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Cold ends to winter and starts to spring


damianslaw

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

A number of winters in the last 25 years after generally mild sometimes very mild snowless winters, have ended on a cold note, persisting into Spring as follows:

1993 - late February northerly, snow showers

1995 - late February northerly, first 8 days March cold northerlies snow

1998 - a northerly last 2 days Feb, cold with snow into March

2000 - the coldest weather of the winter occured late Feb, nothing special but still

2001 - a very cold northerly end Feb and into March

2004 - a toned down version of 2001

2005 - cold easterlies late Feb, northerlies into March

2006 - same as 2006, but a colder snowier northerly and less cold snowy easterly

2015 - a shortlived northerly early March

2018 - freezing easterly episode

1996 and 2010 were cold throughout, so not mentioned.

Easterlies and northerlies become more likely from mid February onwards. 2019 won't be joining the list though.

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Posted
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.

1995 was more cold west to WNW than Nlys cold zonality but that's the only nitpick on that.

1998 that low south of Iceland disturbed the cold well and truly from that Greenland high.

Coldest spell that winter happened in december 1999-2000 Rrea00119991219.gifRrea00219991219.gif

Got done to -8c and then an ice day.

 

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
6 minutes ago, Wimbledon88 said:

I have noticed that cold unstable North Westerlies are becoming much less frequent. 

Some cold northwesterlies might be on the cards this March, thanks to the significant cold pool to our NW which has been patiently waiting to move our way..

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Posted
  • Location: Remote North Yorkshire 474ft ASL
  • Weather Preferences: All seasons veteran of the 1981 winter
  • Location: Remote North Yorkshire 474ft ASL

I hope we don't get any cold weather now. I'm  enjoying been out in the garden with a tee shirt on . I'd rather wait till December and chase the 10 day charts again. 

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Posted
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Snowy Weather
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.

Very interesting thread you've started here, dl.

Going back even further, 1970 saw a very wintry start to Spring. High Pressure to the west of the U.K, retreated a little further westwards and allowed a direct plunge from the Arctic, to surge down the country.

               2nd MARCH 1970

image.thumb.png.061b9c26c72681d4360c217a93244e11.png

On the 3rd, a disturbance ran SSE, from Iceland and brought some heavy snow, especially to the S.E,, of the U.K.

                   3rd MARCH 1970

image.thumb.png.0e4f62533a8660e1fe866d5d5aabb184.png

By the time this disturbance had exited the south coast of England, it had developed into a fully fledged low, leaving copious amounts of snow, in it's wake.

                 4th MARCH 1970

image.thumb.png.af2c31b60430b455f5e639a4119a19ec.png

Below is a description of the weather in March 1970 (inc. this event), from Trevor Harley's excellent, "British Weather", website.

QUOTE:

"1970 Very cold (3.7C CET) overall. The month started with northerly winds. There was a major and unexpected snowfall on the 4th, heavy enough to bring down power lines in Kent. Some parts of Northants. and Beds. reported about 40 cms of snow, with the deepest being nearly 48cm near Northampton. Snow fell heavily for twelve hours across a wide part of the south. In parts of the north southeast (if you see what I mean) and the East Midlands it was the heaviest snowfall since 1947. Near Bedford 36 cms of snow lay after 24 hours of snow. The snow was followed by some low temperatures in a northerly air flow, with -15C recorded. The snow covered lasted for more than a week, in sunshine."

I was fourteen at the time and it was an amazing start to Spring.

I'm sure those members who are lovers of snow, wouldn't turn their nose up at a similar event, even though they may be enjoying the current spell of unseasonable warmth.

Regards,

Tom.  :hi:

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee

Again from Trevor Harley. Here is 1975 following a very mild Winter. I had an Easter holiday job delivering laundry up to Speyside that year and remember the snow in the Highlands well.  May plus the first few days of June continued with cold  (the famous early June snowfall) and then the weather flipped to warmth and sunshine. 

 

“March.Famous snowy Easter. There was 15 cm of snowfall in Birmingham on Maundy Thursday, and the whole holiday saw snow cover. The cold weather persisted from the 27th into April...

April. A dull month. There were cold northerlies for the first ten days, bringing lengthy and frequent snow showers, and frost. In Birmingham there were daily snowfalls from March 27 to April 10. There was 15 cm of lying snow in places in the SE on the 9th, and 45 cm in the Scottish Highlands. There was however a warm, sunny spell later in the month, with 23C recorded in parts on the 24th.”

 

Just for info here are Trevor Harley’s reports of May and June too.

”May. Dry but cold (9.9C). After an unsettled first two days, it was a predominately easterly month with some northerlies led to very high sunshine totals in western Scotland - e.g. 329.2 hours on Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, making it Scotland's sunniest month ever. It was very dry in thewest. Much wetter and duller in the east. The coldest May since 1941in the south, with some damaging frosts. The temperature of -5.1C at Carnwath, Lanark, on the 31st, is a record low for this time of year.

