Festive weather memories

[Weather-history]

Don't remember much about the weather for Christmas 1984

I do remember it turn colder after Christmas Day 1985, it was really bitter that weekend between Christmas and New Year, really sharp frosts and there was snow on the Monday before New Year but it turned wet and mild for a short time around New Year

1986: it turned briefly cold just before Christmas, remember wintry showers that last friday before Christmas but the festive period was unsettled

1987: That was mild, Christmas Day was very mild

1988: That was even milder than the previous year, really mild festive period

1989: That was a quiet festive period, don't remember much happening on the day itself

1990: Stormy, forecasts said wintry showers between after the fronts moved through but don't remember much wintriness.

1991: quiet 

1992: cold, remember the frost and the fog on Christmas Day

1993: first time I saw falling snow on Christmas Day, also unexpected snow on New Year's eve night that left a covering

1994: I remember the building excitement of a possible cold blast around New Year. It was unsettled up to New Year, saw snow on New Year's eve and day

1995: Memorable, slight dusting for Christmas Day, beautiful, then the intense cold up to New Year but what a disappointment the breakdown was here,

1996: Christmas Day was quiet but excitement on possible snow late Boxing Day. It snowed that evening with a dusting but it turned to rain during early hours. It was icy next morning. Snow showers came through on the Monday but it was New Year's eve that they became frequent and it was a snowy bringing into 1997

1997: hell of a gale that Christmas evening. The mess it left Christmas Day, it was mild and unsettled festive season

1998: Remain heavy rain on Christmas day and then there was the Boxing Day gale that evening. 

1999: Strange one, it was very mild Christmas Eve but for Christmas Day, it was cold enough for sleet and wet snow. Frustrating, slightly colder uppers and it could have been a wintry festive period. The bringing in of 2000 was very quiet weatherwise

2000: Snow flurries on Christmas Day, dry day on Boxing Day but them came the brief period of heavy snow, left a winter wonderland up to New Year's eve, the breakdown was a huge disappointment here

2001: Strange one, alternated between cold and mild. Snow on Boxing Day and the Saturday before New Year to leave  a white New Year

2002: mild and pretty forgettable

2003: mild but turned colder before New Year. Sleet fell here New Year's eve evening

2004: White Christmas, snow showers that evening left a covering but it soon turned unsettled again before New Year

2005: cold, odd snow flurry. Did get snow for a time as the breakdown moved in but it was mostly cold rain

2006: not a lot and it turned unsettled.

2007: Christmas Day was calm but it was unsettled. The interest was on what was going to happen straight after the New Year

2008: Calm, New Year's eve was frosty and foggy with snow precipitating leaving beautiful rime on trees for New Year's day

2009: Christmas Day was lovely and white but the period between Christmas Day and New Year was probably the worst period in that period, it was the least wintry. 

2010: Christmas Day was lovely and white but day after Boxing Day came the thaw. Disappointing run p to Christmas

2011: very mild Christmas day unsettled

2012: showery Christmas Day and it was unsettled

2013: oddly, it was one of the coolest periods in that godawful "winter", we even managed to have a frost! 

2014: Boxing Day snow that evening. Rain turned to snow and snow lay on the ground more or less up to New Year

2015: awful, Boxing Day thankfully wasn't as bad as it was further north

2016, 2017, 2018, 2019: forgetable weather wise. There was a brief time just after Christmas day 2017 when rain turned to heavy wet snow briefly. 

 

[Eagle Eye]

2012-A massive snowday meant I got stuck at home. 

2018-Only other memory of notice, snowed for a whole week, school was called off. 

[SummerShower]

I'd say I've never experienced a proper hardcore white Christmas but certain years have been more festive than others.

1993 we had a dusting during the morning but it quickly went.

1995 it didnt snow down here but the cold on the day made it 'feel' like it should

1996 we had a snow shower early am but it melted during the day

2009 and 2010 had snow on the ground but none fell during the day

On the other end of the spectrum, as a kid I was fascinated, but also a bit scared of wind storms.  1990 I recall huge gusts of wind in the morning while opening presents, and then another pasting from the wind on boxing day pm.  

