Time was, it used to snow in England. Ice days (i.e. days when the temperature didn’t rise above freezing) were not uncommon in winter.
Not any more. Despite several long-range forecasts predicting “the most severe winter for 40 years” etc (i.e. since 1962-63, which was ridiculously cold, in fact this winter looks like being one of the mildest on record:
February (so far) has been even warmer, so this winter could even end up worse than 1990.
What has happened to our weather? For a snow-lover, it’s terrible. Even frost is becoming a thing of the past - I can count the number of air frosts so far this winter on two hands.
Blaming global warming is easy, but can that really be the answer? The average UK temperature has only increased by around half a degree this century, not enough to have an effect. It’s the variability that seems to have vanished - mild winters, mild springs, warm summers, mild autumns.
Meanwhile this winter, Greece, Italy, Spain (including the Balearic Islands) and even North Africa have had their heaviest snow for 50 years or more. Virtually the whole of Europe has seen snow cover - except us! Something weird is definitely happening. Any meteorologists care to take a guess?
Man, why are you COMPLANING! of course, the Dickens “Christmas Carol” style winter is what we think of (for winter in merrie old England). Heck, King Henry VIII used to ride his sleigh on the frozen Thames (Hampton Court to London).
One question: are people in London able to grow palm trees now? Are English summers full of sunny beach days?
Just about. It’s easier in the southwest. But they don’t grow well (don’t expect bountiful fruit). And I’m pretty sure it’s always been the case that they can be grown.
Hardly. A good summer is, a bad summer has single-figure beach-days. But again, it’s always been that way.
As to Colophon’s questions - you’re mixing climate and weather. Freak snowfalls and unusually hot weather (two summers ago?) are just that - weather. They don’t give any real indication of overall climate trends. And taking average temperatures across three decades is little better, because thirty is hardly a statistically-sound sample size. Basically, the answer is that we don’t really know.
(And anecdotal memories of weather will always focus on the extremes, such as the '62-'63 winter you mentioned, or the summer of 1977 - as with anything else, our memories forget the far more common and mundane examples.)