Remembering a cold northerly shot early October

[Thundery wintry showers]

On 24/09/2020 at 16:37, NorthernRab said:

No I think it was earlier than that. It stood out for how early it was and sleet in late October here wouldn't be particularly notable. 

It was probably 4 October 2003.  I think there was indeed sleet and wet snow locally to low levels from that, especially in northern Scotland.

There was also a northerly on 22/23 September 2003 which brought unusually early lasting snow cover to the tops of the Scottish mountains as documented in the Scottish snow patch survey in Weather.  I don't think it was cold enough for sleet at low levels though. 

The northerly of 3 October 1994 was quite similar but overall more potent.  I recall earlier discussions about it when there were reports of wet snow to near sea level in Aberdeen and down to about 200-300m over the Peak District.  The following night had a notably widespread frost for this early in the season.  I remember also seeing a paper in Weather where 3 October 1994 was very high in the Durham list of standardised low max temperature anomalies (max of around 8C).

Having grown up in the Tyne and Wear area, to my knowledge in that area of the country the only three Octobers with sleet and wet snow to near sea level in that region were 1992, 2012 and 2018.  The region tends to be warmed too much by the North Sea for it to snow in October, and 30 October 2000 was a good example of this, which had "cold rain" and 3-4C within about ten miles of the coast.  But the northerly of 15-17 October 1992 was cold enough to deliver wintry showers to near sea level in the Tyne and Wear area, as were those of 26/27 October 2012 and 27 October 2018.  I remember seeing snow and low visibility on the Durham webcam early on 27 October 2018 while the Durham weather observatory reported a temperature of 1.1C. 

I was in the Vale of York in the October 2012 event and had snow showers there, which gave a dusting on the ground for a time though most of it had gone by 0900 on the 27th.  I think it also snowed there on 30 October 2000, having seen a paper in Weather about Leeming reporting snow that day.

Also, I think I saw some sleet mixed with rain late on 27 October 2018 here in Exeter (though I am not 100% sure), particularly remarkable this close to the English Riviera, when the hourly temperature reports from Exeter Airport showed a drop from 7C to 3C.  There was lying snow over Dartmoor that day above about 300m.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Thundery wintry showers

[emmett garland]

Early October 2003 we had thunderstorms in the late afternoon and the western suburb of blanchardstown in Dublin had heavy wet snow that stuck to the grass and cars,   I had never heard of settling snow so early before.

[BruenSryan]

8 minutes ago, emmett garland said:

Early October 2003 we had thunderstorms in the late afternoon and the western suburb of blanchardstown in Dublin had heavy wet snow that stuck to the grass and cars,   I had never heard of settling snow so early before.

You're thinking of 22 October that year. I was too young to have any recollections of it but it seriously must have been amazing to witness.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2013/1022/481962-thunderstorms-in-dublin/

[SummerShower]

1st weekend of October 1998, very cold and raw in the south/Midlands.  Felt like many a winter day.  Went on to be a very wet, Atlantic driven month after that.

[damianslaw]

14 hours ago, Weather-history said:

That was a cold October. The words "cool" and "cold" featured often in my diary entries for that month. Remember seeing snow cover on the Pennines at the back end of that month. Mentioned snow, 3 times on 24th, 25th and 28th October falling on parts of the Pennines, Cumbria, Derbyshire and Staffordshire hills.

 

Yes remember many a cold day that month, sometimes with rain, sometimes with frost, and sometimes with wintry precipitation. 

[Weather-history]

10 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Yes remember many a cold day that month, sometimes with rain, sometimes with frost, and sometimes with wintry precipitation. 

Second half of that October, Manchester Airport only got into double digits, temperature wise, just once and that was only 10.3C.

That was persistent cold but the following October of 1993, that was real sharp potent cold snap mid month. Remember that Sunday morning, how cold it was, everything covered in a white hoar frost. That was a severe frost for the time of year. 

[damianslaw]

33 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Second half of that October, Manchester Airport only got into double digits, temperature wise, just once and that was only 10.3C.

