December 1981-January 1982

[A Face like Thunder]

S London / Surrey / North Downs, Dec 1981 

[Summer8906]

I have quite a few memories of this classic period but there are some discontinuities.

I was based in NW Sussex (near the Surrey and Hants border) at the time.

First thing I remember is coming home from school one day and there being a whiteout with thick cover. I think this was the onset of the snowy spell in Dec 1981.

Next thing was a major storm which 'ran into' the cold - basically a very low latitude major Atlantic storm. This I think was around Sunday Dec 13th. By this time the previous snow had become a bit 'old' and patchy suggesting some thawing even before this. The storm was forecast to give blizzard conditions and snow, but in the event produced a lot of strong winds but only rain in this area. It was followed by a thaw and it became milder on Dec 14th with rPm type air and hail showers.

It then got colder again but I can't remember the exact onset of the second period of cold. There was further snow as I remember it being very icy around the 20th and 21st. However this later snow was less heavy than the earlier fall.

Can't remember exactly how long the cold persisted but it was still cold (and sunny) on Christmas Day - a rare sunny Christmas Day, there were, if I remember right, hardly any in the 80s. The general pattern in the 80s and early 90s, from 1982-91, if I remember right, was even years=mild and wet and odd years=mild, dry and cloudy. (which makes Christmas Day 1988 wet, otherwise a very dry month - must have been a rare wet day).

The closing days of the year, and start of the new year, were dull and milder, and I remember New Years Day being foggy, but the cold came back in Jan 1982 and I remember heavy snow on Sat Jan 9th - heavier perhaps than that which occurred in Dec.

So a classic period with three separate 'shots' of snowy conditions - typical of the 1979-87 period but conditions that have become very rare since.

I then remember only a very slow thaw - some lying snow persisting perhaps two weeks. The rest of the winter was pretty dry, and mild I think, with spring-like conditions on the Monday of the half term.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Summer8906

[Arch Stanton]

The BBC have put up this great video of South Wales and the unforgettable winter of1981/82:

 

It's up there with 1947 and 63 as far as South Wales is concerned although not as lon lasting as those other two. It snowed continuosly for 36hrs with an easterly gale and then on and off

for 6-7 hours more. There was a snow drift in my garden that went up to the roof do 5m high.  I can't see how modern Britain could cope if this happened now, I'd love to see it happen though but

I doubt it ever will.

 

Anyway, Happy Xmas, enjoy the video

Snow in Wales: Remembering 1981's white Christmas

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

The BBC's Neil Prior was three at the time and the snow is one of his formative memories.

 

 

[Weather-history]

From Guardian of 2nd Jan 1982

3rd Jan  

4th Jan

5th Jan

6th Jan

 

7th Jan

[Arch Stanton]

42 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

From Guardian of 2nd Jan 1982

3rd Jan  

4th Jan

5th Jan

6th Jan

 

7th Jan

That’s brilliant, just out of curiosity have you actually kept these newspapers by any chance?

What’s striking are the 13c temps 3/4 days before the blizzard and no general inkling of what was to come judging by the understated weather outlooks - it doesn’t seem like it was predicted at all

I wonder how todays models and this forum would have coped 5/6 in advance?!

[Weather-history]

1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

That’s brilliant, just out of curiosity have you actually kept these newspapers by any chance?

What’s striking are the 13c temps 3/4 days before the blizzard and no general inkling of what was to come judging by the understated weather outlooks - it doesn’t seem like it was predicted at all

I wonder how todays models and this forum would have coped 5/6 in advance?!

I have some old Times editions but I have acesss to an archive and I have been gathering weather stories through the years

[Weather-history]

8th Jan

9th Jan

10th Jan

11th Jan

12th Jan

13th Jan

14th Jan

15th Jan

 

16th Jan

17th Jan

 

[Weather-history]

Another photo montage, this for December 1981

 

[Weather-history]

January 1982

 

[John88B]

The January 8th blizzard is the standout snowstorm I will never forget.

I was 12 years old living in a rural area just north of Bristol. A biting easterly gale set in with temperatures well below freezing and heavy snow. This didn't relent for nearly 48 hours. 

The end result was up to 50cm of level snow, even in areas at sea level near the Bristol channel coast and 70cm in the more hilly areas. The west county and south Wales were paralysed for a week as freezing temperatures continued for days after the snowstorm.

