Winters 1996-1999

[1990sWereBest.]

I can remember winters from 1996-1999 being a lot cooler than now, but generally without snow in southern England. They were by a large wet and relatively mild but certainly not as warm as they are now.

Can anyone remember those 4 winters, what the average temperatures were like and the weather and were they very different to now (2015-2021)? 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

'94 to '98 snowy here, 4 or so good winters, much better than after 2000,

after about winter 98-99 appears to be the start point of the change, at least in this location

[damianslaw]

95-96 cold in the main with exception of first 3 weeks of Jan. A very easterly winter with alot of snow at times.

1996 - 97 a very cold first half up until 11th Jan at least but it was then mild if not very mild in Feb akin to the mild of recent winters.

97-98 this was a very mild winter ranking close to the mildest on record. There was a brief easterly mid December and a northerly shot mid Jan other than that just mild. It was a super El Nino year.

98-99 another mild winter not as mild as 97-98 but mostly so. There were a few northerly outbreaks shortlived early Feb brought a week of cold weather.

A mixed period, Feb 97 I would say marked the second step change, the first was Dec 87.

[LetItSnow]

The second half of January 1998 featured a lot of high pressure and you'd assume it was fairly seasonable at times. Indeed, despite some of the warmest January temperatures on record between the 9th and 12th the month actually only had a relatively tame CET of 5.2. I posted charts on the thread for February 1998 that the very beginning of the month showed no signs of what was to come just two weeks later.

I think the winter of 1999 was a winter that got colder the further north you go. The south had a mild and wet winter but across Scotland I think it was a very average winter with regular northerly snaps in each three months. The extreme north actually had a rather colder than average February in 1999 (I mean Shetland kind of north!). A lot of the winters of the 1990s were very zonal so Scotland probably saw the least amount of warming during the winter during this time. Kinda ties in with some Icelandic weather reports I read for some nineties winters which were properly cold by their standards. 1995 and 1999 some of them IIRC.

[damianslaw]

4 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

The second half of January 1998 featured a lot of high pressure and you'd assume it was fairly seasonable at times. Indeed, despite some of the warmest January temperatures on record between the 9th and 12th the month actually only had a relatively tame CET of 5.2. I posted charts on the thread for February 1998 that the very beginning of the month showed no signs of what was to come just two weeks later.

I think the winter of 1999 was a winter that got colder the further north you go. The south had a mild and wet winter but across Scotland I think it was a very average winter with regular northerly snaps in each three months. The extreme north actually had a rather colder than average February in 1999 (I mean Shetland kind of north!). A lot of the winters of the 1990s were very zonal so Scotland probably saw the least amount of warming during the winter during this time. Kinda ties in with some Icelandic weather reports I read for some nineties winters which were properly cold by their standards. 1995 and 1999 some of them IIRC.

No strong memory second half Jan 98 don't recall it being particularly cold. I was in Newcastle and remember a bit if snow on 18th indeed apart from very early Dec and some snow showers mid Dec it was the only snow of the whole winter until 28 Feb when there was a bit.

98-99 brought more in the way of polar maritime air, 9-11 Jan was snowy here in Windermere.

The 90s winters apart from mid Jan to mid Feb 91, 91-92, late Dec 92 and 95-96 and first half of 96-97 were Atlantic dominated with little in the way of lengthy blocked episodes. 

 

[Don]

9 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

February 1998 that the very beginning of the month showed no signs of what was to come just two weeks later.

February 1998 started cold I think with snow flurries in the east?

[LetItSnow]

Just now, Don said:

February 1998 started cold I think with snow flurries in the east?

29 January 1998: Cold plunge into Scandinavia while a seasonably frosty high sits atop the country. Heights not too high to the south, overall a decent chart.

1 February 1998: Cold plunge misses us but still quite cold albeit with unexceptional uppers. Low pressure to the Azores, overall another decent chart.

 

4 February 1998: It all starts to fall apart as high pressure collapses back south allowing a more westerly pattern but still not overly mild. Seasonable at least.

8 February 1998: Suddenly heights start raising across Europe allowing unusual mild air to develop and build. Starts to get bad now.

12 February 1998: Nightmare scenario with blowtorch southwesterlies and summerlike temperatures albeit surpassed by February 2019

 

Shows how unlucky we can be sometimes. I think it was a winter that always attempted cold synoptics but was always scuppered, presumably by the super Nino event. Once that started to fade the atmosphere started to succeed with these colder synoptics and overall April to November was relatively a lot cooler. Without the Nino its possible 1998 would have been a cooler year as a whole. Despite an exceptionally warm first three months to 1998, the yearly CET was a rather tame 10.3. Tame to me in 2021 I suppose, but probably more notable then.

