Late December 1996-early January 1997 cold spell

[Weather-history]

20 years ago, crikey.
Had one or two snow showers on the 30th December but most of the snow showers came through on New Year's Eve. Woke up to a snow cover on New Year's Eve morning. There was a drier interlude during the early afternoon then the snow showers piled in from mid afternoon and it was virtually continuous snow all evening and into the New Year. New Year's Day was a cold sunny day with a white mantle.

 

[Don]

Another frustrating cold spell that delivered very little to my back yard!  Those cold spells in general during the colder mid-1990's winters (bar the brief easterly during February 1994) were very disappointing from a IMBY perspective!  In fact, believe it or not, after the February 1994 easterly, I had to wait until January 8th 2003 for anything remotely notable snow wise and that was only a few inches! However, thankfully, I did far better for snow during the colder 2008-2013 period, notably February 2nd 2009 and January 6th 2010.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Don

[I remember Atlantic 252]

was a good one here, miss these days! gone just like Atlantic 252!

white new year in '97, snowed all day, light snow on 2nd, also good snow on 30-31 Dec '96

[Don]

Just now, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

was a good one here, miss these days! gone just like Atlantic 252!

white new year in '97, snowed all day, light snow on 2nd, also good snow on 30-31 Dec '96

Yes, that made it all the more frustrating.  That cold spell delivered plenty for many but pretty much nowt for me, bar a flurry that barely covered the ground!

[damianslaw]

Remember it very well, we had continuous snow showers off and on all new years eve, lasting through the early hours whipped up by the strong bitter easterly wind, however total amounts were quite small, about 2 inches. The first few days of 1997 were bitterly cold, sub freezing, becoming slightly less cold up until the 10th when a band of snow quickly turned to rain, and the atlantic swept in. The rest of the winter was predominantly mild often very mild, with only very transient colder spell later in Jan.

It was the last snowy new years eve. New Year eve 2000 promised a snow fest, in the end we had wet snow only, and a rapid thaw. New Year 2001 was very cold with snow on the ground but no snow. New Year 2008 was preety cold but no snow falling, likewise 2009. 

[Don]

Winter 1996/7 was one of those pear shaped winters with predominant mild dross setting in by mid January.  February 1997 was exceptionally mild with a CET of 6.7C.  December 1996 was cold with a CET of 2.9C and whilst January 1997 had a cold CET of 2.5C, this was mainly due to the very cold opening week to 10 days.  In some ways that winter was a less cold version of 1981/82 and 2010/11.

Can't believe this was 20 years ago!

[Optimus Prime]

The last really cold easterly I remember. Very cold and at times with heavy snow showers. Remember thundersnow in late December 1996 nightime and about 3 inches of snow by the first week of January and a bitter wind. -1/-3 by day with high windchill. Dropped close to -10c on a few occasions.

I specifically remember the transition to milder weather from mid January and a slow thaw then an early start to spring. Nothing remarkable, not like the mid 80's or 1991 but pretty decent.

1994 also produced thundersnow

[Thundery wintry showers]

I was in Cleadon in Tyne and Wear at the time, and after a dry bright start, snow showers spread in off the North Sea on the afternoon of 30 December and persisted until the early hours of New Year's Day.  Near the coast, temperatures tended to rise to about 2C in the clear intervals in between the showers, and drop to around freezing in showers, so the level snow depth was restricted to about 5cm, but there was nonetheless lying snow out to the sea front, and upwards of a few miles inland (where temperatures struggled to get above freezing at all), accumulations were more substantial.

January 1997 began cold, dry and cloudy in eastern England and so the snow stuck around for a while afterwards.  In the Tyne and Wear/Durham area it generally stuck around until the 5th, as less cold air kept coming in from the north/north-west, but further south within eastern England, the continental air stubbornly clung on and some areas had 10-12 days of continuous snow cover.

Incidentally, it did thundersnow in Tyneside as well from the easterly on 21 February 1994, especially around Newcastle, though I'm not aware of any reports from the region during the New Year 1996/97 easterly, as on the latter occasion the region wasn't quite as heavily hit by streams of snow showers as some other parts of eastern and central England.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Thundery wintry showers

[Weather-history]

On 30/12/2016 at 23:37, Don said:

Winter 1996/7 was one of those pear shaped winters with predominant mild dross setting in by mid January.  February 1997 was exceptionally mild with a CET of 6.7C.  December 1996 was cold with a CET of 2.9C and whilst January 1997 had a cold CET of 2.5C, this was mainly due to the very cold opening week to 10 days.  In some ways that winter was a less cold version of 1981/82 and 2010/11.

