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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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#1
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January 1987
January 1987 was a cold wintry month with a spell of exceptionally cold weather around mid-month. The CET for the month was 0.8C Unsettled, mild zonal weather had dominated the previous three months but the change in the year marked a major change in the type of weather. The New Year started unsettled as a low moved across the UK into Europe dragging down northerlies in its wake. The cold snap was brief as a new low brought unsettled weather again on the 4th. The weather turned colder on the 5th and high pressure built across the UK bringing frosts and freezing fog. On the 11th, high pressure was moving out of northern Siberia into Scandinavia whilst an active low pressure developed over Italy and a strong easterly developed across Europe. This easterly brought an exceptionally cold air mass across Europe into the UK. Temperatures were below freezing and as the very cold air mass came into contact with the "warm" North Sea, very strong convection developed and this produced heavy snow showers for the east. By the 12th, virtually everywhere was below freezing with very low maxima. -7C to -9C was widely reported in the south accompanied with a strong easterly made for an exceptional wind chill. Heavy snow showers continued to pepper eastern areas bringing blizzards, heavy snowfalls and drifting snow. The worst hit areas for snow was around the Thames Estuary and East Anglia where depths of level snow were approaching half a metre bringing widespread transport chaos. On the 14th, a trough moved through England and Wales bringing a more general snowfall to many areas causing further disruption. The intense cold pool of air had moved through the UK and temperatures started to climb back to near freezing. The high over Scandinavia began to lose its intensity and began to sink into central Europe sufficiently enough to allow a milder SWly flow to come into the NW of the UK on the 18th. By the 20th, Atlantic air had finally broken through to all parts with higher temperatures and a slow thaw. The old Scandinavian high then began to drift back over the UK and this brought a lot of cloud to many parts. It wasn't until the last couple days of the month that the sun managed to break through the cloud. The cold spell of January 1987 was exceptional and was probably one of the coldest spells since 1740. The intense cold and heavy snowfalls hit the SE the hardest. Transport was gridlocked and the cold even affected Big Ben's chiming hammer. Source: TWO. My Comments: Apologies for popping this up again. I'll never forget this one. Its the only time that I have had ice on the INSIDE of my car windows in the MIDDLE of the afternoon. A real classic this was. From what I have gathered since, this was the coldest 48 hour period since 1740. In January 1740 I believe that East Anglia and the London area had daytime maximums below -10C. This is unlikely to be repeated in any of our lifetimes. Perhaps thats no bad thing. -- ************************************************** ********** Gavin Staples. Horseheath. Cambridge, UK. 93m ASL. www.gavinstaples.com site regularly updated "Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable". ~ John Kenneth Galbraith. American economist. All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security 2005. ************************************************** ********** |
#2
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![]() Gavin Staples wrote: January 1987 January 1987 was a cold wintry month with a spell of exceptionally cold weather around mid-month. The CET for the month was 0.8C Unsettled, mild zonal weather had dominated the previous three months but the change in the year marked a major change in the type of weather. The New Year started unsettled as a low moved across the UK into Europe dragging down northerlies in its wake. The cold snap was brief as a new low brought unsettled weather again on the 4th. The weather turned colder on the 5th and high pressure built across the UK bringing frosts and freezing fog. On the 11th, high pressure was moving out of northern Siberia into Scandinavia whilst an active low pressure developed over Italy and a strong easterly developed across Europe. This easterly brought an exceptionally cold air mass across Europe into the UK. Temperatures were below freezing and as the very cold air mass came into contact with the "warm" North Sea, very strong convection developed and this produced heavy snow showers for the east. By the 12th, virtually everywhere was below freezing with very low maxima. -7C to -9C was widely reported in the south accompanied with a strong easterly made for an exceptional wind chill. Heavy snow showers continued to pepper eastern areas bringing blizzards, heavy snowfalls and drifting snow. The worst hit areas for snow was around the Thames Estuary and East Anglia where depths of level snow were approaching half a metre bringing widespread transport chaos. On the 14th, a trough moved through England and Wales bringing a more general snowfall to many areas causing further disruption. The intense cold pool of air had moved through the UK and temperatures started to climb back to near freezing. The high over Scandinavia began to lose its intensity and began to sink into central Europe sufficiently enough to allow a milder SWly flow to come into the NW of the UK on the 18th. By the 20th, Atlantic air