The Times: the wintry spell of December 1937

[Weather-history]

December 1937 had some very interesting weather ranging from blizzards, thundersnow, fog, sleet, hail, thunderstorms, deep snow cover.

The CET for this December was 3.0

4th-20th December CET: 1.1

It was not a white Christmas though as it became much milder but it did become less mild just after Christmas.

Here's a selection of Times articles from this period

7th December 1937 edition

[Weather-history]

A big snowfall with thundersnow hits the New Forest

[Weather-history]

Another terrible disaster when two trains collided in a snowstorm in Scotland. 37 died as a result of the tragedy.

[Roger J Smith]

Mr Data, I wonder if you could find any accounts of the winter of 1866-67 ... have a look at the daily CET values, they go up and down like no other winter except perhaps that one time in January 1982. But it kept happening back in 1866-67. There must have been some big news-making events like floods, snowstorms and rainstorms that winter too.

I happened to notice this because 1866-67 has some analogue characteristics for this winter. But I can't imagine temperature swings like the ones I saw for that winter. Case in point, early January, it went from almost -10 to almost +10 in the space of four days (daily mean) then back to severe cold, then back up to really mild conditions again, all in the same month.

[Weather-history]

7th December 1937

Dalwhinnie minimum: -13.3C

Lympne: -6.7C

10th December

Rhayader: -11.1C

It was a foggy Christmas morning for some parts with Christmas evening being very foggy for many parts with visibilities of less than 5 yards reported.

[Weather-history]

3rd Dec: 30 inches of snow at Stockholm

8th-10th: 9 died as a result of severe blizzard in New York State. 15ft drifts.

17th Dec: extensive flooding in Rome. Tiber reached a height of 55.5ft

22nd: 24 lives lost in a shipwreck on the Bosporous during a snowstorm

28th: a min. of -14F at Pontresina in Switzerland

31st: two killed in derailment at Haute Loire caused by ice on rails.

31st: ice storm in New York City kills 2