Winter!

[Penellype]

We've been spoilt rotten in the UK this autumn, with temperatures overall nearly 2C above the average for November and very little in the way of seasonal strong winds. The whole year looks like possibly breaking the record for the warmest year ever. I say "possibly" because things are changing.

Many people will have woken up to frost this morning - it was about -2 here. This is going to continue for the next couple of days before we get a change to wetter, stormier weather. BUT it isn't going to get much warmer. This winter is almost certain to be quite different to last winter, and could be much colder. Long range predictions (always treat with caution) are definitely favouring a colder setup at least later in the winter, and the current short term forecasts are by no means warm.

The point of this post is to give people a heads up for next week, which could bring quite a nasty storm around Tuesday with strong winds and rain turning to snow in places, especially in the north and west with possible blizzards on the hills. Basically, be prepared to batten down the hatches and keep an eye on the forecast. Be ready to move nets or put them into a position where supporting frames don't get broken by the weight of snow. We got away with this last year, but I don't think we will this time.

[WendyC]

I've been poorly this week and not really been out of the house. Certainly noticed the nip in the air just now whilst hanging out the washing. Still debating whether the bubble wrap the greenhouse. Have all the stuff, just a bit of a faff!

[scarey55]

Snow here when we got up yesterday morning and it snowed whilst we were walking the dogs Still here this morning and I have a frozen layer of snow on my car. Good thing we changed to winter tyres on Sunday!

[sparrow100]

I am looking forward to a proper bit of cold to sort out the burgeoning slug population here. Snow on top of that would be lovely, but doesn't happen often this far south.

[Guest]

Its lovely and sunny today and no real chill at all. It is scary to think we are now in december.

[Jay22]

I love the snow...so long as it happens on a weekend when no one has to go anywhere! We need some cold to get rid of these awful cold germs, everyone seems to be getting it and it's bad this year! I had it for over 4 weeks and my SiL has now got it too! Not good.

[PyreneesPlot]

We had a nice big dump of snow all ready for the scheduled start of the ski season.
Then we had one day at thirty degrees and all the snow went. All of it.
And now we have the faintest dusting only. Send it down here, please Scarey Sure you don't want it!
Maybe this week we'll get some winter

[KevinM67]

Plants, soil and pests wise - would a cold winter be such a bad thing??

[Penellype]

Probably not, although howling gales are not ideal!

[muddled]

please can we have some hard frosts to divide my garlic and especially to smash the clay turned over rough on my allotment?
Ta everso

[Philthy]

I think this winter will pretty much mirror the last one - in the south at least - given how the year has panned out so far. Temperatures were very good for prolonged periods last summer. The blue sky days stretched well into autumn. And the winter, as if reminders were needed, was wall-to-wall rain, storms, high tides, and rather mild. Likewise this year has turned wet again, with a lot more rain predicted in the coming weeks, but no real temperature drops (-1 at night is not a 'big freeze' IMO).

Surrey didn't get the same degree of coverage during the flooding last winter as Somerset, but many people were flooded out and roads blocked causing significant disruption. Near to where I live two fields next to a stretch of main road have had reservoirs / catch basins dug into them in preparation for this winter; an underground river flows underneath them and only flows overground in exceptionally wet weather. It flowed last year, and before that was back in 2000. The water table is still pretty high.

[sparrow100]

I think this winter will pretty much mirror the last one - in the south at least.

Surrey didn't get the same degree of coverage during the flooding last winter as Somerset, but many people were flooded out and roads blocked causing significant disruption.

I hope it doesn't. Not because my plot was flooded till late March, but because the Thames doesn't cope well with flooding. It's at the bottom of my road and for about 5-6 weeks was consistently 4ftish higher than normal, even with the flood barriers being deployed. That's enough to bring misery to an awful lot of people.

[Bacchus]

Last Sunday morning we had a huge frost here in NI with a couple of lesser ones since but it has been unseasonally warm overall.

[Kirk]

OK to be safe:
750 fill down jacket 1 - check
750 fill down jacket 1 - check (same as previous but bigger to zip up over chin)
900 fill down jacket 1 - check
700 fill down body warmer - check
Canadian "heavy weight" thermal tops 4 off - check
Canadian "light weight" thermal tops 3 off - check
Canadian thermal trousers 2 off - check
Sheepskin trapper hats 3 off - check
Snowboots 2 pairs - check

Assorted other thermal gear - lots of.

Should be OK until it hits -40c.

Was stood out at -12c in 2 tops and one jacket, everyone else was jumping up and down to generate heat, I was undoing zips to lose heat.

[Alicante]

I hope that we do not have as much rain as last winter. The pond in the woods where I walk the dog is full, a sign that the water table here is already high. At least our local council might be better prepared this year, there has been a lot of street cleaning, drain clearing and leaf collecting going on!