10 Years On, The Nely Blast Of Feb '96

[Weather-history]

On the 18th February 1996, a low pressure near the NW of Scotland swung down into the southern North Sea and dragged down very cold NEly winds across the UK. The airflow was very unstable and heavy snow showers broke out across many parts of the UK bringing temporary blizzards and whiteout conditions. In the SE, there was a lull during the afternoon but heavy snow showers moved into this region during the evening and there were blizzards across east Anglia during the night, where depths of snow reached 4". The strong winds caused coastal flooding in parts of the SE. By the 20th, conditons had eased somewhat but there were snow showers still falling albeit lighter especially across the Midlands. By the 21st, high pressure toppled down from the NW and most places were cold and fairly sunny.

What I remember of that Monday was that it was fairly sunny that morning in Manchester but by afternoon, cumulonimbus clouds rapidly built up and we had heavy snow showers and at times low visibilities. What a great winter 1995-96 was here.

[Thundery wintry showers]

19 February 1996 was a very snowy day in Cleadon with a good 2-3 inches of lying snow, and minimal thaw with a maximum of about 2.5C. There was sunshine and snow showers all day, with more of the latter than the former.

The 20th was warmer with only a partial cover, probably due to the warming effects of the North Sea, although we continued to have sunshine and snow showers and a maximum of about 3.5C.

There was heavy snow overnight 20th/21st restoring the covering to the sort of levels seen on the 19th, but this thawed during the afternoon of the 21st as the temperature crept above 4C.

In the North East it was arguably the biggest snow event of the month, although the event of the 5th-7th produced lower maximum temperatures.

There was even lying snow in Lancaster (5cm) on the 20th, which doesn't happen often when showers have to get over the Pennines!

[Dave J]

I remember this week because it was Half-Term I think and I had the dentist on Monday morning and I remember saying to my Mum that it was going to snow heavily overnight and I wouldn't be able to go in the morning!

Sunday the 18th was a classic old skool cold front from the north day with heavy rain but low temperatures; it then snowed heavily overnight but we still were able to drive into Sudbury to the dentist on Monday morning. :blink:

I remember the sun came out and most of the snow had thawed by the afternoon which was quite upsetting for a 10 year old- especially when watching This Morning with Richard and Judy and seeing it snowing heavily there, but I watched the BBC 2 forecast at around 3 and I can't remember who was doing the forecast but he showed heavy snow on the radar over East Anglia. Lo and behold 15 minutes later and a total blizzard started and covered the ground with a couple of inches within minutes, further showers developed overnight and drifted in the strong winds giving a deep cover by Tuesday morning.

I remember it continuing cold with light snow showers on and off on Tuesday and Wednesday until Thursday when some milder and moister air from west brought some sleet and then eventually rain. It then rained hard throughout the weekend with temperatures rising into the high single digits thawing all of the snow.

Oh and when we got back to school at Stoke by Nayland, we found that the pipes had burst in our classroom flooding the floors so we had to move out for 2 weeks into the science lab!

It was the last time I saw more than 10cm of snow lying...

Edited February 19, 2006 by Dave J

[i luv snow]

did u not get over 10cm of snow last year dave, we did here :blink:

[Dave J]

did u not get over 10cm of snow last year dave, we did here

After Christmas we got about 5cm max. I heard up Ipswich way they had a lot more- I guess that's because your nearer the east coast. Oh well, there's always next winter. :blink:

[i luv snow]

yeah after christmas w got about 8cm, 10cm in areas but generally about 8cm, notmuch more. I was thinking more of the easterly at the beginning of last year, we had about 12cm then- did you get that much then? we got about 10cm on atleats two or three occasions from what i remember, and generally good snow fall for everyday for about 2 weeks.

Edited February 19, 2006 by i luv snow

[Dave J]

yeah after christmas w got about 8cm, 10cm in areas but generally about 8cm, notmuch more. I was thinking more of the easterly at the beginning of last year, we had about 12cm then- did you get that much then? we got about 10cm on atleats two or three occasions from what i remember, and generally good snow fall for everyday for about 2 weeks.

There was snow on the ground for a long period of time but there was never very much as it kept thawing I think. Several snowmen lasted for 2 weeks or more though.

Feb '96 was the last time I saw a truly deep cover and drifting of the snow, I remember on one side of the garden (facing northeast) the snow was over 20cm deep. Happy days! B)