February cold spell discussion and chat

[BruenSryan]

Solid 0. A lot of graupel but very little snow, 1 frost and very dull. Nothing to take from it here. It wasn't looking good for the east coast of Ireland a week prior and indeed that's what it ended up as. The frontal events completely flopped too. Pathetic

[Iceman2606]

I rate this easterly 3/10 overall for me. The cold itself was decent with harsh frosts and very low temperatures but the snow was very disappointing with only a dusting being achieved. Most of the snow showers dodged my area although there were a couple that were quite beefy but didn't last very long and amounted to nothing. Frontal snow events flopped also. Very disappointing here in Northamptonshire.   

[Jamie M]

Cold 7/10

Snow 8/10 

It was quite a snowy spell here as far as I'm concerned. The ground temperatures though including the sun were a very big factor in the snow settling here on the Sunday but the amount of snow settling did certainly impress me for a coastal town here with 12 cm as a peak on the morning of the 11th. Showers off the sea on the 10th truly made it the best day of the spell, bit of sun and snow reminds you of the winters of 1987/1991.

Takes a lot for some snow like that here on the coast and with more on the ground than BFTE, I'm quite chuffed. Although, there was a lack of clear cold nights so my minimum was only -3.3°C. Reminds me of a similar fashion in which Manston only dropped to -1.5°C on the 9th of Feb 1983, despite there being 16 cm of snow on the ground.

An ice day in 2021 can't be scoffed at though, certainly very impressive. I would have liked though for clearer, colder nights and not the curse of Storm Darcy holding back convection until the 10th when it fizzled the next day.

Snowiest spell here at sea level anyway since Feb 2012 in one of the most negative AO winters on record.

 

[damianslaw]

For snowfall I think those in Kent, East Anglia and NE/E/SE Scotland will rank it highly, those in East Midlands, Yorkshire and NE, just an average spell, and everywhere else generally quite poor.

Temperature wise probably everywhere away from SW will rank it well for consistent cold, but not severe cold, away from Highland Scotland.

The downside to the whole spell, was seeing the likelihood of the cold holding on for much of the rest of the month diminish day by day, at the start of the cold spell there were signs we might see the high retrogress to Greenland, or hold off the atlantic to bring slider and battleground events, alas as last week wore on it became more and more apparent it would we a week spell tops, alas I don't think anyone was foreseeing such a bland very mild pattern becoming locked in for the rest of the month - but memories of Feb 09 and 12 will have been in the minds of some and often how cold spells can flip to very mild lengthy spells.

Towards the end of the month, my summations on winter 20/21 will be made, and certainly the word 'episodic' will be used. 

[Summer of 95]

Snow 2/10 (1cm on Tuesday night that was lying on Wed morning, it had nearly all gone by Thurs despite the low temps.

Cold 5/10 Mean temp was notably low but neither day or night temps were exceptional (no ice days and lowest temp -5). The lack of really cold nights despite often clear skies was a real disappointment, as much as the lack of snow. 

Breakdown 1/10 Hopeless, it did snow lightly for an hour or so on Saturday as the first front fizzled out but it was all gone by midnight then it just rained and drizzled. 

What was really noticeable was the really low humidity, very little visible frost although the ground was frozen solid and the snow seemed to evaporate rather than melt (the day temps and dewpoints were surely too low for that to have melted it, even if it was never really cold). And the windchill, that was bitter. The way there was so little snow despite that E wind was particularly strange, it was there to blow it well inland had it formed in the first place.

Looking at the stats I can find (eg the Met Office Snow Survey and sites that show daily temps) gives me the unnerving impression that Feb 1986 in these parts and many others was basically a month of what we had last week. No wonder I don't remember anything of it (I was living in South Wales then, which like Shropshire hardly had any substantial snow or severe frosts). 

[damianslaw]

20 minutes ago, Summer of 95 said:

Snow 2/10 (1cm on Tuesday night that was lying on Wed morning, it had nearly all gone by Thurs despite the low temps.

Cold 5/10 Mean temp was notably low but neither day or night temps were exceptional (no ice days and lowest temp -5). The lack of really cold nights despite often clear skies was a real disappointment, as much as the lack of snow. 

Breakdown 1/10 Hopeless, it did snow lightly for an hour or so on Saturday as the first front fizzled out but it was all gone by midnight then it just rained and drizzled. 

What was really noticeable was the really low humidity, very little visible frost although the ground was frozen solid and the snow seemed to evaporate rather than melt (the day temps and dewpoints were surely too low for that to have melted it, even if it was never really cold). And the windchill, that was bitter. The way there was so little snow despite that E wind was particularly strange, it was there to blow it well inland had it formed in the first place.

