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Notable Christmas weather events


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Posted
  • Location: Kilburn, NW London
  • Location: Kilburn, NW London

Just after Christmas 1978 - might have been Boxing Day, or maybe a day or so later - very heavy snow in the Maidenhead area, where as a young kid we'd gone to spend Christmas with an aunt. My first experience of very deep snow. Went home to a "pipe freezer"- pipes split, with tubes of ice supporting the metal. Body heat, flooded house... A reasonable amount of snow at home, but nowhere near what they'd had in Maidenhead.

I remember that, I think it was boxing day evening when it started to snow with a real Easterly gale.  The next few days were winter wonderland with (small) snow drifts and everything!!  As I was 9 at the time I loved it, just as I would if it was last year lol

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Posted
  • Location: Napton on the Hill Warwickshire 500ft
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and heatwave
  • Location: Napton on the Hill Warwickshire 500ft

18th December 2010 beats 79,81,87,etc. It got a lot worse then the attached taken in the afternoon

 

It was not sun bathing weather

post-7914-0-90601100-1448490049_thumb.jp

Edited by stewfox
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Posted
  • Location: Kilburn, NW London
  • Location: Kilburn, NW London

18th December 2010 beats 79,81,87,etc. It got a lot worse then the attached taken in the afternoon

 

It was not sun bathing weather

That was the only time I have seen the meto issue an "extreme" weather warning for the SE England in my life!

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Posted
  • Location: Redhill, Surrey
  • Weather Preferences: Southerly tracking LPs, heavy snow. Also 25c and calm
  • Location: Redhill, Surrey

That was the only time I have seen the meto issue an "extreme" weather warning for the SE England in my life!

How old or young are you?

 

BFTP

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Posted
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex
  • Weather Preferences: As long as it's not North Sea muck, I'll cope.
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex

18th December 2010 beats 79,81,87,etc. It got a lot worse then the attached taken in the afternoon

 

It was not sun bathing weather

 

No doubt where you are, but 2010 snow depths weren't a patch on Feb 79, Jan 87 or Feb 91 where I live.

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Posted
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex
  • Weather Preferences: As long as it's not North Sea muck, I'll cope.
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex

I remember that, I think it was boxing day evening when it started to snow with a real Easterly gale.  The next few days were winter wonderland with (small) snow drifts and everything!!  As I was 9 at the time I loved it, just as I would if it was last year lol

 

Boxing Day evening would make sense. It definitely snowed heavily in the evening and a winter wonderland was there the next day. Obviously NW London isn't a long way from Maidenhead either. :)

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

If it was 1978 it would probably have been near the New Year- New Year's Eve had an exceptionally cold easterly which brought large snow depths to most of eastern Britain.  Christmas/Boxing Day 1978 was mild away from the north of Scotland.

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

Memorable 25th Decembers for me:

2010: 15cm snow on the ground though none fell on the day, -12C in the morning, below freezing all day

2004: The only time I have actually seen snow fall and settle on the 25th itself. There were showers through the day and the main band arrived about 8pm, giving 3cm in an hour which stayed till the 27th.

1995: Very frosty, an Ice day though no snow: the snowy periods that month were on the 18-21st (which was melted by one pesky mild day on the 23rd) and 30-31st.

1992: Very frosty again, and foggy

2006: This was another frosty and foggy one, in a terrible winter for cold overall.

1997: Big gale overnight 24-25th, luckily we escaped the widespread power cuts.

The worst ones:

2002 and 2011 were both ridiculously mild, 12-13C and cloudy with it.

2007 I don't remember the weather at all, must have been boring and cloudy.

1994 was wet and horrible, there had been a cold frosty spell between the 20-24th which certainly seemed cold enough to end in a snowy breakdown, but it just rained for hours.

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Posted
  • Location: Carmarthenshire
  • Location: Carmarthenshire

1993 is still my personal favourite - we had enough snow on the ground to build a snowman on the big day.  1995 was similar but with slightly less lying snow.  We also had snow showers in 2004 but not enough to settle properly - just a light dusting.