June. A dry month with a dramatic change from very cold to warm. It was a cold start to the month, following on from the cold end to May. Snow fell and lay on high ground in the Midlands on the morning of Monday the 2nd, with sleet as far south as Portsmouth. Gleneagles recorded -3.3C on the 2nd. Famously, snow affected play in the County cricket match between Derbyshire and Lancashire in Buxton: the game was abandoned for the day on the Monday because the snow cover was an inch deep. Snow was reported as fallen at a cricket game at Lords on the same day and over a large portion of East Anglia, accompanied by low midday temperatures (2C). Snow lay on the hills around Birmingham, and was also reported at Portsmouth and Ramsgate. Snow lay for four days in parts of Scotland. This is the latest reliable date on which snow has fallen in lowland Britain, and was an exeptional event, with a return likelihood of 250 years (which is comparable to the Great Storm of October 1987). There were low grass minima on the 4th (e.g. -6C at Kew). There were also gales in places. Pressure then started to build, and by the 6th it was very warm (25C across the country, and it reached 28C on the 7th. Warmest: 28.9C at Achneshellach on the 9th, and 30C on the 12th at Ellbridge (Cornwall). It was also a very dry month: only 6% of normal rainfall in some places in the SW (e.g. Gloucester and Torquay), and less than 1 mm of rain in parts of the southest. After the snow, most of the month was hot, sunny, and dry, but with some notable thunderstorms. On the 16th, a thunderstorm gave 72.3 mm in 2 hours at Midhurst (W Sussex), with heavy hail. On the other hand, parts of mid Hampshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire had no rain at all month. Some places in the south averaged 11 hours sun a day. On the night of the 28-29 a cold front led to some very low temperatures, with some frost.”

 

Edited by Norrance
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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee
On 24/02/2019 at 21:33, StormyWeather28 said:

I've noticed the frequency of Northerlies has died down a lot over the years. This confirms what I thought. 

The only potent straight Northerlies that I can think of this Century were late Feb/early March 2006 and late Jan 2003. 

Others were either very brief or from the NW or NE. This lack of Northerlies is why Aberdeen has had such below average snow in the past few years and I suspect has lost its record as the UK’s snowiest city in this current decade.

BE18DD07-28B3-464C-B1D0-7DE54AAFED0B.gif

9CACF6C4-A1C1-4297-8486-ECF24C229CCC.gif

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

25th November 2005 and 19th/20th March 2007 were also straight northerlies, the former being quite a potent one too.

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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam
On 24/02/2019 at 21:28, damianslaw said:

 

1998 - a northerly last 2 days Feb, cold with snow into March

 

That's stretching it. It quickly became mild. It wasn't even that cold, I remember seeing snow on the 28th February but maximum was 6C, by the 3rd it was just over 12C. Didn't even see a frost! 

 

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee
7 minutes ago, MP-R said:

25th November 2005 and 19th/20th March 2007 were also straight northerlies, the former being quite a potent one too.

I should have said sustained though I had forgotten all about that November 2005 Northerly. I think that the March 2007 one toppled fairly quickly afterwards.

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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

Remember the end of February 1990, after the front that brought the Towyn coastal surge, there were heavy wintry showers. Thundersnow that evening in Manchester. Frontal sytem came up against the colder air on the 28th February and the rain turned to snow. Then we have heavy showers of rain in the mld sector and then the snow returned that late afternoon. That was an interesting day

image.thumb.png.5b396b89c24bd39b12a5bf4cb3fc6b87.png

Next morning, there were some absolutely cracking intense hail and snow showers. Didn't last though and March ending being exceptionally mild as well. 

NOAA_1_1990030106_2.pngNOAA_1_1990030206_2.png

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1 hour ago, Norrance said:

The only potent straight Northerlies that I can think of this Century were late Feb/early March 2006 and late Jan 2003. 

Others were either very brief or from the NW or NE. This lack of Northerlies is why Aberdeen has had such below average snow in the past few years and I suspect has lost its record as the UK’s snowiest city in this current decade.

BE18DD07-28B3-464C-B1D0-7DE54AAFED0B.gif

9CACF6C4-A1C1-4297-8486-ECF24C229CCC.gif

I'm pretty sure the 17th/18th December 2010 was a direct Northerly. I got 1 foot of snow from it in Donegal. End of December 2000 was another potent Northerly. Anyway it's sad times. 

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee
46 minutes ago, StormyWeather28 said:

I'm pretty sure the 17th/18th December 2010 was a direct Northerly. I got 1 foot of snow from it in Donegal. End of December 2000 was another potent Northerly. Anyway it's sad times. 

Here are the charts from the days showing the nearest to a Northerly from those events. Winds here were from the North but unlike 2006 and 2003 if you follow the lines the air originated from N Scandivia/Russia rather than the true Arctic so I would suggest an North Easterly source. Having said that if it brings the cold and snow who really cares the source of the outbreak 

 

D111AEF7-4796-40FB-AAA4-55378F430203.gif

B9C7846C-8E61-445D-9CBC-855B89B7729F.gif

Edit sorry veering a bit off the topic of the cold ends to mild Winters.

Edited by Norrance
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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
2 hours ago, Norrance said:

I should have said sustained though I had forgotten all about that November 2005 Northerly. I think that the March 2007 one toppled fairly quickly afterwards.

