60s Uk Winters

[Stratocumulus perlucidus]

Im always hearing that winters in the 60s and 70s used to be cold and snowy every year and then it suddenly stopped. Does anyone know when it stopped and what happened in the years leadi g up to it stopping?

[4wd]

Well the 70s were often on the mild side.

77-78 and 78-79 were cold and sometimes snowy especially 1979.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The winters of the 1960s were snowy relative to the 1990s and 2000s, but they weren't disproportionately snowy relative to most hf the other decades of the 20th century- if anything the 1940s and 1950s were probably snowier overall.

The 1960s produced a mix of winters, including two which were largely snowless (1960/61 and 1966/67), one which was cold but not particularly snowy (1963/64), some near average to fairly snowy winters (1959/60, 1961/62, 1964/65) and some snowy ones (1962/63 and also 1965/66, 1967/68 and 1968/69).

After another snowy winter in 1969/70, the period 1971-1976 produced generally snowless winters with all six winters coming in below long-term averages for most, before we went into a run of generally snowy winters from 1977 to 1987. It is worth noting that the winter of 1979/80 (arguably the least snowy of the 1977-87 period) produced more snow overall than 1972/73 (arguably the snowiest of the 1971-76 period) and also beat three winters of the 1960s, so that period provided a particularly stark contrast with the period 1988-2008.

[leicsnow]

Should this thread be moved to the "Historic Weather" section?

Edited December 20, 2011 by Tellow

[Stratocumulus perlucidus]

I dont know i had a theory for the reason the cold winters suddenly dissapeared but it has been debunked already.

[Weather-history]

One question I like asking is which decade recorded more winters with a CET of 3.0 or less? 1960s or 1990s? The answer is the 1990s. Outside 1962-63, the winters of the 1960s tended to have notable cold months rather than being notable cold winters overall, eg December 1961, February 1968 and 1969.

I think winter 2008-09 was closer to the winters of the 1960s whilst 2009-10 was closer to an early 1940s type winter, if you could do a comparison.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Mr_Data

[Rollo]

You surprise me with that info,just shows how the memory plays tricks. My recollections of the nineties in the North-East was of very few winters of note other than the specific February of 1991.

[Stratocumulus perlucidus]

My grandad said it used to always snow in st helens, but since all the factorys closed down it had stopped. He said it was as if the factory kept all the snow up in the sky and when it was too full it was all released as snow. Now in theory this is true as all the heat from factory chimneys and all tue smog from domestic chimneys can heat up the stratosphere meaning colder winters. If i have the right end of the stick that is. Im just trying to link the cold winters since then to this theory.

[stewfox]

Im always hearing that winters in the 60s and 70s used to be cold and snowy every year and then it suddenly stopped. Does anyone know when it stopped and what happened in the years leadi g up to it stopping?

In the old days you could get in you car drive up a local hill and see increadible 10ft snow drifts in March

A few pictures of me going up the hill, you can see with a few feet in height how the snow gets higher.

[Weather-history]

One question I like asking is which decade recorded more winters with a CET of 3.0 or less? 1960s or 1990s? The answer is the 1990s. Outside 1962-63, the winters of the 1960s tended to have notable cold months rather than being notable cold winters overall, eg December 1961, February 1968 and 1969.

With the exception of January 1963, the Januaries of the 1960s were not that particularly cold for the CET. I think the winter of 1962-63 distort the perception of the winters of 1960s somewhat.

Take out the winter of 1962-63, then the CET averages for the winter months of the 1960s becomes

December: 3.7C

January: 4.0C

February: 4.1C

Its clear to see that the Decembers of the 1960s were cold overall.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Mr_Data

[4wd]

In the old days you could get in you car drive up a local hill and see increadible 10ft snow drifts in March

A few pictures of me going up the hill, you can see with a few feet in height how the snow gets higher.

How often did that actually happen though - looking at the woolly sweater I bet that's 1978 or most likely 1979 and those were the only years in the 70s you could see something like that.

