Christmas 1995

[Zerouali lives]

Recently, I was trying to re-live the run up to Christmas 1995 here in Aberdeen and I was wondering if anyone else could remember any details? So here's my account of what happened (this was 10 years ago so I may not be completely accurate):-

Dec 23rd - I remember coming home that evening and the sky was virtually clear and therefore frosty. I think temperatures were scheduled to drop to around -6° in NE Scotland with a small trough (cold front) set to encroach from the NNW during morning hours.

Dec 24th - Awoke in the morning to moderate snow (not a shower - probably the trough) in light/moderate WSW wind. Throughout the day and into the evening it remained very cold with occasional light flurries in the light WSW wind (strange for Aberdeen to get flurries with that wind direction?). Then suddenly, within a matter of seconds, probably around 10.00pm, the the wind then (backed or veered?) to a straight Gale force Northerly bringing very frequent heavy snow showers almost immediatly. I remember how fast the clouds were moving in a southerly direction - still to this day, i've never seen such a change in Weather conditions within the space of a few seconds.

Dec 25th - Awoke about 8.00am and could barely see out my North facing window as it was plastered with snow (note it wasn't dry snow which blew around although it did lie everywhere). I remember watching a BBC forecast during the afternoon which showed a series of Lows pushing down the North Sea which produced heavy, prolonged snow showers which lasted about an hour!

The Northerly lasted for the next few days after Christmas although I remember the Snow showers becoming more scattered and isolated as the days past.

Overnight on the Boxing day into the 27th, Aberdeen recorded it's lowest ever temperature I believe, -16°C and our pipes froze!

These are my recollections of that famous Christmas period and I was wondering if anyone else has vivid memories of it?

PS Forgot to mention that Shetland was extremely badly affected during this snap, particularly by severe drifting and much of the island was cut off for days.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Zerouali lives

[Summer of 95]

You know I was just thinking about doing a December 1995 thread, you've beaten me to it

Here's the lowdown of that month, here in Shrewsbury:

1-4 Carried on where November had left off, dull and mild with westerlies.

5-8 The first hint of what was to come, an easterly built and although places near the E coast got some decent falls, here it only produced dustings as had been expected to be fair. Nevertheless, we still had 3 days with snow-lying.

9-12 A period with sun by day and hard frosts at night.

13-18 During this spell winds were mostly from N through E, it was often grey and damp with temps just a little too high to turn the rain for snow. A number of days in this spell were most unpleasant, although as the temps stayed just above freezing there was always the chance....

19 And today it came! After raining all day at 3C, around 7pm the rain got a little harder, the temp dropped and it became snow. Despite the ground being wet it stuck instantly, carried on until midnight and gave us a 7cm cover. This seemed to be quite a local event, hit all of Shropshire and much of NE Wales but not much elsewhere.

20 A bright, crisp day over fresh snow which persisted all day.

21 The overnight forecast was for snow to turn to rain from the west. The snow arrived at 4am and stayed as snow until at 9am Shrewsbury had 15cm of lying snow- something not seen or even approached since. It didn't turn to rain at all- another day with full snow cover.

22

Again the forecast was for milder air to encroach- this time it did and started to rain. However, it took most of the day for the snow to melt so this was another "morning with snow lying".

23

The only bad day- mild and windy and a real snow-killer

24-29

Cold air returned, leading to progressively more severe frost with occasional flurries but none on the big day.. From Christmas Day onwards the days stayed below freezing. On Boxing Day I went up the Long Mynd S of Shrewsbury where the snow still remained above 300-400m. The visibility in the clear cold air was astonishing, best I've ever seen.

30

Snow was forecast and arrived mid-morning, unlike to the S where they just got freezing rain. By now the ground was rock-solid and the stream at the bottom of the garden had iced over. We got 4cm of snow and the temp stayed below zero.

31

Snow cover all day, dry and cold though not quite so cold as before.

Jan 1: Got milder, snow was still lying at 9am but melted through the day.

[Zerouali lives]

Thanks Summer - I would've thought Shrewsbury would have recorded some very cold night time temperatures around the 26th/27th, possibly getting towards the -20°C mark! And no, I'm not joking, as I'm sure Glasgow (similar shelter) got down to around that value as the Clyde froze over.

[Summer of 95]

Thanks Summer - I would've thought Shrewsbury would have recorded some very cold night time temperatures around the 26th/27th, possibly getting towards the -20°C mark! And no, I'm not joking, as I'm sure Glasgow (similar shelter) got down to around that value as the Clyde froze over.

