Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.

"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
years, since January 1987 infact with bitingly cold easterlies setting in by
Monday with a very high risk of very severe weather for southern and eastern
areas - and yes I mean VERY severe indeed with some very nasty conditions
for the end of the week . In fact, if I run you a little sequence of our
pressure charts, you can see that today's weather is fairly cold with that
strong high pressure of 1045mb well to the north of us with a fairly light
easterly breeze. But it doesn't stay that way as you can see, the winds
strengthen, and low pressure from the Atlantic gets trapped under the
influence of Siberian air, with some very nasty weather likely for the
southern half of the country from Wednesday onwards.
Now temperature wise, that is something else which will have a great
influence on our weather for the foreseeable future. Looking at this
sequence, you can see that by Wednesday and particularly Thursday and
Friday, most of the country could well be below freezing with the small
chance of parts of the southeast climbing no higher than -5C by Thursday.
So, today will continue to be rather sunny and cold, with temperatures
staying around freezing in the north, 2C or 3C in the south. Monday
continues the cold and settled them with temperatures only a couple of
degrees above freezing as does Tuesday's weather, but Wednesday really does
signal the beginning of what is likely to be a very severe spell of wintry
weather for the south. You can see that temperatures are already down to -1C
at best in the southeast with heavy snow showers here, but with that wind,
it is likely to feel more like -10C possibly even -15C so my advice to you
is wear at least two coats this week because this will be a bitter one.
Now ... here is Thursday - outbreaks of more persistent, heavy snow and
blizzards in the south. Temperatures well below freezing in the south with
piercing easterly or north-easterly winds. Nighttime temperatures will be
very cold with -10C in favoured spots on Wednesday night, Thursday night and
possibly Friday night as well. Friday - virtually the same, more heavy snow
from time to time, perhaps working its way into northern England and
southern Scotland by this time. And next weekend - staying cold and very
wintry. By this time, the snow will drift significantly and be very deep in
the east, so my advice to you is stay at home and do not travel unless
absolutely necessary".

Source: TWO forum section.

My Comment:

This was the last deep snowfall that I have
experienced here in Cambridgeshire. We had a level depth of 8 inches
and -13C 3 days later. That frost is also the last time I experienced
anything below -10C.

Regards, Gavin.



--
************************************************** **************************
************************************************** *
Gavin Staples.

website updated regularly
www.gavinstaples.com

For the latest lecture in the Darwin Lecture Series in Cambridge, please
click on my site, and then click on the Darwin Lecture series link.

"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor
of the kings of the world". ~Thomas A. Edison


All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security
Professional 2004.

************************************************** **************************
************************************************** **

"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?




I dont remember the forecast but i remember the event
it was the first event that started me off enjoying extreme weather events!

Yes, nice cold spell, and the forecasts were exceptional at the time. I
remember they were talking about the High setup, 10 days beforehand.
That Countryfile Forecast you written there is very accurate, if that's what
he said. The only thing they did miss was a 6-8inch fall in parts of the SE
the following week, when the cold began to ease off.
---------------------------------------------------------


"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.

"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
years, since January 1987 infact with bitingly cold easterlies setting in
by
Monday with a very high risk of very severe weather for southern and
eastern
areas - and yes I mean VERY severe indeed with some very nasty conditions
for the end of the week . In fact, if I run you a little sequence of our
pressure charts, you can see that today's weather is fairly cold with that
strong high pressure of 1045mb well to the north of us with a fairly light
easterly breeze. But it doesn't stay that way as you can see, the winds
strengthen, and low pressure from the Atlantic gets trapped under the
influence of Siberian air, with some very nasty weather likely for the
southern half of the country from Wednesday onwards.
Now temperature wise, that is something else which will have a great
influence on our weather for the foreseeable future. Looking at this
sequence, you can see that by Wednesday and particularly Thursday and
Friday, most of the country could well be below freezing with the small
chance of parts of the southeast climbing no higher than -5C by Thursday.
So, today will continue to be rather sunny and cold, with temperatures
staying around freezing in the north, 2C or 3C in the south. Monday
continues the cold and settled them with temperatures only a couple of
degrees above freezing as does Tuesday's weather, but Wednesday really
does
signal the beginning of what is likely to be a very severe spell of wintry
weather for the south. You can see that temperatures are already down
to -1C
at best in the southeast with heavy snow showers here, but with that wind,
it is likely to feel more like -10C possibly even -15C so my advice to you
is wear at least two coats this week because this will be a bitter one.
Now ... here is Thursday - outbreaks of more persistent, heavy snow and
blizzards in the south. Temperatures well below freezing in the south with
piercing easterly or north-easterly winds. Nighttime temperatures will be
very cold with -10C in favoured spots on Wednesday night, Thursday night
and
possibly Friday night as well. Friday - virtually the same, more heavy
snow
from time to time, perhaps working its way into northern England and
southern Scotland by this time. And next weekend - staying cold and very
wintry. By this time, the snow will drift significantly and be very deep
in
the east, so my advice to you is stay at home and do not travel unless
absolutely necessary".

