The 1970s

[cheeky_monkey]

as i child of the 70s there seemed to be a bit of everything this decade from the summer of 76 to the winter of 79 ..as a small child in the early 70s i tend to remember it as being dull and damp neither hot or cold..this has stuck with me as my enduring memory of the 1970s that and flared trousers, bangers and the Raleigh chopper..it seems though for weather it was a pretty eventful decade?

Edited November 19, 2021 by cheeky_monkey

[LetItSnow!]

Not born for several decades after but for the cold winter love I imagine the period from 1971-1976 must have been extra crap. Apart from some cold spells (Jan. 1972 springs to mind) these winters were often ranging to mild to extremely mild. Indeed, the winters of 1974, 1975 & 1976 must be at least one of the mildest three grouped winters on record. This was more than balanced out from the 1977-1987 period. Does make one wonder if the current period of mild winters is only temporary despite climatic difference nowadays. 

[A Face like Thunder]

Easter 1975 (28th to 31st March) was particularly cold and snowy in many parts of the UK and was, with 2008, the coldest and snowiest Easter I've encountered.

[iand61]

I was at school until summer 78 and can remember a few times where heavy snow meant that anyone travelling by bus was set home, the locals who lived closer including me never got that chance.

Other than the savage winter of 79, snow doesn’t spring to mind though and my memories apart from the obvious summer of 76 was a severe Gale at the start of that January which pretty much ripped every slate from ours and neighbours roofs and bad flooding from the worst storm I have ever seen in July of the year before.

probably not a lot to show for a full decade of weather.

[LetItSnow!]

Reviving this topic and when looking at the stats there was a great deal of interest during this decade, including the following:

 

The cold, extended winter of 1970 before a shift to an exceptionally warm/dry May & June + extrodinarily wet November + a very snowy Christmas

1971 then brought an extreme spell of warmth (only a week or so after the very cold Christmas) in January which still holds the record + an exceptionally poor June.

1972 can be described (by the looks of it) as the year without any seasonable weather at all, apart from the extreme but short cold snap at the end of January. June was one of the coldest on record and the summer was very cold, then followed by an extremely dry autumn. 1973 was a little less interesting though it contained the warmest August since 1959.

1974 was the ultimate anti-seasonal year with extreme mild in the winter months and a very poor summer (I have an excerpt of that terrible September in one of my threads). Of course I mentioned the ultimate grim trio of mid-'70s winters so won't go into detail about that. Apart from that, 1975 was very interesting too with a cold spring and very hot summer and being extremely dry.

1976 doesn't even need mention with its dryness, extreme heat and extremely wet autumn.

1977 was probably the "least interesting" year since 1973 but still had its moments. An extremely wet February, cold and wet June (polar opposite of June, 1976), thundery August.

1978 had the January and February blizzards, diurnal records set in May, a notable, if terrible summer and that remarkably warm and dry Autumn, then the classic NYE winter storm. A true beast from the east!

1979 was a classic year with the extremely cold and snowy winter, the cold and wintry spring including blizzards as late as May 1! The Fasnet(?) yacht disaster in August and an extremely mild first-half to December.

 

In many ways the 1970s was a very interesting decade with both cold and warm records sort of cancelling eachother out. Indeed, many years in the 1970s recorded very near-average annual returns that concealed very contrasting seasons and months. In a way it was the welcome to the warmer climate of the 1990s to (At least of now) present day, while also retaining the cold of the 1960s. The 1980s would revert to mostly cold until December 1988...

[A Face like Thunder]

Talking of northerly gales (to come) I was reminded of a severe northerly gale on 11th January 1978 (I had thought it was 10th Jan but it appears not) which brought gusts to 89mph in Central London, a N Sea storm surge resulting in coastal flooding from Yorkshire to Kent, and snow to a depth of 30-40cm in E Scotland and NE England (Eden). I remember being in a flat in S Croydon and hearing the sound of fences splintering as the wind funnelled down from the tall buildings in Croydon town centre to the north. Hopefully Storm Arwen won't have the same effect!   

