March Snowfalls

[damianslaw]

As we are now in March - thought it would be good to start a thread asking for peoples' recollections of particular March snow events.

March can deliver notable snowfalls particularly from northerly and northeasterly set ups but less so easterly set ups which tend to be quite dry with less in the way of convection thanks to cold North Sea SST's and generally very dry air at this time of year off a much drier continent compared to late autumn/early winter.

Snowfalls can occur under cyclonic conditions with southerly tracking lows as well as potent northwesterlies - think early 1995.

One event I would appeciate peoples' memories on was sometime in mid March 87. I don't know the exact date - but I do remember heavy snow mid week sometime it could have been the 17th or 18th March. Does anyone have any memories of this - could hazard a guess when it might have been. March 1987 was a cold month overall.

More recently March 12th 1996 delivered a couple of inches to these parts. March 12th 2006 brought 6 inches + and an ice day. Indeed the first three weeks of March 06 were very cold with bitter northerlies at the start of the month delivering heavy snow showers to NE parts, and the third week saw a raw easterly with sleety wet snow showers at times and temps struggling above 4 degree maxima.

Early March 95 brought 8 days on the trot with snow falling - with at least three falls with 2-3 inches +. Easter 2008 also brought a couple of inches of snow to these parts.

Of course we have had some trifling amounts during March in yesteryear - 1947 being prime example. March 1965 was very cold and 1958 with heavy snow. March 1970 and 1979 also brought very heavy snow. March 1985 and 1986 were also quite cold at times but I don't think they delivered heavy snow. March 93 brought snow early in the month, March 2001 brought widespread snow. Early march 05 was also snowy.

March on average is far snowier than November and usually the first half of December, its just the last 3 years have seen a reverse in fortunes (this year remains to be seen but it has a good chance of reverting back to type i.e. snowier than early winter).

[Aaron]

March 2008 was the most recent proper March snowfall here.

Most March's have snow here, the previous few have been highly unusual in having little to no snow. I hope this year can buck the trend.

Yes damian, people seem to think when the calendar hits 1 March, snow is out of the question - wrong, you're more likely to see snow in March then November and early December. Remember people, March is not a warm month.. average maximums are the same as November and average minimums are lower then December in many places.

Edited March 1, 2012 by Aaron

[feb1991blizzard]

As we are now in March - thought it would be good to start a thread asking for peoples' recollections of particular March snow events.

March can deliver notable snowfalls particularly from northerly and northeasterly set ups but less so easterly set ups which tend to be quite dry with less in the way of convection thanks to cold North Sea SST's and generally very dry air at this time of year off a much drier continent compared to late autumn/early winter.

Snowfalls can occur under cyclonic conditions with southerly tracking lows as well as potent northwesterlies - think early 1995.

One event I would appeciate peoples' memories on was sometime in mid March 87. I don't know the exact date - but I do remember heavy snow mid week sometime it could have been the 17th or 18th March. Does anyone have any memories of this - could hazard a guess when it might have been. March 1987 was a cold month overall.

More recently March 12th 1996 delivered a couple of inches to these parts. March 12th 2006 brought 6 inches + and an ice day. Indeed the first three weeks of March 06 were very cold with bitter northerlies at the start of the month delivering heavy snow showers to NE parts, and the third week saw a raw easterly with sleety wet snow showers at times and temps struggling above 4 degree maxima.

Early March 95 brought 8 days on the trot with snow falling - with at least three falls with 2-3 inches +. Easter 2008 also brought a couple of inches of snow to these parts.

Of course we have had some trifling amounts during March in yesteryear - 1947 being prime example. March 1965 was very cold and 1958 with heavy snow. March 1970 and 1979 also brought very heavy snow. March 1985 and 1986 were also quite cold at times but I don't think they delivered heavy snow. March 93 brought snow early in the month, March 2001 brought widespread snow. Early march 05 was also snowy.

March on average is far snowier than November and usually the first half of December, its just the last 3 years have seen a reverse in fortunes (this year remains to be seen but it has a good chance of reverting back to type i.e. snowier than early winter).

1987 and 1995 were my fondest memories of March, i dont know if i am talking about the same event but i had a big dumping in the West Midlands on about the 6th or 7th of March 1987, it was a friday night and all day Saturday and must have been upward of 8 inches, i am sure it was that weekend because i remember my delight at the pasting being rather muted as news of the Zebrugge ferry disaster broke.