Source: TWO forum section.

My Comment:

This was the last deep snowfall that I have
experienced here in Cambridgeshire. We had a level depth of 8 inches
and -13C 3 days later. That frost is also the last time I experienced
anything below -10C.

Regards, Gavin.



--

************************************************** **************************
************************************************** *
Gavin Staples.

website updated regularly
www.gavinstaples.com

For the latest lecture in the Darwin Lecture Series in Cambridge, please
click on my site, and then click on the Darwin Lecture series link.

"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the
favor
of the kings of the world". ~Thomas A. Edison


All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security
Professional 2004.


************************************************** **************************
************************************************** **

"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.

"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
years, since January 1987

Wow! ..... I remember the weather but not the forecast and most would be
happy with the 2C at the start these days! '63 and '87 still stick more in
my memory though.

Dave

"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.

"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
years, since January 1987 infact with bitingly cold easterlies setting in
by
Monday with a very high risk of very severe weather for southern and
eastern
areas - and yes I mean VERY severe indeed with some very nasty conditions
for the end of the week . In fact, if I run you a little sequence of our
pressure charts, you can see that today's weather is fairly cold with that
strong high pressure of 1045mb well to the north of us with a fairly light
easterly breeze. But it doesn't stay that way as you can see, the winds
strengthen, and low pressure from the Atlantic gets trapped under the
influence of Siberian air, with some very nasty weather likely for the
southern half of the country from Wednesday onwards.
Now temperature wise, that is something else which will have a great
influence on our weather for the foreseeable future. Looking at this
sequence, you can see that by Wednesday and particularly Thursday and
Friday, most of the country could well be below freezing with the small
chance of parts of the southeast climbing no higher than -5C by Thursday.
So, today will continue to be rather sunny and cold, with temperatures
staying around freezing in the north, 2C or 3C in the south. Monday
continues the cold and settled them with temperatures only a couple of
degrees above freezing as does Tuesday's weather, but Wednesday really
does
signal the beginning of what is likely to be a very severe spell of wintry
weather for the south. You can see that temperatures are already down
to -1C
at best in the southeast with heavy snow showers here, but with that wind,
it is likely to feel more like -10C possibly even -15C so my advice to you
is wear at least two coats this week because this will be a bitter one.
Now ... here is Thursday - outbreaks of more persistent, heavy snow and
blizzards in the south. Temperatures well below freezing in the south with
piercing easterly or north-easterly winds. Nighttime temperatures will be
very cold with -10C in favoured spots on Wednesday night, Thursday night
and
possibly Friday night as well. Friday - virtually the same, more heavy
snow
from time to time, perhaps working its way into northern England and
southern Scotland by this time. And next weekend - staying cold and very
wintry. By this time, the snow will drift significantly and be very deep
in
the east, so my advice to you is stay at home and do not travel unless
absolutely necessary".

Source: TWO forum section.

My Comment:

This was the last deep snowfall that I have
experienced here in Cambridgeshire. We had a level depth of 8 inches
and -13C 3 days later. That frost is also the last time I experienced
anything below -10C.

Regards, Gavin.