[Evening thunder]

In the old days you could get in you car drive up a local hill and see increadible 10ft snow drifts in March

A few pictures of me going up the hill, you can see with a few feet in height how the snow gets higher.

That looks more like somewhere like the Alps or perhaps Scotland

Actually that looks like the USA, the lines in the middle of the road are yellow? if it's in the UK the end two pics are rather impressive though.

Edit: and you're driving on the right.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Stormmad26

[stewfox]

How often did that actually happen though - looking at the woolly sweater I bet that's 1978 or most likely 1979 and those were the only years in the 70s you could see something like that.

Oregon March 1995 , fun times. Mods please delete but just shows you what 2000ft will do.

I think sometimes there is a preception that winters were far more severe back then. I think pre 2009 we just had a mild blip of 15yrs and now back to more normal winters.

43 days of lying snow Jan/frb 79 or 14c + Jan 1984 we had the mix

Actually that looks like the USA, the lines in the middle of the road are yellow? if it's in the UK the end two pics are rather impressive though.

Edit: and you're driving on the right.

Good call , perhaps for another thread guess the location

[North-Easterly Blast]

With the exception of January 1963, the Januaries of the 1960s were not that particularly cold for the CET. I think the winter of 1962-63 distort the perception of the winters of 1960s somewhat.

Take out the winter of 1962-63, then the CET averages for the winter months of the 1960s becomes

December: 3.7C

January: 4.0C

February: 4.1C

Its clear to see that the Decembers of the 1960s were cold overall.

.After a run of cold Decembers in the 1960s, things then switched suddenly to a high number of warm synoptics that gave a run of mild Decembers in the 1970s and 1980s, with Dec 1981 a clear exception in two decades of mild Decembers overall, and then around 1990 December became cooler for the next two decades and was overall the coolest month in the year relative to averages during the 1990s and 2000s.

January and February are a bit like December in a delayed fashion. In the cold 1977-1987 period, the cold tended to be loaded in the middle and latter part of the winter and Jan and Feb were cold overall during this period. Things then switched remarkably around 1988 for January and February and both these months were exceptionally mild overall during the 1990s and 2000s.

The winters of the 1960s were snowy relative to the 1990s and 2000s, but they weren't disproportionately snowy relative to most hf the other decades of the 20th century- if anything the 1940s and 1950s were probably snowier overall.

The 1960s produced a mix of winters, including two which were largely snowless (1960/61 and 1966/67), one which was cold but not particularly snowy (1963/64), some near average to fairly snowy winters (1959/60, 1961/62, 1964/65) and some snowy ones (1962/63 and also 1965/66, 1967/68 and 1968/69).

After another snowy winter in 1969/70, the period 1971-1976 produced generally snowless winters with all six winters coming in below long-term averages for most, before we went into a run of generally snowy winters from 1977 to 1987. It is worth noting that the winter of 1979/80 (arguably the least snowy of the 1977-87 period) produced more snow overall than 1972/73 (arguably the snowiest of the 1971-76 period) and also beat three winters of the 1960s, so that period provided a particularly stark contrast with the period 1988-2008.

I do not think that winter 1980-81 produced much in the way of snow either, apart from the famous late April 1981 event.

[Steve14]

I remember 60s weather pretty well one thing I did notice was in the 66/ 67 there suddenly was a lack of snow in fact in December christmas time I remember for a change it being sunny! Also we ceased getting the fog to the extent we had it before.