I loved the wind storm 2 days before xmas 2013 though

[jethro]

I can't comment on the numerous years above, really can't remember details like that but the one that will always stick in my memory is 1981/82. It was amazing!

I was still living at home in the Cotswolds then, the run up to Christmas had produced deep snow, huge drifts and bone numbingly low temperatures, I think the lowest England temp was recorded that year and think it stood until 2010?  It was somewhere in Shropshire, if memory serves correctly?

The drifts were huge, towering well above me (at 5ft 7), we were cut off for a few days before the efforts from local farmers cleared the roads. And then the temperatures dropped, everything froze solid for what felt like weeks on end. Frozen pipes are not unusual in cold weather but that's the one and only time I've known bathwater to freeze in the pipes as it drained away. The only way of getting a diesel vehicle started was to put a camping stove underneath it, the cold making the diesel too viscous to fire into action. In common with most folk then, we lived in a house with no double glazing, no central heating, just a coal fire in the sitting room. Our loft had the barest sprinkling of vermiculite as insulation and no lagging on the pipes, my Mother bless her was more concerned about the pipes freezing than us, so the loft hatch was opened to let the heat up there. Coats indoors, as well as outside were de rigour that winter.

As for festive, well it wasn't technically a white Christmas because no snow fell on the day, but it was most definitely deep and crisp and even. I was a young farmer back then, as a club we were always booked for rounds of Carol singing at various big houses, it was a charity fund raising thing and the only way we could do it that Christmas Eve was on cross country skis. The night always ended with a very tipsy Midnight Mass in the local church, I'll forever remember the sight of endless pairs of skis stood up all around the walls outside with deep, deep snow on the ground.  Great Tew looking like it had been transported to the Alps.

Heaven:-)

[Sunny76]

Christmas Day 1987 in London.

My memories of the day were: 

A clear sunny day, but to an 11 year old it didn’t really bother me either way. I had experienced the snow of January 1987, but never really remembered snow at Christmas time.

The family were moaning about how warm or ‘very mild and unusual it felt’ due to the clear sunny skies. We had the balcony door open.

I remember sitting down to watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which was big family movie for 1987.

Pet Shop Boys was Christmas number 1. 

[Summer18]

Quite difficult because there’s been so many Christmas borefests they merge into one, I’ll try my best though!

I remember snow falling on Christmas Day 1999, it didn’t settle though. 2004 we woke to a covering and we had a few snow showers throughout. 2009 & 2010 we had snow on the ground and the days were freezing but we had no falling snow. 

2000, 2001, 2003,  2005, 2008, 2014 & 2017 all had snow in the Christmas period but none fell on the day itself.

Worst years for festive weather I remember being 2002 (exceptionally mild and wet) and 2015 for the same reason but even more wet.

2011 & 2016 were really mild, but at least I remember 2011 being sunny on Christmas Day which seems rare! 

The rest I was too young to remember properly or were so boring wetaher wise I can’t remember them (even last year!)

[Sunny76]

Actually, to be fair, the 2000s and 2010s did contain some cold Christmas periods, also the 1990s had quite a few chilly ones.

1992, 93, 95, and 96 were all cold or very cold. 2000, although I wasn’t in the country then, was a cold one, also 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009 were either cold or chilly.

2010, was a very cold and snowy Christmas period, prior to the actual day it was snowing. 
 

Since then, I would class 2014, and 17 close to average Christmas type weather, and while 2019 wasn’t anything special, it was at least a dry sunny and chilly one in London. 
 

The rest have been dull and grey affairs, but in all honesty, If I can’t have a cold snowy, or cold dry Christmas, the next best thing is a damp one. I wouldn’t want to have an Australian or Southern Hemisphere type Christmas.

I guess it depends on the person.