[Snowy Easterly]

typical that all these good snow event came in the 80's or 90's when i was too young to remember

[Snowy Easterly]

typical that all these good snow event came in the 80's or 90's when i was too young to remember or not born yet

tbh honest i don't remember any decent, notable snow events here in march this century, apart from easter 2008 but that was in april i think

Edited March 1, 2012 by Snowy Easterly

[feb1991blizzard]

typical that all these good snow event came in the 80's or 90's when i was too young to remember or not born yet

tbh honest i don't remember any decent, notable snow events here in march this century, apart from easter 2008 but that was in april i think

Yep. The 80s was the best decade for snow events, like it was for a lot of things! at least you got something in 2008 though, i got jack out of that!

[Snowy Easterly]

well hopefully march 2012 can rival these 80s events but i won't hold my breath

[Nigerian Prince]

Yes, I think it was on the 18th of March 1987, very heavy snowfall in the SouthEast including the London area, it was one of the lagest snow flakes I have ever seen, it settled but did not last long ,as with most March snowfalls, ,also March1979, very heavy snow showers in the morning of 18th, too, but as soon as the sun came out it all melted. I cant really remember any snowfalls in March after that, the truth is the 80s and 90s brought a lot of Westerely domnanted spells and Easterely, and Northerly winds tend to be more common in April, The most famous March snowfalls were in 1947, after a record breaking cold February atlantic depressions came in and on the Northan flank, and gave very heavy snowfalls to parts of the Midlands and Northan England and Scotland. (.Battersea., London, Male.)

[Thundery wintry showers]

March 1987 had continental air in the first half and a couple of "frontal battleground" type snowfalls during the first week. Then around the 18th-22nd we had a northerly outbreak which brought primarily sunshine and snow showers, with occasional longer spells of snow in places from troughs/fronts. Temperatures during this northerly spell typically reached 4 to 7C during the daytime sunshine which explains the rapid thaw referenced earlier.

In the Tyne and Wear area the severest March cold snap in the last 20 years was the one in early March 2001. Heavy snow fell and accumulated inland overnight 27th/28th February, but failed to settle near the coast, then snow showers affected the region on the 1st/2nd March 2001, this time heaviest towards the North Sea coast. Overnight 2nd/3rd the temperature dropped below -10 degrees in many places and snow cover persisted during two days of near-unbroken sunshine on the 3rd and 4th, with just a couple of centimetres shaved off the snow cover on both afternoons despite the sunshine and highs of 3 or 4C. Later in the same month an unstable east to north-easterly regime brought heavy snow and hail showers on the 18th, with snow cover except near the coastal fringe. This episode illustrated the fact that an easterly can still produce plenty of convection over the North Sea well into spring provided that the airmass is sourced within the Arctic Circle. "Continental European"-sourced easterlies become increasingly reliable sources of dry cloudy weather as we head into March though, as was highlighted to the extreme during March 1996 when Durham had just 29 hours of sunshine, and none at all from the 11th-25th inclusive. Note that the other Marches during 1993-97 were all notably sunny in the North East, making 1996 a real shock to the system.

March 2006 produced some snow showers during the first week, with accumulations from a heavy homegrown snow shower late on the 2nd, and following a daytime thaw on the 3rd, more snow fell overnight 3rd/4th and most of the snow cover survived on the 4th before thawing in a slightly less cold airmass on the 5th. The 12th produced frontal snow, although the snow struggled to settle on concrete surfaces for some reason (perhaps one of those rare occasions where the ground temperatures were the main factor, such that snow had to be heavy for it to settle despite a temperature slightly below zero).

The cold zonality during the first 8 days of March 1995 brought some impressive convection, although Cleadon missed most of the heavier showers, as a result getting short-lived accumulations that thawed in the subsequent sunshine. The northerly on the 27th produced about three centimetres of snow cover during the morning which thawed in the afternoon sunshine. Overall though despite the short-lived nature of snow cover March 1995 ranked as one of my all-time favourite months due to its convective displays and also some decent warm dry sunny weather around the 10th and 23rd, providing extra variety.

But the snowiest March spell in the North East in the last 40 years was in mid-March 1979 when a north-easterly regime produced large enough totals to get Newcastle cut off (40-60cm widely reported across the region).

[damianslaw]

Thanks for the posts so far - will have to look at the charts for the 18th-22nd March 1987 as I think it was probably the 18th when we saw the snowfall. I distinctly remember this event from my childhood as we had a school exchange visit that day and I remember having a massive snowball fight in the morning on the school field with the kids from the other school getting told off for pelting the teachers!

Mind the snow can't have been that severe because we managed to take a trip to a farm in the afternoon up remote country roads - I suspect the sun had got to work on the snow quite quickly during the morning.

