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This graph is a representation of how snowy each decade was. It is compiled from original data by Leo Bonacina and augmented by Dave O'Hara at Durham UK Weather Station . In the original work each year was assigned a designation of "little", "average", "snowy" or "very snowy" according to subjective assesments depending on the amount of snow and how generally it fell.

What I have done is taken each decade starting with winter 1879/80 and attributed an arbitary weighted points system to each year to give a decade score as follows:-

  • Little snow = 1 point
  • Average snow = 3 points
  • Snowy = 6 points
  • Very snowy = 10 points

    • The total for each year gives the weighted decade score. Of course if a column is twice as high as another it does not imply that it was twice as snowy, especially as this a purely empirical term anyway. There is no weighting for coldness so a cold snowless winter will have been rated "Little snow"

    Nevertheless I find the results interesting and as such it shows that this winter (2008-2009) needs to be classified as at least "snowy" to prevent it from being the least snowy decade for over a hundred years and probably longer. I will let you draw your own conclusions why this might be.

    Dave Cornwell, January 2009

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