The worst winter in a century?

[Stratter5]

Anyone else seen this, would be interested to know what you think. Being touted as likely because of the exceptionally strong El Niño this year. I know bugger all about weather prediction, any thoughts?

We have no gas central heating either Lorelei, just 2 wood burners with back boilers to take water round the radiators as long as we can keep them fed with wood

We could have central heating if we paid the extortionate amount of around £4000 to have the gas main brought the half a mile up the road to our property from our neighbours, and then presumably get shafted on a regular basis with gas price rises so it was uneconomical to use

Much rather stick with wood, warms you up twice, once when splitting it then again when burning it

I tend to think of radiators when I think of central heating though.

Always, no wonder you think March gets hot days, I bet we have a very different definition. The heating was on for ten minutes when I got back from work and it's still 20c in my flat. It will go to 18 overnight. I sometimes think I'll never move from here....

I always find Easter to be very warm , if you look back it usually is

having camped in snow at Easter in the south I think I disagree with this!

We have camped in March/April before now in snow or freezing conditions also down south

Also did Volksworld show a few years at end of March and it snowed the entire weekend

Always - no, I don't find that at all. I have looked up average March and April temps - average high seems to be 12! I do remember a couple of lovely days in April because I didn't need my coat when I left the office but looking at those averages - and at how you heat your home - I wonder...

what temp do you consider "very warm"?

If there is snow on the ground it is cold, anything above that and my eldest DD will be out in shorts and flip flops, (she went out on Saturday in shorts and a short sleeved top to the cinema with friends, they all had thick jumpers on) she doesn't seem to feel the cold at all, one benefit I guess of not having gas central heating

We know it is cold when she has a jumper on

where do you live always?

We always video the easter egg hunt in the woods and last year it was cold. The year before that there was a significant amount of snow on the ground!

zombie - wow, I was out on Saturday with long socks under my boots and my coat was a waterproof, insulated, windproof one.

My old flatmate grew up without central heating and it seemed to have the opposite effect. She wanted the heat up high enough to wear shorts and T shirt in winter, I was constantly asking her to turn it down because of the bills as well as the heat. Her response "You grew up with central heating...the nightmare of chilblains still with me" - accompanied by a guilt-inducing glare!!

My sister doesn't feel the cold at all. I think whether you do or don't has nothing to do with anything really - where you grew up (as in which country), what kind of heating you did or didn't have. Some do and some don't and some of my friends have a sort of internal thermostat so they were dressed the same when it was 38C as when it's 20C. I had to wear linen only on those days and had to get the bus home - would no way have got on the Tube!!

Slightly, that sounds bad. Any chance of getting some oil filled radiators, I've had them in a previous place and they are not bad. I don't know how the cost works vs storage heaters though.

are you going to be where you are for a while?

Slightly I will second what Lorelei says about oil filled radiators, much better than storage heaters from an economy point and even if you just keep it on the lowest setting in the room you are in it will make a difference, and it can be moved between rooms when you go to bed

We have an oil filled radiator I have just looked at with 2 settings one is 600w the other is 900w so would be 1500w with both elements on

The storage heaters we had were either 2 or 3 kW depending upon size

The oil filled radiator usually lives under a desk to keep you warm when working on the computer although that room has no heating at all and very draughty single glazed windows, last week we forgot about it being on and left it on for a day, even with the wind and rain we had that room was warm which is how we realised it had been left on next time we went in there

There should be specs on both the oil radiator and storage heater but I would guess the oil will be way less in power requirement

I've lived in SE London for over 40 years and can't remember being snowed in ever. Yes there's been lots of snow on a few occasions but it has always been perfectly possible to get out and about on foot.

We don't have any gas in our village, so our central heating is oil fired. Quite good as you have to pay for the oil on delivery so no nasty bills to follow. Also currently cheap! And as it's been so mild so far it's lasting a lovely long time. That may change after Christmas, dependimg on which weather forecast is correct.

We have got as far as buying an oil boiler and oil tank so we can plumb in a second heating system along side the wood burners, just haven't got around to doing it yet

SlightlyEmbarrassed - are you in rented? Just wondering if the landlord can do anything about insulation. I used to live in a freezing flat and it really did ruin my quality of life - fine if you don't feel the cold but I do and it sounds like you do. I honestly thought the place was haunted sometimes, if it got to 5 outside it would be warmer outside than in. Ruddy awful.

Do you know what, your right!!! I'm losing the plot. Of course it was May when it was hotter.

I'm in rural North Wales. We have a couple of plug in oil filled radiators and they are on low and really keep the chill off

We are 100% reliable on electric in our house thanks to housing blocking up our fireplace and giving us more storage heaters.

So we are screwed in case of a long term power cut

Camping stove and a decent stash of hot water bottles in varying sizes

Wouldn't be the first time i have wandered around with a small water bottle tucked into the top of my jeans to keep me warm, usually when I am working outside and have no choice but to get on with it and finish what i am doing, just gives enough heat to keep you sane

swisscheesetony you said it was going to hit us Wednesday night. Still no snow, we didn't get 19mm never mind 19inches of the stuff, still no wind just sun... What's happened to this storm which was meant to devastate the country? Do you think the weathermen know what their talking about?