January 1996

[damianslaw]

The first 20 days of January 1996 were mild and often wet and very dull coming on the back of the late Dec 95 freeze, however, winds turned easterly around the 21st Jan, heralding the start of quite a protracted cold period with significant snowfall for many. I remember it well, watching the easterly bring colder air each day and culminating in a spell of heavy snow Friday night 26th and morning of the 27th, perfect timing for the weekend, with temps by then not getting above freezing. It was the last time I think we had significant snowfall from an easterly flow with trough features, they don't often make it this side of the Pennines.

The snow stuck around for a number of days with a freeze/thaw before the infamous 5/6 Feb event which should be reserved for a separate thread.

I would say it was the last long drawn easterly in winter proper that blasted the country for 7 days solid, we did however, have an even longer drawn easterly in March 2013.

Share memories of the last long drawn lengthy easterly in January - please. 2013 didn't deliver as potent or long lasting an easterly, Jan 2010 was a more northerly influence, Jan 09 anticylonic type easterly, and Jan 97 was shorter lived.

Edited January 15, 2018 by damianslaw

[damianslaw]

Oh dear this thread has gone down like a lead balloon. We haven't had as sustained a cold and snowy latter part to January since.. that's 22 years now. A very long run of mild/average latter parts of Jan from 1997 through until 2010, 2010 itself was cold but not especially snowy, 2013 cold came to an abrupt end around the 26th. What is it with late January and mild weather? This year will continue in same vein. Consequently we've had far more colder snowier first 10 days to Feb than last 10 days to January.

[danm]

I remember it snowing around my 10th birthday in late Jan and then staying cold right into early Feb. The stalled frontal snowfall of 5th/6th Feb was too far west for us here in NE London unfortunately! 

[hillbilly]

I cannot remember if this picture was Jan 1996 or December 1995 but was one of them at home.The best easterly I remember was 1986 lasting almost 6 weeks from end Jan to early March.It is definitely an easterly because to direction of the drifts against the house.

Edited January 23, 2018 by hillbilly

[iand61]

3 minutes ago, hillbilly said:

I cannot remember if this picture was Jan 1996 or December 1995 but was one of them at home.The best easterly I remember was 1986 lasting almost 6 weeks from end Jan to early March

I bet it took some clearing with that shovel.

[damianslaw]

43 minutes ago, hillbilly said:

I cannot remember if this picture was Jan 1996 or December 1995 but was one of them at home.The best easterly I remember was 1986 lasting almost 6 weeks from end Jan to early March.It is definitely an easterly because to direction of the drifts against the house.

I suspect Jan 1996 thanks to the potent easterly on the 26 Jan. Dec 1995 though very cold at times especially late on, didn't deliver much significant snowfall, other than NE Scotland and N Isles on Christmas Eve. There was a shortlived easterly early in the month but it brought light snow. Not much in the way of significant frontal snowfall either, a little in the run up to christmas only.

The cold in late Jan 96 lingered into the first week of Feb it became milder around the 9 Feb, but the remainder of the month was often cold rather than mild with further shots of cold from the north and north east.

I could talk alot about winter 95/96 a very special one with lots of fond memories, the cold lasted throughout the whole Spring as well.  Not had a run of cold months from December through to May since, though Dec 09 - May 10 came close I think and Dec 12- May 13 not far off either.

[Weather-history]

On 22 January 2018 at 22:40, damianslaw said:

Oh dear this thread has gone down like a lead balloon. We haven't had as sustained a cold and snowy latter part to January since.. that's 22 years now. A very long run of mild/average latter parts of Jan from 1997 through until 2010, 2010 itself was cold but not especially snowy, 2013 cold came to an abrupt end around the 26th. What is it with late January and mild weather? This year will continue in same vein. Consequently we've had far more colder snowier first 10 days to Feb than last 10 days to January.

The first three weeks of January 1996 was duff:- mild and often cloudy. That is one fact that is often forgotten about this month and that was just how dull it was. 

It shows how bad the Januarys of the 90s were for winter weather when it wasn't until 1996 that we got a real potent nationwide wintry spell for January and it came during the last third. Up to then, wintry weather during January was transient at best. 

I think 1995-96 was a great winter but that first three weeks of January 1996 tarnishes this winter a little bit. Imagine transposing the first half of January 2010 with first half of January 1996? Wow what a winter that 1995-96 truely would have been. If we did that then winter 1995-96 would have had a CET of about 1.7C

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Weather-history

[Summer of 95]

Surprised there has been no mention of the glaze/freezing rain event at the start of the cold spell; it was about 23rd or 24th. Here it rained overnight, froze on the ground, then a dusting of snow fell on top of it; it made everything very slippery and it affected quite a wide area from what I remember.