[danm]

Christmas Day has always been a bit of a disappointment in London in terms of lying or falling snow. The heavy snow from mid December 2010 melted before Christmas Day although the day itself was very cold and didn’t get above freezing. Christmas Day 2009 was also quite cold and we had a few patches of lying snow remaining from earlier in the month. Other than that the only other Christmas that I can remember, having been born in 1986, which were festive is 1996 which was dry, cloudy and cold. We had snow on the 28th and then a freezing New Year and early Jan 97. 1995 was also quite cold.

Edited December 13, 2020 by danm

[Sunny76]

8 minutes ago, danm said:

Christmas Day has always been a bit of a disappointment in London in terms of lying or falling snow. The heavy snow from mid December 2010 melted before Christmas Day although the day itself was very cold and didn’t get above freezing. Christmas Day 2009 was also quite cold and we had a few patches of lying snow remaining from earlier in the month. Other than that the only other Christmas that I can remember, having been born in 1986, which were festive is 1996 which was dry, cloudy and cold. We had snow on the 28th and then a freezing New Year and early Jan 97. 1995 was also quite cold.

I think only 1970 and 1981 had lying snow on the ground in London. 2010 was very cold though.

[Sunny76]

Even back in 1983 it was very mild

 

[A Face like Thunder]

Thanks very much Weather-history, your post has brought back many memories for me. Being an 'old git', may I take you further back with some personal memories of my own (London & SE):

1961 - snow fell heavily on 28th December and lasted into the New Year. 

1962 - snow fell heavily on the evening of Boxing Day and the rest of the winter of 1962/3 was history in the making.

1964 - a slight White Christmas with slushy snow which settled.

1966 - a beautiful sunny Christmas Day, with blue skies from dawn to dusk.

1968 - as per 1964.

1970 - a memorable Christmas. Snow began shortly after midnight on Christmas Day and by 1am was thick on the ground, causing disruption to those trying to get home from parties and midnight mass. Snow on the ground lasted for a few days.

1978 - snow fell heavily on 30th December and  heralded a long and hard winter, and not just from the point of view of the weather.

1981 - snow lay deep and crisp and even on Christmas Day (and after) in what was to be the snowiest December of the twentieth century, but according to the 'experts', this was not actually a 'White Christmas' because not a flake of snow fell on the MO roof that day. 

1987 - the 'warmest' Christmas I've known, with cricket on the lawn rather the hoped-for snowball fight!

I moved north in 1989, but recall Christmas 1990 (stormy), 1992 (cold), 1995 (intense cold in the run up to New Year), 1997 (gale) and of course snow on Christmas Day in 2009 and 2010.

Thanks again Weather-history.

  

 

 

[Sunny76]

18 minutes ago, A Face like Thunder said:

Thanks very much Weather-history, your post has brought back many memories for me. Being an 'old git', may I take you further back with some personal memories of my own (London & SE):

1961 - snow fell heavily on 28th December and lasted into the New Year. 

1962 - snow fell heavily on the evening of Boxing Day and the rest of the winter of 1962/3 was history in the making.

1964 - a slight White Christmas with slushy snow which settled.

1966 - a beautiful sunny Christmas Day, with blue skies from dawn to dusk.

1968 - as per 1964.

1970 - a memorable Christmas. Snow began shortly after midnight on Christmas Day and by 1am was thick on the ground, causing disruption to those trying to get home from parties and midnight mass. Snow on the ground lasted for a few days.

1978 - snow fell heavily on 30th December and  heralded a long and hard winter, and not just from the point of view of the weather.

1981 - snow lay deep and crisp and even on Christmas Day (and after) in what was to be the snowiest December of the twentieth century, but according to the 'experts', this was not actually a 'White Christmas' because not a flake of snow fell on the MO roof that day. 

1987 - the 'warmest' Christmas I've known, with cricket on the lawn rather the hoped-for snowball fight!

