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uk.sci.weather (UK Weather) (uk.sci.weather) For the discussion of daily weather events, chiefly affecting the UK and adjacent parts of Europe, both past and predicted. The discussion is open to all, but contributions on a practical scientific level are encouraged. |
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Those were the days!
December 1981 and January 1982 contained some of the coldest, snowiest and severest winter weather ever recorded in the UK The coldest December since 1890 and the snowiest since 1878, December 1981 with a CET of 0.3 was one of the severest winter months of the 20th Century and yet it began mild and benign with double figure maxima. Read on http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/foru...d=6681&start=1 |
#2
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![]() "Teignmouth" wrote in message ... Those were the days! December 1981 and January 1982 contained some of the coldest, snowiest and severest winter weather ever recorded in the UK The coldest December since 1890 and the snowiest since 1878, December 1981 with a CET of 0.3 was one of the severest winter months of the 20th Century and yet it began mild and benign with double figure maxima. Read on http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/foru...d=6681&start=1 Sunday 13 December 1981 ~ the only blizzard in the true sense of the word I have experienced in this country. Near Salisbury Plain at the time, and a little before 1:30pm, I remember watching the spire of Salisbury Cathedral 10km to the south vanish in an instant as a wall of snow rapidly approached. Within minutes, the visibility dived to 50 metres in heavy snow with a full gale. By evening, 'level' snow, where it could be measured, was 30cm with drifts to at least 4 feet. A switch in the wind to west, maintaining gale force 8, introduced mild air that melted most of the snow by the next morning. Friday 8 January 1982 ~ a successful journey using three different modes of transport in such adverse conditions that in today's world would impossible to achieve. After dark from Shinfield Park near Reading in Berkshire, a colleague from Guernsey (Tim - who said he had never driven in snow before) drove us safely to Southampton in a hire car via the M3, strewn with abandoned vehicles on both the hard shoulder and in the outside lane, leaving just one lane open in places. I don't think Tim ever made a flight to Guernsey that weekend and I was anxious about the rest of my trip to the Isle of Wight after hearing that Red Funnel were not running their ferries because of ice floes in Southampton Water. Upon discovering that the Portsmouth to Ryde route was still going, I caught a British Rail shuttle train, pulled by a diesel which made for a cold trip to Portsmouth Harbour but at least it completed its route (must have been the right kind of snow!) The most entertaining part of the journey was boarding the rocking Sealink passenger ferry by way of a narrow, frozen spray covered wooden gangway, firstly having to throw my luggage up the moving 30 degree slope to be grabbed by a member of staff and then heaving myself onboard. Needless to say, there were few passengers on this ferry which rolled and pitched across the Solent in a gale force SE'ly. Docking at the end of Ryde Pier was a challenge for the captain and then I had to face a slide down the ice covered ramp, followed by a 15 minute slide along the wind buffeted pier to the esplanade in the dark. The air temperature at the end of the pier was -3C but the wind chill was something else. Given the same conditions today, the M3 would be chaos, the trains wouldn't work, Health + Safety would scupper any chance of gaining access onto the ferry (catamarans now ply that route and don't run in winds much above force 6), and the pier would be closed due to ice. Thanks for highlighting those memorable months, "Teignmouth". The last two winters produced some interesting snowy days but they didn't compare with those two remarkable days in the early eighties. Nigel |
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