The snow came on the afternoon of Fri 27th for us, we ended up with 5cm which isn't bad for a shower easterly this far west. It lay until the 30th, and I remember it being a very "dry" thaw (sublimation?).

As others have said it was the dullness that let down that month. But the dose of winter weather at the end made up for it. Persistent dullness combined with no snow or frost to speak of is far worse: the last 3 months of 2015 springs to mind recently and Nov/Dec 2002 as well.

[Weather-history]

 

[trickydicky]

On ‎15‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 20:55, damianslaw said:

The first 20 days of January 1996 were mild and often wet and very dull coming on the back of the late Dec 95 freeze, however, winds turned easterly around the 21st Jan, heralding the start of quite a protracted cold period with significant snowfall for many. I remember it well, watching the easterly bring colder air each day and culminating in a spell of heavy snow Friday night 26th and morning of the 27th, perfect timing for the weekend, with temps by then not getting above freezing. It was the last time I think we had significant snowfall from an easterly flow with trough features, they don't often make it this side of the Pennines.

The snow stuck around for a number of days with a freeze/thaw before the infamous 5/6 Feb event which should be reserved for a separate thread.

I would say it was the last long drawn easterly in winter proper that blasted the country for 7 days solid, we did however, have an even longer drawn easterly in March 2013.

Share memories of the last long drawn lengthy easterly in January - please. 2013 didn't deliver as potent or long lasting an easterly, Jan 2010 was a more northerly influence, Jan 09 anticylonic type easterly, and Jan 97 was shorter lived.

I lived in West Cumbria then and don't recall getting any snow from an easterly before the major snowfall on 5/6th February. I vividly recall standing on my doorstep waiting for the school bus on the 5th and it was very cold but the fields were green, though obviously not for long! That winter was probably the best I have experienced in terms of regular heavy snow falls, though not necessarily for long lasting snow/cold.

I was thinking the other day that although we had some good winters in the period 2009 to 2013 and snow that lasted on the ground for a long time I have not experienced deep snowfall and significant drifting since February 2001. The snow in 2009 and 2010 was very neat and tidy and even! And by deep snowfall and significant drifting I mean that could be measured in feet rather than inches or cm. Presumably this is because high pressure to the east is better for those big battleground snowfalls and the major cold spells of recent have been via Greenland highs. Somehow I missed the masses of snow that fell in south west Cumbria and parts of Lancashire in 2013.

[Terminal Moraine]

January 1996 was the foggiest month on record here ( 42 years ), by some margin, with 381 hours of fog recorded. Fog was recorded at some time on 26 days and there was fog at 0900 on 18 days. I didn't have a sunshine recorder then but I estimate fewer than 10 hours of sunshine during the month.

The cold spell at the end of the month gave 14cm of snow on the 26th and there were 11 days with lying snow at 0900 during the month as a whole. There were 9 consecutive 'ice days' from the 23rd-31st and another two on the first two days in February.

[Cwmbran Eira]

On 1/25/2018 at 01:18, Summer of 95 said:

Surprised there has been no mention of the glaze/freezing rain event at the start of the cold spell; it was about 23rd or 24th. Here it rained overnight, froze on the ground, then a dusting of snow fell on top of it; it made everything very slippery and it affected quite a wide area from what I remember.

The snow came on the afternoon of Fri 27th for us, we ended up with 5cm which isn't bad for a shower easterly this far west. It lay until the 30th, and I remember it being a very "dry" thaw (sublimation?).

As others have said it was the dullness that let down that month. But the dose of winter weather at the end made up for it. Persistent dullness combined with no snow or frost to speak of is far worse: the last 3 months of 2015 springs to mind recently and Nov/Dec 2002 as well.

The freezing rain was the stand out memory for me during this period. Everything was encased in a thick layer of ice. It was impossible to get into your car. The trees were coated. It was quite stunning but absolutely treacherous. This was the only time i've experienced this in my 39 years. 

[Weather-history]

 

[Weather-history]

 

[hillbilly]

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/weather-phenomena/case-studies/freezing-rain

[damianslaw]

22 years today - the footage above. Remember the Friday 26 Jan 96 very well - we had some snow showers in the evening,the precursor to a spell of heavy snow overnight and morning that lingered into the afternoon, amounts were nothing special about 5 inches, but unusual to see on an easterly airstream.

 

[Don]

12 hours ago, damianslaw said:

22 years today - the footage above. Remember the Friday 26 Jan 96 very well - we had some snow showers in the evening,the precursor to a spell of heavy snow overnight and morning that lingered into the afternoon, amounts were nothing special about 5 inches, but unusual to see on an easterly airstream.