 

More recently 2009 and 2010 - Christmas Day 2009 started very cold and the roads were like an ice rink, but the day finished with some dramatic thundery showers and lightning tripped our power twice while watching TV in the evening.  2010 was great for lying snow, probably as much as I've ever seen on Christmas Day, although it was there from a few days earlier.

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Memorable Christmas Days in Tyneside, 1993-2012:

1993- dry sunny start, snow showers drifted in off the North Sea by midday, about an inch on the ground by 5pm, and the snow stuck around at Cleadon (2 miles inland) though got washed away by sleet/rain near the sea front.

1994- dry and cloudy and mild after a cold bright spell

1995- the most memorable, frequent snow showers and a chilly northerly wind, snow depth of about an inch to begin with but it increased to 3 inches by the end of the day

1996- showers fell mostly as rain from an easterly

1999- unexpected sleet/snow showers from a westerly

2000- dry and sunny, after failed forecasts of "40% chances of a white Christmas"

2001- one paltry snow flurry at 7:30am, otherwise dry and quite cloudy

2004- stayed dry and sunny all day, while Lancaster had falling and lying snow

2009- a few centimetres of lying snow, though it had turned quite icy by that stage following freeze-thaw episodes on the 22nd-24th

2010- 11 centimetres of lying snow.  A weak front at around 8am surprisingly brought a mix of sleet and freezing rain, presumably due to a temperature inversion, but the snow cover remained quite powdery.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: Headington,Oxfordshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow
  • Location: Headington,Oxfordshire

18th December 2010 is my most memorable Christmas period weather event. About 25cm snow dumped in about 6 hours. :D

Yes closest to a white xmas i can remember in my lifetime, i was born in 1994. 2010 stands out because we had 22cm of snow on 18th December, when the low pivoted and then stalled over here, amazing heavy snowfall, stuck around for 10 days, including Xmas with no melt/thaw as temperatures got down to -10c/-12c by night and hovering just below 0c around daylight.

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl

Recent official white Christmas here -

 

2001 - we saw a light snow shower in the evening.

2004 - a northerly/northwesterly that occurred bang on cue delivering about an inch or so cover, lasted through Boxing Day.

2010 - a light snowfall big feathery flakes between about 10 and 11.30am, superb, unexpected and not forecast.

 

Snow on the ground -

 

1993 - a frosty icy day with a hard crusted light cover of snow on the ground

2009 - a good 6 inch level cover, under blue skies.

 

 

Most notable event in recent times the Christmas Eve storm of 1997, we had a power cut through much of the evening and Christmas Day.

Boxing Day 98 storm almost a carbon copy.

 

1995, 1996 and 2000 delivered very wintry Christmas weeks overall.

 

The last 4 Christmas periods have been rubbish, far too mild far too wet and windy, awful..

Edited by damianslaw
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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

As well as 1994, another couple of forgettable Christmas Days were 2003 and 2006- both were dull and dry all day and it never seemed to get properly light.  In 2003, it followed a brief but heavy east-coast snowfall early on the 22nd with some lightning and muffled thunder from a cumulonimbus cell just off the coast, but Christmas Day itself was very mild, around 13C.  In 2006, Christmas Day fell during an anticyclonic spell which had been very sunny until the 23rd, but Christmas Day was cold and grey.

 

The storms of 1997/98 fell either side of Christmas Day in Tyneside- Christmas Eve 1997 and Boxing Day 1998.  I don't remember the Boxing Day 1998 storm very well, but I recall being quite scared by the intensity of the gale on Christmas Eve 1997, though it did not cause much damage locally.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

Here are what I remember from various Christmasses in my time.

 

1997 - can't remember the day itself but certainly remember the gale of Christmas Eve and a very windy New Year period that brought down a number of our fence panels.

1999 - Proper Pm spell with hail showers on the 25th then snow mixed in on the 26th, plus thunder and lightning.

(2000) - didn't realise this was a White Christmas by definition in Bristol. Sadly I was away at the time.