had finally broken through to all parts with higher temperatures and a slow thaw. The old Scandinavian high then began to drift back over the UK and this brought a lot of cloud to many parts. It wasn't until the last couple days of the month that the sun managed to break through the cloud. The cold spell of January 1987 was exceptional and was probably one of the coldest spells since 1740. The intense cold and heavy snowfalls hit the SE the hardest. Transport was gridlocked and the cold even affected Big Ben's chiming hammer. Source: TWO. My Comments: Apologies for popping this up again. I'll never forget this one. Its the only time that I have had ice on the INSIDE of my car windows in the MIDDLE of the afternoon. A real classic this was. From what I have gathered since, this was the coldest 48 hour period since 1740. In January 1740 I believe that East Anglia and the London area had daytime maximums below -10C. This is unlikely to be repeated in any of our lifetimes. Perhaps thats no bad thing. -- ************************************************** ********** Gavin Staples. Horseheath. Cambridge, UK. 93m ASL. www.gavinstaples.com site regularly updated "Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable". ~ John Kenneth Galbraith. American economist. All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security 2005. ************************************************** ********** The maximum here at Warlingham, NE Surrey on the 12th was -9.2°C, just about the lowest in the country. The wind was no more than a force 2 NE'ly however, and it was sunny. The mean temperature 11th-13th was -8.3°C. Over the next 2 days 16" (39 cm) of snow fell, but there was much more on the Downs further east. Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, NE Surrey, 556 ft. |
#3
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![]() Gavin Staples wrote: January 1987 England and Wales bringing a more general snowfall to many areas causing further disruption. The intense cold pool of air had moved through the UK and temperatures started to climb back to near freezing. The high over Scandinavia began to lose its intensity and began to sink into central Europe sufficiently enough to allow a milder SWly flow to come into the NW of the UK on the 18th. By the 20th, Atlantic air had finally broken through to all parts with higher temperatures and a slow thaw. The old Scandinavian high then began to drift back over the UK and this brought a lot of cloud to many parts. It wasn't until the last couple days of the month that the sun managed to break through the cloud. The cold spell of January 1987 was exceptional and was probably one of the coldest spells since 1740. The intense cold and heavy snowfalls hit the SE the hardest. Transport was gridlocked and the cold even affected Big Ben's chiming hammer. I was still living in Newport (S.Wales) at the time, and remember it clearly. The main snowfall hit on a weekday, IIRC in early afternoon, and came down very heavily. I think there was around a foot, which kept school closed for at least 3 days (maybe more) I think. I remember the long icicles vividly. My Comments: Apologies for popping this up again. I'll never forget this one. Its the only time that I have had ice on the INSIDE of my car windows in the MIDDLE of the afternoon. Actually had that in late December 2000 here. Edmund |
#4
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On 1 Jun 2005 05:46:58 -0700, "Edmund Lewis" inspired by
Deep Thought wrote: Gavin Staples wrote: January 1987 England and Wales bringing a more general snowfall to many areas causing further disruption. The intense cold pool of air had moved through the UK and temperatures started to climb back to near freezing. I shall never forget that cold snap either! The rising main feed pipe to my central heating header tank in the loft froze solid back from the ball valve and pushed the pipe out of the compression joint on the gate valve about a foot away from the valve. Fortunately, because it was frozen so hard, it never leaked a drop nor was any damage done to the pipework! All I had to do was thaw the pipework out and refit the pipe back into the joint. Although the tank and pipes were well lagged, when the tank was put in the installers didn't lift the roof insulation up under the tank so no heat came up from the bedroom to prevent it freezing. I only decided to check everything on the Wednesday evening because I'd visited a client that afternoon who'd had a burst pipe which had flooded their computer! Next day was when the rapid thaw set in: and had I not checked the pipes on that Wednesday evening, I'd have come home to a flooded house next day! Even now, I still thank God that I went up into the loft and checked the pipes that Wednesday evening! ISTR the wind chill here in High Wycombe touched -30C at one point! No wonder so many homes had burst pipes! Also, during that cold snap I remember leaving a faulty printer in my car overnight (housed in one of a block of garages) and when I took it out of the car into the house the next morning to have a look at it, ice formed on the carriage rails!! Eeep! Nigel Aagh! Every time I learn something new... it pushes something old out of my brain! |
#5
