The snowstorm that never happened

[I remember Atlantic 252]

horrid this one not a sausage, snowfest was promised

[SqueakheartLW]

On 10/10/2020 at 23:27, Don said:

Yes, very disappointing indeed.....  I think the south coast managed to have a taster of the event but most of the snow stayed in the channel.  What a waste, apart from the channel islands!! 

On the plus side it was one of the coldest daytime March maxes on record on the 11th

[damianslaw]

On 10/10/2020 at 23:27, Don said:

Yes, very disappointing indeed.....  I think the south coast managed to have a taster of the event but most of the snow stayed in the channel.  What a waste, apart from the channel islands!! 

Remember having an ice day, and about an inch of snow, good going for 11 March. 

[damianslaw]

On 12/10/2020 at 20:17, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

horrid this one not a sausage, snowfest was promised

This brought best pre-Christmas synoptics for snow since probably 1981, here at least. Continuous Irish Sea streamers, 7 inches by morning of 22 December. About 3 inches from above during afternoon, further 4 inches late afternoon and evening on 21 with thundersnow. The snow stuck around until Boxing Day which brought a thaw of sorts, but then everything turned ice hard, cold held through until New Year then more snow.. a superb cold snowy spell.

[Weather-history]

On 12/10/2020 at 20:17, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

horrid this one not a sausage, snowfest was promised

Too much of a westerly component to the wind for your area

 

[Weather-history]

7 hours ago, damianslaw said:

This brought best pre-Christmas synoptics for snow since probably 1981, here at least. Continuous Irish Sea streamers, 7 inches by morning of 22 December. About 3 inches from above during afternoon, further 4 inches late afternoon and evening on 21 with thundersnow. The snow stuck around until Boxing Day which brought a thaw of sorts, but then everything turned ice hard, cold held through until New Year then more snow.. a superb cold snowy spell.

That was the snowiest the final week to Christmas Day I lived through although the following year was the coldest.  I wasn't here in 1981 but I suspect it was snowier than this in terms of falling snow rather than snow already on the ground. 

Snow fell on 17th, 19th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd December.  The morning of 22nd December was great

Snow on the 19th December

 

[Weather-history]

7 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Remember having an ice day, and about an inch of snow, good going for 11 March. 

The skies were dramatic that day. There was brilliant blue skies and sunshine and then you would see a huge black cloud coming toward syou and next minute it was billowing down and visibilty dropped. 

 

[Don]

11 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Remember having an ice day, and about an inch of snow, good going for 11 March. 

Yes, March 2013 was exceptional!

[Summer of 95]

On 12/10/2020 at 20:17, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

horrid this one not a sausage, snowfest was promised

That was the one when it rained here despite being forecast as snow, falling as snow 40 miles north, south, east and west of here, and having been cold enough for snow but bone dry for over a week. Man do still I hate winter 2009/10 and any mention of it being remotely snowy "in/across the UK". 

The other one here was 4th Feb 2012, the day of rain which started with the temperature -1C and amid forecasts of 10cm+ of snow. At the height of that cold spell that froze virtually all of Europe solid, the one when it snowed in Manchester, Birmingham, London and, er, Rome- it rained in Shrewsbury. 

December 2017 though that was our turn....

 

[Thundery wintry showers]

I remember late November/early December 2010, when I was in Norwich and there were snow showers on and off from 25-29 November giving a combined covering of about 8cm, but nothing compared with South Tyneside, where my parents were, where snow depths approached 20cm by the end of the period and there was thundersnow on 28 and 29 November and also some quite large hail accompanying the thunderstorm early on the 29th.  With winds set to veer easterly rather than northerly, I rather fancied Norwich's chances of getting a similar dumping (as it did for instance in late February 2018).

But no, there was a slightly warmer pool of air came in overnight 29/30 November resulting in a thaw and refreeze, and on 30 November and 1 & 2 December Norwich was dry bar occasional light flurries, with about 5cm of compacted ice on the ground and lines of snow showers to the north and south.  With each run of the GFS, the snow showers over the Wash were forecast to come south to Norwich by T+18, but they never did.

