Feb. 2004 — Questions about this quirky month

[LetItSnow!]

If ever a month was scuppered by a poor first-half, surely none could take the cake like February, 2004. Overall, it came out very mild for the C.E.T. at 5.4, but a look through the charts shows a more interesting month. 

 

January had ended on a very wintry note, with an intense Artic shot on the 28th, famously bringing “thundersnow” to parts of the U.K., but change was afoot & low pressure broke in. In the space of days, we were under an incredibly balmy southwesterly. Temperatures between the 2nd & 4th were exceptionally high, by both day & night.

 

 

 

 

 

After a few days of April weather, winter bit back & the rest of February was decidedly more wintry. This was the result of a northerly blast. Temperatures began to fall & frost most likely became widespread.

Mid-February turned very anticyclonic, though with glances of cold polar at brushing over the high at times. 

Colder by now, with winds turning to the east. Not quite a direct hit, but perhaps a snow risk to some southern areas.

Very blocked set up with cold northerly winds seeing out the month.

Same set up to end the month, albeit perhaps flattening slightly, but still under cold air.

 

So, what’s everyone’s memories of this month? Seems spoiled due to the revolting spell of weather around the 3rd, but never all that mild afterward. Goes to show you how exceptional that spell was that a chilly second-half still resulted in a CET of 5.4. Overall, a flick through the charts of Winter 2003/2004 don’t look all that bad. All three months had spells of cold weather, lots of it from the north. I feel the CET makes this winter look much worse than it is. Share your memories below. I was only 3 at the time, so have no clue!

[danm]

Looking at back at the archives, it was an unremarkable month, at least for London, although there was a cold snap at the end of the month. Looking back at some of the old weather forecasts there was snow around, although I don't remember much here. 

What I do remember from that winter was the thundersnow event from the end of January. Resulted in a huge dump of snow in a short space of time. 

[damianslaw]

Not especially memorable. The arctic shot at the end of the month brought a few inches of snow to Newcastle upon Tyne where I was at the time, and stuck around for 3-4 days.

Winter 03-04 was one punctuated by short lived northerly blasts, late Dec, early Jan, a potent one end Jan and then the late Feb one, but overall was a rather mild non-descript winter, generally unsettled. 

[BruenSryan]

The only thing of note about this February in Dublin was how sunny it was. It was and still is the sunniest February on record in the region with 128 hrs recorded at Dublin Apt following on from another sunny one in 2003. 

Had some very mild weather to start (though nothing we've not become accustomed to) like was said and a few severe frosts at the end. I guess 11 air frosts is still better than many winter months the past decade..

[Thundery wintry showers]

I was in Lancaster during that month and remember a chilly NW'ly on the 7th which brought wintry showers, and then there was a dusting of snow from snow showers that made it all the way across from the north-east on the night of the 26th/27th.  The first half of the month was dull, but easily outweighed by an exceptionally sunny second half.

I recall from reports from my parents and from people around the region that on the 27th there were heavy falls and accumulations of snow around Durham but not much near the coast, but then on the 28th it was the turn of coastal areas to get a dumping, with my parents reporting around 10cm of lying snow, which at that time was the deepest snow there since February 1991.  

Looking at the CET values for February 2004, after the exceptionally warm first week and the brief north-westerly snap, it was generally mild until the 19th, so there must have been some fairly warm air in the circulation of the high pressure that dominated midmonth.  It was cold from the 20th onwards, but never exceptionally so.  The northerlies near the end were widely cold enough for snow to near sea level - I even recall someone on this forum studying at Exeter University reporting lying snow from a time - but the lack of notable cold for the time of year meant away from the northern and eastern areas that had frequent snow showers, it tended to thaw away in the sun during the daytime.

In many parts of north-east England, especially near the coast, 2003/04 was pretty decent for snow lovers considering how mild it was.  There were snowfalls from northerlies on 22 December 2003 and in late January 2004 as well as in late February.  The winter of 2003/04 was also the last colder than average winter (relative to 1961-90) in the Svalbard area, which would have helped to make that winter's northerlies relatively potent.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Thundery wintry showers

[Weather-history]

13 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

 

 

So, what’s everyone’s memories of this month? Seems spoiled due to the revolting spell of weather around the 3rd, but never all that mild afterward. Goes to show you how exceptional that spell was that a chilly second-half still resulted in a CET of 5.4. Overall, a flick through the charts of Winter 2003/2004 don’t look all that bad. All three months had spells of cold weather, lots of it from the north. I feel the CET makes this winter look much worse than it is. Share your memories below. I was only 3 at the time, so have no clue!

I remember how mild it was at the start of the month, when the sun came out briefly, it reminded me of mid February 1998

We did get snow here from that cold spell at the end. I recall seeing a line of snow showers developing to my north, slowly drifting southwards on the Thursday. There was a cluster of snow showers moving through around midnight, I think it may have been the remains of a polar low or trough and the next day, more snow showers developed.

 

February 2004, 2005 and 2006 all ended on a chilly/cold note.