Yes, I remember it and IIRC, even at that stage the forecast was almost
exactly as it later happened. I was living in the West of Scotland
(Kilmarnock) at the time and they escaped lightly (1cm or so), much to my
annoyance when I heard about what was happening elsewhere. Much better out
towards East Kilbride where I later moved to.

So many have reported though that it was the last major snow incident in the
Midlands southwards and I certainly have not seen anything worthy of a
decent fall since I came back south in 1998, first to Rugby, now Malvern.

Still see some decent snow sometimes (eg 45cm level depth! near EK at
Christmas 2000) when I visit friends in Scotland though.

--
Pete

Please take my dog out twice to e-mail

---------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed above are entirely those of the writer and
do not represent the views, policy or understanding of any
other person or official body.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Pete B wrote:

Yes, I remember it and IIRC, even at that stage the forecast was almost
exactly as it later happened. I was living in the West of Scotland
(Kilmarnock) at the time and they escaped lightly (1cm or so), much to my
annoyance when I heard about what was happening elsewhere. Much better out
towards East Kilbride where I later moved to.

So many have reported though that it was the last major snow incident in the
Midlands southwards and I certainly have not seen anything worthy of a
decent fall since I came back south in 1998, first to Rugby, now Malvern.

Still see some decent snow sometimes (eg 45cm level depth! near EK at
Christmas 2000) when I visit friends in Scotland though.

I remember it a bit - I remember toasting bread by the gas fire after
the power went off for 24 hours where we were in Tamworth! I had just
turned 11 at the time though.

Jonathan

(this is a repost)

From: (Simon S)
Newsgroups: uk.sci.weather
Subject: 8th Feb 1991 (Large accumulations)
Date: 8 Feb 2003 11:00:31 -0800

The Scandinavian high has now slightly weakened to 1040mb and split
into two with one centre moving east into western Russia and on
regressing west towards Iceland. A flabby low has developed across
France centred close to Paris at around 1005mb. Low pressure systems
are still tracking southwest from the west of Greenland. Pressure has
risen around the Azores to around 1025mb whilst small but tight lows
track into the northwest of Russia out of the artic.

In Leeds a large amounts of snow had fallen overnight with a moderate
to strong east north easterly breeze brought in frequent heavy snow
showers in from the North Sea. More than 50cm of level snow lay with
extensive drifting. Sunny spells developed between the showers by the
afternoon. Local authorities were copping quite well with the major
routs but many minor roads were impassable.

The 850mb cold pool has subsided slightly and is centred in the
western channel with most of the UK being below -10 with the exception
of west of Ireland and the northeast of Scotland. More cold air is
moving out of Russia into much of eastern Europe. Whilst the 850 temps
over much of the Mediterranean were rising quickly being above 5 to
the west of Italy. Warmer air is moving north in the Atlantic to the
west of the UK in response to a cold plunge moving south from
Greenland. Above -5 air is moving east into Northern Russia.


=================================================
Simon Sheaf
Sheffield South Yorkshire
http://www.anycities.com/user/yorkshireweather

=================================================









"Gavin Staples" wrote in message ...
Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.

"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
years, since January 1987 infact with bitingly cold easterlies setting in by
Monday with a very high risk of very severe weather for southern and eastern
areas - and yes I mean VERY severe indeed with some very nasty conditions
for the end of the week . In fact, if I run you a little sequence of our
pressure charts, you can see that today's weather is fairly cold with that
strong high pressure of 1045mb well to the north of us with a fairly light
easterly breeze. But it doesn't stay that way as you can see, the winds
strengthen, and low pressure from the Atlantic gets trapped under the
influence of Siberian air, with some very nasty weather likely for the
southern half of the country from Wednesday onwards.
Now temperature wise, that is something else which will have a great
influence on our weather for the foreseeable future. Looking at this
sequence, you can see that by Wednesday and particularly Thursday and
Friday, most of the country could well be below freezing with the small
chance of parts of the southeast climbing no higher than -5C by Thursday.
So, today will continue to be rather sunny and cold, with temperatures
staying around freezing in the north, 2C or 3C in the south. Monday
continues the cold and settled them with temperatures only a couple of
degrees above freezing as does Tuesday's weather, but Wednesday really does
signal the beginning of what is likely to be a very severe spell of wintry
weather for the south. You can see that temperatures are already down to -1C
at best in the southeast with heavy snow showers here, but with that wind,
it is likely to feel more like -10C possibly even -15C so my advice to you
is wear at least two coats this week because this will be a bitter one.
Now ... here is Thursday - outbreaks of more persistent, heavy snow and
blizzards in the south. Temperatures well below freezing in the south with
piercing easterly or north-easterly winds. Nighttime temperatures will be
very cold with -10C in favoured spots on Wednesday night, Thursday night and
possibly Friday night as well. Friday - virtually the same, more heavy snow
from time to time, perhaps working its way into northern England and
southern Scotland by this time. And next weekend - staying cold and very
wintry. By this time, the snow will drift significantly and be very deep in
the east, so my advice to you is stay at home and do not travel unless
absolutely necessary".

