,Over on the Winter Moaning thread an interesting division has appeared between those like me who have found this winter the worst of all and others who have found it at least interesting with the storms and floods.

To gauge the overall opinion of TWO Members, which in order (worst top) would you rate the worst winters of the last 30 years, lets limit it to 30 so we can make a comparison with younger TWO members and here is mine:

1. 2014 (the worst)

2. 2007

3. 1989

4. 1990

5. 2008

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

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My ranking for each is below:

1. 2013/14 (my worst one)

2. 2006/07

3. 2007/08

4. 1988-89

5. 1989-90

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Personally the best winter I can ever recall. The total lack of cold has been beyond my wildest dreams [sn_appr] . 10/10 on a personal basis 👍


Obviously it's not been the case for flood victims.

My order:

2012
2011
2010
1995
1982

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My order is as follows, my least favourite is top.

2006/2007

2007/2008

2003/2004

2013/2014

1988/89

The main reason IMO for 2006/7 and 2007/8 being so bad is that there was excessively mild weather at times and when we did get a tiny bit of snow it melted straight away. IMO snow which immediately melts is worse than no snow at all, ala 2013/14. Also 2013/14 has had some phenomenal weather IMBY with incredibly interesting Synoptics and sights to see, but I appreciate this is not the same for all...........

Good idea for a thread Andy 😁

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Prior to this I have had 4 cracking winters with enough snowfall to warrant work to close the doors, before this our doors were open every winter for as long as I have been ther ( 17 years ), so a snowless winter is as bad as the next.

IMO

This ranks with many

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0/10

Unless sleety rain or hail counts. This has been the worse winter in living memory. Many people would prefer it colder because at least when it's dry you can wrap up warm and actually do things.

The coldest weather and nights were end of November and early December. - When we had a good four days of dry seasonal weather, but that was during autumn.

Not a flake of snow, only one morning of frost this year and the lowest temp was -2.1c so far and not one easterly wind or northerly. -Even during those milder winters of 98 we had occasional northerly winds or the odd Arctic blast of icy weather and to wake up to crisp frosty and above all dry and sunny morning. But this year we failed to see that. I can't believe how bad it's been. We do need some dry and colder weather and a good freeze to kill these lergy germs and bugs!

Just relentless rain, gales followed by more rain, perhaps at the best 12 -18 hours of drier weather but only to be ruined by more heavy rain and strong winds, swollen rivers etc.

This morning in Exeter I woke up to 14.3c. - Awful weather. Can't wait until summer.

Obviously there is still time but I have had enough!

I am off to Las Vegas in a couple days anyway.

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Can't believe Matty actually likes this winter!! Or is he being sarcastic?

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0.1/10 for me - and the 0.1 is because there were at least a few sleety flakes in a hail shower a few weeks ago. Aside from that it's been completely snowless and the overall minimum of -2.4C is the mildest I can remember.

However, that still puts it very slightly above winters such as 87/8, 88/9, 91/2, 97/8, 98/9 which were all completely snowless here. Incidentally those few flakes of sleet means 1998/9 remains the last completely snowless winter here.

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I can't remember a more dank depressing winter than this one and I am 51. Looking forward to some warmer sunny weather and hopefuly some proper cold weather next winter.

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If we are marking this purely on wintriness then it's clearly 0/10 and one of the worst I have experienced in 38 years. I drive over the A66 across the northern Pennines every week and I have never known such little snow at such height before.

However, if we are marking this on weather, just weather, then you have to say that it's been a cracking winter (I know people have suffered and I feel terrible for those that have suffered) as the wind speeds and the rain levels etc have been incredible.

You only have to look at Kevin's thread on the rainfall totals and you see that we have just witnessed something special.

It comes down to whether or not you are a fan of meteorology and the weather or if you are just a fan of hot summers and/or cold wintry winters.

As I am one of the former I have to rate this winter 8/10, yes I would have liked a little diversity from the wind and rain, but I'll take my chances on summer being hot and next winter being cold and be thankful that I have been part of such an extreme season.

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As a weather lover, I should be lapping it all up thinking "Yes, finally, it's all getting interesting and lively!". But, to be honest, I never really enjoyed it at all. Must be an age thing or/and speaking as a homeowner where damage to my property is the last thing I need.
  In terms of "exciting" weather, yes, this winter - or rather, extended Autumn - is up there, I'll give it that, but it was starting to get quite mentally exhuasting towards the end. No, I tell a lie, it was hard work from the start with St Judes and the Post Christmas Windstorm. Doesn't help that even though I've been into meteorology for 35 years, since I've picked up a lot more knowledge regarding the finer points of our climate (upper air pressure, jet stream, etc, etc), it's made it easier for me to get worked up every time I see a deepening low pressure system appear in the 144 hours time frame rather than in 24 hours time!
  If I get to experience this stupid southerly gale threatening to rip the tiles off my roof one more time as we go into the rest of this "winter" and into "spring", I'll . . . I'll . . . scream. Still, at least I'm not being flooded out, I have old school friends who live in the Staines area and I know they must be absolutely sick to the back teeth (literally and phsyically) of it all by now.
  However, at the same time, because it never really got properly cold overall, it had felt nice and mild whenever the sun does stay out for long enough (eg: today) so it hasn't been ALL bad.
  Now, please, North America, stop showing off with the deep cold polar vortex thing thus causing the problem in the first place. As for North Atlantic and the Jet Stream, the both of you calm down! I know you like to flex your muscles once in a while but the poor ol' UK is a bit fed up with being used as a punch bag as well as gettig p****d on. I guess this is the price we have to pay for living in the mid-latitude part of the world.

