Past winters discussion

[Thunderbolt_]

2 hours ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

90's winters great, also much better bbc tv weather, Dec '95 seemed a good month, not much wind and rain muck of nowadays

I'm surprised you would prefer the 1990s winters over those of the 1980s. It was only really 1990-91, 1995-96 and maybe 1996-97 which were the cold winters in that decade. All of the other winters overall were either near average or very mild.

The 1980s on the other hand saw plenty of cold winters - 1981-82, 1984-85, 1985-86 and 1986-87, with other notably cold months - February 1983 (1.7C) and March 1987 (4.1C).

Edited December 3, 2015 by Thunderbolt_

[I remember Atlantic 252]

trouble is Scott, don't remember 80's winters, I know they were better though

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, Thunderbolt_ said:

I'm surprised you would prefer the 1990s winters over those of the 1980s. It was only really 1990-91, 1995-96 and maybe 1996-97 which were the cold winters in that decade. All of the other winters overall were either near average or very mild.

The 1980s on the other hand saw plenty of cold winters - 1981-82, 1984-85, 1985-86 and 1986-87, with other notably cold months - February 1983 (1.7C) and March 1987 (4.1C).

There was a good run of winters in the 80's with notably severe cold and snowy weather at times, from Dec 81 through until March 87, each winter produced at least one and in some cases two cold or very cold snowy months:

 

Winter 81/82 - Dec 81 and Jan 82

Winter 82/83 - Feb 83

Winter 83/84 - Jan 84 (admittedly more so in the north)

Winter 84/85 - Jan 85, Feb 85

Winter 85/86 - Feb 86

Winter 86/87 - Jan 87 and (Mar 87)

We did though see very mild non-wintry winters 87/88-89/90

However, the 90's winters whilst not without some severe cold and wintry weather, were far tamer affairs in the main (exception Feb 91), only Dec 95, Feb 96 and Dec 96 and early part of Jan 97 could be described as predominantly very wintry. There were five winters with very little in the way of cold or snowy weather 91/92, 92/93, 94/95, 97/98 and 98/99.

Winter 96/97 was one of two halves, the second half predominantly mild with little snow.

[Summer of 95]

91/2 wasn't too bad for cold, it was just abysmal for snow. There were two very frosty spells in mid-Dec and late Jan with freezing fog and ice days, but neither ended in any kind of wintry battleground. We only got any precipitation during the mild spells. 92/3 if anything was worse, it was equally snowless but had just the one frosty week or so in late December.

I'd add February 1994 to the list of wintry 90s months, it was actually snowier here then Feb 1996. 1996-7 and 2001-2 were extremely similar; cold until about Jan 10th, snowcover over New Year, and unrelenting mild dross in the second half. Yet for some reason 96/7 gets remembered as a cold winter, 01/2 as a mild one.

[Thunderbolt_]

Had a pretty interesting winter thunderstorm that just skirted this area, this time last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN4jgPKwr8Q

[Thundery wintry showers]

1996/97 was colder than 2001/02 in the south, with the main difference being that January 1997 was much colder than January 2002, although it was not particularly snowy (some eastern areas had 10-11 days of lying snow but this was mainly left over from the "easterly" snowfalls of 30/31 December 1996).  For Scotland plus northern England and some western parts of England, though, there was little to choose between the two winters.

Agree with February 1994.  Indeed, 1993/94 was a cold and snowy winter for much of Scotland, particularly the north-east, and it was a fairly snowy winter for north-east England, about level with 1995/96.  In many eastern areas it was also preceded by a notable cold snowy spell in late-November 1993.  However, it was indeed slightly milder than average in the south, though even southern areas had widespread snow at times between 14 and 23 February.

But the winter of 1993/94 did not have a spell that matched the cold end of December 1995 in Scotland and parts of northern England.  In some northern areas that spell was more severe than the easterly blast of early to mid February 1991, although the February 1991 spell was severe over a larger area of the country.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Thundery wintry showers

[I remember Atlantic 252]

10 minutes ago, Thunderbolt_ said:

Had a pretty interesting winter thunderstorm that just skirted this area, this time last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN4jgPKwr8Q

 

did you get one on 25th Jan '14? I did was a good one

[Thunderbolt_]

Just now, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

 

did you get one on 25th Jan '14? I did was a good one

No unfortuantely, the squall line that day developed just to the south of Manchester. I think I heard one distant crack of thunder, before it moved away.

[Snowyowl9]

One of the coldest snaps in recent years made -8.2c with a max of -1.9c on the 29th.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/ra/2005/Rrea00120051228.gif

[Thundery wintry showers]

That was quite a memorable easterly incursion.  I was in Tyneside on that occasion, and the snow line penetrated very close to the sea front on the 28th.  I find that snowy interludes while all the Christmas decorations are out tend to have a very "cosy" feel about them.  I remember post-Christmas 2000 being good for that as well.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Thundery wintry showers

[Beverley Lass]

Interesting to read of some notable snowy events in the early 1980's.

I wish I could remember more about one night in the winter of 1982, perhaps 1983.

I was working on an outdoor archaeological excavation in Northamptonshire.

Went to bed with no snow and woke to a full 8"   (cue the jokes, lol)

Tried to dig my car out but it was hopeless, roads all blocked round Corby/Kettering.

B. 

[damianslaw]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2015 at 5:58 PM, Snowyowl9 said:

One of the coldest snaps in recent years made -8.2c with a max of -1.9c on the 29th.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/ra/2005/Rrea00120051228.gif

Remember feeling disappointed with that spell. It produced a little bit of snow here, about an inch and a couple of decent frosts, but was quickly gone by the 30th. I quite liked Dec 05 though, temps were near average and it felt quite seasonal.