[Sunny76]

On 19/11/2021 at 19:23, LetItSnow! said:

Not born for several decades after but for the cold winter love I imagine the period from 1971-1976 must have been extra crap. Apart from some cold spells (Jan. 1972 springs to mind) these winters were often ranging to mild to extremely mild. Indeed, the winters of 1974, 1975 & 1976 must be at least one of the mildest three grouped winters on record. This was more than balanced out from the 1977-1987 period. Does make one wonder if the current period of mild winters is only temporary despite climatic difference nowadays. 

You forget the run of colder snowy periods between 2008/9 until around 2012/13. All those winters had snowfall, even in London. I don’t think the 1980s even achieved that on a regular basis. 
 

Since then, 2017/18 produced some snow, and to be fair last winter 2020/21 gave some snowfall. I think we might be entering a colder period of years, despite a warming climate.

[Sunny76]

On 25/11/2021 at 00:22, LetItSnow! said:

Reviving this topic and when looking at the stats there was a great deal of interest during this decade, including the following:

 

The cold, extended winter of 1970 before a shift to an exceptionally warm/dry May & June + extrodinarily wet November + a very snowy Christmas

1971 then brought an extreme spell of warmth (only a week or so after the very cold Christmas) in January which still holds the record + an exceptionally poor June.

1972 can be described (by the looks of it) as the year without any seasonable weather at all, apart from the extreme but short cold snap at the end of January. June was one of the coldest on record and the summer was very cold, then followed by an extremely dry autumn. 1973 was a little less interesting though it contained the warmest August since 1959.

1974 was the ultimate anti-seasonal year with extreme mild in the winter months and a very poor summer (I have an excerpt of that terrible September in one of my threads). Of course I mentioned the ultimate grim trio of mid-'70s winters so won't go into detail about that. Apart from that, 1975 was very interesting too with a cold spring and very hot summer and being extremely dry.

1976 doesn't even need mention with its dryness, extreme heat and extremely wet autumn.

1977 was probably the "least interesting" year since 1973 but still had its moments. An extremely wet February, cold and wet June (polar opposite of June, 1976), thundery August.

1978 had the January and February blizzards, diurnal records set in May, a notable, if terrible summer and that remarkably warm and dry Autumn, then the classic NYE winter storm. A true beast from the east!

1979 was a classic year with the extremely cold and snowy winter, the cold and wintry spring including blizzards as late as May 1! The Fasnet(?) yacht disaster in August and an extremely mild first-half to December.

 

In many ways the 1970s was a very interesting decade with both cold and warm records sort of cancelling eachother out. Indeed, many years in the 1970s recorded very near-average annual returns that concealed very contrasting seasons and months. In a way it was the welcome to the warmer climate of the 1990s to (At least of now) present day, while also retaining the cold of the 1960s. The 1980s would revert to mostly cold until December 1988...

I would say I agree, but the cold weather stopped from December 1987. I think The Great Storm, or whatever caused that, may have been the cause of the shift to milder winter periods after that period.

 

[cheeky_monkey]

On 27/11/2021 at 10:25, Sunny76 said:

I would say I agree, but the cold weather stopped from December 1987. I think The Great Storm, or whatever caused that, may have been the cause of the shift to milder winter periods after that period.

 

not really..1988 had a cool wet summer followed by a cold November ..i would tend to agree looking at the temp records that the warmth really kicks in from Dec 1988 onwards..1982 & 83 CET values are higher than 1988 and 1984 is near identical..after 1988 only 3 years out of the next 22 are colder.

[Summer8906]

On 19/11/2021 at 19:23, LetItSnow! said:

Not born for several decades after but for the cold winter love I imagine the period from 1971-1976 must have been extra crap. Apart from some cold spells (Jan. 1972 springs to mind) these winters were often ranging to mild to extremely mild. Indeed, the winters of 1974, 1975 & 1976 must be at least one of the mildest three grouped winters on record. This was more than balanced out from the 1977-1987 period. Does make one wonder if the current period of mild winters is only temporary despite climatic difference nowadays. 

