October 1992

[damianslaw]

I don't have strong memories of any particular weather event, but October 1992 at 7.8 degrees was notably cold. Nearly 3 degrees below the mean.

Welcome memories of this month. I think there were early snowfalls in places not just on high ground around mid-month.

I just remember alot of chilly dank weather throughout the month coming on the back of a chilly damp September. Think there were hard frosts by months end. 

Edited October 4, 2021 by damianslaw

[sundog]

I think it started off cool and dry. By mid-month, there was some wintry precipitation about,sleet where I lived. It certainly was a cold October.  I think the autumns of the early 90s were pretty cold overall, so oct 92 fits in well.

Edited October 4, 2021 by sundog

[Summer8906]

Another interesting autumn month  (see the 1993 thread). Location south Hampshire.

The opening days were dry and cloudy, but warm for the season with a southerly type which had been setup late in September following a rare east-west travelling frontal system, which brought warm weather in from the east or the last weekend in September.

On the Saturday (3rd) a band of rain moved from the west or northwest, producing a wet Saturday, but an anticyclone then followed, accompanied by northeasterly winds and the Sunday (4th) was sunny but cooler - though probably with temps around average. The DP was low though so it felt cold.

The first week continued the dry, anticyclonic northeasterlies with variable cloud cover. Then at some point - during the week of the 11th I think - a cold front introduced a notable cold northerly plunge. Arctic air prevailed with mostly sunny conditions but very low maxima for the season of around 10-12C. There were also, I think, some potent frosts at night. For off-topic reasons I particularly recall the night of Friday 16th and it was clear and very cold.

The progression in the following days was notably interesting, and very similar to what occurred at the same time of year in 2003. The Atlantic high retrogressed westwards increasing shower activity (following a dry Sat 17th, there were showers around particularly late on the 18th and then on the 20th (Tuesday) a small low formed to the southwest producing rain which then turned thundery after dark, with a notable night-time thunderstorm towards midnight. Perhaps this was a polar low which had headed south and then turned northeast? Either way it was still cold, so presumably this was convection forming over the warm sea, though the thunderstorms seemed unusually severe and prolonged for this kind of setup.  Something extraordinarily similar occurred on Wednesday 22nd October 2003, similarly following a northerly outbreak, high retrogression and increase of shower activity - unusually prolonged and active thunderstorms after dark in similar synoptics. It would be interesting to see if any studies of these two events have been done.

Following that I can't remember the exact sequence of events but I'd imagine the high retrogressed still further into the Atlantic as by Sunday 25th - 'Dark Sunday' as I call the last Sunday in October - full on Atlantic wet and windy weather had arrived and such weather remained until the end of the month. That said I seem to recall the temps still being on the low side (around 12C) so one might guess these were NW-SE tracking Atlantic lows. I also seem to recall Saturday 31st being cold and frosty again.

So an interesting month, with similarities to 2003 and 2010, though lacking the early wet weather of the latter.

[damianslaw]

2 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

Another interesting autumn month  (see the 1993 thread). Location south Hampshire.

The opening days were dry and cloudy, but warm for the season with a southerly type which had been setup late in September following a rare east-west travelling frontal system, which brought warm weather in from the east or the last weekend in September.

On the Saturday (3rd) a band of rain moved from the west or northwest, producing a wet Saturday, but an anticyclone then followed, accompanied by northeasterly winds and the Sunday (4th) was sunny but cooler - though probably with temps around average. The DP was low though so it felt cold.

The first week continued the dry, anticyclonic northeasterlies with variable cloud cover. Then at some point - during the week of the 11th I think - a cold front introduced a notable cold northerly plunge. Arctic air prevailed with mostly sunny conditions but very low maxima for the season of around 10-12C. There were also, I think, some potent frosts at night. For off-topic reasons I particularly recall the night of Friday 16th and it was clear and very cold.

The progression in the following days was notably interesting, and very similar to what occurred at the same time of year in 2003. The Atlantic high retrogressed westwards increasing shower activity (following a dry Sat 17th, there were showers around particularly late on the 18th and then on the 20th (Tuesday) a small low formed to the southwest producing rain which then turned thundery after dark, with a notable night-time thunderstorm towards midnight. Perhaps this was a polar low which had headed south and then turned northeast? Either way it was still cold, so presumably this was convection forming over the warm sea, though the thunderstorms seemed unusually severe and prolonged for this kind of setup.  Something extraordinarily similar occurred on Wednesday 22nd October 2003, similarly following a northerly outbreak, high retrogression and increase of shower activity - unusually prolonged and active thunderstorms after dark in similar synoptics. It would be interesting to see if any studies of these two events have been done.

Following that I can't remember the exact sequence of events but I'd imagine the high retrogressed still further into the Atlantic as by Sunday 25th - 'Dark Sunday' as I call the last Sunday in October - full on Atlantic wet and windy weather had arrived and such weather remained until the end of the month. That said I seem to recall the temps still being on the low side (around 12C) so one might guess these were NW-SE tracking Atlantic lows. I also seem to recall Saturday 31st being cold and frosty again.

So an interesting month, with similarities to 2003 and 2010, though lacking the early wet weather of the latter.

I like your reference to 'dark Sunday', not heard that before. This year it falls on Halloween. How fitting!