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![]() Perhaps more relevant for the time of year and just as unusual were the events in June 1975. I was living and working at Caterham in Surrey and at 187 metres altitude on the North Downs at midday on the 2nd it was snowing with a midday temperature of just 1.5C. A heatwave followed a week later. Ian Currie-Coulsdon www.frostedearth.com "Gavin Staples" wrote in message ... January 1987 January 1987 was a cold wintry month with a spell of exceptionally cold weather around mid-month. The CET for the month was 0.8C Unsettled, mild zonal weather had dominated the previous three months but the change in the year marked a major change in the type of weather. The New Year started unsettled as a low moved across the UK into Europe dragging down northerlies in its wake. The cold snap was brief as a new low brought unsettled weather again on the 4th. The weather turned colder on the 5th and high pressure built across the UK bringing frosts and freezing fog. On the 11th, high pressure was moving out of northern Siberia into Scandinavia whilst an active low pressure developed over Italy and a strong easterly developed across Europe. This easterly brought an exceptionally cold air mass across Europe into the UK. Temperatures were below freezing and as the very cold air mass came into contact with the "warm" North Sea, very strong convection developed and this produced heavy snow showers for the east. By the 12th, virtually everywhere was below freezing with very low maxima. -7C to -9C was widely reported in the south accompanied with a strong easterly made for an exceptional wind chill. Heavy snow showers continued to pepper eastern areas bringing blizzards, heavy snowfalls and drifting snow. The worst hit areas for snow was around the Thames Estuary and East Anglia where depths of level snow were approaching half a metre bringing widespread transport chaos. On the 14th, a trough moved through England and Wales bringing a more general snowfall to many areas causing further disruption. The intense cold pool of air had moved through the UK and temperatures started to climb back to near freezing. The high over Scandinavia began to lose its intensity and began to sink into central Europe sufficiently enough to allow a milder SWly flow to come into the NW of the UK on the 18th. By the 20th, Atlantic air had finally broken through to all parts with higher temperatures and a slow thaw. The old Scandinavian high then began to drift back over the UK and this brought a lot of cloud to many parts. It wasn't until the last couple days of the month that the sun managed to break through the cloud. The cold spell of January 1987 was exceptional and was probably one of the coldest spells since 1740. The intense cold and heavy snowfalls hit the SE the hardest. Transport was gridlocked and the cold even affected Big Ben's chiming hammer. Source: TWO. My Comments: Apologies for popping this up again. I'll never forget this one. Its the only time that I have had ice on the INSIDE of my car windows in the MIDDLE of the afternoon. A real classic this was. From what I have gathered since, this was the coldest 48 hour period since 1740. In January 1740 I believe that East Anglia and the London area had daytime maximums below -10C. This is unlikely to be repeated in any of our lifetimes. Perhaps thats no bad thing. -- ************************************************** ********** Gavin Staples. Horseheath. Cambridge, UK. 93m ASL. www.gavinstaples.com site regularly updated "Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable". ~ John Kenneth Galbraith. American economist. All outgoing emails are checked for viruses by Norton Internet Security 2005. ************************************************** ********** |
#6
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On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 08:00:08 GMT, "Ian Currie" inspired
by Deep Thought wrote: Perhaps more relevant for the time of year and just as unusual were the events in June 1975. I was living and working at Caterham in Surrey and at 187 metres altitude on the North Downs at midday on the 2nd it was snowing with a midday temperature of just 1.5C. A heatwave followed a week later. Ian Currie-Coulsdon I remember sitting in a classroom at Garrett's Green Tech College on that same June afternoon watching the snow swirling round - and then by the Friday of that week the temperature was nearly in the eighties! Somehow I don't see the same thing happening this summer (i.e. getting a similar warm summer of course!) Nigel Aagh! Every time I learn something new... it pushes something old out of my brain! |
#7
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On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 18:17:51 +0100, Nigel Morgan
inspired by Deep Thought wrote: I remember sitting in a classroom at Garrett's Green Tech College on that same June afternoon watching the snow swirling round - and then by the Friday of that week the temperature was nearly in the eighties! Somehow I don't see the same thing happening this summer (i.e. getting a similar warm summer of course!) Nigel Aagh! Every time I learn something new... it pushes something old out of my brain! I've just looked at the 500mB & 850mB charts for that day in 1975 & it was interesting to note that the 500mB thickness was between 536 & 540dam & the 850mB air temp was only between 0C & -2C... and no lower than it's forecast to be over eastern England at 12Z on Tuesday 7th June this year - with the wind in the same quarter!! What seemed to have caused the snow in 1975 was a deepish low that developed & came down the North Sea dragging cold polar air in behind it over the UK - a pattern that's been repeated numerous times this Spring so far! Nigel Aagh! Every time I learn something new... it pushes something old out of my brain! |
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