Late Jan 1996 start of lengthy colder than average period

[damianslaw]

Remembering back 24 years now, after a mild two thirds to January following on from the severe cold end December, conditions changed rapidly on the 21 January 1996 as high pressure built strongly over scandi. This allowed winds to shift to the east, marking the start of a cold wintry period, with strong easterly winds. By 25th many places saw snow showers and sub-freezing maxima.

Overnight 26th and into 27th we had a decent heavy snowfall brought on unusually by easterly winds, a good 5 inches or so.

The end of the month and start of Feb brought slightly milder conditions and gentle thaw.

The 5/6 Feb brought a classic snow battleground - mentioned many a time, 18 inches of snow here, not bettered since.

The rest of the month was preety cold, further snow later on and more bitter N/NE winds. 

Spring 96 was a cold one, more snow and easterlies in March, a cold northerly in April more snow, and a very chilly easterly May - 2 degrees below norm, not had as cold a one since.

What is interesting about the colder than average spell of weather is that it came on the back of what I believe is the warmest and driest 5 month spell in history April - August 1995, correct me if I'm wrong. That also came on the back of what I think was one of the wettest 12 month spells ever. April 1995-April 1997 driest 2 year period on record I think as well.

1996 reminds me alot of 2010 in this respect, the sudden switch to cold in December 95, the dry cold theme, the end of 1996 being a toned down version of Nov/Dec 2010. A flip then occurred in 1997 just as happened in 2011 to something much wetter and milder.

Up until winter 09/10, winter 95/96 was the modern benchmark for a cold snowy winter.

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

The day when the snow didn't stop

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

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Giancarlo Rinaldi looks back on the day 20 years ago when Dumfries and Galloway experienced its deepest February snowfall on...

WHO REMEMBERS 'THE BIG SNOW' In early February 1996, south west Scotland suffered the severest winter weather for fifty years and a state of emergency was declared by the Government. Annandale and Eskdale, Nithsdale and the Stewartry were all very badly affected, with the A74(M) blocked for two days and other routes also impassable. Emergency rest centres in Moffat, Dumfries, Ecclefechan, Annan, Collin and Lockerbie offered shelter and food to over two thousand people whose journeys had been disrupted. Military helicopters and air support from Cumbria Police flew in essential supplies to villages and communities in the Stewartry and carried animal feed to farms.

M.FACEBOOK.COM

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WHO REMEMBERS 'THE BIG SNOW' In early February 1996, south west Scotland suffered the severest winter weather for fifty years and a...

 

[Frost HoIIow]

It was a great snowy period. Blackpool got around 40cm of snow back then. Pretty unusual to get 1cm there on the Fylde coast but to get this much was something else. My brother was living there at the time & he said he couldn't get his car out for 3 days.

 

[HafrenLMP1]

Wouldn't mind a time machine to be able to go back to that time.........

[trickydicky]

I put photos on here a few years ago of the snow of 6th February 1996 in West Cumbria. It was deep. We got sent home from school after lunch on the Monday and the bus got us as far as the last mile before we had to walk. The rest of the week was literally spent frolicking around in snow. I don't know exactly how deep it was, but a level 40-50cm and drifts of 4/5/6ft would be ball park. Just near the village where I grew up is a kind of little ravine running north to south. On the eastern bank a huge drift formed that was maybe 10ft tall. All the kids in the village spent the rest of the week using it as a temporary climbing wall, I even borrowed some toffee hammers to use as ice axes! I seem to recall more snow was forecast for the weekend but it ended up being rain in the west though I think the Pennines got a hammering. The drifts hung around for ages. It was a good winter, the high water mark of the winters of my childhood. 1994/95/96 have kind of all merged into one in my mind now but I seem to remember around this time a lot of snow and snow to rain events from the west. Including one blizzard that started off similar to the Feb 96 one, if not windier. I can remember I think it was a Saturday afternoon and I was out playing football as it was getting dark (on my own, such is the life of a child in a small village in Cumbria!) when it started to snow. It snowed all night until I went to bed and the wind knocked the electricity out. By morning though it had turned to rain and just the drifts were left. It was definitely a Saturday as I had Sunday school in the morning. 1995 would be my guess but if anyone can point me to a likely event that fits that description I'd be grateful. Cheers.

