WUWT readers surely recall this most often quoted prediction about snow. From the Independent’s most cited article: Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past by Charles Onians:
However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”.
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.
It seems despite the sage advice from that East Anglia CRU scientist, a new record for snowfall has been set for the month of December.
From the Rutgers University Snow Lab, we have this graph for the Northern Hemisphere for all months of December. December 2012 was a clear winner.
![nhland12[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/nhland121.png?quality=75)
Source: http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_anom.php?ui_set=1&ui_region=nhland&ui_month=12
Increased evaporation combined with more heat loss in the Arctic due to a record low amount of Arctic sea ice is the likely cause.The Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 was a big factor in this.
To be fair though, lets look at all the data for all months. The 70’s were peak years, so was 1993 (post Pinatubo eruption) as was the winter of 2002/2003.
![anom_nhland[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/anom_nhland1.gif)
Source: http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_anom.php?ui_set=0&ui_region=nhland&ui_month=12
While we surely don’t have a new annual snow record yet, the winter is not yet over and it remains a possibility. We’ll revisit this come spring.
h/t to Pierre Gosselin via Marc Morano
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@elftone – you are absolutely spot-on with your assessment.
Oh for a political party that would call out on this CO2/Climate Change crap – they would get my vote, for sure
Predictably when we had drought conditions in the UK it was due to AGW April – December has been second wettest year since 1910, guess what? Yes, AGW. The last two weeks of November and first two weeks of December it was very cold, guess what? Silence. The last few weeks we have had SW and W winds (which we have had for a few weeks every winter for as long as I can remember) bringing very mild weather, with temperatures of 12 celsius, guess what? AGW.
We have been told that vines can be cultivated here in the North East of England, that we will be getting climate refugees from Southern Spain.
Forgive my scepticism!!
Here’s another one (from express.co.uk):
——————————————————————————–
WHY WINTER NO LONGER EXISTS
Friday February 8,2008
By Polly Buchanan
Winter has gone for ever and we should officially bring spring forward instead, one of the country’s most respected gardeners said yesterday.
For climate change has wiped out the season of traditionally long, hard frosts and replaced it with brightly blossoming gardens bursting into flower months early.
Dr Taylor added: “Like most scientists, I’m fairly convinced that climate change is down to man’s reckless use of fossil fuels and destruction of natural habitats.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/34252/Why-winter-no-longer-exists
———————————————————————————————
..and please notice alexjc38 brilliant “Hallo Polly” comment:
CALLING POLLY BUCHANAN
21.12.10, 12:37pm
Hello? Polly Buchanan in 2008? Don’t ask me to explain but I’m posting this back to you via a time warp from December 2010. Yes, the future! You probably won’t believe me and will think I’m mad or joking, but get this. Britain is suffering its third extremely cold winter in a row – we have enough snow, ice, frost and freezing fog to cobble dogs with (whatever that means.) Far from being “gone forever”, winter has become a major hazard in this country twice this year – and we haven’t even got to January and February 2011 yet. Also (again you will probably think I’m joking) but the Met Office has become even more of a national liability than it was in 2008. As for moving spring forward a few months – woah, better hold your horses! I urge you to pull this article immediately, as it – and Dr Nigel Taylor’s reputation – is likely to become a laughing stock in years to come. Polly? Hello? Hello? … Rats, I’m probably too late.
Posted by: alexjc38
LOL overload…
I will be more interested to see what the March snow cover looks like. December is the least significant month of the year as the NH insolation is at minimum. A March snow cover above the average (which it has not been for several years) would be significant.
From what I recall, they were caused by the Coming Ice Age. Thankfully, the same human activities that would have caused the Ice Age turned around and started to cause Catastrophic Global Warming and we were saved.
Most ridiculous statement from BBC main news reader, peak time, a couple of days ago;
“many people were hoping climate change would bring a Mediterranean climate to Britain….” and then goes on to tell us we were wrong and we can expect very wet weather from now on, according to the Met office.
We weren’t ‘hoping’ for it – we were told by the scientists and government for the past 10 years that it would happen. Then along comes a wet year and they completely forget what they said. How the MSM let them get away with it I don’t know. I thought journalists were supposed to interrogate politicians and scientists???
In my long experience Wingco is right. The average brit is thicker than 6 short planks and can be lead by the hand easier than a cow by the nose or a horse by the halter.
Looking at the top graph I can only say “3 out of the last 4 years are in the top 5 for snowfall in the last 5 decades! Panic everyone! Panic!”. Sorry I just can’t do alarmist rhetoric very well 🙂
To all in the UK just take it easy on the roads and leave extra time to get anywhere. Be safe and try out cross country skiing, tobogganing and other winter stuff. It is quite fun given the correct clothing.
Crispin in Waterloo says:
January 4, 2013 at 11:04 am
@Jeff Krob says:
>>Crispin in Waterloo says:
>>Freezing water expels CO2
>Sorry…WHAT?!??! That’s a new one on me – References please.
This is not complicated at all. Consider the ice cores everyone is happy to talk about. Inside the packed snow (eventually ice) are tiny pockets of air that contain ‘air samples’ from long ago…..
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It is more complicated…
Even in the antarctic liquid water is found in the ice at microscopic levels.
Stephen Richards January 4, 2013 at 12:54 pm and Wingco
Scientific Nobel prizes per capita
UK 1.5 per million
USA 1.0 per million
New Zealand 0.7 per million
Canada 0.6 per million
Australia 0.5 per million
We also have enough brains to know when tyranny needs to be resisted.