Still, the daylight is increasing quickly by the day from here on as the sun climbs that little bit higher above the horizon, that'll make it easier to see how rubbish our weather is being.

Oh yes . . . ratings. I'll give it 2/10 simply because I hate strong winds and we've had too much of that in the past three months.

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8/10 for severe weather.

Atlantic storms/squall lines/hail and thunder with some wet snow thrown in.

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Very nice comments there Ian.

 

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In my area of the country if you don't like the cold - then this was a nice winter. I missed out on the worst of the rain.

In between windy and wet spells I have had the most excellent amount of sunshine.

Indeed today is yet another good example.

I know I have said it before - but I have had more sunshine this winter than in many of the recent grotty summers.

All in all - a good winter really.

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In terms of lack of snow it is a disappointment.  But there has been some really decent winds, some lively squall lines, far more thunderstorms than I saw in the last 5 summers put together.

I will give it a 5 out of 10 as what it lacks in traditional winter weather, it has made it for with interesting and exciting weather too.

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2013/14 has been very similar to 1988/89 - the only difference being that this time the mild, wild, wind & wet has been across England rather than the Highlands.  And it's not been quite as wet or quite as windy (89 produced the still unbroken records for Scottish 48 hour rainfall and UK low level wind gust)

Had I spent 88/89 in England and 13/14 in the Highlands my opinions of both winters might be much different!


However, I can't really compared 13/14 with other winters since there hasn't been a winter - just one long autumn .....

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Fortunately there have been no thunderstorms here - so I still have my annual storm to look forward too

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Since I agree with you 100%, there is little point putting my rankings, since they would be identical to yours.

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For me this year 2013/2014 has been the worst.

I cant remember exactly what some of  the earlier years were like to be honest, but I dont think any were are bad a this year.

I too have suffered structural  property damage but thankfully not flooding for which I am very grateful

I like all forms of weather, but especially at the 'proper' times.
Yes we've had extremes to keep the interest up, the unfortunate effect of course is damage and flooding but there's diddly squat we can do about that.

So although tempered by the occasional storm and convective development, for a complete lack of any snow and just a few frosts, a minimum of just -2.4 (truely shocking), winter 13/14 goes down as one of the worst in my years of weather watching.

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I genuinely cannot score this as we simply have not had a winter. If I did it would have to be 0/10.

It feels strange to be coming out of the other side of something that never happened. The summer plants from last year that were left to freeze, rot and die are still happily thriving. A couple of geraniums flowered throughout and the grass has never stopped growing (apart for a couple of weeks in Mid December perhaps).

It all feels a bit weird to be honest..almost on a par with the stunted spring we endured until early summer last year.

Not one flake of snow has been seen. The mercury dipped just below 0c on just 4 occasions. Endless days of Maxes between 9-10c with mins between 3-5c too.

Interest was brief from a convective and wind point of view. Hail and thunder has been observed on several occasions.

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Only 1 snow cover here this Winter which is pretty poor and even then it only lasted on the ground about 10-12 hours. Overall a poor Winter for bitter cold and lasting snow.

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A bit like Steve says above, I can't really rate it because to me it's been more Autumn than Winter.

Only twice have I seen it go below 0*c, I've witnessed just the 1 frost and that was nothing to write home about. Travelling home from work each night at 11pm I can't tell you how many times the temp still read above 5*c..not one sight of a snowflake either.

Have had plenty of Hail, Wind and Rain, it's been a terrible Winter IMBY. I can put up with it being Mild but the endless days of rain and wet crap really started to get me down and probably most others also.

Soon we can put a line through this Winter and move...... Although the Scottish Ski Resorts have no doubt had a whale of time

I rate it a 0/10

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If you want cold its been a disaster - no falling snow and a handful of frosts.

However, I have had a number of days with hail falling and 3 thunder events.

The unusual volatility have actually made it quite exciting for me.

Down here in my locale There was no winter 2013/14 it has been nothing more than autumnal since October.
my lowest min has been -1.7, a temperature that I have beaten in Octobe ,April and even May in previous years.

I therefore can't rate winter 2013/14 because it didn't happen.

The only hope I am clinging onto is that these relentlessly mild and wet winters often have a nasty sting in the tail come April