I was born in the earlier years of the 70s but can only remember weather events from about 1978 onwards (and even then, I am a bit vague about such things such as the precise order of events in winter 78/79, besides the initial snowy spell at the start of the new year). That said I do recall very few snow events from early in my life - snow events are the sort of things that might make an imprint in your early years. First one was sometime in Jan 1978, then an out-of-season event in April 1978, then 1978-79. Which might imply that the period before 1978 had very little snow.

From the late 70s, who remembers the late May 1978 hot, and then thundery, spell? That was one of the weather events early in my life to leave a lasting imprint: indeed it's the first hot spell that I have a good memory of. Fine weather for several days in late May was followed by an after-dark thunderstorm on May 31st, afternoon storms on June 1st following a fine start, and finally evening (but still in daylight hours) thundery rain on June 4th following a hot day. After that, the summer was pretty cr*p if I remember right but improved at the end of August. (Cheshire)

Also, anyone remember the thundery outbreak in cool air on August 23rd, 1979? Another notable early thundery spell which left quite an impression. The weather was benign much of the day but dark cloud advanced from the west late afternoon and the weather switched very suddenly. I remember running (about a mile) home - we were allowed out on our own as children in those days - and getting home just as the storm broke. The storm persisted until dark and then at night, despite clear overhead skies, lightning flashes were seen to the south. (Sussex/Surrey border region)

Edited December 1, 2021 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 29/11/2021 at 20:04, cheeky_monkey said:

not really..1988 had a cool wet summer followed by a cold November ..i would tend to agree looking at the temp records that the warmth really kicks in from Dec 1988 onwards..1982 & 83 CET values are higher than 1988 and 1984 is near identical..after 1988 only 3 years out of the next 22 are colder.

Yes, winter 1988 didn't seem an aberration, it seemed just another 'normal' mild wet winter like 1983/84 for example. 1988/89 and 1989/90 were the ones which seemed really extreme for their mildness, and of course both were followed by hot summers. Seemed like our climate was changing, sadly while the mild winters have kept up, and there were several hot summers from 1989-97, the tendency for hot summers has declined markedly in the past 10-15 years.

[Summer8906]

On 25/11/2021 at 00:22, LetItSnow! said:

Reviving this topic and when looking at the stats there was a great deal of interest during this decade, including the following:

 

The cold, extended winter of 1970 before a shift to an exceptionally warm/dry May & June + extrodinarily wet November + a very snowy Christmas

It looks like we had quite a run of snowy winters in the late 60s going into the 70s... 1967/8, 1968/9, 1969/70 and the early part of 1970/71.

On 25/11/2021 at 00:22, LetItSnow! said:

1971 then brought an extreme spell of warmth (only a week or so after the very cold Christmas) in January which still holds the record + an exceptionally poor June.

Apparently a good May, July and September and poor June and August - so a very inconsistent extended summer!

On 25/11/2021 at 00:22, LetItSnow! said:

1972 can be described (by the looks of it) as the year without any seasonable weather at all, apart from the extreme but short cold snap at the end of January. June was one of the coldest on record and the summer was very cold, then followed by an extremely dry autumn. 1973 was a little less interesting though it contained the warmest August since 1959.

Wasn't 1973 the opposite of 1971, ie. good June and August, and poor July?

On 25/11/2021 at 00:22, LetItSnow! said:

1974 was the ultimate anti-seasonal year with extreme mild in the winter months and a very poor summer (I have an excerpt of that terrible September in one of my threads).

Yes, I've heard about 1974 being exceedingly equable with little variation, though April looked fine and October had some interesting early-season cold. It's interesting that if you swap the digits 74, you get 47. That of course was the ultimate seasonal year.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Summer8906