Comparing March 1995 To January 1984 In The South

[Snowyowl9]

As I remember March 1995 and recorded snow how does it compare with January 1984 and was it January 1978 with cold zonality from Manchester southwards as of course the north did extremely well as Manchester is only just further north to here.

How many days with lying snow from those 3 years/months or falling snow it`ll be much appreciated.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[Norrance]

As I remember March 1995 and recorded snow how does it compare with January 1984 and was it January 1978 with cold zonality from Manchester southwards as of course the north did extremely well as Manchester is only just further north to here.

How many days with lying snow from those 3 years/months or falling snow it`ll be much appreciated.

January 1984 had a large deviance in the number of snow lying days from North to South.

From Trevor Harley's site

Kindrogan [Perthshire] - 30 days snow lying.

Glasgow / Edinburgh - 20 days.

Manchester - 6 days

London - 1 day.

March 1995 had snow falls in the South at the beginning of the month with some following later in the month in more Central /Northern parts so I suspect that there were more snow lying days in March 1995 for the South.

Jan 1978 had several heavy falls in Scotland with milder interludes, cumulating in a great blizzard in the Highlands from the 28th to 30th. Don't think there was much if any snow in the South. This changed in February with Easterlies bringing snow to the East of the UK and along the South coast with the severe blizzards in the South West.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Most of January 1978's snow was indeed confined to the north, but there was a brief period when it extended to the south as well, around the 17th when a cold NW'ly plunge sent cold air right across the whole of the country:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119780117.gif

I reckon January 1984 was the most extreme for north-south split because it had such a strong mobile jet straddling the Midlands- as a result the bursts of cold air never established over the south for very long (the longest was perhaps the burst following the February 1996-style battleground of 21-23 January, when the cold WNW'lys that followed affected all regions until the 26th). In contrast, the north was regularly to the north of the polar front, and as it was an exceptionally wet and windy month as well, it ended up comfortably the snowiest of the three in much of N England, Ireland and Scotland and high ground of the N Midlands.

As for March 1995, as the jet was a little weaker, the cold air established over the south for longer periods than in January 1984, on 2-4 March and again on 7-9 March. As a result, again, the N-S gradient was less pronounced. However, I recall that in March 1995 in the Tyne & Wear area, there was often plenty of sunshine in between the showers (it was the sunniest March since 1933 across much of the region, and locally since 1907) and the snow tended to melt quickly during the sunny intervals.

I'm generally a big fan of those synoptics as they translate to convective sunshine-and-showers days, sometimes with thunder, and with snow if cold enough, but my stance on a repeat of January 1984 would certainly vary considerably depending on whether I lived from the north Midlands northwards. For those areas it was a phenomenal month, but for southern areas, an exciting month mainly for Atlantic gales and heavy convective showers but not much snow.

[Snowyowl9]

January 1984 had a large deviance in the number of snow lying days from North to South.

From Trevor Harley's site

Kindrogan [Perthshire] - 30 days snow lying.

Glasgow / Edinburgh - 20 days.

Manchester - 6 days

London - 1 day.

March 1995 had snow falls in the South at the beginning of the month with some following later in the month in more Central /Northern parts so I suspect that there were more snow lying days in March 1995 for the South.

Thanks but yes I`ve had a look a that site great site at that.

As TWS said the jet had slowed down in March.

I`ll be interested to see what MR Data says about it with sleet and snow falling days and lying snowfall for March 1995.

As for January 1978 I thought it lasted longer than that but it didn`t looking at the charts.

There was probably better cold zonality in the 1990`s winter as I can remember drifting snow from the west/SW with 8 to 10 inches I`ll have to check out those charts.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[Thundery wintry showers]

I don't think there were better examples of cold zonality in the 1990s, but a few other instances were quite notable.

10-12 January 1993 had major snowstorms over Scotland, Northern Ireland and high ground over the northern half of England (wet snow also fell to low ground in N England) from a south-westerly regime. Early January 1991 was similar but with the snow less widespread away from northern Scotland I believe.

Decembers 1993 and 1999 had a fair amount of cold zonality especially in the north. December 1993 was generally the milder of the two months in the south, but also the snowier of the two months in the north and on high ground in central regions. January 1995 also contained some cool zonality at times.

There was also a bit of short-lived cold zonality around in the winter of 1998/99- around 28 December and again around mid-January, which may have delivered snow to the Welsh hills from south-westerly airflows. But I don't think low-lying areas generally got much if any.

[Snowyowl9]

Thanks again TWS, this could`ve been the day I was thinking about as it gave 6 inches and drifting on the 21st with hail/sleet and snow showers,A day I clearly remember if this was it.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119931221.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119931222.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00219931222.gif

Edited November 7, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[Thundery wintry showers]

That may well have been it, there was definitely widespread snow around that time, especially on high ground.

[Snowyowl9]

Yes it was as I remember a sunny morning and drifting from the west, with some showers in the afternoon not completely of snow as they went a bit sleety later and soft hail showers nothing heavy but there was thick snowcover all day.

This in 1978 looked a similar setup.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119780120.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00219780120.gif

[Weather-history]

I`ll be interested to see what MR Data says about it with sleet and snow falling days and lying snowfall for March 1995.

March 1995

Stornoway

20 days with falling sleet/snow

8 days of lying snow

Aviemore

20 days with falling sleet/snow

19 days of lying snow

Dyce

17 days with falling sleet/snow

4 days with lying snow

Abbotsinch

14 days with falling sleet/snow

4 days with lying snow

Aldegrove

15 days with falling sleet/snow

2 days with lying snow

Manchester

11 days with falling sleet/snow

3 days with lying snow

Elmdon

13 days with falling sleet/snow

3 days with lying snow

Heathrow

5 days with falling sleet/snow

Cardiff

7 days with falling sleet/snow

1 day of lying snow

St Mawgan

4 days of falling sleet/snow

[Snowyowl9]

Thanks for that, I`ve been trawling the archives and heres some interesting links of yours truly with January 1984 and last years Cold zonality topic with december 1993 in there aswell to compare.

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=34189

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?s...42128&st=17