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Winter 1990-91 The great December snowstorm/February freeze


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Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
Posted

BBC forecast from 12th Feb 1991, at the tail end of that freeze:

 

Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
Posted

ITV weather, 10th Feb 1991:

 

Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm-by-day sunny thundery summers , short cold snowy winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
Posted (edited)
On 07/02/2021 at 13:06, Billy Hicks said:

I'm the one who uploaded the main photo to the Winter of 1990-91 in Western Europe article on Wikipedia - actually taken by my parents as I was two years old at the time, in Ware in Hertfordshire. From the above posts I'm guessing it's from the morning of the 8th which would make the photo exactly 30 years old tomorrow!

It's a very early memory for me, due to my age it was the first time I'd ever seen snow that significant, not being alive yet for the 1987 and earlier snowfalls. It's fairly iconic for many my age group for that reason, and after spending many of my (fairly snowless) teenage years wondering if I'd ever see anything like that again, the winters of 2008-09 and 2009-10 really were quite astonishing!

 

Interesting you remember snow from so early in your life, my weather memory before the age of about 6 is very poor, in contrast to my memories from about 6 and a half upwards which are very good. My earliest memory of snow is from when I was 6 though that I think is partly due to the fact that the first few winters of my life were very poor indeed for snow. Nonetheless, the summer of 1976 was also in the first 6 years of my life and I have no memory of that either!

By contrast, I can remember many weather events from later childhood and teenage years with pinpoint date accuracy, even some rather obscure and minor thunderstorms.

Edited by Summer8906
  • 9 months later...
Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
Posted (edited)

I remember the February 1991 snowfall much more clearly than the 87 one, but both snowfalls were heavy and long lasting in central London. 
 

A few songs remind me of that period.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Sunny76
Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
Posted
9 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

I remember the February 1991 snowfall much more clearly than the 87 one, but both snowfalls were heavy and long lasting in central London. 
 

A few songs remind me of that period.

 

 

 

 

Good selection of songs, Seal and Nomad stand out for me from that time. Seal more January though.

 Jan 87 spell I remember. I was 8. Not as well as Feb 91. Both spells quite similiar here, we escaped any appreciable snow, sheltered by Pennines. Jan 87 was colder. Feb 91 I remember the 8th being snowy, and a bit more during half term week, but only a couple of inches on ground, didn't cause many problems.

Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Good selection of songs, Seal and Nomad stand out for me from that time. Seal more January though.

 Jan 87 spell I remember. I was 8. Not as well as Feb 91. Both spells quite similiar here, we escaped any appreciable snow, sheltered by Pennines. Jan 87 was colder. Feb 91 I remember the 8th being snowy, and a bit more during half term week, but only a couple of inches on ground, didn't cause many problems.

Yeah some good tunes and better than January 1987, but I do like The Housemartins, Erasure’s debut song Sometimes, Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson and Down to Earth by Curiosity Killed the Cat.

You are correct about Crazy by Seal, as I think by February 91 it was already on the way out of the charts. It entered around Christmas 1990, along with Enigma.

To think that Bryan Adams would dominate the following summer feels like another world lol.

Edited by Sunny76
Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
Posted

There was the equivalent of a very cold February starting and ending ten days early from 22 Jan to 18 Feb, mean CET only 0.1 C, which was also true for 22 Jan to 19 Feb. The coldest average for 31 days was 0.4 (22 Jan to 21 Feb). The coldest day was 7 Feb with a mean of -4.6 C. The average for the week of 4-10 Feb was -2.6 C. 

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Posted
  • Location: Eden Valley, Cumbria
  • Location: Eden Valley, Cumbria
Posted (edited)
On 05/11/2022 at 20:36, damianslaw said:

Good selection of songs, Seal and Nomad stand out for me from that time. Seal more January though.

 Jan 87 spell I remember. I was 8. Not as well as Feb 91. Both spells quite similiar here, we escaped any appreciable snow, sheltered by Pennines. Jan 87 was colder. Feb 91 I remember the 8th being snowy, and a bit more during half term week, but only a couple of inches on ground, didn't cause many problems.

Is there a chance there was more snow in west Cumbria (where I lived at the time) than at your location?  My memory seems to have started working fully in around 1993/94 but I do have a relatively good memory from earlier than that of a spell of very cold weather and quite deep snow. It was a Sunday, I can remember a woman trying to drive away from church up a small hill in a Ford Capri and just slithering around. After walking home from dreaded Sunday school I got in and dad was melting snow because the water pipes had frozen, which is the only time I can remember that happening. I can remember it quite clearly but I was too young to be aware of when it was. 