[snowray]

That must have been the year of the stalling frontal system, heavy snow mainly to the northwest of London, wet snow and slushy conditions in places in the far west of the UK, the front barely moved all day and eventually fizzled out in situ in the late evening, the block of dry cold air hung on in the east. I personally didn't see a single flake of snow to the SE of London and was not amused, although a friend who lived by Heathrow said that he had a slight covering of white, incredible stuff, I think Wales got a dumping too.

In fact 1996 was a good year for cold and snow, December was again very cold, I believe it was the last time that a few flakes of snow fell in the Capital and was declared an official White Christmas, there was more snow and an easterly for New Years I remember.

[snowray]

23 minutes ago, trickydicky said:

I put photos on here a few years ago of the snow of 6th February 1996 in West Cumbria. It was deep. We got sent home from school after lunch on the Monday and the bus got us as far as the last mile before we had to walk. The rest of the week was literally spent frolicking around in snow. I don't know exactly how deep it was, but a level 40-50cm and drifts of 4/5/6ft would be ball park. Just near the village where I grew up is a kind of little ravine running north to south. On the eastern bank a huge drift formed that was maybe 10ft tall. All the kids in the village spent the rest of the week using it as a temporary climbing wall, I even borrowed some toffee hammers to use as ice axes! I seem to recall more snow was forecast for the weekend but it ended up being rain in the west though I think the Pennines got a hammering. The drifts hung around for ages. It was a good winter, the high water mark of the winters of my childhood. 1994/95/96 have kind of all merged into one in my mind now but I seem to remember around this time a lot of snow and snow to rain events from the west. Including one blizzard that started off similar to the Feb 96 one, if not windier. I can remember I think it was a Saturday afternoon and I was out playing football as it was getting dark (on my own, such is the life of a child in a small village in Cumbria!) when it started to snow. It snowed all night until I went to bed and the wind knocked the electricity out. By morning though it had turned to rain and just the drifts were left. It was definitely a Saturday as I had Sunday school in the morning. 1995 would be my guess but if anyone can point me to a likely event that fits that description I'd be grateful. Cheers.

It's memories like these from childhood that are so cool, it's also the element of the unexpected, like when your out and about as a kid and everything is green and normal and by the time you get home it's become a winter wonderland.

My dad had fond memories of snowfall in his childhood, he'd often talk about one year when he was at midnight mass for Christmas and some lad said that it had started snowing, then all the boys wanted to have a look and it was all white outside the church and he said that they were all getting excited. When they went out it was all fun and games, sliding around and snowballs, halcyon days. Have no idea when this was, probably 1930's or 40's. Although he hated the snow when he was older, that's what he used to say anyway.

Edited January 21, 2020 by snowray

[trickydicky]

My mam is useful for scale in most of the photos! The 'ravine' I referred to above is in the middle distance in the second to last photo in between the houses in the background and the mine subsidence in which my cousin has dug a snowhole in the foreground. Unfortunately my dad, who took the photos, didn't get one of the large drift there.  

Edited January 21, 2020 by trickydicky

[damianslaw]

2 hours ago, trickydicky said:

