The NHS is already under immense strain anyway, can you imagine the state it would be in if we actually had a cold spell? I don't even want to think about that. It's probably a blessing in disguise that cold spells continue to evade our shows.

What an utter joke this lamentable winter is. A Grade A embarrassment. Supposed to be a notably cold night and it's still +1.1C here 6 hours after sunset

Moreover it's not remotely cold at any of the well known cold spots inland and in the Highlands 

9pm Temperatures:

Braemar: -0.1C

Tulloch Bridge: -0.8C

Aviemore: -0.9C

Altnaharra: -1.6C 

Stunning levels of cold for the time of year 

Far too much cloud about when it was supposed to be clear and even if it does break, with more than 6 hours of potential falling time written off, it's hard to see anything noteworthy being achieved.

Another winter slips slowly down the toilet 

The problem hasn't been so much getting cold snaps or for the south cooler snaps but what we are struggling to get is the sustained cold - like lasting a week or two with proper easterly winds and biting winds etc with heavy snow and then sub zero daytime temps etc. The last time we saw this was in March 2013 - We did have a good 10 to 14 days of wintry weather and sustained cold that lasted and many places saw snow which fell and settled (but melted) etc. Even in London there was 2" of snow one morning in April 2013. I guess my point is that since March/April 2013 ...many if not all of our colder than average weather or colder spells or snaps in winter etc have never lasted more than 4 or 5 days!!!

I remember winters in 90's and 00's when we had at least a week or two of cold and snow, like proper December 2010 cold but lasting for a week to 10 days! - I remember Feb 2004 very well indeed!

Since March 2013 all our colder snaps have only lasted a couple days! What really frustrates me is that if it can happen in the USA/Canada or in Eastern Europe or southern Greece, Italy (like last winter) it can happen here. 

I remember January 2010 when the snow lasted a week and cold spell lasted almost 2 weeks in parts of the south east which saw almost 1ft of snow.

December 2010 was the one we all remember like many on here and whilst we more or less had one month of bitterly cold weather and snow lasting for that long. Whilst I knew our chances of us to get a repeat cold spell/Arctic blast lasting almost a month with snowfall covering the UK for almost 1 month with ice days like in December 2010 would be slim. I still did believe that if we did have a cold spell it would last longer than 3 - 5 days!? But obviously not. It's asking for too much! Ok so there was a cold spell between 9th and 14th December!? Well how long is that AND bare in mind it was never really cold for many esp the south of UK!? The snow was wet and never lasted! There was some snow in Aberdeen end of November Ok maybe early but that never lasted long either.

This slack easterly is a prime example of how pathetic our cold spells have become in recent years - They should say that we expect a few days of seasonably cold weather and it will feeling colder, rather than over hype "Bitterly cold wind etc nothing! Not even a frost or snow shower. Many parts of the UK haven't even reached freezing yet at night let alone dip below, but give it a day or two then we are back to zonal, wind and rain. Yet you read headlines about the 'Arctic chill' and 'bitterly cold' weather on it's way! You pause and think to yourself!? - Looks outside to see no frost and temperature's of +3c above freezing and the temperature is not plummeting it's just stable actually steady. It's now +3.2c so if anything it's rising during the night! - So it's rising but this +3 or so degrees is seasonal for January. Sorry, but what's so bitterly cold about +3c outside at midnight in January!? Maybe some weather presenters or media reporters etc who talk about gritting the roads over use the word 'bitterly cold' when they don't really know what true cold feels like or actually is!?

Oh well! Maybe one day just one day we will get an ice day and a cold spell that will provide snow and bitterly cold weather for more than a week. It's already been bitterly cold and sub-zero for a good 10 days in the USA with some powdery snowfall - From Atlanta GA, Baltimore, New York, to Boston! Yet we can't even dip to freezing at night or see a proper widespread frost due to wind or cloud cover. 

Just pathetic and sad really.  RANT over!

Your turn now Richard!

My blood pressure hit the roof when I read this braindead article in today’s local paper:

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/north-east-hit-with-arctic-temperatures/ 

Perplexed by the mention of arctic conditions – they managed to pass me by that’s for sure. However I’ll fully agree with the sentiment expressed in the article. I’m certainly relieved that we’re saying goodbye to yesterday’s horrible, dry, sunny, crisp and frosty weather and am definitely looking forward to the wonderful south easterlies bringing days of grey skies, drizzle and rain.

Back in the real world and there could not be anything more revolting than the sunless, soul destroying filth headed our way. This month is shaping up to be a diabolical January. It is utterly depressing that yet again the peak winter period is being written off courtesy of the most dismal and worthless conditions imaginable

You read weather articles from the 19th Century newspapers and they are pieces of literature giving an informed insight into the weather conditions of the time. The contrast with the vapid, senseless drivel, linked to above, could not be more acute. If things dumb down any more we’ll soon be seeing articles written in textspeak or some other type of pidgin English

You know its a joke and that you live in a sh!t climate when it snows in the Sahara Desert for the first time in 39 years!