Edited by trickydicky
Posted
  • Location: North Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: I prefer summer to winter and the hotter and more thundery, the better!
  • Location: North Hampshire
Posted

I remember this spell very well, I was only 10 at the time but I do recall it day by day here.

The Tuesday was mostly cloudy with a few snow flurries blowing about in the wind, not settling.

Then the Wednesday was sunnier but with heavy wintry showers, not fine powdery snow at this point, and they didn't settle either.

It was on the Thursday morning we woke up to, a modest centimetre or 2 and it was sunny but bitterly cold.  It did cloud over from the east late morning, and snow started off quite light but then got quite heavy for the rest of the day.

Friday dawned with about 5 inches of snow.  I don't think we had quite as much as some other places but it was bitterly cold, cloudy and with light snow for most of the day.  We also walked up to the school only to find it closed, a nice surprise and I was out playing in it for most of the day!

The Saturday we had 1 snow shower otherwise it was sunny.  The Sunday was cloudy and dry, the Monday very sunny but still with no thaw.  The Tuesday I remember it snowing again in the afternoon but struggling to settle.  It was wet snow at this point.  The thaw then kicked in gradually after this point from memory.

Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
Posted (edited)
15 hours ago, trickydicky said:

Is there a chance there was more snow in west Cumbria (where I lived at the time) than at your location?  My memory seems to have started working fully in around 1993/94 but I do have a relatively good memory from earlier than that of a spell of very cold weather and quite deep snow. It was a Sunday, I can remember a woman trying to drive away from church up a small hill in a Ford Capri and just slithering around. After walking home from dreaded Sunday school I got in and dad was melting snow because the water pipes had frozen, which is the only time I can remember that happening. I can remember it quite clearly but I was too young to be aware of when it was. 

Not sure, possibly on 8 Dec 1990, the snow came on a Saturday, but I only remember a couple of inches at best, it was blizzard like mid afternoon. It wasn't cold enough for frozen pipes the next day.

It may well be Sun 10 Feb 91, that will have been cold for frozen pipes. Again i don't remember much snow. Couple of inches from snow on the 8th. We had a bit more week after, but not much. It turned crunchy and icy on the local rec. 

There was very little snow here winter 87-88 through to 93-94, indeed those two dates only notable falls. What a poor showing. Though I think the first Sunday of 93 brought a few inches from memory, seem to remember games being cancelled on the first Monday back to school.

Edited by damianslaw
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
Posted

At 2mins in, a weather forecast from 5th Feb 1991 just as the freeze was kicking off: 

 

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Posted
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and 15-25c
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
Posted
36 minutes ago, danm said:

At 2mins in, a weather forecast from 5th Feb 1991 just as the freeze was kicking off: 

 

whatever happened to Suzanne Charlton?

  • Like 1
Posted
  • Location: Leighton Buzzard (100m ASL)
  • Weather Preferences: Continental. Dry air, storms and snow.
  • Location: Leighton Buzzard (100m ASL)
Posted
On 05/11/2022 at 11:26, Sunny76 said:

I remember the February 1991 snowfall much more clearly than the 87 one, but both snowfalls were heavy and long lasting in central London. 
 

A few songs remind me of that period.

 

 

 

 

God Enigma reminds me of the start of the Gulf War. Staring out of a student flat in Stoke. 

Posted
  • Location: Leighton Buzzard (100m ASL)
  • Weather Preferences: Continental. Dry air, storms and snow.
  • Location: Leighton Buzzard (100m ASL)
Posted (edited)

The December 90 one was the first heavy snow I had been in for years, possibly 87, it was my first term at Poly in Stoke. Remember getting excited watching it get heavier out of the student union window LOL. Just moved up from Bournemouth, the snow desert!

Edited by Buzzard
Bad typing.
  • Like 1
Posted
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
Posted (edited)

Links on the first page are dead. Should be 🪓. (Axed)

Edited by SortingHat
Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
Posted

News report from 8th Feb 1991, plus a BBC weather forecast at 2:35

 

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  • 9 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Bentley Heath
  • Location: Bentley Heath
Posted

I have posted elsewhere about this (possibly this forum). I recall the 8 Dec 1990 snow event in the West Midlands very clearly. I was 5 weeks into a well paid new job, was living at home (no bills) and bought a new winter jacket as a treat. It came in handy.  

