Non-snow event from early 90s

[polarlow2]

Hi, I don't often start topics but I have a memory of a 'non-snow' event from the early 90s, I was hoping someone could maybe tell me when exactly it was and what the synoptic set-up was.

Living in London, I was excited when on a weekday evening the forecasts called for heavy snow spreading up from the south or south-west overnight. The next morning I got up, looked out of my bedroom window and...nothing. No snow. Green. Being only about 8 years old, I was gutted! I vividly remember the next evening, watching London Tonight, when the presenter asked the forecaster where all our snow was...I just can't remember his answer!

Given that it was from the south, I'm assuming it was a channel low which dived further south then anticipated. The best I can guess was that it was about 1993 or 94. Anyone else remember it??

[damianslaw]

I think many need more details, do you know what month? Dec 93 saw a number of snowy outbreaks in the north, whereas the south saw mostly rain, so it could have been then. Mid Feb 94 delivered an easterly airstream which gave snow to many places. It might have been Jan 94 which saw transitional snow events..

[Thundery wintry showers]

I can't say for certain as the evidence is quite vague, but I'm thinking it could be around the 22nd-24th February 1994. An easterly airstream brought cold bright weather to most parts on the 20th-22nd, with heavy and locally thundery snow showers for eastern Scotland and north-east England, and then on the 22nd-24th frontal systems pushed up from the south, giving mostly rain to southern England but spells of snow from the north Midlands northwards.

I'm not 100% sure on this, but that event seems to be the closest match out of the ones we saw during 1993 and 1994.

http://www.wetterzen...00119940222.gif

If on the other hand the snow didn't arrive because it was dry (rather than because of marginality and thus rain) then that rules out the 22nd-24th February 1994 event as it certainly rained a lot in the south.

Edited December 13, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[I remember Atlantic 252]

That is a snowy spell I remember, a long way back, but of course they all are, in the days when Stafford saw snow, got it written down somewhere

tue-wed 22-23 Feb, 36 hours continuous snow! 90's were great

[polarlow2]

Sorry I can't provide more detail regarding dates, but I am 99 per cent certain it was to do with a channel low going too far to the south, so areas which were expected to get snow got nothing, it just stayed dry and cold.

[Cheshire Freeze]

This one?

I trawled through for you.....no need to say thanks but I am up for work in a mere 4 hours!

Edited December 14, 2012 by CreweCold

[polarlow2]

This one?

I trawled through for you.....no need to say thanks but I am up for work in a mere 4 hours!

I'm not great with charts...does that show a channel low clipping the south coast? Right sort of time though, we could have a winner!

Oh, and thanks!!

Edited December 14, 2012 by polarlow2

[Cheshire Freeze]

I'm not great with charts...does that show a channel low clipping the south coast? Right sort of time though, we could have a winner!

Oh, and thanks!!

Yep that is what it shows

[polarlow2]

Yep that is what it shows

Thanks. Funny how the sheer pain of 'no snow' stays with you. 18 years later...

[Thundery wintry showers]

I've looked over the BBC forecasts from that period around mid-January 1994 and it seems unlikely to be that event- the precipitation penetrated as far north as the London area and forecasts were predicting mostly rain at low levels with snow on high ground- so probably not that likely.

Another possibility that I'm wondering about is the night of the 2nd/3rd March 1995, when in an unusually cold west to north-westerly regime, a frontal disturbance moved eastwards across southern England.

Snow was forecast for a large swathe of southern England, including London, but most sites around Greater London did not report any significant snow on the ground the next morning. I'm not sure, though, if it was a case of the heaviest precipitation missing London or if temperatures were just too marginal.

The reason why I'm looking into events that only partially meet the description is that memory can sometimes play tricks, especially re. events that happened at a young age. I've had a fair number of experiences of recalling childhood events, then reading about them in my old diaries and finding that they weren't exactly as I remembered them. It might be that there was indeed an instance of a channel low being forecast to bring snow and tracking too far south in the early '90s but if there is one then I can't find it.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[Weather-history]

I'm not great with charts...does that show a channel low clipping the south coast? Right sort of time though, we could have a winner!

Oh, and thanks!!

Here's the forecast

[Snowy Easterlies]

there have been many non snow events here over the last 15 years but i did strike lucky in 2010 when that front from the south stalled over bedford and gave me 8 inches, i was due some luck, now i will probably have to wait another 15 years for a pasting again

jan 2004 was a good thundersnow event but it soon passed over me i only got about 2 or 3 inches from that, and there have been a few other times where i have got 2 or 3 inches but its rare for me to get more than that, many times i was also expecting snow and all i got was a mere dusting, but of course im not the only one who loses out, though my location is not very good for snow, luton 20 miles away does far better because its a lot higher up

Edited December 14, 2012 by Snowy Easterlies

[Godot]

Ah, I think I may now know exactly when this ancient home video of mine was shot!

I vaguely remember it being after Xmas that year. I also remember it started melting rather quickly when morning came, which would suggest it was a marginal setup as a previous poster suggested.