April 1986

[damianslaw]

I was slightly too young to remember April 1986 (nearly 8 years old), but looking at the CET figure i.e. 5.8 degrees there must have been either avery sharp cold spell at some stage or it was just predominantly chilly throughout. Does anyone have any recollections of this month, synoptics images.

I think I have read that it was dominanted by high pressure to the north with cold easterlies throughout giving cold cloudy days and some frosty nights.

[Terminal Moraine]

April 1986 was the coldest on my records, which began in 1963, although 1978 wasn't far behind.

The first 3 weeks in particular were persistently cold, cloudy and showery with frequent snow, sleet and hail and winds between NW and NE.

Despite 18 days with falling sleet or snow here there were no mornings with snow lying at 0900 and any snow cover was slight and short lived. Above 400 mts though there was snow cover on at least half a dozen mornings.

The weather warmed up after the 24th and it became mainly dry.

The mean max' and min'for the whole month here were 7.0c and 1.3c but the same figures for the first 3 weeks were 5.4c and 0.3c.

It was particularly cold around the 7th with a max' of 0.9c on that date, and continuous wet snow, followed by 1.6c on the 8th, air frost occurred every night from the 5th-11th and was accompanied by a f5-7 N/NE wind on most days.

[Summer of 95]

Like February 1986 that month is a total blank; unlike April 1987 which I remember well. Looking at Terminal Moraine's post if his location managed no lying snow despite those temps then that's probably why, it was consistently cold without having either a memorable snowfall (ie that stuck- I remember April 1989 for this reason which was warmer than 1986) or an early warm spell, or widespread flooding like say 1998.

[hugogo]

That month was bitterly cold in the whle of Europe, with a cold spell around the 10th of april which broke many monthly records over France:

Here is the situation on the 4th of april, already very cold:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=4&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

Freezing north easterly for several days:

6th of april:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=6&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

on the 9th, very cold air massed over Spitzberg in the close arctic sea:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=9&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

The 12th, incredibly cold weather reaches western Europ:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=11&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

Up to -12 up around 1400m!

THe weather turns gradually milder afterwards an comes back to average around the 20th of april.

[stewfox]

When did we have that heavy settling snow

I went to work woking surrey early April and it settled everywhere

I am guessing it was 1989 but could be 1986 ??? Was a student then though

[damianslaw]

That month was bitterly cold in the whle of Europe, with a cold spell around the 10th of april which broke many monthly records over France:

Here is the situation on the 4th of april, already very cold:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=4&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

Freezing north easterly for several days:

6th of april:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=6&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

on the 9th, very cold air massed over Spitzberg in the close arctic sea:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=9&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

The 12th, incredibly cold weather reaches western Europ:

http://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=11&month=4&year=1986&hour=0&map=0

Up to -12 up around 1400m!

THe weather turns gradually milder afterwards an comes back to average around the 20th of april.

Thanks for posting those charts. Yes some very cold uppers courtesy of a very cold continent coming after the very cold Feb and March which I'm certain helped to bring the very cold weather. The synoptics are the best in terms of delivering the most potent cold we in Britain and indeed France can get , i.e. a deep cold easterly followed by a deep cold north easterly - classic cold reloading - heaven synoptics in winter for those who want winter cold.

[MeteoMadrid]

April of 1986 was the coldest April in Madrid. With temperatures somedays under 4º degrees, with minimun temperatures over -4 and -5º. Madrid had 3 snowdays that month. Incredible April.

Thank you for share this.

Edited April 11, 2010 by MeteoMadrid

[cheeky_monkey]

i remember april 1986 as being a cold miserablly dull and damp month..possibly the worse april i can remember..not nice at all..followed by a pretty crap summer..1986 was a cold year all round if memory serves me right?

[Terminal Moraine]

i remember april 1986 as being a cold miserablly dull and damp month..possibly the worse april i can remember..not nice at all..followed by a pretty crap summer..1986 was a cold year all round if memory serves me right?

Your memory serves you well. C.M. 1986 was the coldest year on my records back to 1964 and the summer was particularly cool and wet. August was the coldest since 1912 locally and culminated with ex hurricane Charlie dumping almost 80mm of rain accompanied by a near gale force NE wind.

Wonderful.

[Don]

When did we have that heavy settling snow

I went to work woking surrey early April and it settled everywhere

I am guessing it was 1989 but could be 1986 ??? Was a student then though

Must have been 1989 as I lived near Woking at the time and don't remember snow there in April 1986.

[Weather-history]

Summer 1986 wasn't great overall but it was really only the August that was very poor. June 1986 was actually pretty reasonable especially the second half. For England and Wales, July 1986 was actually drier than every July of the 2000s barring 2006. The combined rainfall total for June and July 1986 was actually less than that was recorded for any of the Julys of 2007, 2008 or 2009

[Thundery wintry showers]

However, July 1986 was also duller than every July of the 2000s apart from 2002, taking the UK as a whole:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/datasets/Sunshine/date/UK.txt

...and the mean maximum temperature was lower than in every July apart from 2000 and 2002.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/datasets/Tmax/date/UK.txt

No arguments regarding June 1986 though which was widely the most reasonable month of that 1985-88 period.

September 1986 was a notably cold month but it was also notably sunny and dry in most regions. October 1986 was changeable, but also relatively sunny especially in the east.

Interestingly April 1986 was a dull wet month, but the UK as a whole has had quite a few wetter and duller Aprils since. April 1986 probably sticks out less in many people's memories because it was more notable for homogeneity rather than any outstanding spells of cold snowy weather as per April 1989.

[reef]

April 1986 is the coldest in my records with a mean of 5.5C (-2.5C). The first 19 days were particularly notable, with no day reaching above 9.0C and the 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th all recording sub-5C maxima.

August and September were also exceptionally cold here, with means of 13.3C (-2.6C) and 11.2C (-3.0C). The August had just two days above 20C and the period 19th August - 18th September had a mean of 10.6C (-4.5C).

The year on the whole was also the coldest, coming in at 8.47C (-1.12C). 2006 was 11.13C so it gives you an idea how cold it was.

[damianslaw]

April 1986 is the coldest in my records with a mean of 5.5C (-2.5C). The first 19 days were particularly notable, with no day reaching above 9.0C and the 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th all recording sub-5C maxima.

August and September were also exceptionally cold here, with means of 13.3C (-2.6C) and 11.2C (-3.0C). The August had just two days above 20C and the period 19th August - 18th September had a mean of 10.6C (-4.5C).

The year on the whole was also the coldest, coming in at 8.47C (-1.12C). 2006 was 11.13C so it gives you an idea how cold it was.

Indeed 1986 was littered with some notably cold months i.e. Feb, Mar, April, August and September, we have come nowhere near since in recording a year with such a number of notably cold months relative to average. It also came on the back of 1985 which was a rather cold year overall, with notable exception of Oct and Dec.

[Optimus Prime]

1986 was a remarkable year for these reasons;

February Mean Maxima of 1.2c was the 2nd lowest on record since 1878

February Mean Minima of -3.4c was the 4th lowest on record

April Mean Maxima of 9.3c was the equal lowest on record

April Mean Minima of 2.2c 2.2c was the 7th lowest on record

August Mean Maxima of 17.4c was the 6th lowest on record

August Mean Minima of 10.0c was the 6th lowest on record

September Mean Maxima of 16.0c was the 19th lowest on record

September Mean Minima of 6.6c was easily the lowest on record