Beast from the East II??

 The best thing about a British Winter is the cold weather, real fires, frosty mornings. I love living somewhere that has proper seasons.   Jane Fallon

Figure 1: The Wild/Secret Garden (8/2/23, 10.00 hours)

There is talk of, potentially, another 'Beast from the East' event last seen in 2018. It is all down to sudden stratospheric warmings and polar vortices. However, things are often a bit more complicated and the development of these arctic weather systems does not automatically mean we will have another Beast from the East.

We are, currently, in our third cold spell of the winter (three or more days with sub-zero overnight temperatures) as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Minimum Daily Temperatures for the Last 3 Months (15/11/22 to 8/2/23)

The latest cold snap has been contemporaneous with plenty of sunshine (Figure 3, solar radiation used as proxy for sunshine hours) which has made it more bearable though not necessarily good for the garden plants due to rapid thawing.

Figure 3: Min Daily Temps & Sunshine Hours for the Last 3 Months

The upside of frosty mornings is the opportunity to take some atmospheric photographs. The first two were taken in Oxfordshire by our son, Owen (Figures 4 and 5); not only a talented musician/producer but artistic in other media also. These photos were taken during the January cold spell (Figures 2 & 3).

Figure 4: Frosty Morning, Oxfordshire

Figure 5: Meandering on a Frosty Morn

The remaining photos are down to me and were taken on the 8th February ...

Figure 6: View of the Rear Garden

Figure 7: Frosted Primula

Figure 8: Frosted Spiderweb

Figure 9: Frosted Holly

Figure 10: Hedgehog (Gutter Brush) meets Spider (Web)

Figure 11: Ice crystals on Primula flowers

Figure 12: Early Morning Frost

Figure 13: Frost on Leaves and Flowers

Figure 14: Iced Gems