In article ,
Clive Holden cliverholden@hotmailremove wrote:

Of course the winter was abnormal !

If it was the norm, then my concrete block steps would have been burst by
the feezing in other years. Only this last winter did that happen so it
was certainly abnormal taken in the light of experience over the last
twenty years at least.

Thanks Bill - yes the winter was extreme, certainly down here in Kent. I've
not known the temperature to fall to -10 before as it did in my garden. I
lost more plants than ever before in 30 years of gardening.

A winter that has a 25-year low in at least some locations of the UK
is not extreme - the fact that we had had 10-20 years of very mild
winters made people think that they were what should be expected.
UK weather is not like that. I know that Cambridge got off very
lightly, with very little below -10 Celsius, but -10 Celsius even
in Kent isn't extreme even in my recollection. Remember 1962-3?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.