Then you'd have cause for moaning.

The joke is that Richard will launch one of his tirades against the weather gods for 'only' delivering what most of us would consider a more than decent snowfall, or moan about 'only' having 15 frosts in a month when [random year containing a harsh winter] had 25, for instance.

Very true (and although there are tantalising charts around at the moment I will wait a few more days before becoming remotely excited about any potential).

IMO, it seems to be the case with Richard from reading many of his posts here over many years that no matter what the weather does in Aberdeen, it is never exactly how he would like it. The weather simply can do no right as far as he in concerned.

The settled spell we were supposed to get has just evaporated completely. Pressure hasn’t even managed to reach 1020mb, there was rain yesterday evening and today was just plain miserable. Constant drizzle with the temperature stuck on 4C for 14 hours then rising to 6C which it's been stuck on for the past 10 hours. A high to the west is one of the worst synoptic set-ups for the east. If only it would migrate to the NW but it never does any more

Sick to death of enduring day after day of cold winds/rain/drizzle, waiting for cold and snowy spells that never materialise. This country really is the least rewarding place on earth for a weather observer these days. Where else  would a month with a mean temperature of 2.5C result in no snow or hard frost? It’s just utter crap. No mild or proper cold just the worst type of cold rubbish day in day out. The highest temperature has been only 7.6C yet at the same time there has been only eight slight frosts totalling 56 hours below freezing, a low of -3.2C and 1cm of slush lying on one morning

This month must be truly unique in being so cold yet non-wintry. February 1983 would be one of the closest matches but even it managed a low of -6C and 10 days of lying snow at nearby Mannofield though I believe it was all transitory in nature with a max depth of only 2cm. Similar garbage months like January and February 1972 and January 1980 would also have been more wintry than this awful February has been.

I am completely unconvinced that the easterly will happen or, if it does, deliver anything worth having. I still have nightmares about the repellent weekend of 23rd/24th March 2013 which was horrific with slate grey skies and no snow or even frost despite a max of only 0.5C with a raw wind.

Only 3cm of snow has fallen here since mid-December. That is the third worst total for the ‘core winter’ period this century after 2007/08 and 2013/14. Even with the two 6cm snowfalls prior to that, the seasonal snowfall is less than in 2015/16 and about the same as 2014/15. It seems unlikely that such a failure of a winter would suddenly deliver right at the last minute.

A snowy Spanish plume: now that would be something wouldn't it. Presumably must happen from time to time over the Western Pyrenees.

And the funny thing is, the Pennines actually block a great deal of the rain from reaching here. 

But yeah, easterlies generally suck here. We're usually too far inland for the best snow showers. I associate easterlies with cold, dry, cloudy conditions. Mostly people in the SE that get excited by them, or cite 1987 as the holy grail of cold spells.

Lol , doesn't surprise me

You must have done better in 1991, seen the Met Office radar for that event and there was definitely snow in NW England. Anything passing over Bingley should have made it to Blackburn.

Snap.

Typical of an easterly round these parts. I was in Sheffield for the 91 snowfall.

Sometimes Manchester can get snow on an easterly (think Humber streamer). 6 inches or so in Dec 1996. Or was it 97? Also I think we got a decent snowfall in Feb 91.

Too early to say whether it’ll happen this time round. Depends on the specific nature of the flow.

All fascinating nonetheless - and I’m excited for Darren and Steve (I’m nice like that).

ha ! It doesn’t always happen like that, but I know what you mean. Depends on how fierce the flow is. I’ll be looking for a “squeeze” in the isobars just off Humberside - that could work for us. 

We’ll see. Certainly not expecting much for now. 

In 2013 at least one of the snowfalls came from an easterly - I think an ENE. Oddly, Manchester was green whilst we had about 10cm; presumably the front fragmented over the Pennines before reorganising in time for here. Some parts of (even lowland) North Wales had 30cm+

But in 87 we got next to zilch - a 10 minute shower. The ground was so cold you could see the individual snowflakes afterwards, frozen to the floor. 

No moans about the output assuming it comes off

However a bit gut wrenching for me personally.Having poured over models outputs on Two since 2003 I am currently in Nice and not due to return until 4th March. Hopefully there will be some snow left although Winchester is something of a snow desert normally.

You're assuming your plane will be able to land

(although I'd hazard a guess that Manchester would be a snow-free alternative  )

Being surround by high pressure left right and centre and I end up with a stuck decayed front over me as I enter my second day of dull, drab, clammy, mist and drizzle. The fair spring-like conditions a couple of days ago is already like a distant memory.

Oh well, it IS mid-February after all and it isn't blowing a gale - for a change, and hope to see some brighter skies from tomorrow onwards as the first easterly "push" takes a hold.

You only have to go back to earlier this month, we got snow flurries on a very weak easterly with high pressure virtually sat on top of us. 

Despite being in the east, I'd say Leeds generally doesn't do well in terms of snow during easterlies. We don't get streamers and shower activity is usually too infrequent to amount to anything significant. We therefore end up relying on features/fronts. It's why I can't get excited by the prospect of an easterly. 

There’ll be plenty left over in sure. That toboggan run I’m going to make up on Cheesefoot will keep for weeks.

Not having a moan, merely an observation. Having this spell go (.)(.)'s up or end up as a historic event could be bad news for Brian. If the former happens we'll all pack it in and never bother again, and if the latter turns up, we'll have had our fix and nothing else will come close in the subsequent years so we won' need to chase. He must be praying for a blended solution

Also, I know people claim nature reacts to current weather, but I've noticed that around here, we have NO daffs in bloom whatsoever! Sure storks are up, but no flower heads. Usually they're flowering in the 2nd wk of Jan. It's not like we've had a winter either as there's hardly been a frost

The statistics for here bear that out really well. I wouldn't go as far as saying that we haven't had much of a winter since we haven't done too badly for snow since Christmas and we are a bit colder than average overall so far. However, the sheer lack of official air frosts in this part of the world has been absolutely pathetic, with only December being relatively OK for that as the rest of the winter after that has then gone from bad to worse from that perspective.

It therefore wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this upcoming really cold spell was to come off next week with me still ended up writing in the current conditions threads every day that the temperatures are still refusing to drop due to too much wind and/or cloud resulting in yet another frost-free start to the following day whilst the rest of the UK gets plenty of frost, and with everything in this area continuing to fall as rain or sleet (possibly wet snow, but nothing which would actually stick) whilst the rest of the UK is buried under a foot of snow.

What a surprise. Any cold and snow prospects just keep being pushed back and there continues to be nothing but dross in the reliable timeframe. I can’t think of anything worse than what the next five days has in store

Yesterday we were expecting snow on Monday now there is nothing showing until Tuesday. I expect tomorrow it will have shifted to Wednesday. In the meantime a continuation of the most useless, snowless start to a year since 2014 with a putrid depressing weekend of grey easterly muck to look forward to. Absolutely brilliant

Seeing less and less frost as well with just one in the past week. This high pressure has been a joke delivering exactly the same conditions as a 980mb westerly. Result – too windy for an air frost and none likely for the foreseeable either just vile easterly crud