So, having spent a few days in Scotland amidst dire warnings of snow "10 cm or more", when no more than a dusting of the tops appeared, I returned home to the North Pennines on Thursday to "Tier 3 warnings" and claims of "unprecedented low temperature for this time of the year" plus "heavy snow from 16:00 hrs on Thursday". Again, just a few paltry flakes and a heavy persistent frost `(kind of what you'd expect in December!).

I wonder, when did our weather forecast adopt such dramatic hyperbole? Click-bait? Sensationalist media inflation? WTF!