2002 - Exceptionally mild but one of the few occasions where it was mild and sunny so we had quite a pleasant Christmas Day walk.

2004 - Sunshine and showers and a bitterly cold wind.

2006 - In an otherwise awful month, I enjoyed the cold anticyclone during the festive period and it felt very atmospheric being dull, foggy and cold.

2008 - This day marked the start of a lengthy cold spell; having been mild up until Christmas Eve, the easterly wind that kicked in was very noticeable!

2009 - Snow on the ground and sunshine - lovely!

2010 - More snow than 2009 on the ground and sunshine after a very cold night - lovely!

2013 - I will never forget the gale of 23rd December and again on 27th December. Christmas itself was chilly and sunny here.

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Posted
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunshine and thunderstorms. Mild in winter.
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m

I'd be very interested to hear whether anyone has actually had a thunderstorm on Christmas Day itself, or simply just heard thunder?

I would find this very interesting and fun, if we was to have this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNFA1mHqwtM

Edited by Thunderbolt_
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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

I'd be very interested to hear whether anyone has actually had a thunderstorm on Christmas Day itself, or simply just heard thunder?

I would find this very interesting and fun, if we was to have this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNFA1mHqwtM

 

Apparently there was a proper thunderstorm in my location on Christmas Day 1990 as a very active Atlantic system crossed the country. I think thunder was quite widespread across the country that day. Sadly, I wasn't born yet lol.

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Posted
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunshine and thunderstorms. Mild in winter.
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m

Apparently there was a proper thunderstorm in my location on Christmas Day 1990 as a very active Atlantic system crossed the country. I think thunder was quite widespread across the country that day. Sadly, I wasn't born yet lol.

 

That would be very cool! :D

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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

Apparently there was a proper thunderstorm in my location on Christmas Day 1990 as a very active Atlantic system crossed the country. I think thunder was quite widespread across the country that day. Sadly, I wasn't born yet lol.

No thunder here. It was the last really wet Christmas Day around this neck of the woods. Wet Christmas days have been rare in the last 25 years.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

No thunder here. It was the last really wet Christmas Day around this neck of the woods. Wet Christmas days have been rare in the last 25 years.

We had a bit of drizzle here on Christmas Day 2012. But as for a really wet Christmas Day I think Christmas Day 1993 or 1994 might have been wet but I'm really not sure. Can't really remember Christmas Day 1990 which isn't surprising as I can only barely remember the snow in Winter 1990/91. But 25 years is quite something and to think we've had snow falling and lying on the odd Christmas Day since then.

Edited by WALSALL SNOW
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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

No thunder here. It was the last really wet Christmas Day around this neck of the woods. Wet Christmas days have been rare in the last 25 years.

 

Last really wet Christmas Day was 2007, though the rain had passed through before breakfast time, it was heavy in the early hours.

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Posted
  • Location: Carmarthenshire
  • Location: Carmarthenshire

I'd be very interested to hear whether anyone has actually had a thunderstorm on Christmas Day itself, or simply just heard thunder?

I would find this very interesting and fun, if we was to have this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNFA1mHqwtM

 

I started a thread about this in the storm forum a few years back: https://forum.netweather.tv/topic/75379-thunder-at-christmas/

The 2009 event was the biggest, with several very close strikes which knocked our power off twice.  In 1997 we just had a single strike (although a very loud one!).

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Posted
  • Location: Buckley, Flintshire, 94m ASL
  • Location: Buckley, Flintshire, 94m ASL

My memories go back to the late 50's and I've yet to see any substantial snowfall on Christmas Day, say 1/4 inch or more. Boxing Day is a different matter though . There have been quite a few Christmas Days with snow lying, 1978 and 1981 are good examples. Generally speaking for some reason the action seems to happen just before, like 1997 or just after like 1962 or 1964.

 

Pete 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: bingley,west yorks. 100 asl
  • Location: bingley,west yorks. 100 asl

If it's dry on the 25,might mow the lawn(still growing)Just to say I have lol.That'd be memorable.

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