 

Lol, try living in the snow starved south!

That cold spell of late January 1996 was typical of 1995/96 when my back yard saw little snow.  The winter was incredibly frustrating to see many places experience substantial snow depths when I saw precious little by comparison!  Don't get me wrong, I did see snow but falls were light with only small accumulations.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Don

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'm sure I'd have had a very high opinion of the winter of 1995/96 overall if I'd spent it at Lancaster (where I did my degree).  Unusually for Lancaster they got repeated lying snow events that winter, including a famously big fall in the first week of February, and the January was only moderately dull. 

Unfortunately as I spent that winter in South Tyneside it was very heavily tarnished by the January.  Durham had only 8 hours of sunshine in the entire month, and Tynemouth had 5 hours, of which 3 occurred on the 28th.  We did get some snow from the easterly but it didn't stick around for as long near the coast.  The 26th was a day of sunshine and snow showers (the first sunshine for well over a week) and some accumulations on the ground, and then the 27th had an area of more persistent snow, with substantial accumulations inland, but near the coast it was marginal and the snow depth remained at around 3-4cm.  In the evening it turned sleety and by the morning of the 28th the snow cover was gone.

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by Thundery wintry showers

[Summer of 95]

3 hours ago, Don said:

Lol, try living in the snow starved south!

That cold spell of late January 1996 was typical of 1995/96 when my back yard saw little snow.  The winter was incredibly frustrating to see many places experience substantial snow depths when I saw precious little by comparison!  Don't get me wrong, I did see snow but falls were light with only small accumulations.

Exactly my opinion of 2009-10!

1995-6 was good here, oddly only the 5-6 Feb event was a bit of a let down (barely half as much here as some places 20-30 miles away) but certainly the best winter between 1990-91 and 2010-11. It produced lying snow in 4 successive months (Dec-Mar); no other winter has done that here in the last 30 years.

It's odd how the places that missed out on big snowfalls in 95-6 seem to all have been in the southeast; it wasn't short on cold easterlies and that one in late Jan produced good accumulation a long way west.

[Don]

7 hours ago, Summer of 95 said:

Exactly my opinion of 2009-10!

1995-6 was good here, oddly only the 5-6 Feb event was a bit of a let down (barely half as much here as some places 20-30 miles away) but certainly the best winter between 1990-91 and 2010-11. It produced lying snow in 4 successive months (Dec-Mar); no other winter has done that here in the last 30 years.

It's odd how the places that missed out on big snowfalls in 95-6 seem to all have been in the southeast; it wasn't short on cold easterlies and that one in late Jan produced good accumulation a long way west.

I did rather well during the 2008-2013 colder winter phase and hit the jackpot in February 2009 and January 2010.  Did resonably well in February 2012 and January 2013, too.  Regarding 1995/96, with the southeast missing out on the big snowfalls, I think Kent and Essex did ok, but other parts of the south not so. 

[thevetchlings]

On 25/01/2018 at 01:18, Summer of 95 said:

Surprised there has been no mention of the glaze/freezing rain event at the start of the cold spell; it was about 23rd or 24th. Here it rained overnight, froze on the ground, then a dusting of snow fell on top of it; it made everything very slippery and it affected quite a wide area from what I remember.

The snow came on the afternoon of Fri 27th for us, we ended up with 5cm which isn't bad for a shower easterly this far west. It lay until the 30th, and I remember it being a very "dry" thaw (sublimation?).

As others have said it was the dullness that let down that month. But the dose of winter weather at the end made up for it. Persistent dullness combined with no snow or frost to speak of is far worse: the last 3 months of 2015 springs to mind recently and Nov/Dec 2002 as well.

I was living not far from you up on the top of Wenlock Edge at that time. It'd been cold the day before and I remember the cold rain falling after it'd got dark and noticing it seemed a bit weird. Didn't know what was happening till the morning when everywhere had been varnished in about 5mm of clear ice. Never seen the same before or since. Couldn't walk safely and the car stayed put for a day or two as everywhere was this sheet of thick solid ice.

Thanks for telling me when that was. I didn't know the precise year, let alone month or date.

[Blessed Weather]

3 minutes ago, thevetchlings said:

I was living not far from you up on the top of Wenlock Edge at that time. It'd been cold the day before and I remember the cold rain falling after it'd got dark and noticing it seemed a bit weird. Didn't know what was happening till the morning when everywhere had been varnished in about 5mm of clear ice. Never seen the same before or since. Couldn't walk safely and the car stayed put for a day or two as everywhere was this sheet of thick solid ice.

Thanks for telling me when that was. I didn't know the precise year, let alone month or date.

A warm welcome to the forum thevetchlings.