April Snowfall.

[Rollo]

I have just found this report of an unusual snowfall by a Mr T.K.Suttie from "Weather Magazine",it relates to the first and second of April 1966.,the gentleman in question lived or lives in Billington which is near Blackburn,if anyone is old enough to remember I would like to hear their memories on the occurance. " The rain on the afternoon of the first turned to snow at about 1800hrs and continued at a moderate intensity until 0300hrs on the second when the snow became very heavy and continued thus until about 0600hrs, when intensity again became moderate,finally dying out about 1100hr. Early on the morning of the 2nd the level of the snow varied between 10" and 16". tThere was little drifting except on the higher ground as the NE wind was mainly force 4. The small low which moved slowly across Wales and the Midlands on the above dates gave widespread snowfall in Northern England,but was apparently very heavy in the area of NE Lancashire. To the west and south west of Preston,some 12 miles distant from Billington,snowfall was negligible. The screen temperature during the snowfall was at or very slightly above freezing point, and as a consequence the density of the lying snow was very great,resulting in considerable damage to roof troughings,trees and telegraph wires. Not only was this the heaviest recorded April snowfall locally, it was also the heaviest recorded fall since 1947.. The total precipitation (rain and snow) for the duration was 1.24"(water equivalent). On the following night which was calm and clear as the ridge moved in,the screen minimum was -2.2c and the minimum just above the surface was -7.8c. Meteorlogically speaking the first 3 months of 1966 were commonplace, but the English climate can always be relied on to produce a regular surprise.

[Terminal Moraine]

I've just seen this thread, Rollo, and had a look back through my records.

I was living about 9 miles from where I am now at an altitude of about 180m.

The 1st of April 1966 was a mild day with a max' of 11c. Rain during the evening turned to snow overnight as the temp' fell steadily and this resulted in 10cm of snow by the morning of the 2nd, the snow continued until mid-morning before dying out. The max' on the 2nd was 1.1c after an overnight min' of -0.5c, the min' the following night was the same.

On the 3rd the max' reached 6.7c and the snow thawed.

The rainfall equivalent of the snowfall was 0.77" (19.6mm ).

Although I wasn't here at the time, the statistics suggest that the 2nd would almost certainly have been a sub 0c day where I am now and, allowing for the temperature differential and my experience of the difference in snowfall between 180m and 330m, I'd suggest a snowfall of about 20-25cm here. I'll see if I can find out what snowfall Buxton recorded on that day.

Certainly a very wintry day for early April.

T.M

[Terminal Moraine]

The weather record at Buxton for April 1966 shows that there was 5cm of lying snow at 0900 on the 2nd and 15cm at the same time on the 3rd. This seems strange as it implies that the bulk of the snow fell after 0900 on the 2nd whereas 30 miles further south ( where I was living ) the majority of it fell during the early hours of the 2nd.

The maximum snow depth at Buxton was probably in the region of 20cm as it's likely that some thawing and settling took place between the snow stopping and the 0900 reading on the 3rd.

There was still more than half the ground snow covered by the morning of the 4th despite a max' on the 3rd of about 4c.

T.M

[jethro]

How common is snow in April? If it does snow then, is it more likely to amount to substantial falls due to warmer temps? I ask because I live near Wells in Somerset, have done for 9 years and any snow seems to by-pass us or give just a dusting with the exception of one year when we got a decent covering - approx 6inches; this was 4th April 2000. It was wonderful to wake up to, but we were moving house that day, the removal van had quite a problem reaching us. Sadly it had all gone by mid-afternoon. Don't remember it being forecast either, one of those surprise/marginal events perhaps?

[senior ridge]

25 April 1981 blizzards in the north and central parts of UK

18 April 1983 was a wet snow event in London. The day before was a warm day!

[Thundery wintry showers]

Snow in April is not unusual- indeed, it's one of the few months of the year where snow frequency doesn't seem to have declined significantly since the 1980s.

Recent examples:

1-10 April 1994- NW winds and frequent heavy thundery snow showers for N and W Britain, especially around the 4th and 9th/10th, penetrating even to south-east England on the latter date. Surprisingly, the normally snowy north-east of England largely missed out.

18-20 April 1995- Northerly winds and widespread snow showers.

10-12 (I think) April 1996- continental easterly, with snowfalls in places.

9-15 April 1998- cold northerly and north-westerly winds, with rain/sleet/snow in south, and sun and snow showers in north, with longer outbreaks of snow in the west on the 14th and maxima of just 2-3C in places.

13-16 April 1999- a sudden surge of Arctic air, falls and accumulations in the north, particularly but not exclusively high ground

3-4 April 2000- snow in many parts from NE'ly, it didn't generally settle but a covering was reported as far south as Hastings on the 4th.

18-20 April 2001- northerlies and wintry showers

8 April 2005- northerlies, snow showers

First 10 days of April 2006- some snow, particularly 8th/9th, with the 9th having significant accumulations in parts of the south-east.