Winter

2023-24 | Fourth warmest winter [DJF] in central England

Winter 2023-24 in Central England was a mild affair with only two main cold spells to speak of. One in the first week of December to start, and another in the second and into the third week of January. I made the mean temperature 6.5°C which was +1.68°C above the 1991-2020 LTALTA Long Term Average. This is usually defined as a 30 year period by the WMO. making it the fourth mildest winter since 1659, behind the winters of 1868-69, 2015-16, and 1833-34. Despite this three new record low temperatures occurred, along with nine new record maxima and eight new record high minimum temperatures.

Winter [DJF] 2022-23 Frost

A map of air frosts, ground frosts and ice days in the meteorological winter of 2022-23. Remarkably there were more air frosts at Benson in Oxfordshire than there were at Aviemore in the Highlands. I should make an effort to compare these results with a 30 year average but I don’t have the time to compile the stats for each station at the moment. Don’t forget to click an image to enlarge it. Here for completeness is the thermograph for Benson to prove just what a cold hole it is.

March 7, 2023

Frost, Winter

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Winter so far dominated by intense Azores High

Winter 2022-23 [DJFDJF Meteorological Winter comprising the months of December, January & February] has been dominated to a large extent by a more intense Azores high than usual. This has kept things fairly mobile especially the north and has also provided a good deal of dry and quiet weather across southern parts, with increased numbers of overnight frost and fog. Anomalies have been generally between 4 and 8 hPahPa A Hectopascal is the SI unit of pressure and identical to the Millibar above the LTALTA Long Term Average. This is usually defined as a 30 year period by the WMO.. The only time the Azores high did relinquish its hold was in December of 2022, when the flow across IONAIONA Islands Of North Atlantic. Yes I know there's an island called Iona, but this is so I don't have to use the term 'British Isles' when referring to the whole of Ireland and the UK. reversed and we saw the only spell of anticyclonic easterlies we’ve seen so far this winter.

February 14, 2023

Circulation, Pressure, Winter

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