The snowstorm that never happened

[A Face like Thunder]

Following the 'Great Storm' of 1987, the MO got a bit twitchy about forecasting wind events, and I recall preparing to batten down the hatches one day soon after October 1987 and getting precisely nothing in the way of wind in S London. This has also happened a few times since with yellow wind warnings although, to be fair to the MO, they did correctly forecast the gales of January 1990, December 1997 and January 2007, amongst others (all NW).

[Summer8906]

On 06/08/2020 at 06:48, Weather-history said:

Here's a Michael Fish forecast from New Year's Day 1980

and Jack Scott from the night before

 

 

Sorry for the very late reply to this.

I remember 1 January 1980 quite well, as it was the first occasion I had ever experienced a change of decade. I distinctly remember it being sunny and frosty, and this weather persisted for a couple of days before it turned wet towards the end of the week (perhaps the 3rd).

January 1980 is one of those months I have barely any memories of, though, suggesting a lack of notable weather. That year we went back to school very late indeed (January 14th) so the week of Jan 7th was a holiday week and I recall it being cloudy and dry.

Aside from that: I recall one wet Monday morning (possibly the 14th) and I think a sunny Saturday (possibly the 19th) - but no snow. 1979/80 was, along with 1983/4, the only winter I experienced no lying snow from 1978/9 to 1986/7 inclusive.

Apparently though the month was colder than average overall - but at that time I hadn't really experienced any really mild Januaries (that I can remember; I was alive in Jan 1975 but it predates my earliest memories) so it probably seemed mild!

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 26/12/2020 at 20:29, PeteB said:

I remember watching a BBC weather forecast in the early to mid 80's. Described by the forecaster as a rare blizzard, it was going to hit The Midlands down to The South coast. Overnight however the low took a last minute unexpected southern turn, leaving the mainland snowless but hitting The Channel Islands (and Northern France) with 4 foot drifts. 

Pete

Possibly around 16 Jan 1985?

I remember there was a forecast of a big snowstorm towards the end of that notable snowy spell, topping up the cover which had become a little worn by then. Unlike the weather thus far (which had come from the N) this was a low-latitude Atlantic system. However it completely missed the south and we got nothing.

Sod's law applied with the next system, overnight 20th/21st Jan (Sun/Mon). That one went too far north, and introduced milder Atlantic air and zonality for the next three weeks - but then we got a second snowy spell on around Feb 9th.

Edited February 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 25/01/2023 at 12:32, A Face like Thunder said:

Following the 'Great Storm' of 1987, the MO got a bit twitchy about forecasting wind events, and I recall preparing to batten down the hatches one day soon after October 1987 and getting precisely nothing in the way of wind in S London.

I remember there was a false alarm regarding a system around midweek in the second week of November - in fact it would have been Wednesday 11th, as I remember doing games in it and that was Wednesday. In fact, while it did get a bit windy, it was just an average November system and probably wouldn't have made named storm status these days.

[Summer8906]

On 25/01/2023 at 07:40, Weather-history said:

 

Look at the Telegraph for NE England and eastern Scotland

"Blizzards and severe drifting snow"

I do vaguely remember this one, and suggestions of cold that never happened. In fact I do remember what I was doing on Monday 25th, and it was rather chilly (at 7C or so - which was cold compared to the past three weeks!), dry and bright - and more significantly, it marked the start of the prolonged dry spell which would extend to almost the end of March.

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I do vaguely remember this one, and suggestions of cold that never happened. In fact I do remember what I was doing on Monday 25th, and it was rather chilly (at 7C or so - which was cold compared to the past three weeks!), dry and bright - and more significantly, it marked the start of the prolonged dry spell which would extend to almost the end of March.

February 80 had a notable mild period, some days recorded 15-16c but it was a cloud fest. 

[Norrance]

The worst one in my memory for here was 2nd Feb 2009. There had been heavy snow in the SE and a depression was forecast to run up the East side of the UK bringing 1 foot + of snow. An amber warning was in place for NE England and Eastern Scotland and there was talk of a rare red warning.

 There was snow on the ground already here that day with heavy graupel showers turning more to snow as the afternoon went on. The main precipitation arrived in the evening beginning as snow but soon and to our surprise turning sleety and eventually to rain. Just as it eased off the next morning it briefly turned back to snow but unfortunately the damage was done. Instead of a foot of new snow a lot of our snow cover had melted overnight. The system had unexpectedly picked up a warm sector in in the North Sea causing the temperature to rise above freezing and resulting in major disappointment for many.

[alexisj9]

On 04/08/2020 at 12:32, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

12th March 2006, snowstorm that never happened

Another one sometime in march 2013, I remember a red warning from the met, but the whole thing stayed south. A week or so later another came, with another red warning, this one did hit, but people had ignored the warning thinking it was wrong again.

[RhHh]

37 minutes ago, alexisj9 said:

Another one sometime in march 2013, I remember a red warning from the met, but the whole thing stayed south. A week or so later another came, with another red warning, this one did hit, but people had ignored the warning thinking it was wrong again.

That was March 11th 2013. We left Plumpton races near Brighton around 530pm in a blizzard, arrived home at 4am. Stuck on A23 as highways agency hadn't gritted. A great snowstorm which was fairly well forecast but if I recall had only really supposed to affect Kent and East Sussex. 

[Weather-history]

12 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

Possibly around 16 Jan 1985?

I remember there was a forecast of a big snowstorm towards the end of that notable snowy spell, topping up the cover which had become a little worn by then. Unlike the weather thus far (which had come from the N) this was a low-latitude Atlantic system. However it completely missed the south and we got nothing.

Sod's law applied with the next system, overnight 20th/21st Jan (Sun/Mon). That one went too far north, and introduced milder Atlantic air and zonality for the next three weeks - but then we got a second snowy spell on around Feb 9th.

 

 

 

[Sunny76]

1 hour ago, Weather-history said:

 

 

 

I really enjoyed this watching this. 
 

Didn’t intend to watch the whole thing, but just couldn’t stop lol. In some ways things aren’t that different from the problems we are currently experiencing.

One thing made me laugh is, when the BBC South( I think it was south, and the lady presenter on there was pleasing on the eye) ‘0c actually felt warm after all these recent temps’ or something along those lines.

We had several weeks on and off this winter with daytime temps of 0-3c which felt positively cold, but in January 85 it was probably -1 to -3 for a number of days despite the lack of snowfall in places.

My office secretaries would perish if they experienced those temps lol. 

[Summer8906]

13 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

February 80 had a notable mild period, some days recorded 15-16c but it was a cloud fest. 

Sorry for the confusion, the above referred to 1993.

Back to 1980, though, and looking at wetterzentrale it does appear that January 1980 was synoptically a good month, with frequent N-lies and E-lies, occasional transient frontal systems, and anticyclonic interludes. Surprising perhaps that there wasn't more snow - but not surprising it ended up cold overall.

Synoptically reminds me rather of early 2001, in the sense that the cold weather eventually broke down (round the 28th) and then there was a spell of low-latitude frontal systems delivering (doubtless) huge amounts of rain and mild temperatures to the south, while Scotland remained in the cold air.

What is surprising though is how I barely remember any of it, with just a few memories scattered around.

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Summer8906

[Sunny76]

14 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Sorry for the confusion, the above referred to 1993.

Oh I thought you were talking about winter 79/80. My bad lol.

[Summer8906]

Just now, Sunny76 said:

Oh I thought you were talking about winter 79/80. My bad lol.

 

No worries - several years came up on here!

I have edited my post to comment on 1980, though, having just looked it up on wetterzentrale.