Looking at the stats I can find (eg the Met Office Snow Survey and sites that show daily temps) gives me the unnerving impression that Feb 1986 in these parts and many others was basically a month of what we had last week. No wonder I don't remember anything of it (I was living in South Wales then, which like Shropshire hardly had any substantial snow or severe frosts). 

Yes carbon copy of much of Feb 86 which brought little snow away from far east coastal areas, I think Kent saw a fair bit, and Cornwall oddly from frontal event. It was only in the last week notable low minima was recorded as the east wind eased. 

[Don]

5 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Yes carbon copy of much of Feb 86 which brought little snow away from far east coastal areas, I think Kent saw a fair bit, and Cornwall oddly from frontal event. It was only in the last week notable low minima was recorded as the east wind eased. 

I saw a fair bit of snow I think around the end of the first week of February 1986 and then another fall on March 1st.

[Summer of 95]

56 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Yes carbon copy of much of Feb 86 which brought little snow away from far east coastal areas, I think Kent saw a fair bit, and Cornwall oddly from frontal event. It was only in the last week notable low minima was recorded as the east wind eased. 

That was one of the strangest things I saw from the Feb 1986 snow survey; here are a selection of maximum depths from lowland England and Wales stations from that month according to the Snow Survey

Boulmer 14cm

Gosforth 21cm

Leeming 5cm

Cambridge 9cm

Bedford 11cm

Marham 2cm (how did that get much less than Cambridge or Bedford?)

Stansted 7cm

Littleover 3cm

Watnall 9cm

Elmdon 3cm

Brize Norton 7cm

Teddington 8cm

Gatwick 13cm

Lyminge 20cm

Manston 14cm

Camberley 17cm

East Malling 2cm (that's between Camberley and Manston?)

Southampton 3cm

Wales, the border counties and NW England had very little except some places on higher ground:

Ringway 2cm

Blackpool trace

Northwich 1cm

Shawbury 1cm

Mold 4cm

Barry 1cm

Cae Llwyd 2cm (at 280m asl!)

Valley and Aberporth no lying snow

Swansea and Dolgellau no *falling* or lying snow. 

Not much better in the SW:

Bristol 2cm

Yeovilton trace

Hurn 1cm

Dorchester 4cm

Exeter 1cm

Until you get to the snow in south Devon and Cornwall!

Plymouth 18cm

Camborne 18cm

St Mawgan 9cm

So the snowiest places were the NE coast, Surrey, Sussex and Kent (except East Malling for some reason), south Devon and west Cornwall. I can understand the first two areas in an easterly but the third snowy area is not where one would expect. And so little in between- east Wales, the western Midlands and the other parts of the SW aren't really sheltered in an easterly.

[damianslaw]

8 hours ago, Summer of 95 said:

That was one of the strangest things I saw from the Feb 1986 snow survey; here are a selection of maximum depths from lowland England and Wales stations from that month according to the Snow Survey

Boulmer 14cm

Gosforth 21cm

Leeming 5cm

Cambridge 9cm

Bedford 11cm

Marham 2cm (how did that get much less than Cambridge or Bedford?)

Stansted 7cm

Littleover 3cm

Watnall 9cm

Elmdon 3cm

Brize Norton 7cm

Teddington 8cm

Gatwick 13cm

Lyminge 20cm

Manston 14cm

Camberley 17cm

East Malling 2cm (that's between Camberley and Manston?)

Southampton 3cm

Wales, the border counties and NW England had very little except some places on higher ground:

Ringway 2cm

Blackpool trace

Northwich 1cm

Shawbury 1cm

Mold 4cm

Barry 1cm

Cae Llwyd 2cm (at 280m asl!)

Valley and Aberporth no lying snow

Swansea and Dolgellau no *falling* or lying snow. 

Not much better in the SW:

Bristol 2cm

Yeovilton trace

Hurn 1cm

Dorchester 4cm

Exeter 1cm

Until you get to the snow in south Devon and Cornwall!

Plymouth 18cm

Camborne 18cm

St Mawgan 9cm

So the snowiest places were the NE coast, Surrey, Sussex and Kent (except East Malling for some reason), south Devon and west Cornwall. I can understand the first two areas in an easterly but the third snowy area is not where one would expect. And so little in between- east Wales, the western Midlands and the other parts of the SW aren't really sheltered in an easterly.

Think it was mainly a dry light easterly with minimal convection. The far SW saw frontal snow from low pressure to the SW which struggled to make any inroads.