The country lane I lived in was closed for a week with drifts up to 20 feet. I still remember looking out over the fields with the hedgerows disappeared at what looked like a raging sea of deep snow.

A truly memorable event.

[Climate Man]

33 minutes ago, John88B said:

The January 8th blizzard is the standout snowstorm I will never forget.

I was 12 years old living in a rural area just north of Bristol. A biting easterly gale set in with temperatures well below freezing and heavy snow. This didn't relent for nearly 48 hours. 

The end result was up to 50cm of level snow, even in areas at sea level near the Bristol channel coast and 70cm in the more hilly areas. The west county and south Wales were paralysed for a week as freezing temperatures continued for days after the snowstorm.

The country lane I lived in was closed for a week with drifts up to 20 feet. I still remember looking out over the fields with the hedgerows disappeared at what looked like a raging sea of deep snow.

A truly memorable event.

Yes, most fantastic blizzard in my lifetime.  Live in Warwickshire and our village had to come together to dig ourselves out. 

[danm]

Aerial footage of a snow covered London on 13th and 14th January 1982:

 

[Frigid]

I guess the equivalent to Dec 81/Jan82 in more recent times would be January 2010 and December 2010. Both were colder at 1.5C and -0.7C respectively, though I think Winter 81/82 had more extreme temperatures. 

[hillbilly]

On 31/10/2022 at 12:20, Frigid said:

I guess the equivalent to Dec 81/Jan82 in more recent times would be January 2010 and December 2010. Both were colder at 1.5C and -0.7C respectively, though I think Winter 81/82 had more extreme temperatures. 

The biggest difference between between 1981/82 and either end of 2010 was not snow or temperature but Wind.December 81 was colder here than 2010 at -1 deg  and many areas had more snow but the wind created huge drifts and made the severe temperatures feel much colder so overall it might look similar but in reality 1981/82 was in another league.

Edited November 1, 2022 by hillbilly

[I remember Atlantic 252]

On 31/10/2022 at 06:57, John88B said:

The January 8th blizzard is the standout snowstorm I will never forget.

I was 12 years old living in a rural area just north of Bristol. A biting easterly gale set in with temperatures well below freezing and heavy snow. This didn't relent for nearly 48 hours. 

The end result was up to 50cm of level snow, even in areas at sea level near the Bristol channel coast and 70cm in the more hilly areas. The west county and south Wales were paralysed for a week as freezing temperatures continued for days after the snowstorm.

The country lane I lived in was closed for a week with drifts up to 20 feet. I still remember looking out over the fields with the hedgerows disappeared at what looked like a raging sea of deep snow.

A truly memorable event.

reminds me a bit of 30th Dec '95! snowy Saturday that was, wonder if Stafford had any in Jan '82

[damianslaw]

The Jan snow event was definately one for the SW and S Wales, here snowfall amounts were negliable.

[hillbilly]

24 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

The Jan snow event was definately one for the SW and S Wales, here snowfall amounts were negliable.

We must have been more lucky as we had huge depths and monster drifts in both December and January 1981/82 as well as the amazing spectacle of December snow melting in heavy rain causing widespread flooding only to freeze over a few days later.

Edited November 1, 2022 by hillbilly

[Don]

41 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

The Jan snow event was definately one for the SW and S Wales, here snowfall amounts were negliable.

The whole of the south had snow in January 1982, just that the SW and S Wales were hardest hit.  I remember it occurred just a few days after I started school and believe the depths were the most I've seen until February 2009.

[damianslaw]

36 minutes ago, hillbilly said:

We must have been more lucky as we had huge depths and monster drifts in both December and January 1981/82 as well as the amazing spectacle of December snow melting in heavy rain causing widespread flooding only to freeze over a few days later.

Yes makes sense, we were in a rain shadow effect, Pennine areas especially further east probably saw a fair amount.

Dec 81 brought copious snow here, many decent single snowfall events.

The snowiest month of the 80s was Jan 84, a Scotland, Cumbria event really.

[hillbilly]

3 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Yes makes sense, we were in a rain shadow effect, Pennine areas especially further east probably saw a fair amount.

Dec 81 brought copious snow here, many decent single snowfall events.

The snowiest month of the 80s was Jan 84, a Scotland, Cumbria event really.

Fortunately we faired very well during that event also,our lane was level to the walltops for a couple of weeks while we had to drive the 1/3 of a mile through the fields  in the last couple of weeks of January.

