The winter of 1995-96

[Weather-history]

20th February 1996

[damianslaw]

More excellent footage from a very good winter for cold and snow. Watching the forecasts and seeing the synoptics emphasised how unusual winter 95/96 was - heights were very strong over the mid atlantic for much of the time indicative of a very negative NAO pattern, however, unlike winter 09/10 the only winter since with such a negative NAO, we never managed to see such heights migrate into Greenland for any lengthy period of time which enabled atlantic attacks from the NW - you can see this evidently in the 18-20 feb footage. When we did manage to see heights transfer into greenland in late december we saw record breaking cold temps in Scotland.. similiar in many respects to Dec 10, winter 95/96 certainly had the potential to be a jolly cold one. Winter 95/96 was also devoid of any particularly stormy conditions. Apart from the first half of Jan, winter 95/96 was consistently cold with three distinct notably cold spells i.e. 5-9 Dec, 24-31 Dec, 22 Jan - 9 Feb. The snowy period around the 18th Feb and the cold March made for a preety cold 4 months but not exceptionally so. Up until winter 09/10 winter 95/96 was regarding as the modern benchmark, and I was beginning to think we would never see the likes of it again, we got close in winter 08/09, but smashed it in winter 09/10.

Overall winter 95/96 brought some classic snow cold lover dream synoptics in the period 24-29 Dec and around the 25-27 Jan and the 5/6 Feb, I'd be happy to see a repeat of winter 95/96 this winter.

[Don]

I love watching these old weather forecasts. As I've said before though, considering how cold winter 1995/6 was it was disappointing for snowfall in my area with most falls hardly amounting to anything. The largest fall of snow was during the 18th-20th February cold snap but that was only moderate.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I vaguely recall a surprise thaw in Cleadon near the Tyneside coast overnight 19th/20th February 1996, following a very snowy day on the 19th. I'm not sure if it was mainly down to the strong NE winds lifting the temperature near the coast or mainly a "dry windy thaw", but we woke up to about 1-2cm on the morning of the 20th after having seen a good 2-3 inches on the ground during the previous evening. I remembered John Kettley's forecast referring to a "finger" of showers in NE England late on the 20th, but frequent heavy snow showers unexpectedly developed over NE England after the forecast was issued and restored the snow cover to about two inches again.

The radar outputs from the forecast on the 19th show how widely the snow showers developed to the west of the Pennines- perhaps a combination of the strong winds bringing the showers well inland plus a modest amount of solar heating adding a homegrown element to the convection (like also happened in the northerly outbreaks of late-February 1993 and 2004). Lancaster reported two inches of lying snow on the morning of the 20th.

[Weather-history]

More excellent footage from a very good winter for cold and snow. Watching the forecasts and seeing the synoptics emphasised how unusual winter 95/96 was - heights were very strong over the mid atlantic for much of the time indicative of a very negative NAO pattern, however, unlike winter 09/10 the only winter since with such a negative NAO, we never managed to see such heights migrate into Greenland for any lengthy period of time which enabled atlantic attacks from the NW - you can see this evidently in the 18-20 feb footage. When we did manage to see heights transfer into greenland in late december we saw record breaking cold temps in Scotland.. similiar in many respects to Dec 10, winter 95/96 certainly had the potential to be a jolly cold one. Winter 95/96 was also devoid of any particularly stormy conditions. Apart from the first half of Jan, winter 95/96 was consistently cold with three distinct notably cold spells i.e. 5-9 Dec, 24-31 Dec, 22 Jan - 9 Feb. The snowy period around the 18th Feb and the cold March made for a preety cold 4 months but not exceptionally so. Up until winter 09/10 winter 95/96 was regarding as the modern benchmark, and I was beginning to think we would never see the likes of it again, we got close in winter 08/09, but smashed it in winter 09/10.

Overall winter 95/96 brought some classic snow cold lover dream synoptics in the period 24-29 Dec and around the 25-27 Jan and the 5/6 Feb, I'd be happy to see a repeat of winter 95/96 this winter.

It was a largely Scandinavian high winter with Scandinavian highs giving the early December cold spell, the late January easterly spell, the snow events of early February, mid March and mid April. The winter of 2009-10 was largely a Greenland high winter. We are due a Scandinavian high winter or at least a properly decent one during the height of winter.

[Weather-history]

My video recorder at the time conked out at the end of February 1996, so there is a gap in the downloads. Here is the 11th March 1996 forecast, unfortunately taped over the last bit

[Weather-history]

12th March 1996

[damianslaw]

Mr Data is correct, the cold in winter 95/96 largely came courtesy of a scandanavian high as opposed to a greenland high unlike winter 09/10. However, quite often we saw strong heights over the mid atlantic as well with high pressure cells developing over the country from time to time more so in the second half of Feb and through March.