Not that low but pretty low. Here unlike in the Highlands there was no snow lying around that time despite it being freezing

Here's the Shawbury (15km NE of Shrewsbury) readings for the last week, from wunderground.com

26th Max 0.4 Min -7.9

27th Max -0.6 Min -8.2

28th Max -2.7 Min -8.6

29th Max -0.8 Min -7.2

30th Max -0.5 Min -4.9

31st Max 1.2 Min -0.9

It was actually colder in December 2000 and around New Year 2002 but the cold only l;asted for a few days, not the best part of a month as in Dec 95.

Edited December 21, 2005 by Summer of 95

[Thundery wintry showers]

Christmas 1995 was my last "proper" White Christmas in Cleadon, Tyne & Wear. Here is my account:

The first half of December.

The first half of December 1995 was mostly cloudy with easterly winds, but there were odd days when the wind veered north-easterly and brought sunshine and showers. There was a brief cold snap in the area from the 5th to 7th, with some hail, sleet and snow showers on the 5th, and although it warmed up on the 6th, there was a light dusting of snow throughout the day on the 7th.

16th-23rd: The run up to Christmas.

During the week coming up to Christmas, a very cold northerly airflow attacked from the Arctic, and forecasters were predicting that there would be snow showers running down the east coast by Thursday (I can't remember which day that would have been). Then the forecasters started to notice milder air attacking from the south, and I was thinking "damnit, it will get milder for Christmas". The 20th, I recall, was a cold sunny day with a few snow flurries, but already by the 21st it was clouding over from the south, and the 22nd was dull and wet.

However, forecasters were soon pointing out that the transition to mild weather would be short lived as the cold air was set to return southwards for Christmas. A variety of scenarios were presented, the favourite being NW'ly winds and widespread snow showers, but some indicated easterly winds; the common factor was that all scenarios had sunshine and snow showers for Christmas Day.

24th-31st

After a dull drizzly 23rd, the 24th dawned cold, clear and frosty. A prolonged snow shower then advanced from the WNW, producing accumulations of about 3cm. Christmas Eve ended clear and sunny. Then on Christmas Day, the wind was northerly and blew in frequent heavy snow showers, with occasional sunshine in between. Accumulations reached about 8cm. After another showery day on Boxing Day, albeit with fewer showers than on Christmas Day, the rest of the month was exceptionally cold, and was mostly dry and sunny although there was a day of freezing fog on the 29th. On the 31st, freezing rain and a thaw arrived.

[Zerouali lives]

Thanks guys, I was especially looking forward to your reply, TWS, for an account of what happened in NE England - similar conditions but perhaps not as severe as NE Scotland. That 'prolonged snow shower' on Christmas Eve was probably the cold front (trough) which affected Aberdeen during the morning and deposited similar accumulations.

Summer of 95, I guess I over-estimated the cold in Shropshire then! Although -9° is still fairly low.

Robbie, I'd imagine -20° was an experience! I've certainly never been exposed to that kind of temperature before!

[Zerouali lives]

Although Christmas 1995 was regarded as very snowy period, New Years Eve 1994 and into 1995 has produced the biggest snow event I've ever seen in Aberdeen. I remember being at Pittodrie for an Aberdeen v Hearts game on the 31st and there was only a few light flurries at the match. In towards early evening there were a few passing blizzards until around 8.00pm, then I was indoors until 3.00am when I walked out folks' friend's house and there was several inches on the ground and snow was falling quite heavily with large flakes and there wasn't a puff of wind! I also remember feeling relatively 'warm' as the snow can act like a blanket I believe? Come New Years Day morning, there must have been close to 10" on the ground and I remember of more warnings of Blizzards affecting NE Scotland on Ceefax that morning.

I wonder if anyone can remember this snowy New Year, in particular Thundery wintry showers for a Tyne and Wear perspective on conditions?

[Summer of 95]

Although Christmas 1995 was regarded as very snowy period, New Years Eve 1994 and into 1995 has produced the biggest snow event I've ever seen in Aberdeen. I remember being at Pittodrie for an Aberdeen v Hearts game on the 31st and there was only a few light flurries at the match. In towards early evening there were a few passing blizzards until around 8.00pm, then I was indoors until 3.00am when I walked out folks' friend's house and there was several inches on the ground and snow was falling quite heavily with large flakes and there wasn't a puff of wind! I also remember feeling relatively 'warm' as the snow can act like a blanket I believe? Come New Years Day morning, there must have been close to 10" on the ground and I remember of more warnings of Blizzards affecting NE Scotland on Ceefax that morning.

I wonder if anyone can remember this snowy New Year, in particular Thundery wintry showers for a Tyne and Wear perspective on conditions?