Can't believe this was 20 years ago!

January 1997 was exceptionally dry, 5th driest January on record, something that is often forgotten about this month. Driest January since 1880

[Walsall Wood Snow]

This is one of those cold spells that I don't really remember anything about, so I suspect was rather unremarkable here (snow wise). I remember the short lived snowy spell of Nov 96 quite well though, as school was forced to close though (the only time when at secondary school this happened). This spell would have occurred during the Christmas holidays though. Mind you I do remember a snowy day in early January around these times, but I'm not sure if this was 97 or early Jan 96? I know it would have been an early January event because I remember at the time noting to myself that it was occurring in the 12 days of Christmas, so in my mind making it something of a belated White Christmas. My memory of cold spells back in those days though,is a bit sketchy.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

3 minutes ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

This is one of those cold spells that I don't really remember anything about, so I suspect was rather unremarkable here (snow wise). I remember the short lived snowy spell of Nov 96 quite well though, as school was forced to close though (the only time when at secondary school this happened). This spell would have occurred during the Christmas holidays though. Mind you I do remember a snowy day in early January around these times, but I'm not sure if this was 97 or early Jan 96? I know it would have been an early January event because I remember at the time noting to myself that it was occurring in the 12 days of Christmas, so in my mind making it something of a belated White Christmas. My memory of cold spells back in those days though,is a bit sketchy.

think you'll have had quite a lot! exactly the same about Nov '96, you weren't at Walton High by any chance! cos exactly same with me

[Walsall Wood Snow]

Just now, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

think you'll have had quite a lot! exactly the same about Nov '96, you weren't at Walton High by any chance! cos exactly same with me

Maybe that early January snow I was thinking about all those years ago was then. For some reason I was thinking it was Jan 96 though, but could be getting confused. No I wasn't at Walton High (presume that's in Stafford, which is miles away). I was at a school here in Walsall Wood called Shire Oak. We actually got there and had to gather in the assembly hall and after a while they told us all to go home as not enough staff had turned up (only the sixth formers had to stay). It only lasted a day and started thawing that night. But I'd love an event like that now as it beats anything we've seen in the last few years.

[damianslaw]

21 hours ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

Maybe that early January snow I was thinking about all those years ago was then. For some reason I was thinking it was Jan 96 though, but could be getting confused. No I wasn't at Walton High (presume that's in Stafford, which is miles away). I was at a school here in Walsall Wood called Shire Oak. We actually got there and had to gather in the assembly hall and after a while they told us all to go home as not enough staff had turned up (only the sixth formers had to stay). It only lasted a day and started thawing that night. But I'd love an event like that now as it beats anything we've seen in the last few years.

Most likely 1997, as the first half of Jan 96 was devoid of snow, but things did turn markedly colder from the 21 onwards with snow for many. We didn't have much snow in Jan 97 just a few light flurries, but there was a bit on the 10/11 as atlantic front moved through. We had a bit more on the 22/23. After a lengthy run of winters with little snow between 1987/88 - 1994/95 bar Feb 91, and spells in winter 93/93, the first half of winter 96/97 coming on the back of the snowy cold winter 95/96 made me wonder whether things were now turning in favour of cold blocked snowy winters, alas certainly wasn't to be, just a blip, from Feb 97 through until Feb 05 any snow/cold was a brief affair in the main often thanks to northerly airstreams, no NE/E airstreams at all - then things changed again winter 08/09.

[Stargazer]

I was living in Southampton at the time, and it was a rare white New Year, with a couple of inches of snow on New Years Eve and an ice day on New Years Day with a maximum of only around -2. I remember walking on Southampton Common that day and watching the ducks gliding around on the ice.

[Terminal Moraine]

I recorded 8 'ice days' between Dec 31st and Jan' 10th during that cold  spell. New Years Eve had a maximum of -2.3c and there was 10cm of snow lying on New Years day morning with quite a lot of drifting. Jan' 7th was the coldest day of the whole period with a max' of -2.4c and drift remnants persisted until Feb' 2nd.

As Weather History mentioned, it was a very dry month with just 13.6 mm of rain here, almost 27 mm less than the next driest January in 1992.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Terminal Moraine

[Snowyowl9]

It was a good sharp cold spell from the east but not a classic by any means snow amounts 3 and a half inches max on the 1st.