Just like snow in Florida for the first time in 30, this will soon become us! 

THE BEAST FROM THE EAST strikes the east coast of the United Kingdom for the first time in 45 years (sorry Darren). Villages cut off as up To 18" of snow falls across large parts of East Anglia and Kent. A local weatherman called Darren from Kent said in an interview written in the Snow "FINALLY"

Interesting that! It made me chuckle when I saw that "North east hit by ARCTIC conditions" then the N.E Set for a big thaw' later this week!" - I MEAN AS if it's been days or weeks of severe frosts and severe cold and significant snowfall accumulations! ha! When you put that into perspective you think of what's going on on the other side of the pond. I mean tidal surges of 3ft - 4ft and all that flooded sea water has now become a thick block of ice and cars trapped in metre of ice with snow on top etc and maximum temps of -10c during the daytime and min of -20c or whatever in many parts of NE states and been going on for days if not a week. Yet here temps fall to a few degrees C below freezing for a couple nights!? LIKE WTF!? Obviously no one would want to experience what those did in Boston MASS, those car wheels must be bursting by now! Also must be some severe pipe bursts and floods too when that does thaw in N. America/East Canada! However, perhaps a little snow and more extensive frost and proper cold, ice days would be the least bit appropriate.

Just for contrasting purposes - On the other side of the pond they talk about 'Icebergs' floating around in Boston city:

https://www.boston.com/news/weather/2018/01/04/the-national-weather-service-icebergs-storm

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The fact the Express referred to this chillier seasonal spell "Arctic conditions" - I would be very keen to know how/what the tabloids would report if we saw for instance got so cold we saw icebergs floating along the river Thames  - Probably some headline like !"The north pole has moved southwards towards the UK" or "People in the UK must watch out for polar bears in flooded area's as icebergs start appearing!?" 

Don't remember this one!

36 years ago. Remember the blizzard of 1982? It started on the evening of 7th January and didn't stop snowing for over 36 hours! The M4 was brought to a standstill and the roof of Sophia Gardens pavilion in #Cardiff collapsed under the weight of snow >https://t.co/5LPvi50zSX pic.twitter.com/O1oSU2Pywg

— Derek Brockway (@DerekTheWeather) January 8, 2018

Before my time , but it was a classic blizzard for Wales and the SW. Large parts of rural, normally snow free, tropical Pembrokeshire were totally cut off. 

Amazing. 👍

Meanwhile in France...

Nice video, also from Tignes, for the snow-starved: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cuqzz

You may have to travel to Accrington for such extremes...

I`ve hated winters for many years, probably since 1962-63 and the fact that a lot of the work I did was outside. I don`t think many people who experienced that winter would be so keen for a repeat (Unless they worked in a nice warm office building). Cold weather fans should be careful what they wish for.

Roll on summer 

Roll on Summer, right enough and if recent summers are anything to go by in this part of the world, a return to duller than average conditions with the sky taking on a more characteristic colour of grey, and with a few days being even cooler than what we saw on a number of occasions during the early part of this winter.

I suppose though, anything has to better than that easterly muck which we are experiencing right now.

Crazy weather -

Tens of thousands of tourists and locals were stranded across the Alps today after “once-in-a-generation” weather that dumped almost 7 feet of snow on some ski resorts in less than 48 hours.

More than 13,000 people were trapped without electricity in the upmarket Swiss town of Zermatt after more than 5ft of snow fell in two days.

The mountain road to the town was closed early yesterday, for the first time in ten years, as the avalanche risk reached its highest level and all trains were then cancelled.

:

More than 5 feet of snow fell on the French town of Tignes in less than 48 hours

Never mind that, the margins of the Sahara desert have seen snow as well: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-42627090/snow-falls-in-the-sahara-desert

It's a little known fact that in the film The Day After Tomorrow, while the rest of the globe froze to death most of the UK escaped with light sleet showers (apart from Portsmouth, St Helens, and Jacko country, where it rained).

Oh, how I laughed!

"Snowfall is very rare in the Sahara".

So rare, it snowed there last year as well!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/jan/23/snow-sahara-desert-in-pictures

..and again in 2016!

http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/sahara-snow/index.html

Hah. That's more snow than we've had here in years...

I lived in York at the time and have no recollection of the month. 

However during the alleged big Easterly freezes during the 80s we saw zero snow except once when it all broke down and we managed a couple of hours of the white stuff before the pittter pattter of rain followed. Hence why my hatred of Easterlies is so entrenched. 😁