It wasn't particularly snowy here, but I do remember it. Here on New Years Day there were snow showers on and off in the afternoon, left a cover of 2cm. The next 2 days were bright and cold, on the 4th it turned mild and rainy and stayed that way almost nonstop until the beginning of March when we had our only major snowfall that winter.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Although Christmas 1995 was regarded as very snowy period, New Years Eve 1994 and into 1995 has produced the biggest snow event I've ever seen in Aberdeen. I remember being at Pittodrie for an Aberdeen v Hearts game on the 31st and there was only a few light flurries at the match. In towards early evening there were a few passing blizzards until around 8.00pm, then I was indoors until 3.00am when I walked out folks' friend's house and there was several inches on the ground and snow was falling quite heavily with large flakes and there wasn't a puff of wind! I also remember feeling relatively 'warm' as the snow can act like a blanket I believe? Come New Years Day morning, there must have been close to 10" on the ground and I remember of more warnings of Blizzards affecting NE Scotland on Ceefax that morning.

I wonder if anyone can remember this snowy New Year, in particular Thundery wintry showers for a Tyne and Wear perspective on conditions?

I don't remember it very well, but if my memory serves me correctly, we had a big fat nothing here in Tyne & Wear, with clear skies overhead and snow showers drifting down the North Sea, just missing the coastal fringe. I think that may have been the time when I kept hearing the foghorn go off because it was snowing out at sea.

[Zerouali lives]

Thanks for those replies TWS and Summer of 95.

As you can see, the wind did veer more NW'ly on the 1st.

Edited December 23, 2005 by Zerouali lives

[Weather-history]

I remember snow showers drifting in from the Irish Sea early New Year's Day 1995. I think an area of snow then moved down through the Cheshire Gap into the West Midlands. Snow again causing disruption on the M11 again later that day!

[Norrance]

My memories of Christmas 1995.

Christmas Eve. Took my new Fiancee to visit my parents in Highland Perthshire for the first time. Arrived pm to clear skies, a temp of -2 and a covering of powdery snow from showers on the 23rd.

In evening visited pub in Aberfeldy. Came out at 1030 to find light snow falling and the powder blowing in the strengthening wind.

Woke up AM Christmas day to find a full blown blizzard and could hardly see across the road.

At 1100 the snow stopped, the wind dropped and the sun came out. The temperature also dropped like a stone to herald several days of sub zero temperatures. Maxima of -5 to -10. Minima of -14 to -19. Not quite as cold as 1982 but the second coldest that my parents had recorded in the area.

At the end of the week the pipes in the attic had frozen and burst like countless others despite having the Central heating on constantly.

Incidentally despite throwing my Fiancee in a snowdrift before Christmas lunch she still married me anyway

[MP-R]

The second half of the month was distinctly colder than the first. The cold weather started overnight 23rd/24th after heavy rain on the 23rd if I remember correctly. Christmas Eve and Day were both clear and cold with severe frosts as temperature dipped to a chilly -9C overnight. There were odd snow flurries and long spells of sunshine during the final week. The 29th had a prolonged spell of heavy snow followed by rain - FREEZING RAIN - on the 30th then more snow before a dry, dull day on the 31st. The snow stayed for the 1st and 2nd of January but soon melted as the temperatures rose to 8C.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I don't remember it very well, but if my memory serves me correctly, we had a big fat nothing here in Tyne & Wear, with clear skies overhead and snow showers drifting down the North Sea, just missing the coastal fringe. I think that may have been the time when I kept hearing the foghorn go off because it was snowing out at sea.

Actually, my memory served me incorrectly.

I remember one Sunday during winter 1994/95, and synoptic charts show that it can only have been New Year's Day 1995.

The morning was cloudy following overnight precipitation, which had produced settling snow in some inland parts of the region, but near the east coast, nothing had settled. During the afternoon, snow showers spread into the area and it snowed continuously for a time, but nothing settled. The snow showers cleared at around 4pm and we were left with clear skies and snow showers drifting along the North Sea, a pattern which continued the next day.

So I remembered correctly the amount of snow cover (zilch) but there was indeed some snowfall on the day.

[summer blizzard]

December 1995 was very cold with a CET of only 2.3C, which is 2.8C below average and was the coldest December since 1981, December 1995 also feratured close to average sunshine and was the driest December since 1991.

In summary, December 1995 was cold, dry and featured close to average sunshine.

Here is the chart of christamas 1995 showing an area of low pressure moving south in the North Sea.

Edited June 7, 2006 by summer blizzard