Mid December 1999 - snowy and cold

[damianslaw]

Winter 99-00 was predominantly mild, but not without interest. Mid December was preety cold and snowy in places, there were a number of nights with sharp frosts, and around the 19th-21st many places struggled to get above freezing.

Early December gave us a tease with a shortlived northerly, we then had a showery westerly/northwesterly interlude, but the 14th a cold northerly had set and there were a number of snow showers in Scotland and along eastern parts. In southern parts some snow as well.

On the 18th there was some wet snow in central southern parts as low pressure tracked through these regions bumping into the cold air, a cold northerly airmass then arrived cut off quickly by high pressure. On the 21st an atlantic front moved in with some heavy snow ahead of it, more so in the north. It then became milder. The christmas period was mostly mild but some colder weather in the north with further NW blasts.

Overall it was quite a northerly/north westerly month, but ended up nothing special temp wise.

I was inclined to look at the synoptics that month, some hallmarks with some of what the models are showing for the first part of this month to a degree.

Edited November 29, 2020 by damianslaw

[Weather-history]

 

 

 

[damianslaw]

Thanks for the above, the forecasts around the 19-21st show the depth of cold, quite impressive, couple of ice days.. proof don't need very special synoptics to produce, just an injection of cold uppers and then a slack airstream, especially at the darkest point of the year with little solar heating.

[Weather-history]

There was a little bit of snow as the Atlantic broke through but I think the fronts moved through quicker than the forecasts suggested. You can see it on the Countryfile forecast. The graphics suggest Tuesday infact it cleared through most places by Tuesday midday

 

[Weather-history]

18 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Thanks for the above, the forecasts around the 19-21st show the depth of cold, quite impressive, couple of ice days.. proof don't need very special synoptics to produce, just an injection of cold uppers and then a slack airstream, especially at the darkest point of the year with little solar heating.

Did you get any snow from this, a few days before?   I remember this and was hoping that it would reach my area as it pulled down from the north. We did get a wintry mix of rain/sleet/snow