I put photos on here a few years ago of the snow of 6th February 1996 in West Cumbria. It was deep. We got sent home from school after lunch on the Monday and the bus got us as far as the last mile before we had to walk. The rest of the week was literally spent frolicking around in snow. I don't know exactly how deep it was, but a level 40-50cm and drifts of 4/5/6ft would be ball park. Just near the village where I grew up is a kind of little ravine running north to south. On the eastern bank a huge drift formed that was maybe 10ft tall. All the kids in the village spent the rest of the week using it as a temporary climbing wall, I even borrowed some toffee hammers to use as ice axes! I seem to recall more snow was forecast for the weekend but it ended up being rain in the west though I think the Pennines got a hammering. The drifts hung around for ages. It was a good winter, the high water mark of the winters of my childhood. 1994/95/96 have kind of all merged into one in my mind now but I seem to remember around this time a lot of snow and snow to rain events from the west. Including one blizzard that started off similar to the Feb 96 one, if not windier. I can remember I think it was a Saturday afternoon and I was out playing football as it was getting dark (on my own, such is the life of a child in a small village in Cumbria!) when it started to snow. It snowed all night until I went to bed and the wind knocked the electricity out. By morning though it had turned to rain and just the drifts were left. It was definitely a Saturday as I had Sunday school in the morning. 1995 would be my guess but if anyone can point me to a likely event that fits that description I'd be grateful. Cheers.

Mmm will rack my memory.. we did used to get quite a few snow to rain events in the 90s.. there was a snowfall on a fri eve late Jan 95 that was gone in morning definitely a Friday though.. cant recall anything much in Feb 95. March 95 delivered some heavy snow early on and indeed I think on a sat eve.. might have been then. The snow was on and off for a week or so, thaw by day but freeze at night. A good snowy spell from a sustained polar maritime airstream

[danm]

 

[damianslaw]

Reminiscing about this spell, would love to go back to 24 years ago, for many reasons, not least the upcoming cold snowy weather. The 90's winters were a real mixed bag, full of variety up until 97/98..

89-90 very mild, persistant euro high, very wet far NW, dry elsewhere

90-91 a mixed winter, cold at times in December with the large snowfalls of 8 Dec, a coldish January lots of frost, a bitter cold first half to Feb lots of snow

91-92 - a complete yawn fest, mild generally, but with some cold anticyclonic conditions early-mid Dec and more notably latter part of Jan, barely any snow

92-93 - a mixed winter, some cold anticyclonic weather around christmas, a mild Jan and Feb lots of rain and wind

93-94 - very variable, doses of cold snowy weather interspersed with milder atlantic conditions, a decent cold snowy spell mid-late Jan, and around christmas

94-95 - exceptionally wet, nothing particularly cold, but one or two potent northerlies around new year, and tail end of Feb, also a shortlived snow event late Jan

95-96 - best of them all for cold and snow, take out the 1-20 Jan period and it was cold and very snowy

96-97 - first half notably cold at times, with snow, second half mild and very wet

97-98 - very mild, little in the way of snow or cold weather

98-99 - a slightly colder version of 97-98

Overall, 4 winters that delivered some notable cold and snowy weather of varying lengths, 4 that brought little in the way of snow and cold, 2 that brought shortlived cold at times. A mixed bag.

[A Face like Thunder]

Like Frost Hollow's brother, I was living near Blackpool at the start of February 1996 and the snow of Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th was easily the worst in my 10 years in the area. These pictures show the scene at Cleveleys on the afternoon of Feb 5th. Perhaps not as bad as W Cumbria or SW Scotland but bad by Fylde standards, and apparently the worst there since Dec 1981. I walked to work on the 6th, but by the 7th, the snow was starting to disappear as rapidly as it came, and normal winter road conditions soon prevailed.

The snow storm was unusual in that it affected a very thin line along the West coast of England, Scotland and Wales. January 1996 had been very cold and dry and I think it was a warm front (or occluded) which stalled over these parts which caused the problems. I remember looking east towards the Bowland fells (? 10 miles distance) and, unusually for the Fells, there was no snow on the tops at all. I also recall cancelling my participation in a weekend conference in Birmingham (having been previously stranded in the Dec 1990 snows) and being told that they had had no snow whatsoever. Such are the vagaries of the British weather!

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by A Face like Thunder

[damianslaw]

3 hours ago, A Face like Thunder said:

Like Frost Hollow's brother, I was living near Blackpool at the start of February 1996 and the snow of Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th was easily the worst in my 10 years in the area. These pictures show the scene at Cleveleys on the afternoon of Feb 5th. Perhaps not as bad as W Cumbria or SW Scotland but bad by Fylde standards, and apparently the worst there since Dec 1981. I walked to work on the 6th, but by the 7th, the snow was starting to disappear as rapidly as it came, and normal winter road conditions soon prevailed.