I moved north in 1989, but recall Christmas 1990 (stormy), 1992 (cold), 1995 (intense cold in the run up to New Year), 1997 (gale) and of course snow on Christmas Day in 2009 and 2010.

Thanks again Weather-history.

  

 

 

Whereabouts were you during Christmas 1987?

London had wall to wall sunshine. It felt like a summers day. But being an 11 year old at the time, the gap in time can distort what actually happened on the day, so I don’t remember every aspect of that day. Just recall the lunchtime period being sunny and mild.

What was Christmas 79 and 80 like?

[A Face like Thunder]

1 hour ago, Sunny76 said:

Whereabouts were you during Christmas 1987?

London had wall to wall sunshine. It felt like a summers day. But being an 11 year old at the time, the gap in time can distort what actually happened on the day, so I don’t remember every aspect of that day. Just recall the lunchtime period being sunny and mild.

What was Christmas 79 and 80 like?

South London / Surrey borders close to the North Downs. My nephew and niece were over from South Africa Christmas 1987 and were so looking forward to real snow (for the first time in their lives) on Christmas Day. The reality was alas - as you say - the exact opposite but we enjoyed the England v South Africa cricket test on my parents' back lawn!

I don't remember much about Christmas 1979 and 1980, other than it was very very wet when I celebrated my 'big-0' birthday a couple of days after CD 1979! 

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, A Face like Thunder said:

South London / Surrey borders close to the North Downs. My nephew and niece were over from South Africa Christmas 1987 and were so looking forward to real snow (for the first time in their lives) on Christmas Day. The reality was alas - as you say - the exact opposite but we enjoyed the England v South Africa cricket test on my parents' back lawn!

I don't remember much about Christmas 1979 and 1980, other than it was very very wet when I celebrated my 'big-0' birthday a couple of days after CD 1979! 

Sounds like a good Christmas all in all though. 
 

The airmass must have been from North Africa during that Christmas period. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

I spent every Christmas from 1993-2011 in South Tyneside, where they went as follows:

1993 - snow showers came in off the North Sea on Christmas Day and gave a covering of a centimetre or two by around 4pm.  Don't remember what happened between then and the New Year but the snow might well have melted the following night as the north-easterly picked up off the North Sea.

1994 - dry, cloudy and mild following a cold bright frosty run up to Christmas.  Northerlies set in on New Year's Eve giving snow showers that didn't settle.  A trough moved through around mid-morning on New Year's Day giving a dusting on the ground, but my vague recollections of the event suggest that it may have then melted in the sun despite temperatures near freezing.

1995 - 2-3cm of snow on Christmas Eve from a polar low, and then frequent snow showers from northerlies on Christmas Day taking us to nearer 7-8cm.  Fewer snow showers on Boxing Day.  Exceptionally cold weather followed, daytime temperatures of around -4C in freezing fog on the 29th, but a thaw on the 30th/31st.

1996 - Wintry showers on the 23rd-25th but nothing lying.  Frontal snow on the night of the 26th/27th, followed by sleety showers and a thaw.  A colder easterly brought frequent snow showers and a few centimetres on the ground on the 30th/31st December.

1997 - Wet and windy around Christmas and through to New Year.

1998 - Again wet and windy.  Cold snap brought brief dustings on 20/21 December.  

1999 - Rain showers on Christmas Day unexpectedly turned to sleet and wet snow.  Otherwise mostly bright and frosty over the following few days, mild New Year.

2000 - Memorable post-Christmas cold spell.  Sleet showers on Christmas Eve, dry sunny Christmas Day, snow showers early on Boxing Day gave a covering.  Missed the general area of snow associated with the polar low on 28th, but made up for it with heavy east-coast snow showers and one clap of thunder early on 29th.  Sleety breakdown on 31st.

2001 - Snow showers and lying snow on 22nd/23rd and 30th December.  One snow shower early on Christmas Day but nothing lying.  A sunny, frosty New Year with snow on the ground.

2002 - Generally a very dull festive period but there was some sunshine on Christmas Day.

