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.
************************************************** **********

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.

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

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!

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.
************************************************** **********

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!

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!