Cool Zonal Westerly Months Since 1983

[Lettucing Gutted]

Interestingly a lot of our rare cool C.E.T months since 1983 have had an overall dominance of Returning Maritime Polar Westerly winds rather than direct Continental Arctic Northerlies.

Here is a list of cool Zonal Westerly months since 1983:-

-January 1984

-March 1985

-August 1985

-January 1986

-March 1986

-May 1986

-July 1986

-February 1987

-May 1987

-June 1987

-July 1987

-August 1987

-July 1988

-August 1988

-September 1988

-October 1988

-June 1990

-September 1990

-January 1991

-April 1991

-October 1991

-August 1992

-September 1992

-July 1993

-September 1993

-May 1994

-September 1994

-October 1994

-March 1995

-November 1996

-July 1998

-October 2000

-July 2002

-October 2002

-July 2004

-October 2004

-July 2007

Asides

1 The cool and sunny August 1993 had Anticyclonic Westerly winds which were overall unusually extremely Modified cooled Maritime Tropical airmasses rather than Polar originated Westerlies.

2 November 2005 finished up as a cool and sunny month with an overall Westerly wind factor. However the "Westerly" wind average came from very mild Southwesterlies in the first half of the month being canceled out by cold Northerlies in the second half of the month.

3 Although it finished cool September 2001 had transitory Northwesterlies (Returning Modified cooled Maritime Tropical air) overall rather than direct Maritime Polar Westerlies. In the closing weeks there was also a spell of transitory Northeasterlies (Returning Modified cooled Continental Tropical air) followed by a very warm Southwesterly spell continuing into October 2001.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Craig Evans

[Summer of 95]

Checking the charts and going by how I remember it I'd say April 2001 might have a case to be included as well; it was dominated for the most part by NW'lies associated with depressions passing from Iceland-Scandinavia (except for an anticyclonic spell 11-13th and a day or two of direct N'lies) and I particularly remember it for its consistently low maxima and biting cold winds. From what I remember April 2004 was pretty similar synoptically but came out warmer than average (SSTs?)

The frequency with which September appears in the late 80s/early 90s stands out: I often think people notice the recent run of warm dry Septembers more keenly because of the number of poor ones in the decade 1987-96 (especially those 3 consecutive 1992-3-4); note that not all these cold wet Septembers preceded cold winters.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The list is pretty comprehensive, though I think you may have confused April and May 1994 (May 1994 was an easterly month, while the first third of April 1994 was dominated by a combination of rampant westerlies and wintry showers.)

October 1998 was another good example for northern areas (less so for the south); indeed around the 18th-20th, there were wintry showers to low levels in parts of Scotland from westerly and north-westerly winds. That sort of thing has become a rarity in any month nowadays, let alone October!

Decembers 1993 and 1999 were also cool zonal for Scotland, Ireland and northern England, though fairly mild in the south. In Tyne & Wear those two months were very similar (both even had snow on Christmas Day here, though this settled only in the case of 1993)

Otherwise, the main ones I remember in recent years are all on the list. Two things I notice: 1. the lack of winter months, and 2. the abundance of July and October in the most recent past.