December 1993

[Weather-history]

December 1993 was an interesting month with a variety of weather with severe gales, snow, exceptional mildness and very wet.

The month began with the Atlantic overcoming the Scandinavian block which brought cold weather to the UK during late November

On the 8th, a vigorous and deep low moved through central Scotland. The central pressure of the system was 962mb and along its southern flank there were severe gales across Ireland, England and Wales with gusts reaching over 90mph, Redruth recorded a gust of 97mph, Cardiff 86mph, Plymouth 75mph, London and Nottingham 65mph. Not surprisingly, there was structural damage to buildings and trees uprooted

On the 12th, a deep depression brought rain across most parts but as it engaged colder air that had filtered down from the north, there was snow especially over the hills.

The weather became exceptionally mild around the 19th as tropical maritime air flooded NE wards behind a warm front with Hemsby recording a daily maximum record for the 19th with 15.5C

The week before Christmas 1993 turned notably wintry. On the 21st, a low pressure tracked through England and gave snowfalls across North Wales, northern England and north Midlands as deep as 14cm across parts of Clwyd.

A cold NNW airflow pulled down across the UK in the run up to Christmas and an Atlantic system moved down western parts giving the first white Christmas to some parts for a number of years as snow fell in places. Any snow cover was restricted to high ground generally

On the 28th, an Atlantic system displaced the cold air over the UK and this gave snowfalls to many central and eastern areas.

The weather was unsettled in the run up to the New Year but some snow did fall at times in places especially on New Year's Eve

December 1993

CET: 5.5

It was a colder month in Scotland, the coldest December since 1981

The mildest CET maximum day: 13.6 (18th)

The coldest CET maximum day: 2.5 (26th)

The coldest CET minimum night: -28 (27th)

It was the 9th wettest December on record for England and Wales with 172.1mm.

224.0mm for Scotland, 197.9mm for Northern Ireland

The 12th was a particularly wet day with a number of stations reporting it as their wettest day of the month

For a wet month, snow and sleet occurred fairly frequently especially in the north, probably the most since any winter month since February 1991 for a number of places

Number of days with falling sleet/snow

Stornoway: 14

Aviemore: 20

Abbotsinch: 15

Manchester: 12

Watnall: 12

Elmdon: 9

Heathrow: 3

Belfast: 10

Cardiff: 5

[Portland Paul]

I remember it well, and here are a few extracts from my diary:

Thursday 9th December 1993:

A very blustery westerly wind, with frequent showers. 11º c the high.

Saturday 11th:

A very heavy and prolonged late afternoon shower, with hail and a hint of sleet on a north-westerly breeze. 5º c in the afternoon.

Sunday 12th:

Wet snow in the morning with a raw SSE breeze, quickly turned to heavy rain, followed later by drizzle and south-westerly gales and an evening high of 13º c.

Monday 13th:

Damp, mild start (10º c at dawn), with a westerly wind - that quickly veered to a NNE direction by noon, bringing sleet, then more broken skies later with afternoon temps around 3 or 4º c.

Tuesday 14th:

Soil frozen from overnight frost. Thickening high cloud from the west with a biting southerly wind, brought a covering of powdery snow by noon.

The afternoon saw further light sleet and snow on a strong SSW wind, turning to light rain after dusk. Torrential rain by midnight, by which time the temp had risen to 10º c!

Wednesday 15th:

Bright sunshine and squally showers on a very strong westerly wind, and temperatures falling again through the day.

Thursday 16th:

Lying snow from a spell of snow in the early hours, with sunshine and high of 3º c.

Edited December 5, 2006 by Breezy Brum

[Terminal Moraine]

It was an unusual month. the wettest December since 1965 here with 232mm rain but also 15 mornings with lying snow, including 17cm on the morning of the 12th.

A gale on the 9th gave a gust of 73 mph.

The wettest day of the month was the 8th with 41.8m.

T.M

[Weather-history]

It was an unusual month. the wettest December since 1965 here with 232mm rain but also 15 mornings with lying snow, including 17cm on the morning of the 12th.

A gale on the 9th gave a gust of 73 mph.

The wettest day of the month was the 8th with 41.8m.

T.M

I would describe December 1993 certainly in the north as a cold zonal month

[Thundery wintry showers]

I remember Christmas Day 1993 very well in Tyne & Wear:

Christmas Eve: hail showers in the morning from NNW winds, but it cleared up by lunchtime, and the rest of the day was dry and sunny.

Christmas Day: dry sunny start, but snow showers moved in from the north-east during the morning. Partial dustings of wet snow accumulated during showers between 12 and 3pm, melting during sunny intervals, but in late afternoon a heavy prolonged snow shower dumped a good couple of centimetres on the ground, which then (if I remember rightly) stuck around until the 28th. As snow lay throughout Christmas evening, although there was nothing at 9am, I considered that to be a white Christmas.

Unfortunately my weather records are patchy around that time so I don't have records for the rest of the month, but I do vaguely recall a high number of days with showers or longer spells of precipitation (sometimes of a wintry nature) clearing to leave dry sunny afternoons. I'd agree with the "cold zonal" assessment for the north.

Edited December 6, 2006 by Thundery wintry showers

[Optimus Prime]

Overall the Scotland Temperature for that month was a rather cold +1.7c which is 1.4c below the 64-93 average. Only 2 Decembers were colder in that period.

[Weather-history]

The week before Christmas 1993 turned notably wintry. On the 20th, a low pressure tracked through England and gave snowfalls across North Wales, northern England and north Midlands as deep as 14cm across parts of Clwyd.

Here's the forecast of this little gem for north Wales, north Midlands and southern parts of northern England

http://youtu.be/jdBdl49TJjE

[Weather-history]

On the 8th, a vigorous and deep low moved through central Scotland. The central pressure of the system was 962mb and along its southern flank there were severe gales across Ireland, England and Wales with gusts reaching over 90mph, Redruth recorded a gust of 97mph, Cardiff 86mph, Plymouth 75mph, London and Nottingham 65mph. Not surprisingly, there was structural damage to buildings and trees uprooted

It was a pretty wild night here courtesy of this gale.

[Weather-history]

That Sunday we had heavy rain and sleet which turned into snow in bursts.

[Weather-history]

.

The weather became exceptionally mild around the 19th as tropical maritime air flooded NE wards behind a warm front with Hemsby recording a daily maximum record for the 19th with 15.5C

[damianslaw]

Remember Dec 1993 preety well. It was a topsy turvy month with lots of wintry weather at times in the north particularly on higher ground thanks to plenty of polar maritime air. The second half of the month was much colder and wintrier than the first half. I remember the fells had a lot of snow. It was a wintry christmas and a white one in these parts. Unfortunately the cold snowy weather dissapeared on the 28th and we then saw wet milder conditions into the New Year. It came on the back of a long cold period which had started in July. Winter 93/94 was a good one for high level snow with limited thaw action, but very annoying for lower ground where conditions were much more marginal especially in the south meaning snow didn't hang around for that long. Feb 94 brought decent snowfalls though to many places.

[Weather-history]

This was the start of a period where white Christmases increased in frequency.

[Weather-history]

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[Weather-history]

Classic scenario for frontal snow

Edited June 12, 2012 by Mr_Data

[Weather-history]

The last forecast from 1993, we had snow here that night, so it was a white New Year.