I remember the snowfalls of 12th March very well - we managed a good three inches which took a couple of days to thaw. Its rare to see atlantic fronts forced to retreat back westwards thanks to strong heights to our east exerting greater influence, this happened both on the 12th March and 5/6 Feb. Indeed we saw very similiar set up exactly 10 years later to the day - 12th March 2006. However, I don't believe we managed similiar synoptics since.. correct me if I'm wrong, most of the snowfalls during winters 08/09, 09/10 and 10/11 came courtesy of arctic northerlies and northeasterlies or shortwave/trough and frontal features embedded within cold air. We did manage a mini-episode last february but the front never retreated westwards back into N Ireland it simply fizzled out as it hit the east coast with the cold remaining in situ away from western parts.

Its perhaps the best snow type set up - rain slowly turning to snow as the cold wins out, esp when it wins out against the atlantic, but sometimes even more rarely we manage to see fronts move down from the north which give rain to scotland but turn to snow in the south when for example we have a cold southeast continental pool of air in these locations.

[Weather-history]

I remember the snowfalls of 12th March very well - we managed a good three inches which took a couple of days to thaw. Its rare to see atlantic fronts forced to retreat back westwards thanks to strong heights to our east exerting greater influence, this happened both on the 12th March and 5/6 Feb.

And on the 12th April 1996.

[damianslaw]

Thanks Mr data for this footage - yes we were in the firing line on that occasion too with a slushy deposit of wet snow later that evening - I remember it being a Friday but wasn't sure what synoptics caused it. So we had three occasions in the space of 2 months when a front from the west became unstuck as it hit the pennines and was forced to retreat westwards again thanks to strong heights to the NE. The spring of 1996 was unusual in the amount of 'cold synoptics' with blocking to our NE very much in permanent residence. May 96 was particularly chilly.. there were very similiar echos of the feb-apr 86 period during the feb-may 96 period.

[BruenSryan]

Bumping this so @Weather Monkey can read about Winter 1995-96 for his curiosity.

It's also the most recent solar minimum winter with a transitioning west to east QBO.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Great winter! childhood winters ruled, 90's winters ruled, but hey up, 80's apparently were even better

[damianslaw]

A long remembered winter, probably one I will bang on about when I'm 90.. (I hope!). The christmas freeze and snowfall of 5/6 February being two of the most memorable winter events of my lifetime so far. It was an episodic winter though, which kept it very interesting, started off mild but quickly turned cold on the 5 December, rest of the month saw cold dominating in the main, and it was good to see the mild trying to oust it away in the run up to christmas, winning for a day, but then forced to retreat. We had a 7 day run of ice days from 25-31s Dec. The first three weeks of January though were preety miserable, mild cloudy dank affair. The period from the 21st Jan until the 9 Feb was exceptionally snowy here, a very cold easterly blast that eventually produced a good few inches on the 26th/27th, the following few days became a bit milder, but still cold, then bang we had the battleground snow event on the 5/6th Feb which left 18 inches here.

The snow stuck around until the 9th, the rest of Feb was preety cold, further snow on the 18-20th, and ended cold. March brought more very cold weather and snowfall,  further snow in April and a notably chilly frosty May.. the winter that didn't want to go away.

I group winters 95/96 and 09/10 in the same category, and to an extent the following two that followed were very similiar as well 96/97 and 10/11, the latter more extreme but both saw very cold starts ebbing away by second week of Jan and the rest of those winters were very mild and wet.

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by damianslaw

[LetItSnow!]

While a cold winter here, looking at these (customised) anomaly charts from NOAA, it goes to show you how close we were to some extremely cold negative anomalies. If things had been a little different, 1995/1996 could have been up there with the greats. Just look at those anomalies to our east for each three months. 

 

Dec. 1995 

Jan. 1996

Feb. 1996

Overall winter 1995/1996

[Simon M]

Spring 1996 continued the cold theme IIRC, with March effectively feeling like a continuation of winter.  I was very young then but remember some very cold weather in March at times.

[LetItSnow!]

17 minutes ago, Simon M said:

Spring 1996 continued the cold theme IIRC, with March effectively feeling like a continuation of winter.  I was very young then but remember some very cold weather in March at times.

The cold continuted pretty much unabated until early-June, which similarly to this year saw a sudden end to the cold, though in 1996's case it was much more short lived but intense and the rest of the summer was quite average for temperature.