Early March 01 did bring very cold conditions to NE parts. Early March 04 also brought very cold arcitc conditions with snow sticking on the ground until the 5th even in coastal Sunderland. Early March 05 brought cold but less snowy conditions. Early March 06 also brought cold snowy conditions.

Hoping we manage a decent northerly this March again.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The persistence of snow cover in the early March '04 spell was particularly impressive as all of the snow had fallen at the back end of February 2004 (particularly the 28th) and daytime temperatures peaked at 4 to 6C in sunshine from the 29th February onwards. I was away in Lancaster on that occasion so unfortunately wasn't around to see exactly how the snow cover behaved, but presumably the large snow depth and sharp overnight frosts (-5.2C at Cleadon early on the 1st March) will have helped snow cover retention. It was a similar story in southern England during early March 1970 when, following a deep snowfall on the 3rd/4th, snow cover persisted for a week in sunshine despite maximum temperatures often getting well above freezing.

[knocker]

There seems to have been a fair old blizzard late March 1898. From the Royal Cornwall Gazette March 31st.

[Alex95]

March 1979 is definitely the one to beat here - 48cm in Newcastle, and as TWS says 40-60cm was widespread. I think parts of County Durham only got about 30cm though, whilst Northumberland got over 60cm in places, which is incredible for a 2 or 3 day snow event in March. The winds were also a feature with the snow drifting to the upstairs windows in some places. I'm pretty sure there was 10-15cm in March 2001 at the very start though, and quite a bit left over from February on the 1st March 2004 (I got 15cm in Feb).

Edited March 1, 2012 by Alza 2

[Weather-history]

[I remember Atlantic 252]

the last video, if Wed 21st, was high levels only, I only had sleet

[Terminal Moraine]

March 1987 produced the greatest depth of lying snow for the month since I moved here in 1977. It snowed all day on the 6th and for most of the 7th by which time the level depth was 29cm. The snow cover ( Met' office definition ) lasted until the afternoon of the 16th and there was another small fall on the 18th which lasted until late afternoon on the 19th.

The cold spell produced 3 ice days ( 3rd, 7th and 9th.

March 1979 was almost as good with a depth of 22cm on the 17th and considerable drifting in the strong NE wind. There were ice days on the 16th and 17th and the snow cover lasted until the afternoon of the 22nd before 50% of it was lost.

[AderynCoch]

There was of course the famous West Country blizzard of 9th March 1891. According to Robin Stirling, many people were leaving their houses via upstairs windows. 1845 saw probably the coldest March spell on record, and I'd be surprised if there weren't significant snowfalls somewhere in the country.

12th March 2006 is the best March snowfall I can remember. Early March 1947 was also a real humdinger round here.

[A Winter's Tale]

March snowfalls here in Glasgow:

Last year had a pretty snowy first half of March but failed to settle (particulary with two snow events that lasted for more than 4 hours).

The Year Before I believe had one event which never settled on the low ground but had accumilations up to 60cm on the Campsie Hills (there was always a patch of lying snow from Mid December 2009 to Mid May 2010).

March 2009 had the odd snow event but yet again it was a wet one.

I believe that March 2008 and 2007 had snowfalls aswell and I think we got A March snowfall from an easterly.

March 2006 had my largest ever snow depth with 30cm from a frontal snowfall.

March 2004 was my first memory of a Spring snowfall, it settled for a while before melting.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Scotland would be buried on ECMWF 240 chart, especially high levels, but not a great setup for south

[A Winter's Tale]

As it stands, it seems that March 2012 is set to be another year with a snow event in March with snow in eastern areas - however up here I think we'll have to wait a bit longer but eventually I believe that we'll see more potent northerlies which would benefit everyone. A very volitile model output at the moment and any slight changes could have massive implications but I do think the trend is there for northerly outbreaks to become more common and with that Russian/Scandi Hi there we could end up with some other interesting weather.

For March, I think a typical early-Spring start to the month and for a changeable outlook throughout the month but getting progessively more wintry and this theme could carry on into April. Certainly the Stratoshphere signals at the moment may point at something like this and often after Azore Hi dominated winter, a cooler/wintry Spring could follow.

Anyway, regardless of what happens, I believe that for once we are going to have a consistent season of seasonal weather since last Spring as since then it's been very inconsistent. I do feel confident that this Spring will be a nice one, on the cool side for March and April, on the sunny side and some warmer periods in April and May and mixture of showery, gales, snow, thunderstorms inbetween.