Some places further west missed out altogether because they were too far west to catch the snow showers that Norwich got on 25-29 November and then lay in the "dry corridor" downwind of Norwich on 30 November and 1/2 December.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Thundery wintry showers

[I remember Atlantic 252]

16 hours ago, Summer of 95 said:

That was the one when it rained here despite being forecast as snow, falling as snow 40 miles north, south, east and west of here, and having been cold enough for snow but bone dry for over a week. Man do still I hate winter 2009/10 and any mention of it being remotely snowy "in/across the UK". 

The other one here was 4th Feb 2012, the day of rain which started with the temperature -1C and amid forecasts of 10cm+ of snow. At the height of that cold spell that froze virtually all of Europe solid, the one when it snowed in Manchester, Birmingham, London and, er, Rome- it rained in Shrewsbury. 

December 2017 though that was our turn....

 

20 Dec 2009, no rain missed everything, Feb 4th 2012 delivered here around 6cms not bad, dec '17 15cms or so from 10th Dec slider

[booferking]

Last year these charts produced the following images below. Talk about being borderline or what but boy did it produce and I'm at relatively low ground in mid Ulster.

Edited October 19, 2020 by booferking

[I remember Atlantic 252]

bad spell here, 2 misses, the 24th, and again Thurs 27th

[damianslaw]

5 hours ago, booferking said:

Last year these charts produced the following images below. Talk about being borderline or what but boy did it produce and I'm at relatively low ground in mid Ulster.

2nd of only two snowfalls that gave a meaningful cover of snow here all winter. Managed 3 inches out if it, all gone by mid afternoon.. The other snowfall came on the 14th or 15th Dec in the morning that was just a cm and again went in the afternoon. 

[damianslaw]

20 hours ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

I remember late November/early December 2010, when I was in Norwich and there were snow showers on and off from 25-29 November giving a combined covering of about 8cm, but nothing compared with South Tyneside, where my parents were, where snow depths approached 20cm by the end of the period and there was thundersnow on 28 and 29 November and also some quite large hail accompanying the thunderstorm early on the 29th.  With winds set to veer easterly rather than northerly, I rather fancied Norwich's chances of getting a similar dumping (as it did for instance in late February 2018).

But no, there was a slightly warmer pool of air came in overnight 29/30 November resulting in a thaw and refreeze, and on 30 November and 1 & 2 December Norwich was dry bar occasional light flurries, with about 5cm of compacted ice on the ground and lines of snow showers to the north and south.  With each run of the GFS, the snow showers over the Wash were forecast to come south to Norwich by T+18, but they never did.

Some places further west missed out altogether because they were too far west to catch the snow showers that Norwich got on 25-29 November and then lay in the "dry corridor" downwind of Norwich on 30 November and 1/2 December.

We were on the edge of the snow showers in late Nov 2010. We managed about 2cm overnight 27/28th. Thereafter we had alot of snow in the air but it never really produced much, a further 1 or 2cms on both 29th and 30th. Not much further east towards Tebay the snow was much thicker and much of East Cumbria received a few inches and drifting. It was exceptionally cold though, number of nights around -10 degrees and maxima at or below 0 degrees.

[Weather-history]

Not a snowstorm but this was a shocker of a forecast and a kick in the teeth especially after almost 2 years of hardly any snow

24th January 1993 suggest a short wintry blast and it looked good, Ian McCaskill seemed confident. I remember even Granada issuing a severe weather warning for snow that Sunday evening.  Next morning, nothing. at most it was a few wintry showers, I don't recall even seeing any lying snow on the Pennines. 

What a letdown and a forecasting bust

 

Edited October 20, 2020 by Weather-history

[I remember Atlantic 252]

not really a snowy setup. looking at pressure charts (wish bbc weather was still like this/worth watching)

although 27 years ago more likely to produce snow than if we had this setup now, would be just rain on low ground

[SqueakheartLW]

On 19/10/2020 at 02:36, Thundery wintry showers said:

I remember late November/early December 2010, when I was in Norwich and there were snow showers on and off from 25-29 November giving a combined covering of about 8cm, but nothing compared with South Tyneside, where my parents were, where snow depths approached 20cm by the end of the period and there was thundersnow on 28 and 29 November and also some quite large hail accompanying the thunderstorm early on the 29th.  With winds set to veer easterly rather than northerly, I rather fancied Norwich's chances of getting a similar dumping (as it did for instance in late February 2018).