Drifting was the best part,I do remember it.

After that winter was over.

[Portland Paul]

On 01/01/2017 at 19:08, Weather-history said:

January 1997 was exceptionally dry, 5th driest January on record, something that is often forgotten about this month. Driest January since 1880

Maybe it's just perception, but was January 1997 also very dull indeed? I can barely remember any sunshine that month

 

[LetItSnow!]

A story from my father about this event, who was living in New Ash Green (NW Kent) at the time who blacked out and ended up buried under deep snow cover during the evening of 31 Dec. 1996. His last recollection was light snow flurries before waking up crushed under snow. By luck he managed to climb out and stumble home in by all accounts a vicious blizzard with very poor visibility into the early hours of 1 Jan. 1997. Those easterly winds must have brought some intense outbreaks of snow across the area, maybe a streamer. Anyone else have collection of this in the NW Kent area?

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, LetItSnow! said:

A story from my father about this event, who was living in New Ash Green (NW Kent) at the time who blacked out and ended up buried under deep snow cover during the evening of 31 Dec. 1996. His last recollection was light snow flurries before waking up crushed under snow. By luck he managed to climb out and stumble home in by all accounts a vicious blizzard with very poor visibility into the early hours of 1 Jan. 1997. Those easterly winds must have brought some intense outbreaks of snow across the area, maybe a streamer. Anyone else have collection of this in the NW Kent area?

Passed out? From over indulgence! There were heavy blizzard type showers through the night, making for a fun night celebrating the new year festivities...

Other snowy new years eves include 2000 and 2009, to a lesser extent 2001 snow on ground, 2003 and 2008. We had snow on the ground this last new year.

Edited March 16, 2021 by damianslaw

[danm]

ITV forecast on Boxing Day 1996 for 27th December:

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by danm

[Summer8906]

On 06/02/2017 at 21:09, Portland Paul said:

Maybe it's just perception, but was January 1997 also very dull indeed? I can barely remember any sunshine that month

 

I realise this is very very late (!) but this thread has just been updated so just seen it.

Was in south Hampshire and the first 10 days were dull and cold, then a dull and milder weekend 11th/12th. But I seem to remember the rest of the month was sunnier, in particular the week of the 13th which had several days of temps at or very slightly above average but sharp frosts. There was more dull, misty, slightly mild weather the following weekend (18th/19th).

No really mild weather to speak of down here, and the only rain was, IIRC, in the week of the 19th. The final week was very anticyclonic with average temperatures.

I remember at one point the cold was forecast to fully break down into a cyclonic SW-ly dull wet fest, but thankfully that did not happen.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Summer8906

[damianslaw]

Resurrecting this thread.. as just watched a couple of bbc forecasts from early Jan 97. It is a forgotten cold month at 2.5 degrees, would be ranked as very cold if Jan 97 happened today.. indeed its up there as one of top coldest months last 30 years, but falls well short of top ones i.e. Jan 10 and Dec 10.  I suspect because most of the severe cold occured first 10 days and there was little snow. The rest of the month never fully warmed up, brief milder spells and a lot of chilly dank frosty weather I remember, very dull as well. 

 

Edited January 4 by damianslaw

[reef]

This was a very decent event in my neck of the woods as we were right in the firing line for the snow showers. It was quite memorable due to being over New Year. We had about 8-10cm in total and it stayed on the ground until the 5th. It pretty much marked the end of the snowy 1994-1997 period and wasn't surpassed in depth until January 2004.

It was quite a cold period too, with the temperature not rising above 4C until the 12th. There was no further lying snow for the rest of the winter and only one day the winter after.

[damianslaw]

4 hours ago, reef said:

This was a very decent event in my neck of the woods as we were right in the firing line for the snow showers. It was quite memorable due to being over New Year. We had about 8-10cm in total and it stayed on the ground until the 5th. It pretty much marked the end of the snowy 1994-1997 period and wasn't surpassed in depth until January 2004.

It was quite a cold period too, with the temperature not rising above 4C until the 12th. There was no further lying snow for the rest of the winter and only one day the winter after.

One of those cold first half winters followed by mild second halves, most extreme cases recently 81-82 and 10-11. 01-02 to an extent as well though the cold not as severe and fizzled out quick in first week of Jan.