2003 - Mild, dry and cloudy.  Snow showers and some thunder early on 22nd, and sleety near the coast on 31st with snow inland.

2004 - Dry and sunny, snow showers didn't make it across to the north-east coast on Christmas Day.  An eventful New Year's Day with an impressive squall line at 4pm followed by sleet and snow showers, although nothing lay on the ground.

2005 - Dry and cloudy.  Memorable post-Christmas cold spell with easterly winds, snow showers, and lying snow from the 28th-30th.  Some frontal snow for a time on 30th.

2006 - It had been very sunny in the run up to Christmas, but Christmas Eve onwards was very dull with anticyclonic gloom.

2007 - Dry with some sunshine on Christmas Day.  Generally unsettled and quite mild.

2008 - Dry with some sunshine.  A cold festive period but with no snow.

2009 - Frequent snow in the run up to Christmas but some rain/sleet on 23rd and 24th left the covering rather icy.  After a temporary thaw it turned very snowy by New Year's Day.

2010 - Again, frequent snow in the run up to Christmas.  Oddly some freezing rain/sleet early on Christmas Day despite temperature below freezing.  11cm of powdery snow on the ground, mostly sunny.  Thaw from 27th onwards.  It had been a very sunny December until the 25th, but post-Christmas was gloomy.

2011 - Dry, mild and cloudy on Christmas Day.  Unsettled and mild around New Year.

Then I spent subsequent Christmasses in the Vale of York area.

2012 - Wet and fairly mild.

2013 - Dry and sunny on Christmas Day, and fairly cold.  Some fog patches early on Boxing Day.  Otherwise mild and wet for the festive period.

2014 - Dry and sunny Christmas Day.  Sleety on Boxing Day, and I came further south to my sister's house that day, where there was falling and lying snow.  Cold, sunny and frosty for the following few days.

2015 - Very wet and dull on Christmas Day, and stayed that way for most of the following week, with widespread flooding in the area.

2016 - Mild, dry and cloudy.  Some cold bright frosty weather with patchy fog around the 28th.

2017 - Unsettled and mild around Christmas, but there was an unexpected frontal snowfall on the 29th, which didn't thaw until the following day.

2018 - Mild and generally sunny during the festive period, thanks to being in the lee of the Pennines - most of the rest of the country was cloudy.

2019 - Dry with some sunshine on Christmas Day.  Unsettled and mild around New Year.

[Weather-history]

My favourite festive weather forecast, the Christmas Eve night 1995 forecast. Unfortunately quality not the greatest but it has always stuck in my mind

Boxing Day 1995 realising that this was becoming a notable cold spell

28th December 1995, John Kettley's "but whos's counting?" forecast

 

[TROY]

Christmas Day 1970 Lived in Peacehaven East Sussex, the best white christmas event. Proper powder snow with deep drifts, lasted a few days.

Merry christmas everyone and good health to you all.

[Styx]

17 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

I wouldn’t want to have an Australian or Southern Hemisphere type Christmas.

I reckon most Australians would have a preference for a cold Christmas with the chance of snow, without a doubt. I am in my 40's and have experienced 12 Christmases on that side.  There is something a little bit wacky with all the wintry symbolism,  decorations and music over here, as summer kicks off in earnest. Christmas is bigger, brasher and better over there as a collective event I think, more soul, just because everything is a little bit more real. 

 

[cheeky_monkey]

really seasonal Xmas seasons i can remember that stand out..

1978 - Snowed just before Xmas and again on new years eve

1981 - Snowed a lot before Xmas..not so Xmas day

1993 - Cold late November and early Dec snowed somewhat on Xmas day

1995 - Cold Dec with some snow..Xmas day was very cold and sunny

Honourable mentions:

1992 - Cold fog and frost

1996 - was very cold and sunny just like 1995

2000 - Snowed on Xmas day

2004 - Odd snow shower around

2009 - was cold but no snow

 

 

[William Downie]

On 13/12/2020 at 10:02, jethro said:

I can't comment on the numerous years above, really can't remember details like that but the one that will always stick in my memory is 1981/82. It was amazing!

