Winter.

[Knight of Albion]

'Coldest winter in 100 years'

Wasn't the Daily Express was it? ....

[arpoet]

Did you know... The weather centre was started by a Greek man who, when asked what it was going to that day, would stick his head out the window.

If it was lashing down he would predict hot sunshine.

If it was sunny he would say it was going to snow.

If the wind blew his hair all over he would predict a nice day.

And that how the weather centre got its name.

Demetri illogical Office

[Knight of Albion]

Watch the local wildlife. They 'know'.

If they're desperate for food (to build up body fat reserves) there's trouble ahead.

From my observations, for now at least, they're not bothered in the slightest.

[Kristen]

'Coldest winter in 100 years'

Wasn't the Daily Express was it? ....

Might have been the Daily Star

"Coldest winter for 100 YEARS! Temperatures to PLUNGE as Arctic freeze strikes Britain ... Snow could even strike next week - after a final few days of warmth over the Halloween weekend."

although ... they then cover their front, back and both sides with this:

"according to reports in the Daily Express."

'Coldest winter in 100 years' Arctic blizzard to batter Britain | Latest News | Breaking News UK and Newspaper content | Daily Star

[mothhawk]

Of course we won't have all this speculation and indecision next year, because the Met Office will have their new superduper £97m supercomputer to tell us exactly what the weather will be like any day we ask.
I think I'll still rely on sticking my head out of the window, thanks.

[Martin H]

I read this week that the met office has ordered some new supercomputers. So by 2017 they will have 13 times the computer power. I expect this will enable them to do reasonably accurate predictions a few hours further into the future than the current 4 day limit.

£97 million well spent.

In other news, the sun is behaving rather unusually at the moment. As I'm sure you know, the sun has a basic 11-year cycle of variable output with longer periodicity that seems related to the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Many believe that this variability affects our own climate.

Some solar physicists, noting that the current "solar maximum" is an especially damp squib, suspect that the Sun may be entering a "Maunder Minimum", a lengthy spell of low to no activity. Such a minimum occurred from 1645-1715 and coincided with the "Little Ice Age" of extremely cold winters in northern Europe.

"The behavior of the sun has recently changed and is now in a state not observed for almost 100 years," says professor Nathan Schwadron. "Starting in about 2006, we observed the longest solar minimum and weakest solar activity observed in the space age."

[VolesAteMyPeas]

Well, here's where I get my news
Typical Daily Mail Front Page | The Poke

[Greenleaves]

Watch the local wildlife. They 'know'.

If they're desperate for food (to build up body fat reserves) there's trouble ahead.

From my observations, for now at least, they're not bothered in the slightest.

Not sure that is absolutely true, wildlife reacts to thermal triggers

[Jay22]

I always think if the Rowans are loaded with berries it's going to be a bad winter.
I don't mind the cold but it's the damp,windy days I hate. When it starts to rain up here, it forgets to stop!!

[Kristen]

I always think if the Rowans are loaded with berries it's going to be a bad winter.

I think that is an indication of a good summer, from the Rowans' point of view. Or they had a Mast year (whatever triggers that), but its historical rather than predictive.

[lottie dolly]

MR was telling me about the bird activity in the garden,seems like they think tis spring,

[Kristen]

Quite a few of my plants think it is Spring ... I suspect that the cold snap in August, followed by mild, and daylight hours similar to Spring may have fooled some plants into thinking that Winter has been & gone and Spring is here ...

Although I'm pretty sure I have had plants in flower that have not been similarly fooled before - Bearded Irises for example (and I think I read of Apple blossom too - does that happen periodically, or is that a new phenomenon?)

[Jay22]

Found this old thread when I looked on internet for the berries theory after reading your post Kristen...note the date thread was started and what the winter was that year.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_40339.html

[Kristen]

My take on that is that the summer of 2009 was a good season for berries, not that the following Winter could be predicted to be hard.

Summer of 2013 was one of the best Mast years for Nuts and Berries known, and winter 2013/2014 was exceptionally mild

2009 temperature was above average every month from Feb - Nov (significantly so in April, at Blossom time)

2013 had a cold (significantly so in March) and long spring, but an above average Summer (significantly in July and October). My recollection was that the blossom was very late, which probably benefited from more pollinating insects active, and fewer frosty nights.

UK temperature, rainfall and sunshine anomaly graphs - Met Office

[Alison]

Found this old thread when I looked on internet for the berries theory after reading your post Kristen...note the date thread was started and what the winter was that year.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ing_40339.html

There was also a very similar thread this time last year which proves exactly the opposite, I'm with Kristen on this one.