A memorable day! From about the 26th or 27th there had been hints in the
Further Outlooks on the radio that it might turn colder in the east and TV
forecasters like George Cowling and Tom Clifton in their evening slots ( no
breakfast or lunchtime forecasts in those days) also mentioned the
possibility. As always, then and now, there were always anxious days - will
it or won't it happen.
Atlantic fronts continued to move slowly into the country on the 27 th and
28th and the 29th was a very wet day. I had a max of 12c. In the afternoon
a reluctant clearance came in from the west with some weak sunshine, but by
the morning of the 30th the rain had returned. It rained for most of the day
and there was hardly any breeze at all. The max was 9.0c. The forecasters
still seemed unsure about the prospects.
I was woken on the morning of the 31st by the sound of the east wind
rattling the bedroom window and the sound of rain against the glass. The
cold weather had arrived.The radio forecast said " the rain falling in
southern England will probably turn to snow".
I checked the temperature before setting out on the 7 mile cycle ride to
work - it was 3.0c. It was pouring with rain.
By the time I reached my office there was snow mixed with the rain and by
mid-morning the snow was blowing almost horizontally along the road outside.
By lunchtime snow covered grass and rooftops and puddles on the pavements
and in the road were
already frozen. The sky brightened a little in the afternoon but I
discovered my cycle chain was frozen in the bike shed. On reaching home at
17.30 the temperature was -3.0c.
The minimum that night was -7.0c and the max -4.0c. Kew had its coldest day
of the century on 1 Feb (also -4.5) until beaten by 12 Jan 1987 but the day
was quite sunny. Some cu developed and a few snowglakes came down. Kent had
some heavier snow showers that day.
As some elderly people say " we don't get days like that anymore!".
February 1956 was one of the coldest of the 20th century.

Peter Clarke
Ewell 55m.

A good report, Peter. I enjoyed that

Cheers, Keith

Peter Clarke schrieb:

A memorable day! From about the 26th or 27th there had been hints in the
Further Outlooks on the radio that it might turn colder in the east and TV
forecasters like George Cowling and Tom Clifton in their evening slots ( no
breakfast or lunchtime forecasts in those days) also mentioned the
possibility. As always, then and now, there were always anxious days - will
it or won't it happen.
Atlantic fronts continued to move slowly into the country on the 27 th and
28th and the 29th was a very wet day. I had a max of 12c. In the afternoon
a reluctant clearance came in from the west with some weak sunshine, but by
the morning of the 30th the rain had returned. It rained for most of the day
and there was hardly any breeze at all. The max was 9.0c. The forecasters
still seemed unsure about the prospects.
I was woken on the morning of the 31st by the sound of the east wind
rattling the bedroom window and the sound of rain against the glass. The
cold weather had arrived.The radio forecast said " the rain falling in
southern England will probably turn to snow".
I checked the temperature before setting out on the 7 mile cycle ride to
work - it was 3.0c. It was pouring with rain.
By the time I reached my office there was snow mixed with the rain and by
mid-morning the snow was blowing almost horizontally along the road outside.
By lunchtime snow covered grass and rooftops and puddles on the pavements
and in the road were
already frozen. The sky brightened a little in the afternoon but I
discovered my cycle chain was frozen in the bike shed. On reaching home at
17.30 the temperature was -3.0c.
The minimum that night was -7.0c and the max -4.0c. Kew had its coldest day
of the century on 1 Feb (also -4.5) until beaten by 12 Jan 1987 but the day
was quite sunny. Some cu developed and a few snowglakes came down. Kent had
some heavier snow showers that day.
As some elderly people say " we don't get days like that anymore!".
February 1956 was one of the coldest of the 20th century.

Peter Clarke
Ewell 55m.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 09:52:52 -0000, "Peter Clarke"
wrote:

A memorable day! From about the 26th or 27th there had been hints in the
Further Outlooks on the radio that it might turn colder in the east and TV
forecasters like George Cowling and Tom Clifton in their evening slots ( no
breakfast or lunchtime forecasts in those days) also mentioned the
possibility. As always, then and now, there were always anxious days - will
it or won't it happen.
Atlantic fronts continued to move slowly into the country on the 27 th and
28th and the 29th was a very wet day. I had a max of 12c. In the afternoon
a reluctant clearance came in from the west with some weak sunshine, but by
the morning of the 30th the rain had returned. It rained for most of the day
and there was hardly any breeze at all. The max was 9.0c. The forecasters
still seemed unsure about the prospects.
I was woken on the morning of the 31st by the sound of the east wind
rattling the bedroom window and the sound of rain against the glass. The
cold weather had arrived.The radio forecast said " the rain falling in
southern England will probably turn to snow".
I checked the temperature before setting out on the 7 mile cycle ride to
work - it was 3.0c. It was pouring with rain.
By the time I reached my office there was snow mixed with the rain and by
mid-morning the snow was blowing almost horizontally along the road outside.
By lunchtime snow covered grass and rooftops and puddles on the pavements
and in the road were
already frozen. The sky brightened a little in the afternoon but I
discovered my cycle chain was frozen in the bike shed. On reaching home at
17.30 the temperature was -3.0c.
The minimum that night was -7.0c and the max -4.0c. Kew had its coldest day
of the century on 1 Feb (also -4.5) until beaten by 12 Jan 1987 but the day
was quite sunny. Some cu developed and a few snowglakes came down. Kent had
some heavier snow showers that day.
As some elderly people say " we don't get days like that anymore!".
February 1956 was one of the coldest of the 20th century.

Peter Clarke
Ewell 55m.