Reminiscing about 90's winters, the 93/94 - 96/97 period was preety good by recent standards (2008/09-2010/11 and 2012/13 excepted). Winter 93/94 saw episodic cold snowy weather at times starting in late November. Dec 93 produced a few snowfalls here and a good cold Christmas period. Feb 94 was excellent for snowfall in the second half.

Winter 94/95 though predominantly mild and stormy produced a snowy new year, and a cold snowy end.

Winter 95/96 I've talked about many a time, one of the best in the last 30 years.

Winter 96/97 first half cold and wintry plenty of frost and some snow on occasion. The Christmas/New Year period was consistently very cold, not on a par with 2009/2010 period. The winter delivered a very different second half mostly very mild wet and dull.

Christmas 2000 was excellent, the cold set in just in time for Christmas, and disappeared just in time for New Year. It came on the back of an exceptionally wet and mostly mild spell.

 

[Polar Maritime]

Taken in 1927 on the A9.

 

[Thunderbolt_]

Winter 2009-10: https://forum.netweather.tv/topic/84179-scotts-historic-weather-videos/#comment-3306244

[Bobd29]

Ah nostalgia.....when every winter at least had the expectation of a snowy period, these days it is just a hope buffeted by the endless mild wind and rain. A child of the 1962/1963 winter me, so perhaps I was spoiled at an early age, but there have been several noteable winters since, and I do refuse to give up on seeing a foot (30cms to some of you) of level snow forming metr high drifts in the easterly gale, when was the last easterly gale by the way even 2009/2010 did not truly deliver that. Come on winter, arrive at my doorstep. I would even happily wait till next year if I could be really confident that 2016/2017 would replicate my dreams of past wonderlands.

happy Christmas to you all.......

[iand61]

6 minutes ago, Bobd29 said:

Ah nostalgia.....when every winter at least had the expectation of a snowy period, these days it is just a hope buffeted by the endless mild wind and rain. A child of the 1962/1963 winter me, so perhaps I was spoiled at an early age, but there have been several noteable winters since, and I do refuse to give up on seeing a foot (30cms to some of you) of level snow forming metr high drifts in the easterly gale, when was the last easterly gale by the way even 2009/2010 did not truly deliver that. Come on winter, arrive at my doorstep. I would even happily wait till next year if I could be really confident that 2016/2017 would replicate my dreams of past wonderlands.

happy Christmas to you all.......

lived through 62/63 myself although far too young to remember it.

i do remember the 60's delivering though and the snow, which came every year seemed very deep and drifted although maybe short legs gave a false impression on just how bad it really was.

maybe it was just that we were in a run of proper winters in much the same way as those of the late 70's early 80's but I can't remember a single one while I was growing up that failed to deliver at least a couple of substantial falls and drifted snow seemed to lie in the hills up here for weeks on end to the point where it often turned black with the coal fires and factory pollution.

In them days it was a case of when we would get snow and how much rather than the current position of if we will even see a frost.

 

 

[damianslaw]

Plenty of time for this winter to deliver snowfall. Many a winter didn't get going until the New Year - though there have been some shockers recently, 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2013/2014 spring to mind.

Last year was disappointing on the snowfall front in southern parts, the north didn't do quite so bad.

One thing we haven't had much of in many recent winters is the classic northerly shot. Many of the 90's and early-mid 00 winters produced a few northerlies.

There is always the surprise spring snowfalls, very common after a very mild winter Easter 2008 a good recent example. April 98 another example and March/April 75 a good example - indeed quite common.

 

[Thunderbolt_]

Winter 1946-47: https://forum.netweather.tv/topic/84179-scotts-historic-weather-videos/#comment-3306719

[Weather-history]

......is my favourite BBC forecast that I taped.

Reasons: time of year, the weather that was being forecast. It has always has stayed in my head.

 

There was a light dusting of snow that Christmas morning and it looked beautiful against the deep blue skies. Cold but beautiful and 20 years ago......

[Weather-history]

20 years ago, it turned out the coldest Christmas night of the 20th century for Manchester, no chance of it being the coldest of this century, this year!

 

 

Edited December 25, 2015 by Weather-history

[damianslaw]

Thinking back to Christmas 1995 - an excellent cold spell, we didn't have any decent snowfall, but the depth of cold was very severe here, I don't believe even winters 46/47 or 62/63 delivered the same level of cold around here, have to go back to Jan 1940 I think..

I remember the BBC forecasts well - seeing a polar low development was a rare treat, again something I don't believe has occurred since in the true sense? Elements of polar lows were visible in late Dec 09 and early Jan 10 mind, early winter 10/11 saw a chunk of the polar vortex drop over the country rather than a polar low created..

Thinking back to more recent winters, how special the winter of 09/10 feels now. It was a great winter for sustained snow and cold in the north, many a weekend spent out on the Lakeland fells, a world of white.. We've had significant contrasting fayre over the last 10 years or so, extremes of cold and dry to wet and warm.. Take me back to 3 Jan 2010 now please which was also a Sunday..

Edited January 3, 2016 by damianslaw

[Thunderbolt_]

6 years ago today, Tomasz Scharernaker released this forecast. I remember watching it that evening and I actually included a small part of it in my winter 2009-10 video:

 

[Weather-history]

John Hammond says the 10th January 2009 was the coldest day for London for over a decade

 

 

 

[Snowyowl9]

Well this year has a long long way to catch up 10 years ago 55 air frosts in total.

So far this year 2 and that's including November which gave 1 air frost.

 

[Thunderbolt_]

The severe winter of the Great War: 1916-17.