I was still living at home in the Cotswolds then, the run up to Christmas had produced deep snow, huge drifts and bone numbingly low temperatures, I think the lowest England temp was recorded that year and think it stood until 2010?  It was somewhere in Shropshire, if memory serves correctly?

The drifts were huge, towering well above me (at 5ft 7), we were cut off for a few days before the efforts from local farmers cleared the roads. And then the temperatures dropped, everything froze solid for what felt like weeks on end. Frozen pipes are not unusual in cold weather but that's the one and only time I've known bathwater to freeze in the pipes as it drained away. The only way of getting a diesel vehicle started was to put a camping stove underneath it, the cold making the diesel too viscous to fire into action. In common with most folk then, we lived in a house with no double glazing, no central heating, just a coal fire in the sitting room. Our loft had the barest sprinkling of vermiculite as insulation and no lagging on the pipes, my Mother bless her was more concerned about the pipes freezing than us, so the loft hatch was opened to let the heat up there. Coats indoors, as well as outside were de rigour that winter.

As for festive, well it wasn't technically a white Christmas because no snow fell on the day, but it was most definitely deep and crisp and even. I was a young farmer back then, as a club we were always booked for rounds of Carol singing at various big houses, it was a charity fund raising thing and the only way we could do it that Christmas Eve was on cross country skis. The night always ended with a very tipsy Midnight Mass in the local church, I'll forever remember the sight of endless pairs of skis stood up all around the walls outside with deep, deep snow on the ground.  Great Tew looking like it had been transported to the Alps.

Heaven:-)

Hi there.

 

The low temperature record was set in Shawbury, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire. It was -26.1C but I can't recall the date, although it was certainly mid December. I don't think it's been beaten since then.

[damianslaw]

Two white Christmas's I can remember:

2004, light snow for a good number of hours, only left about an inch. Perfect timing. Snow stuck through Boxing Day, then went.

2010, the surprise central Lake District snowfall, very localised 1 and half hour snowfall half 10am to 12pm, superb timing! Left a couple cms 

We might have had a few snow showers early Christmas day morning in 1993. There was a rogue snow shower late Christmas day eve 2001.

2009 brought deepest snow cover on ground, 6 inches or so. Probably on a par with 1981 but snow on the day.

Most Christmas days have been of the mild and wet variety with a few colder frosty ones such as 1992, 1995, 1996 and 2000. 

Most memorable for wrong reasons 1997, severe storm Christmas eve, no power on Christmas Day.

[Paul_1978]

It’s sad to write this but one of my most memorable Christmas day weather events was 2018 (I think), for the wrong reasons, where it was so mild we were wearing shorts. 

The more positive side, as far as cold weather goes, I seem to remember 1995 being very cold and icy, but not snowy. 

[AderynCoch]

6 hours ago, William Downie said:

Hi there.

 

The low temperature record was set in Shawbury, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire. It was -26.1C but I can't recall the date, although it was certainly mid December. I don't think it's been beaten since then.

Shawbury reached - 25.2C on 13th December 1981. That was a new English record but it stood for less than a month until nearby Newport recorded - 26.1C on 10th January 1982 (still the English record).

[William Downie]

13 hours ago, AderynCoch said:

Shawbury reached - 25.2C on 13th December 1981. That was a new English record but it stood for less than a month until nearby Newport recorded - 26.1C on 10th January 1982 (still the English record).

Ha! Okay, thanks for correcting me. I shouldn't have relied so much on my memory. Livingston, close to where I lived, recorded -21.1 on 10 January.

It was an amazing cold snap though, unequalled for length and severity here in Scotland until 2009. We stayed below zero for the entire first half of December 1981 (we did that again in December 2010) and managed a white Christmas to boot. That's white by the traditional definition (white with snow) rather than the ridiculous meteorological one.