But no, there was a slightly warmer pool of air came in overnight 29/30 November resulting in a thaw and refreeze, and on 30 November and 1 & 2 December Norwich was dry bar occasional light flurries, with about 5cm of compacted ice on the ground and lines of snow showers to the north and south.  With each run of the GFS, the snow showers over the Wash were forecast to come south to Norwich by T+18, but they never did.

Some places further west missed out altogether because they were too far west to catch the snow showers that Norwich got on 25-29 November and then lay in the "dry corridor" downwind of Norwich on 30 November and 1/2 December.

That forecast for a band of snow overnight 29th into 30th November 2010 was a big bust for all I think. Never saw what actually happened overnight but had heard it had rained instead of snowed and there was no sign of any lying snow from the couple of days before this. Made up for it big time the following night however

Overnight 30th November 2010 into 1st December 2010 got stuck under a big snow streamer that just kept coming in off the North Sea all night long into Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and some of East Yorkshire. Ended up with over 40cm's by the morning of the 1st December 2010. Never seen so much snow on the ground in my entire life and never seen anything like this amount since

Saw the forecasts and did see the snow in SE England that stretched somewhat towards the SW. Then the dry zone roughly between the M4 and the S Midlands before the snow shower zone from the N Midlands northwards right up to E Scotland. I would say those in that dry zone were very unlucky during that cold spell

[Thundery wintry showers]

On 20/10/2020 at 05:38, Weather-history said:

Not a snowstorm but this was a shocker of a forecast and a kick in the teeth especially after almost 2 years of hardly any snow

24th January 1993 suggest a short wintry blast and it looked good, Ian McCaskill seemed confident. I remember even Granada issuing a severe weather warning for snow that Sunday evening.  Next morning, nothing. at most it was a few wintry showers, I don't recall even seeing any lying snow on the Pennines. 

What a letdown and a forecasting bust

 

These days we'd be able to check out the 850hPa temperatures and deduce that in that kind of setup it looked somewhat more marginal than the BBC forecast suggested:

In those days we didn't have access to that kind of information.

[Weather-history]

The breakdown of the very cold last week of December 1995 was a huge disappintment, I know a few area did get snow from it and it snowed here although not a lot but it was nowhere near the snowy breakdown it ought to have been.

Peter Cockcroft in one of his forecasts suggested  a very small chance of freezing rain, infact, a lot of places it was just freezing rain

It all looked so good, very cold air in place, the weather forecasts suggest a snowy breakdown

Suzanne Charlton admits that less snow occurred than expected

 

 

Don't recall many snowy breakdowns of cold spells during the 1990s here

Edited October 25, 2020 by Weather-history

[damianslaw]

Re: post above. Yes was looking a good event, from memory I don't recall much snow at all. Indeed we may have seen a wintry snowy freezing rain mix. There was little snow on the ground prior to the event despite the freezing conditions. The cold was quickly ushered away by New Year Day.

An almost carbon copy event happened New Years Eve 2000, after a few days of freezing weather a snowy breakdown was forecast. On that occasion we did get some snow but it was very wet and everything was thawing quickly, it was a memorable New Year, lots of snow ball throwing. Again the cold ebbed away on New Year Day.

Other notable wintry New Year Eve and Days happened:

1994/95 Snow showers on arctic airstream on the back if a very mild month

1996/97 heavy snow showers and blizzards

2001/2002 Freezing conditions, snow on the ground

2003/2004 I think there was snow New Year Day

2008/2009 Freezing conditions snow showers

2009/2010 Freezing with snow showers 

Since though we've had an exceptionally long run if very mild or just average snowless New Year periods

 

[Weather-history]

The New Years Eve 2000 breakdown was very disappointing. Wet snow at best here

The January 1997 cold spell breakdown was a big disappointment 

 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

2000 event, big thaw on Jan 1st 2001

[Don]

6 hours ago, Weather-history said:

The New Years Eve 2000 breakdown was very disappointing. Wet snow at best here

The January 1997 cold spell breakdown was a big disappointment 

 

The January 1997 cold spell was a disappointment full stop IMBY with next to no snow at all.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

don't make February's of old anymore, used to be a snowy month, Feb '78 from 7th to 19th looked snowy, but suppose normal back then