[damianslaw]

Excellent winter. Many strong memories being 17 at the time. Here probably coldest since 1984-85. December started mild but quickly turned cold from about the 5th. Thereafter only slightly milder just before Christmas. The 24th to 31st brought a run of freezing days. The 1-20th Jan was mild overall and very dull. The rest of the winter consistently cold or very cold and exceptionally snowy here. Only winter that has beaten it since for longevity of cold was 09-10. Snow depth wise not bettered here. 

[Cheshire Freeze]

I think this is the first winter I can properly remember. My Grandad's last winter on the farm before he retired. Had to get the JCB to dig his car out of the garage where the snow had drifted. 

I do remember it was different here at just 55m asl but up on his farm it was 100m+ and obviously non-urban

Edited September 26, 2021 by CreweCold

[Wold Topper]

A good winter round these parts if memory serves, i was working for a local agricultural contractor, snow ploughing the country roads and villages, had many a long day that winter with the drifting snow on the wolds 

[Sunny76]

13 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

The cold continuted pretty much unabated until early-June, which similarly to this year saw a sudden end to the cold, though in 1996's case it was much more short lived but intense and the rest of the summer was quite average for temperature.

I remember that quite well. It was cold on and off until late May, then the first few days of June turned very warm and hot. It was up to 32-34c on the Friday in London, followed by some severe thunderstorms during the evening.

[Sunny76]

9 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Excellent winter. Many strong memories being 17 at the time. Here probably coldest since 1984-85. December started mild but quickly turned cold from about the 5th. Thereafter only slightly milder just before Christmas. The 24th to 31st brought a run of freezing days. The 1-20th Jan was mild overall and very dull. The rest of the winter consistently cold or very cold and exceptionally snowy here. Only winter that has beaten it since for longevity of cold was 09-10. Snow depth wise not bettered here. 

Snowfall was disappointing in London, but there was a light dusting on Boxing Day, which gave it a near white Christmas feel.

It was like you say, quite cold and dry for long periods. March was also bitterly cold at times.

 

[damianslaw]

6 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

Snowfall was disappointing in London, but there was a light dusting on Boxing Day, which gave it a near white Christmas feel.

It was like you say, quite cold and dry for long periods. March was also bitterly cold at times.

 

March was very easterly similar to 2001 and 2006. We had some snow mid month. Remember the snow drifts on local hills stuck throughout the month. April was episodic warm and cold at times. Remember snow mid month. May was very chilly, lots of frost hardly any warmth.. a month like April 2021. Maxes failed to reach double figures on numerous occasions. Very late spring.. not been as late since.

[A Face like Thunder]

The great Fylde snowstorm of 5th / 6th February 1996. It came after a very dry but bitterly cold January on the Fylde coast. The images below do not do justice to the amount of snow which fell in Blackpool over those two days. I have not known worse since moving to the NW in 1989. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by A Face like Thunder

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, A Face like Thunder said:

The great Fylde snowstorm of 5th / 6th February 1996. It came after a very dry but bitterly cold January on the Fylde coast. The images below do not do justice to the amount of snow which fell in Blackpool over those two days. I have not known worse since moving to the NW in 1989. 

Yes not had a heavier single snowfall since here, 18 inches.

[Summer8906]

On 25/09/2021 at 20:40, LetItSnow! said:

The cold continuted pretty much unabated until early-June, which similarly to this year saw a sudden end to the cold, though in 1996's case it was much more short lived but intense and the rest of the summer was quite average for temperature.

It depends on where you are, but here summer 1996 was considerably better than 2021!

A very hot spell at the start of June, then 10 days of sunny warm weather, a predominantly warm July (with 10 days notably sunny and hot) and a further week-long hot spell in August following a shorter hot spell early in the month. No prolonged cool, unsettled spells at all, most lasting only a week - the longest being at the very end of summer, perhaps the last 10 days of August.

Also spring did have some warm spells at times here, notably in late April when it got into the low 20s in two spikes, firstly an early warm thundery plume around the 21st, then following a cooldown, a more anticyclonic warm spell a week later.

1996 was definitely amongst the most interesting weather years of my lifetime, and one of those rare years in which we had something approaching a continental climate. In fact probably the only year when we've had a warm summer and significant cold at each end of the year.

Back to the winter, and I'm wondering how widespread the snowfall of early Feb was? I was in Bath at that time and did experience it, definitely amongst the top two snow events of the 90s (Feb 1991 being the other) but was it general across southern England?

Edited October 1, 2021 by Summer8906