Yes indeed, only a two day affair, starting off as a northwesterly, but looks lovely on the archive charts. 

archives-2007-3-20-0-0.png

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Posted
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.

Yep end of February 26th to march 2... 1990 was very lively indeed thunder wind storms heavy hail stormy winds already said then snow/rain snow and severe gales.

After the first record warm spell of 23rd of February of 13c

Edited by Snowyowl9
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  • 11 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl

Thought I'd resurrect this thread, for all those people writing off prospects of snowy weather - admittedly many might not want to wait until tail end of winter.. but proof many a time it does finally rear its head in time for Spring..

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Posted
  • Location: Longden, Shropshire
  • Location: Longden, Shropshire
2 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Thought I'd resurrect this thread, for all those people writing off prospects of snowy weather - admittedly many might not want to wait until tail end of winter.. but proof many a time it does finally rear its head in time for Spring..

1989 and 2008 spring to mind.

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
4 minutes ago, Don said:

1989 and 2008 spring to mind.

Yes just posted a thread on Feb 2008 and mentioned the snow in March and April 2008.

April 1989 was unusual indeed coming on the back of four very mild months. Not sure what happened there, was there a late SSW that downwelled in April. It was an odd month, as it then turned warm in May, with a run of very warm months following.

The best example is March/April 1974, that came on the back of a very mild and preety snowless winter..

Would be interesting to note whether these cold snowy spells especially those later in March and in April came after SSW events. My post is about late Feb and early March, when you don't need a SSW to deliver cold and snow, just a bout of cold NW/N airstreams can do the trick - or high pressure to the NE/N/E, late season cold and snow (late March onwards) usually needs a more fundamental change in the arctic profile to manifest itself.

My classification of late season is roughly 21 March - late April. 

 

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee
3 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Yes just posted a thread on Feb 2008 and mentioned the snow in March and April 2008.

April 1989 was unusual indeed coming on the back of four very mild months. Not sure what happened there, was there a late SSW that downwelled in April. It was an odd month, as it then turned warm in May, with a run of very warm months following.

The best example is March/April 1974, that came on the back of a very mild and preety snowless winter..

Would be interesting to note whether these cold snowy spells especially those later in March and in April came after SSW events. My post is about late Feb and early March, when you don't need a SSW to deliver cold and snow, just a bout of cold NW/N airstreams can do the trick - or high pressure to the NE/N/E, late season cold and snow (late March onwards) usually needs a more fundamental change in the arctic profile to manifest itself.

My classification of late season is roughly 21 March - late April. 

 

1975 rather than1974  I think. 1974 was very warm in late March and early April. Here from Trevor Harley for 1974

"March. Average temperature overall (5.8C). It was a mainly easterly month, and was consequently dry and cloudy. There was heavy snow in the north on the 1st, and snow in the south during the 9-12th. It was unsettled midmonth. There was a sunny warm spell at the end of the month, with 20C recorded at Kinlochewe in NW Scotland on the 31st.

April. This month was very dry in northwest Scotland (!). Overall, it was the driest April of the century in Scotland as a huge anticyclone settled over the country. It was very warm early in the month, with 22C reported from several locations in the N and W on the 4th, and 22.0C at Achnashellach (Highland) on the 7th."

For 1975

"March.Famous snowy Easter. There was 15 cm of snowfall in Birmingham on Maundy Thursday, and the whole holiday saw snow cover. The cold weather persisted from the 27th into April...

April. A dull month. There were cold northerlies for the first ten days, bringing lengthy and frequent snow showers, and frost. In Birmingham there were daily snowfalls from March 27 to April 10. There was 15 cm of lying snow in places in the SE on the 9th, and 45 cm in the Scottish Highlands. There was however a warm, sunny spell later in the month, with 23C recorded in parts on the 24th."

 

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
9 minutes ago, Norrance said:

1975 rather than1974  I think. 1974 was very warm in late March and early April. Here from Trevor Harley for 1974

"March. Average temperature overall (5.8C). It was a mainly easterly month, and was consequently dry and cloudy. There was heavy snow in the north on the 1st, and snow in the south during the 9-12th. It was unsettled midmonth. There was a sunny warm spell at the end of the month, with 20C recorded at Kinlochewe in NW Scotland on the 31st.

April. This month was very dry in northwest Scotland (!). Overall, it was the driest April of the century in Scotland as a huge anticyclone settled over the country. It was very warm early in the month, with 22C reported from several locations in the N and W on the 4th, and 22.0C at Achnashellach (Highland) on the 7th."

For 1975

"March.Famous snowy Easter. There was 15 cm of snowfall in Birmingham on Maundy Thursday, and the whole holiday saw snow cover. The cold weather persisted from the 27th into April...

April. A dull month. There were cold northerlies for the first ten days, bringing lengthy and frequent snow showers, and frost. In Birmingham there were daily snowfalls from March 27 to April 10. There was 15 cm of lying snow in places in the SE on the 9th, and 45 cm in the Scottish Highlands. There was however a warm, sunny spell later in the month, with 23C recorded in parts on the 24th."

 

Yes - meant to say 1975.

 

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