That was persistent cold but the following October of 1993, that was real sharp potent cold snap mid month. Remember that Sunday morning, how cold it was, everything covered in a white hoar frost. That was a severe frost for the time of year. 

Yes I think Shap got down close to -10 degrees in mid October 93, pretty exceptional. We had a week of wintry showers and frosts, temps in the single digits. As you say the cold was not as persistent in 93 compared to 92. I don't recall Nov 92 being particularly cold, indeed suspect it ended up very close to the Oct 92 values.

Nov 93 however, delivered a very cold spell later in the month with easterlies. Interesting back to back autumns, both years featured cold Septembers. 

[SqueakheartLW]

On 27/09/2020 at 14:47, Thundery wintry showers said:

There was also a northerly on 22/23 September 2003 which brought unusually early lasting snow cover to the tops of the Scottish mountains as documented in the Scottish snow patch survey in Weather.  I don't think it was cold enough for sleet at low levels though.

I remember this day so well and the big change that came on the 22nd. The temperature swing was large from the morning to the afternoon

22nd September 00.00

22nd September 12.00

23rd September 00.00

The cold front got to my location at around 12pm on the 22nd. Was outdoors at the time and got caught out as I hadn't seen the weather forecast for this day and the promising pleasant warm start meant I went out with no coat or jumper on. Suited me just fine in the morning till that cold front arrived out of the blue.

Was a strange cold front with clear blue skies right up till the squall line. I remember the colder air slamming into me like a wave and how much different the day was after this. I was feeling quite cold for the rest of the day when outdoors

When I saw the forecast later on there had been reports of funnel clouds and mini tornados along that squall line and apparently the temperature drop from one side of the front to the other was around 10C. Went from low 20C's to low double digits within a couple of hours

I do feel this event was a teaser to the winter pattern to come in winter 2003/04 as that one although generally mild did feature several northerly blasts with some snow in each of them right from December 2003 up to early March 2004

 

[damianslaw]

6 hours ago, SqueakheartLW said:

I remember this day so well and the big change that came on the 22nd. The temperature swing was large from the morning to the afternoon

22nd September 00.00

22nd September 12.00

23rd September 00.00

The cold front got to my location at around 12pm on the 22nd. Was outdoors at the time and got caught out as I hadn't seen the weather forecast for this day and the promising pleasant warm start meant I went out with no coat or jumper on. Suited me just fine in the morning till that cold front arrived out of the blue.

Was a strange cold front with clear blue skies right up till the squall line. I remember the colder air slamming into me like a wave and how much different the day was after this. I was feeling quite cold for the rest of the day when outdoors

When I saw the forecast later on there had been reports of funnel clouds and mini tornados along that squall line and apparently the temperature drop from one side of the front to the other was around 10C. Went from low 20C's to low double digits within a couple of hours

I do feel this event was a teaser to the winter pattern to come in winter 2003/04 as that one although generally mild did feature several northerly blasts with some snow in each of them right from December 2003 up to early March 2004

 

I don't have any recollection of the above. October 2003 was a cool one though. The early-mid 00s brought a number of northerly shots in winter, Dec 00, Feb 01, March 01, late Dec 01, Jan 03, winter 03/04, March 04 and Nov 04. Indeed most of our cold weather in the milder period of 97-08 came almost exclusively from arctic northerlies, with only the odd easterly outbreak (Dec 97 a tame affair, late winter 00/01, Feb/Mar 05).

Back to topic, anyone have the CET value for Nov 92 compare to Oct 92?

Will start a new thread cold and snow in October I think.

[Weather-history]

8 hours ago, damianslaw said:

 

Back to topic, anyone have the CET value for Nov 92 compare to Oct 92?

 

Oct 92: 7.8

Nov 92: 7.4

 

[damianslaw]

2 hours ago, Weather-history said:

Oct 92: 7.8

Nov 92: 7.4

 

Ok thanks, close then. Are there any examples of November being warmer than preceding October, I doubt it. 

[Weather-history]

4 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Ok thanks, close then. Are there any examples of November being warmer than preceding October, I doubt it. 

Yes

The famous one is 1939 because it preceded the great winter of 1939-40, Oct 39: 8.2, Nov 39: 8.7