I went out into nearby Dudley in the evening. It was fairly cold from memory, but nothing to stand out. There were quite a few of us out. We left the bar/club where we had all gone, just after 12.00, and it started to snow. Just flecks in the air at first, but in the time our taxi came, it was large flakes and coming down quite heavy. We all went into an Indian restaurant, which was 10 mins walk from my house. This was 12.30 ishh. and hour later the snow was heavy and was around at least an inch thick. There was that quietness you get with heavy snow, when walking back home. It took around an hour to cover everything and there was no stopping it a the wind was fairly robust. 

Next day I woke up to watch my recording of Blackadder Goes Forth which was on in the evening. There was 5 foot snowdrift outside and the snow was still falling, if not that heavy. 

It was a big event, and I have read about it in books and in a few reports and forums online. M6 was blocked as was A45 between Birmingham and Coventry. I now live near Knowle, and I believe the snow was deepest near here.

I recall it melted within a few days. 

Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm-by-day sunny thundery summers , short cold snowy winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
Posted (edited)

I'll echo others about the memories triggered by Enigma and Seal, as well as Queen's Innuendo, the KLF's 3AM Eternal, Jesus Jones' International Bright Young Thing and Robert Palmer's cover of Mercy Mercy Me (how's that for a range of different styles!) All remind me very strongly of the time they were out, though all were highest in the charts in January so they trigger memories of the lengthy cold, dry but cloudy spell in January we had immediately before the snow. It was actually quite atmospheric, that earlier spell - it probably helped that early 1991 was quite a happy time personally, so the cloudiness didn't weigh me down. (Also I think I've become less tolerant of low light levels as I've got older - I've heard the theory before that autumn and winter are enjoyed more by young people than those in mid-life or older!)

Not so many songs remind me of the snowy spell specifically, probably because most had entered some time before that and the snowy spell was quite short compared to the dry, cold, cloudy period before it. Oddly quite a few songs remind me of the milder winter/spring transition period that we had following the snowy spell.

Edited by Summer8906
Posted
  • Location: Wyke regis overlooking Chesil beach.
  • Weather Preferences: Snowfall
  • Location: Wyke regis overlooking Chesil beach.
Posted

The late great and much missed Philip Eden did a superb forensic case study of the Great Midlands blizzard of December 1990 in his book Great British weather disasters.

Well worth a read.

  • Like 2
Posted
  • Location: Coventry, 95m asl
  • Weather Preferences: Snow Nov - Feb. Thunderstorms, 20-29°C and sun any time!
  • Location: Coventry, 95m asl
Posted (edited)

 

Posted a few photos from the Midlands snowstorm during that December in the western part of Coventry, incredible day by the sound of it looking at reports and people's eye witness accounts. 

Edited by Metwatch
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: London, UK
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, storm, sunny, hail, rain.
  • Location: London, UK
Posted

Nice. Interesting thread. Will have to delve more into this, especially the impacts on London and the South East.

  • 2 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam
Posted (edited)

image.thumb.png.6ccf954095800847203cef9ece10433d.png

 

Got to say, I remember nothing of the 5th/6th January 1991 gale. 

 

image.thumb.png.cd3bb1a73726d9fed6bc63d3aa3b22f3.png  image.thumb.png.79512af63512dfdc5946ae7f9ab5683e.png  image.thumb.png.32f4437a698701054eee7a1aa99da59a.png   image.thumb.png.86e77b88471b4832cea5b53e26f197c8.png   image.thumb.png.b83471fe1ce05446f3294e86c8b52594.png  image.thumb.png.c320e10477220f8ed4b2e5a5abb260ed.png

 

 

Gusts  (mph)

Dublin: 82.9

Valentia: 81.6

Blackpool: 79.4

Liverpool Airport: 78.2

RAF Valley: 73.5

Belfast: 69

St Mawgan: 66.8

Cardiff Airport: 65.4

Leeds Airport: 64.3

 

Edited by Weather-history
.
Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam
Posted
11 hours ago, Weather-history said:

image.thumb.png.cd3bb1a73726d9fed6bc63d3aa3b22f3.png  

 

 

 

 

Look who's mentioned in the article above......Piers Corbyn.....talks about even more severe gales around the 16th January

Was there?

No!

 

image.thumb.png.5e2320782ad8921298156b6631f25d19.pngimage.thumb.png.75c6f7c63d8703435131f2d7358bd2bf.pngimage.thumb.png.757ccab06653f6fb35b2d71385bde520.png 

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