is, assuming the climate's not warmed enough to override that!

Yup. I wouldn't hold your breath. The amount of warming in modern times (since 1988) is frankly startling. The lack of punch from such prolonged northerlies this month have really demonstrated to me how far we are along the road now with regard to the warming process. 

We look to virtually non existent easterlies now to deliver the goods. 

The brief window of opportunity is open in the south with nothing on offer. We look to January..a month that has offered nothing since 1997. 

Closer to home I note with interest that there is an opportunity for some back edge hill sleet on the 27th..excitement down here is at fever pitch as you can imagine. 

Happy Christmas all. 

Merry Christmas Steve. 😊 Always appreciate your posts. 

Years like 2013 give me a bit of optimism. We all know what the trends are, and we all know and accept that our winters have become milder.

Given the right conditions though, we can still get a good run of colder than average temps, and I still have a hope that one day we will strike the winter jackpot again in our lifetimes. 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_info_mean2013.html

Maybe it’s wishful thinking.