January 1997

[virtualsphere]

This month looks like being the coldest CET month since at least Feb '91, lower than Jan '97 which has been the coldest CET month for the last 13 years at 2.5C.

Yet the only references to Jan '97 I can find are to do with the CET figure itself, and not the weather. I don't have any recollection of the month at all, which I'm sure I would if there had been remarkable snowfall or a long run of sub-zero temperatures. A lot of people talk about Winter '95-96 yet in CET terms Jan '97 was equal to Feb '96 and only 0.2 higher than Dec '95.

Does anyone have any memories about Jan '97 and why it turned out to be the coldest month for the following 13 years, and what synoptics caused it? I'm assuming by the lack of references it must have been inversion cold under high pressure and not a big snowfall event - or maybe here in Wales we missed out on any excitement?

[damianslaw]

This month looks like being the coldest CET month since at least Feb '91, lower than Jan '97 which has been the coldest CET month for the last 13 years at 2.5C.

Yet the only references to Jan '97 I can find are to do with the CET figure itself, and not the weather. I don't have any recollection of the month at all, which I'm sure I would if there had been remarkable snowfall or a long run of sub-zero temperatures. A lot of people talk about Winter '95-96 yet in CET terms Jan '97 was equal to Feb '96 and only 0.2 higher than Dec '95.

Does anyone have any memories about Jan '97 and why it turned out to be the coldest month for the following 13 years, and what synoptics caused it? I'm assuming by the lack of references it must have been inversion cold under high pressure and not a big snowfall event - or maybe here in Wales we missed out on any excitement?

January 97 was very cold in the opening days with a strong easterly flow and sub-zero CET days. High pressure held the atlantic at bay until around the 11th if memory serves right, thereafter it was predominantly average with some frost but no significant cold weather. There was not much snow around all month, apart from the first few days with some snow showers in the east and then some frontal snow around the 11th as the atlantic crashed through. It was a very dry month for many.

Its probably not remembered much, due to it being fairly snowless and apart from the first few days no significant cold occured. Quite uncanny how our three coldest januarys of the past 20 years all started off with a very cold 10 days only for the remainder of the month to be average at best (this month the cold hung on longer I know, but the most significant cold occured up to the 10th).

[Thundery wintry showers]

In Tyneside it was not outstandingly cold, about the same as January 2001. Although the easterly outbreak of 30/31 December 1996 had brought sunshine and snow showers, January 1997 began with a succession of dull dry days. There were occasional snow flurries, while the 2nd had some rain move down from the north turning the snow slushy and icy. There were two bright showery days on the 6th and 9th but in both cases showers were of rain, and the snow cover had gone by the 6th.

In some parts of eastern England further south (e.g. Lowestoft, Lincoln, Hastings) snow stuck around until the breakdown on the 11th, and those areas were much more anomalously cold.

I remember a mild spell around midmonth with some hazy sunshine followed by mainly dry cloudy weather and average temperatures for the rest of the month. Sunshine varied quite widely though, and some other places were much sunnier than average, especially north-west England.

[Summer of 95]

January 1997 was all about the first 10 days as I remember it.

The main snowfall here was on the afternoon of Dec 31st, though it had been cold since Christmas and there was a light dusting the day before. We had 7cm lying on the morning of the 1st, which stayed completely intact until about the 5th due to the days remaining below freezing, with only a few light flurries falling. Then the daytime temps started to rise, we finally lost the snowcover on the 8th which was the 10th consecutive day with it. So far it had been a decent winter. Following the thaw it was raw and dull for a few days but not bitterly cold, as I remember the bitter easterlies tried to come back but never quite made it. Then the second half of the month was terribly, terribly boring- lots of anticyclonic gloom, frequently cold but never freezing, a few light frosts but -2 at best; in the final few days it turned westerly which led to a relentlessly mild, wet westerly February. We didn't get a decent snowfall again till 2001.

[Weather-history]

One thing that is often forgotten about this month, is just how dry it was. The CET is always remembered about this month, that it was the coldest January for 10 years etc

But no one talks about it being the 5th driest January on record for England and Wales and the driest January for over 100 years.

Its the dryness of this month that was remarkable not the temperatures.

[Methuselah]

I can't remember January 1997 at all!

[virtualsphere]

Thanks for replying everyone.

Nice to hear some memories of this month and the similarities to the current month are interesting with the cold coming during the first 10 days. Let's hope the rest of this winter doesn't go the same way and the atlantic doesn't manage to make a return this time! We've done very well here in West Wales from this month's set-up, had some good snowfalls due to showers from the initial northerly, followed by several frontal snowfall events too. I expect no significant snow reached here in Jan '97 as any snow showers from easterlies don't tend to make it this far west. We may well have had rain when the atlantic came back - probably too close to the west coast for snow - which is why I don't remember it.

Interesting to hear about the dryness of the month too. Looking at some charts shows high pressure was influencing the UK for much of the month.

[damianslaw]

This month has been a much more wintry month than Jan 97 which quickly fizzled into nothingness, whereas we have easterlies, sub-zero CET days, frontal snow and cold northerlies, the cold and snow has come from all directions and in different forms making for a much more interesting month.

Jan 97 was the last cold month until Jan 01... it was followed by three very mild non-descript months indeed, to see a repeat of Feb-Apr 97 occuring now is something I wouldn't relish.

[Summer of 95]

This month has been a much more wintry month than Jan 97 which quickly fizzled into nothingness, whereas we have easterlies, sub-zero CET days, frontal snow and cold northerlies, the cold and snow has come from all directions and in different forms making for a much more interesting month.

Jan 97 was the last cold month until Jan 01... it was followed by three very mild non-descript months indeed, to see a repeat of Feb-Apr 97 occuring now is something I wouldn't relish.

April 1997 was pleasant enough; plenty of warm sunny dry days and cool nights not unlike 2007, though it didn't last quite all month like the latter did. March was noteworthy for its mildness, also I chiefly remember it for all that fog midmonth. But for those who like a mixed sunny/wintry/showery March with varying temperatures, it was just about the worst March possible. February was a stinker- mild, wet, westerly and snowless throughout, didn't have the warm sunny weather of the following Feb to redeem it.

[Thundery wintry showers]

There was a fair bit of regional variation during February-April 1997. Broadly speaking, February was mild and wet everywhere (especially the south), dull in the west and sunny in the east. March was a very mild, sunny, exceptionally dry month for most parts except N & W Scotland, N Ireland and parts of NW England where sunshine was near or below normal, and rainfall much above in NW Scotland. April was a very dry month, very sunny in central and southern England but very dull in Scotland and NW England.

Despite my preferences for Marches along the lines of what Summer of 95 describes, I didn't find March 1997 too boring in Tyneside- there was that anticyclonic sunny hazy spell midmonth with a high frequency of fog, and sunshine ended up some 50% above normal. April by contrast had only average amounts of sunshine there (and less than we'd seen during March) and very little happened, so I found that month very boring indeed.

However when receiving my new sledge today, my first thoughts were "let's not have a repeat of February-April 1997 now!". For many central and southern districts it was completely snowless.

[Weather-history]

The one thing I always remember about March-April 1997 is comet Hale-Bopp. Thankfully, there was much clearer skies to view this magnificent comet than there was for the previous March-April and with comet Hyuatake (sic).

[Methuselah]

The one thing I always remember about March-April 1997 is comet Hale-Bopp. Thankfully, there was much clearer skies to view this magnificent comet than there was for the previous March-April and with comet Hyuatake (sic).

Those were absolutely spectacular from the Highland Glens, Mr D. Maybe, that's why I can't remember the weather???