"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...

February 1969 was a very cold wintry month with a CET of 1.0



My Comments:
I can just about remember this one as a small
child. This was what one would regard as a proper winter month.
I don't see us getting many more of these. Can anyone on this ng give
any account of what this month was like?
--
February, 1969 followed an uneventful January here, as far as wintry weather
was concerned, Gavin. I noted snow showers on the 4th but the cold weather
began in earnest on the 6th as a northerly arrived. Rain turned to sleet a
nd there was snow overnight but not enough to produce a cover. There was a
heavy snowfall on the evening of the 7th with the temperature around -3c,
but to the north of London the snow was heavier and road traffic was badly
affected - cars abandoned etc. My minimum on the 8th was -6c and the max
+0.5 but the day was sunny as were the following 2 days.Minima on these days
were near -4c and max around +2c..This cold spell ended on the 11th with
rain, preceded by snow.
The weather turned colder again on the 13th with the wind in the east
and my max on the 15th was -0.5c with snow showers.I remember the heavy
snowfall on the evening of the 19th was accompanied by a strong east wind.
The snowcover had gone by the 22nd and I registered no further snow that
month. Sleet/snow fell on 8 days and was lying on 7 mornings. A cold March
followed.
It is worth mentioning that the northerly spell from the 7th Feb came at
the time when the arctic sea ice north of Iceland was near its post-war
(WW2) maximum and I remember reading that there was a severe blizzard
around that date in the Shetlands with a northerly gale, heavy snow and the
temperature well below freezing
Peter Clarke
Ewell
Epsom 55m