Source: TWO forum section.

My Comment:

This was the last deep snowfall that I have
experienced here in Cambridgeshire. We had a level depth of 8 inches
and -13C 3 days later. That frost is also the last time I experienced
anything below -10C.

Regards, Gavin.



--
************************************************** **************************
************************************************** *
Gavin Staples.

website updated regularly
www.gavinstaples.com

For the latest lecture in the Darwin Lecture Series in Cambridge, please
click on my site, and then click on the Darwin Lecture series link.

"I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor
of the kings of the world". ~Thomas A. Edison


All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security
Professional 2004.

************************************************** **************************
************************************************** **

From: "Dave.C"
Date: 06/01/04 17:09 GMT Standard Time
Message-id:


"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.

"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
years, since January 1987

Wow! ..... I remember the weather but not the forecast and most would be
happy with the 2C at the start these days! '63 and '87 still stick more in
my memory though.

Dave

1979 and 1996 stick out in my mind too. I can remember 1987 purely because one
day in January I was stuck on the Harrow Road leading into London for over 2
hours and when I finally got to work, the office was closed and I had to do it
all again to get home!

Robbie



To reply by e-mail REMOVE the obvious!

"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?

The Countryfile Weather Forecast, with Ian McCaskill

Sunday, February 3rd, 1991.


"Good morning. We're heading for the coldest spell of weather for four
Looking at this in sequence, you can see that by Wednesday and
particularly Thursday and
very cold with -10C in favoured spots on Wednesday night, Thursday night
and
possibly Friday night as well. Friday - virtually the same, more heavy
snow
from time to time, perhaps working its way into northern England and
southern Scotland by this time. And next weekend - staying cold and very
wintry. By this time, the snow will drift significantly and be very deep
in
the east, so my advice to you is stay at home and do not travel unless
absolutely necessary".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------
I had to smile when I read "minus 10C in favoured spots" in Gavin's 1991
February cold spell reminder. One or two people might not agree with the
terminology especially if the pipes freeze and then thaw. Could be the
demise of one's weather records, weather library and photographic collection
etc. The temperature in the Chipstead Valley in fact fell to almost minus
16C which is on par with the lowest in Britain that year.

Exactly 10 years ago in 1994 on this night [6th Jan] I had a memorable
journey to Guildford when heavy rain turned to snow due to the lowering of
the freezing level. I am sure Philip Eden remembers the occasion as he has
written in detail about the evening's conditions.
I was due to give a talk on Extreme Weather and received a rousing cheer
when smothered in snow I stepped foot into the hall. Outside cars had been
abandoned and road traffic was in chaos but I managed to get through.
Ironically on returning to Coulsdon there was no more than just a thin
veneer of snow on the ground.

Ian Currie-Coulsdon and Chipstead Valley,Surrey.
www.Frostedearth.com

"nguk.." wrote in message ...
"Gavin Staples" wrote in message
...
Who can remember this one ?




I dont remember the forecast but i remember the event
it was the first event that started me off enjoying extreme weather events!

I remember it well...I was in S Devon, and we got no more than 1/2
inch of snow! However, we did get to -8C on the Thursday night, and
that with a strong to gale force easterly wind!!

How long before we hear a forecast like that again?! A couple of
weeks?!

cheers,

Paul.