[Sunny76]

On 03/12/2021 at 21:29, Summer8906 said:

I have quite a few memories of this classic period but there are some discontinuities.

I was based in NW Sussex (near the Surrey and Hants border) at the time.

First thing I remember is coming home from school one day and there being a whiteout with thick cover. I think this was the onset of the snowy spell in Dec 1981.

Next thing was a major storm which 'ran into' the cold - basically a very low latitude major Atlantic storm. This I think was around Sunday Dec 13th. By this time the previous snow had become a bit 'old' and patchy suggesting some thawing even before this. The storm was forecast to give blizzard conditions and snow, but in the event produced a lot of strong winds but only rain in this area. It was followed by a thaw and it became milder on Dec 14th with rPm type air and hail showers.

It then got colder again but I can't remember the exact onset of the second period of cold. There was further snow as I remember it being very icy around the 20th and 21st. However this later snow was less heavy than the earlier fall.

Can't remember exactly how long the cold persisted but it was still cold (and sunny) on Christmas Day - a rare sunny Christmas Day, there were, if I remember right, hardly any in the 80s. The general pattern in the 80s and early 90s, from 1982-91, if I remember right, was even years=mild and wet and odd years=mild, dry and cloudy. (which makes Christmas Day 1988 wet, otherwise a very dry month - must have been a rare wet day).

The closing days of the year, and start of the new year, were dull and milder, and I remember New Years Day being foggy, but the cold came back in Jan 1982 and I remember heavy snow on Sat Jan 9th - heavier perhaps than that which occurred in Dec.

So a classic period with three separate 'shots' of snowy conditions - typical of the 1979-87 period but conditions that have become very rare since.

I then remember only a very slow thaw - some lying snow persisting perhaps two weeks. The rest of the winter was pretty dry, and mild I think, with spring-like conditions on the Monday of the half term.

 

 

I think Christmas 82 was mild and wet, 83 mild and cloudy, 84 not sure, 85 was average, 86 average, but 1987 was very mild and clear sunny skies. 
 

Remember Christmas Day 88 and 89 being mild and cloudy. 90 was cold and wet and Christmas 91 was dry cloudy and cold. 

I have no recollection of winter of 81/82, as I was too young, but family have told me december was very cold in London and early January was very cold with heavy snow. 
 

February was very springlike, so the early signs of warming may have been taking place prior to late 87, but at a much slower pace.

[Sunny76]

On 01/11/2022 at 21:44, Don said:

The whole of the south had snow in January 1982, just that the SW and S Wales were hardest hit.  I remember it occurred just a few days after I started school and believe the depths were the most I've seen until February 2009.

Really? What about the 85-87 winters and 1991, or 95/96?

[Sunny76]

On 01/11/2022 at 20:28, hillbilly said:

The biggest difference between between 1981/82 and either end of 2010 was not snow or temperature but Wind.December 81 was colder here than 2010 at -1 deg  and many areas had more snow but the wind created huge drifts and made the severe temperatures feel much colder so overall it might look similar but in reality 1981/82 was in another league.

Maybe, but mid December 2010 was very cold and that weekend before Christmas was very heavy snowfall in central London. 
 

It was better than the previous winter of 2009/10, which was cold, but only gave light dustings of snow in January 2010, despite the cold conditions.

February 2009 probably last longer by an extra day or so. 
 

Even a return to a 2009 or 2010 would be great. Seems like ages ago.

[Don]

23 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Really? What about the 85-87 winters and 1991, or 95/96?

Nope, the 2nd February 2009 Thames streamer event produced more snow than any falls during all of those above winters, albeit it lasted longer on the ground in 85-87 and 1991.  95/96 produced very little snow for me with no more than a cm during a single fall, hence it was a very poor show IMBY!!

Edited November 3, 2022 by Don

[Don]

14 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Maybe, but mid December 2010 was very cold and that weekend before Christmas was very heavy snowfall in central London. 
 

It was better than the previous winter of 2009/10, which was cold, but only gave light dustings of snow in January 2010, despite the cold conditions.

February 2009 probably last longer by an extra day or so. 
 

Even a return to a 2009 or 2010 would be great. Seems like ages ago.

You only had light dustings in January 2010?  What about on the 6th, I had around 8 inches of snow only 30 odd miles from Central London?