Man Bearpig says:
January 4, 2013 at 11:23 am
If you think this is bad … Just look at the Met Office winter forecast from last november ..
http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/whats-in-store-this-winter-responding-to-the-headlines/
The last paragraph in particular says ..
”Ultimately, we’re heading into winter and we expect winter to be colder than the rest of the year – but it’s too early to say exactly what temperatures we can expect or where and when we might see snow.”
Yes, they are expecting Winter to be colder than the rest of the year. Has that ever happened before ?
*
Talk about a coffee-splatter moment…
This is priceless! I guess they had to put it like that as it was the only way they would get it RIGHT. Note the rest of the sentence: “but it’s too early to say exactly what temperatures we can expect or where and when we might see snow.” – they’re not willing to say! They don’t want to get it “wrong”. I’ll bet anything that prediction was given with full confidence and perhaps a smirk (I mean, “C’mon,” they’ll be thinking, “Let’s see the skeptics poke holes in THIS.” sarc/off). Talk about hedging one’s bets…
…The general population MUST be waking up by now….
TRM says
“To all in the UK just take it easy on the roads and leave extra time to get anywhere. Be safe and try out cross country skiing, tobogganing and other winter stuff. It is quite fun given the correct clothing.”
And above all.. get used to it !!
Viner is to UK, as, Flannery is to Australia.
Elftone and TonyB (anothr one) With regard to the call for a political party “who would call out on this CO2 climate change crap” I must point out that the United Kingdom Independence Party does just that. Lord Monckton and Roger Helmer,MEP, are both sceptics and both members of UKIP. The Party’s position is that there may have been global warming and there may be global cooling coming, but it is unlikely that CO2 has any signifcant part in it. Before spending billions on trying to change the climate governments should wait and see, and then adapt. So now you know who to vote for.
Help! Send snow!
We’re hunkered down under 40-45 plus, lots of record temps, and there are numerous small fires. The firies have done a good job stopping these before they really get going, only a few houses burnt, and no uncontrollable wildfires so far.
“Nigel S says:
January 4, 2013 at 1:23 pm
Stephen Richards January 4, 2013 at 12:54 pm and Wingco
Scientific Nobel prizes per capita
UK 1.5 per million
USA 1.0 per million
New Zealand 0.7 per million
Canada 0.6 per million
Australia 0.5 per million
We also have enough brains to know when tyranny needs to be resisted.”
Nobel prizes are evidently not a very good indicator of brains. Take some of the US winners lately. Algore, Obama. Take them, please.
Jim G… those aren’t Scientific Nobel’s, those are just the Peace Prize, which has always been purely political. Heck, if I was ever “awarded” one I’d sure make a stir at my speech declining the dubious honor…
But those can be migratory within the ice. The mixture of gases you find in those pockets might or might not be the same as the mixture trapped in those pockets at the time. Or a “pocket” might migrate as the ice flows. Once ice reaches the stage where it begins to flow, it is possible that these “pockets” are actually an aggregate of even smaller “pockets” or are found at a different level from that at which they originally formed.
I think to be fair to Dr Viner, he didn’t say there would never be a record created for snow falls somewhere on the planet. He said that snow would eventually be a rare thing. As for that claim, he is turning out to be correct with the diminishing Artic ice cap, retreat of glaciers and diminished snow falls in other regions.
The main article is very unfair. It is perfectly clear from the original article that Dr Viner was talking about snowfall in the UK only, so statistics about snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere as a whole are irrelevant. Anthony, you run an excellent website but you ought to be absolutely scrupulous in not publishing misleading articles like this.
Tony B (another one) says:
January 4, 2013 at 11:33 am
If you are looking for a party to vote for, then UKIP might suit. Here is an extract from their manifesto:
“UKIP accepts that the world’s climate changes, but we are the first party to take a sceptical stance on man-made global warming claims. We called for a rational, balanced approach to the climate debate in 2008, before the extensive manipulation of scientific data first became clear. Polls now show a majority of the British people share this scepticism despite protests from another LibLabCon-sensus. UKIP now calls for an immediate halt to unjustified spending on renewable sources that has led to massive energy price hikes and fuel poverty. “
Al Gore sells Current channel to Mid East (Big Oil) news channel.
http://michellemalkin.com/2013/01/03/global-warming-causes-al-gore-to-sell-current-tv-to-al-jazeera/
Matthew Scott says:
“The main article is very unfair. It is perfectly clear from the original article that Dr Viner was talking about snowfall in the UK only, so statistics about snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere as a whole are irrelevant.”
Right……
So , what are the statistics about snowfall in the UK?
Has there been a year since 2000 when there has been no snow in the UK?
Has snowfall become “a very rare and exciting event” and don’t “children know what snow is” anymore?
Isn’t record snow falls an indication the climate is changing. After all one, of the predictions of a warmer planet is more extreme weather events. Here in Australia, we are experiencing extreme heat and in the south very low rainfall. It has been a terrible year for cropping in the Mallee and Wimmera regions. Crops in the Mallee crops being virtually wiped out, with half the normal rainfall in the Wimmera drastically reducing crop yields.
I should mention that Hobart (capital of Tasmania an island on the south of Australia, experienced its hottest day on record yesterday. 41 degrees C (or 106 degrees F, for those stuck on the old imperial metrics) which is extremely unusual as Tasmania is usually a very cool place.