I see it being because of the clean air acts taking affect gradually and also a lot the old type factory chimneys were being demolished and replaced with high velocity chimneys which were much narrower which meant the gases left chimneys at faster speed and therefore travelled further which then made it some other countries responsibility what can be said of 60s is its decade that the weather patterns changed

[A Face like Thunder]

I couldn't agree more Steve14, except that Jan - March 1979, Dec 1981 and Jan 1987 were all cold and snowy which were long after the Clean Air Acts began to take effect. I recall Christmas Day 1966 was wall-to-wall sunshine after a frosty start. We were praying for snow in 1960/61, having just returned from the Tropics, but we saw none in the South East until the end of December 1961. The last great smog in the SE was in December 1962 and preceded the coldest winter of the twentieth century (Eden) which lends weight to your argument. I think the weather patterns really started to change after 1987 and that, in my view, is when climate change began to kick in. And who can forget Christmas Day 1987, which had to be the warmest on record. and the heatwave at the start of August 1990.    

Edited March 3, 2021 by A Face like Thunder

[Methuselah]

I remember watching the fog roll in off the countryside, back in the early-mid 1960s; but, it wasn't the same as the fog we get today: it was a ghastly shade of greeny yellow and was far thicker than its modern equivalent. Our being surrounded by LBC chimneys almost certainly had something to do with that!

[Weather-history]

5 hours ago, A Face like Thunder said:

. And who can forget Christmas Day 1987, which had to be the warmest on record.

Christmas Day 1988 was milder. Boxing Day 1988 was nearly 14C at Manchester Airport. 

[Sunny76]

On 03/03/2021 at 14:20, Weather-history said:

Christmas Day 1988 was milder. Boxing Day 1988 was nearly 14C at Manchester Airport. 

Christmas Day 1987, was the first one I remember to be very sunny and mild, almost springlike. Not just a mild one, but with clear blue skies and a mild wind, it really did feel like it was almost 15-16c.

Definitely the first hints of climate change, and this followed the October storm of 1987, maybe weather event ushered in the change for winter 87/88 and beyond.

[Sunny76]

On 03/03/2021 at 09:04, A Face like Thunder said:

I couldn't agree more Steve14, except that Jan - March 1979, Dec 1981 and Jan 1987 were all cold and snowy which were long after the Clean Air Acts began to take effect. I recall Christmas Day 1966 was wall-to-wall sunshine after a frosty start. We were praying for snow in 1960/61, having just returned from the Tropics, but we saw none in the South East until the end of December 1961. The last great smog in the SE was in December 1962 and preceded the coldest winter of the twentieth century (Eden) which lends weight to your argument. I think the weather patterns really started to change after 1987 and that, in my view, is when climate change began to kick in. And who can forget Christmas Day 1987, which had to be the warmest on record. and the heatwave at the start of August 1990.    

Yes, I’m glad I found someone who remembers that very strange Christmas Day. Although at the time, I just embraced it for what it was lol. My family were moaning about how unusual it was. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

I've seen Christmas Day 1987 mentioned quite a few times over the past few years.  I think it sticks out for many because the period around Christmas 1987 was generally mild and very dull with tropical maritime air, but Christmas Day was clear and sunny in many parts of the UK, due to an incursion of returning polar maritime air.  It wasn't exceptionally mild, but would have felt warm in the sunshine.  It would have especially stood out due to the lack of sunshine on the surrounding days and then the abundance of it on the big day.

Christmas Day 1988 was warmer but might not have felt as warm because for most parts of the UK tropical maritime air dominated and there wasn't much sunshine.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Thundery wintry showers

[Sunny76]

Christmas Day 1988 was a typical cloudy mild event. Similar to Christmas Day 2015, and 16. Mild, or very mild, but cloudy. The sunny mild variety often feels more unusual, because most associate a uk christmas with dull and mild, or cold sunny, or cold cloudy weather.

Christmas 2020 was ideal, because it was the frosty sunny variety. 

[cheeky_monkey]

am i the only one here that doesn't even remember Christmas 1987? 

[AderynCoch]

58 minutes ago, cheeky_monkey said:

am i the only one here that doesn't even remember Christmas 1987? 

I don't, because I was only two at the time.

I'm here all day... 

[cheeky_monkey]

9 minutes ago, AderynCoch said:

I don't, because I was only two at the time.

I'm here all day... 

i was probably mostly in the pub or chasing girls or driving test maybe