The snow storm was unusual in that it affected a very thin line along the West coast of England, Scotland and Wales. January 1996 had been very cold and dry and I think it was a warm front (or occluded) which stalled over these parts which caused the problems. I remember looking east towards the Bowland fells (? 10 miles distance) and, unusually for the Fells, there was no snow on the tops at all. I also recall cancelling my participation in a weekend conference in Birmingham (having been previously stranded in the Dec 1990 snows) and being told that they had had no snow whatsoever. Such are the vagaries of the British weather!

 

Yes it was a classic stalling battleground situation, with an occluded front grinding to a halt through SW Scotland and NW England and through west midlands. The heaviest snowfall was reserved for Dumfries and Galloway, and Cumbria and the west coast NW England next to Irish Sea. The front did move eastwards eventually but became a weaker feature and fizzled in situ, so central and eastern parts of N England didn't see much. 

We ended up with 18 inches, the snow started about 10am 5th and didn't stop until about 4pm 6th. Great timing for school children, we were all sent home Monday afternoon and didn't return until the following Monday - I can't remember if that was half term week, I think it may have been, nearly 2 weeks off..

Our heaviest snowfalls tend to come courtesy of similiar synoptics, a warm front moving into cold air, with a wind from the SE ahead of the front, when the cold air holds out, then the snow doesn't turn to rain.

Not had many synoptics like it since, most fronts have moved through quicker.

[Weather-history]

Interestingly there were three occasions when Atlantic fronts came up against a Scandi block and delivered snow in that period, one each in February, March and April.

It wasn't a snowy spring though, spring 1995 had more days with falling snow and I have to admit I prefer that spring than this one. Spring 1996 felt like endless cloud and generally chilliness. 

[damianslaw]

3 hours ago, Weather-history said:

Interestingly there were three occasions when Atlantic fronts came up against a Scandi block and delivered snow in that period, one each in February, March and April.

It wasn't a snowy spring though, spring 1995 had more days with falling snow and I have to admit I prefer that spring than this one. Spring 1996 felt like endless cloud and generally chilliness. 

Yes, Spring 95 was quite variable, March delivered a notably snowy start to northern and western parts with frequent bands of snow from the north west, later on there was a potent northerly as well, April brought a mix of chilly showery conditions and warmer settled weather, May 95 brought a real mixed bag as well, very warm early on, cold in the middle. It marked the start of a 24 month very dry period, with the atlantic blocked, and the UK exposed to more continental influences and high pressure.

Spring 96 conversely was consistently chilly, little warmth at all, March brought alot of easterlies, and another battleground snow event, with the cold winning out, ditto April did the same, May was very chilly, northerly and easterlies persisted until the end of the month. 

The period Spring 95-Jan 97 reminds me a bit of the period Spring 09- Jan 11, which saw more in the way continental influence and a blocked atlantic, 1996 and 2010 were quite similiar..

Edited January 25, 2020 by damianslaw

[Don]

The early February 1996 cold spell delivered very little to my location, which was typical of winter 1995/96 down here!  Some great photos, though.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Don

[philglossop]

Saturday 3rd February 1996, I was at the only game to survive in the whole of Devon and Cornwall football wise. Surprisingly at Tavistock FC v my team Saltash United.

 

Never been so cold in my life at a football match, it was bitterly bitingly cold. And we lost 2-1 from memory!

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, philglossop said:

Saturday 3rd February 1996, I was at the only game to survive in the whole of Devon and Cornwall football wise. Surprisingly at Tavistock FC v my team Saltash United.

 

Never been so cold in my life at a football match, it was bitterly bitingly cold. And we lost 2-1 from memory!

Seem to remember many FA up fourth round matches were postponed weekend 27/28th Jan.