Tom Clifton used to live quite close to where I lived as a child (Gloucester),
and I remember his son bringing in a chart that had been used on TV a few days
before, much to the delight of the kids in my class. I seem to recall an
extreme snow event in my childhood where the snow was deep enough to cover the
tops of my willies. I would have been 9 years old in January 1956 - it would be
interesting to see the records for Gloucester and surrounding GAC airfields
(Starvation, Brock worth, More ton Valence) to see if this snow was as deep as I
recall and this is the event I remember.

Martin

In message , JPG
writes
,snip

Tom Clifton used to live quite close to where I lived as a child (Gloucester),
and I remember his son bringing in a chart that had been used on TV a few days
before, much to the delight of the kids in my class. I seem to recall an
extreme snow event in my childhood where the snow was deep enough to cover the
tops of my willies.

You have more than one???? :-)

Norman.
(delete "thisbit" twice to e-mail)
--
Norman Lynagh Weather Consultancy
Chalfont St Giles 85m a.s.l.
England

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:56:07 GMT, Norman Lynagh
wrote:

In message , JPG
writes
,snip

Tom Clifton used to live quite close to where I lived as a child (Gloucester),
and I remember his son bringing in a chart that had been used on TV a few days
before, much to the delight of the kids in my class. I seem to recall an
extreme snow event in my childhood where the snow was deep enough to cover the
tops of my willies.

You have more than one???? :-)

Sadly no !

Norman.
(delete "thisbit" twice to e-mail)

Oops, nice one from the Forte Agent spell chequer. I dare say at age 9 an inch
or so would have sufficed to cover the top of my *&^*?¬ , - nowadays a foot of
snow at least would be required ! ;-)

Martin

In article , Peter Clarke
writes
A memorable day! From about the 26th or 27th there had been hints in
the Further Outlooks on the radio that it might turn colder in the east
and TV forecasters like George Cowling and Tom Clifton in their evening
slots ( no breakfast or lunchtime forecasts in those days) also
mentioned the possibility.

What a lovely report wholly appreciated by a weather fan but not in the
least bit technical or scientific. Specifically I love the mention of
your daily routine which puts we younger softies to utter shame...
Cycling seven miles to and from work daily... Wow!
--
Wendy Tinley

http://www.disc-calif.com/

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 13:24:13 +0000, Wendy Tinley wrote:

In article , Peter Clarke
writes
A memorable day! From about the 26th or 27th there had been hints in
the Further Outlooks on the radio that it might turn colder in the east
and TV forecasters like George Cowling and Tom Clifton in their evening
slots ( no breakfast or lunchtime forecasts in those days) also
mentioned the possibility.

What a lovely report wholly appreciated by a weather fan but not in the
least bit technical or scientific. Specifically I love the mention of
your daily routine which puts we younger softies to utter shame...
Cycling seven miles to and from work daily... Wow!

And all that after getting up at 3 in the morning to light the fire and having a
stale crust and dripping for breakfast.

Ah, the good old days!

Martin

Roast beef dripping on toast, with salt on top was a very tasty breakfast -
I had this many times! but not for many years now.
Thanks for all the comments on my message. It wasn't much fun getting home
from work on a snowy day and having to light a coal fire before doing
anything else.
Incidentally, regarding Feb 1956, I remember reading press reports that the
Baltic sea was frozen and it was possible to walk from Denmark to Sweden on
the ice, but I never heard any confirmation of this.
Peter Clarke
Peter Clarke
"JPG" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 13:24:13 +0000, Wendy Tinley
wrote:

In article , Peter Clarke
writes
A memorable day! From about the 26th or 27th there had been hints in
the Further Outlooks on the radio that it might turn colder in the east
and TV forecasters like George Cowling and Tom Clifton in their evening
slots ( no breakfast or lunchtime forecasts in those days) also
mentioned the possibility.

What a lovely report wholly appreciated by a weather fan but not in the
least bit technical or scientific. Specifically I love the mention of
your daily routine which puts we younger softies to utter shame...
Cycling seven miles to and from work daily... Wow!

And all that after getting up at 3 in the morning to light the fire and
having a
stale crust and dripping for breakfast.

Ah, the good old days!

Martin

Peter Clarke wrote:

Roast beef dripping on toast, with salt on top was a very tasty breakfast
- I had this many times! but not for many years now.
Thanks for all the comments on my message. It wasn't much fun getting home
from work on a snowy day and having to light a coal fire before doing
anything else.
Incidentally, regarding Feb 1956, I remember reading press reports that
the Baltic sea was frozen and it was possible to walk from Denmark to
Sweden on the ice, but I never heard any confirmation of this.

I don't think it was totally frozen. There were up to six years in the last
century when this occurred. The last four were 1940/1, 1941/2, 1946/7, and
1962/3.

In many years, however, Oresund is frozen so, I suppose, walking from
Denmark to Sweden would be possible.

Graham

"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...
Peter Clarke wrote:

Roast beef dripping on toast, with salt on top was a very tasty breakfast
- I had this many times! but not for many years now.
Thanks for all the comments on my message. It wasn't much fun getting
home
from work on a snowy day and having to light a coal fire before doing
anything else.
Incidentally, regarding Feb 1956, I remember reading press reports that
the Baltic sea was frozen and it was possible to walk from Denmark to
Sweden on the ice, but I never heard any confirmation of this.

I don't think it was totally frozen. There were up to six years in the
last
century when this occurred. The last four were 1940/1, 1941/2, 1946/7, and
1962/3.

Actually, February 1956 was by far the coldest month of the 20th
century over a large part of continental Europe, so Peter may well
be right. I'll dig out some figures when I have more time.

Philip Eden