[hillbilly]

On 16/02/2021 at 23:21, damianslaw said:

Yes carbon copy of much of Feb 86 which brought little snow away from far east coastal areas, I think Kent saw a fair bit, and Cornwall oddly from frontal event. It was only in the last week notable low minima was recorded as the east wind eased. 

It may be the case that some areas did compare to that of 1986 but i think it would only be a brief comparison .Indeed even in these parts it reminded me a little of that time with snow on higher ground and only little on lower levels.However in reality it was nothing like,where this year had a couple of weeks of snowcover and some small drifting for a brief period and temps of -4 at night and hovering around freezing during the day in 1986 it was more snow with a stiff easterly which drifted the snow not for a couple of days but almost 6 weeks,temps of -5 to -8 at night and only the odd day when the temp got above freezing,it really was truely bitter even worse in cold terms than 1979 and i guess only 1947 would compare in terms of bitter daily maxima!

[Snowyowl9]

On 17/02/2021 at 09:04, damianslaw said:

Think it was mainly a dry light easterly with minimal convection. The far SW saw frontal snow from low pressure to the SW which struggled to make any inroads.

Snow lay here for 6 weeks from late January low quite Wet snow daytime then later that day drifting similar to a couple of days in January this year.No snow on low ground for 2 weeks at least to start,probably dustings as the the much colder came in,Must of been 6 inches here at the most,that fine light snow frequent light snowfalls and known for all those snow grains,blizzards drifting on frozen top snow in easterly gales at best.

And there was before the very cold came in,there was orange tinted snow one day and its something I'll never forget it was drifting and seen orange drifts over the white snow,I wonder what caused that.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Snowyowl9

[Weather Enthusiast91]

The cold spell we had during the first half of February was rather disappointing and a waste of time. Despite having snow falling all day for 2 days in a row, little to no snow settled. Overall just cold nothingness.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Norrance]

Another here who was very satisfied with the cold spell. The second week of Feb was as good a week of wintry weather as any I can remember here this century barring the 28th Nov to 4rth December 2010. The first week of Feb was a continuation of the mostly cold, wet and cloudy January. No sunshine, heavy cold rain, sleet, wet snow and graupel and icy underfoot at times. From the 7th all the marginality went and the snow started piling up from heavy convective showers coming in from the North Sea and by the 10th we had over a foot of snow. Max level depth was 35cms so 10 cms more than from the Beast in 2018 but 10 less than 2010. Unlike 2018 though this time there was little drifting. On the morning of the 11th the temperature fell to -11.2C which was the coldest since 2010. A 9 out of 10 week for me. All this at under 20 mtrs asl and within half a mile from the estuary.

The second half of Feb was a non event and the snow went quickly from the 15th.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Norrance

[damianslaw]

4 hours ago, Norrance said:

Another here who was very satisfied with the cold spell. The second week of Feb was as good a week of wintry weather as any I can remember here this century barring the 28th Nov to 4rth December 2010. The first week of Feb was a continuation of the mostly cold, wet and cloudy January. No sunshine, heavy cold rain, sleet, wet snow and graupel and icy underfoot at times. From the 7th all the marginality went and the snow started piling up from heavy convective showers coming in from the North Sea and by the 10th we had over a foot of snow. Max level depth was 35cms so 10 cms more than from the Beast in 2018 but 10 less than 2010. Unlike 2018 though this time there was little drifting. On the morning of the 11th the temperature fell to -11.2C which was the coldest since 2010. A 9 out of 10 week for me. All this at under 20 mtrs asl and within half a mile from the estuary.

The second half of Feb was a non event and the snow went quickly from the 15th.

It was a hit and miss week, some struck lucky including much of eastern Scotland, parts of East Anglia as well, but for the vast majority it was a rather mediocre spell for snow, if not poor, especially those further west. 

There was no widespread nationwide snow event. 

I mentioned 1986, I was nearly 8 at the time and don't have memory of it. I think the synoptics for a short time were akin to 7-11 Feb but conditions not quite as severe temp wise.

It was probably more akin to early Jan 09.

[Norrance]

1986 was cold and snowy up here but did not compare for snow depths as an Easterly with 1978, 1987, 2010, 2018 or 2021 except for longevity. My main memory was having my car stolen at the beginning of the month from a car park in the city centre. The police contacted me three weeks later just before my insurance paid out to say that they had located it. A farmer several miles outside town had spotted tyre tracks in the snow on a road to an abandoned farm yard and out buildings and found them full of stripped vehicles. I would have been better off if he hadn't reported it as the car had been stripped bare but my insurance company refused to write it off for some weird reason. Records showed that NE England and Eastern Scotland did best for snow in Feb 1986 but nothing exceptional for depths. It was a very cold month throughout the UK though as the Cet showed.