[LetItSnow]

11 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

No strong memory second half Jan 98 don't recall it being particularly cold. I was in Newcastle and remember a bit if snow on 18th indeed apart from very early Dec and some snow showers mid Dec it was the only snow of the whole winter until 28 Feb when there was a bit.

98-99 brought more in the way of polar maritime air, 9-11 Jan was snowy here in Windermere.

The 90s winters apart from mid Jan to mid Feb 91, 91-92, late Dec 92 and 95-96 and first half of 96-97 were Atlantic dominated with little in the way of lengthy blocked episodes. 

 

Perhaps soggy ground from the wet November to January period combined with lack of any cold beforehand meant the anticyclone wasn't particularly cold compared to other years.

[Don]

37 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

29 January 1998: Cold plunge into Scandinavia while a seasonably frosty high sits atop the country. Heights not too high to the south, overall a decent chart.

1 February 1998: Cold plunge misses us but still quite cold albeit with unexceptional uppers. Low pressure to the Azores, overall another decent chart.

 

4 February 1998: It all starts to fall apart as high pressure collapses back south allowing a more westerly pattern but still not overly mild. Seasonable at least.

8 February 1998: Suddenly heights start raising across Europe allowing unusual mild air to develop and build. Starts to get bad now.

12 February 1998: Nightmare scenario with blowtorch southwesterlies and summerlike temperatures albeit surpassed by February 2019

 

Shows how unlucky we can be sometimes. I think it was a winter that always attempted cold synoptics but was always scuppered, presumably by the super Nino event. Once that started to fade the atmosphere started to succeed with these colder synoptics and overall April to November was relatively a lot cooler. Without the Nino its possible 1998 would have been a cooler year as a whole. Despite an exceptionally warm first three months to 1998, the yearly CET was a rather tame 10.3. Tame to me in 2021 I suppose, but probably more notable then.

I can imagine that had these forums been around then, there would have been a lot of excitement at the end of January, only for it to implode through early February!

[Weather-history]

8 hours ago, 1990sWereBest. said:

I can remember winters from 1996-1999 being a lot cooler than now, but generally without snow in southern England. They were by a large wet and relatively mild but certainly not as warm as they are now.

Can anyone remember those 4 winters, what the average temperatures were like and the weather and were they very different to now (2015-2021)? 

From the end of the cold spell of early January 1997 to Christmas 2000, the wintriest spell here was around Easter 1998. That's how poor those winters were.

1997-98 was the mildest of the bunch, the easterly before Christmas was pathetic. It did give snow to some parts but it didn't drop below 0C once at Manchester! After that it was stormy, the second half of January was anticyclonic. February 1998 started and ended with a wintry flavour but it was an exceptionally mild in between.

1998-99 was better for wintry weather than its predecessor but they were brief episodes. 

Manchester Winter indices

1996-97: 72

1997-98: 25

1998-99: 47

Last winter, 2020-21: 120

Edited December 30, 2021 by Weather-history

[Weather-history]

Meteorological winter 1997-98 did start off on a cold wintry note

The Easterly of December 1997. Says there penetrating frosts, it didn't get below freezing once here

 

How mild first part of January 1998 was

 

[Weather-history]

How mild February 1998 was

 

[Weather-history]

December 1998 brief wintry episodes

 

[Weather-history]

January 1999

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Weather-history

[Weather-history]

February 1999

 

[A Face like Thunder]

Those of us who were caught in a narrow line along the West Coast will recall the heavy snowfall of 5th / 6th February 1996 which followed a dry but cold spell at the end of Jan 1996. This was Cleveleys, north of Blackpool. 

[damianslaw]

10 minutes ago, A Face like Thunder said:

Those of us who were caught in a narrow line along the West Coast will recall the heavy snowfall of 5th / 6th February 1996 which followed a dry but cold spell at the end of Jan 1996. This was Cleveleys, north of Blackpool. 

Nearly 26 years ago! Not experienced anything even close to half of what they snowfall delivered since. We had 18 inches. Single largest fall here since was possibly March 2006 but I missed that. We had 8 inches Jan 26th 2013.. a number of falls in the 5 to 8 inch range only. Missed out March 2013, also Jan 2010. Not many large falls in the 00s. 

[ANYWEATHER]

The 90s were fairly non descript as regards wintry weather but there were a few noticeable events.....one picticular was the freezing rain event of late December 1995. Never saw the likes of this before or since....! Thick ice covered everything as it froze as the freezing rain hit the surface of everything......my car was emtombed in ice.....96 to 99 saw some cold spells but snow amounts were generally fairly small, certainly seen some more notable Winter events since we moved into the 21st Century....

[A Face like Thunder]

4 hours ago, ANYWEATHER said:

The 90s were fairly non descript as regards wintry weather but there were a few noticeable events.....one picticular was the freezing rain event of late December 1995. Never saw the likes of this before or since....! Thick ice covered everything as it froze as the freezing rain hit the surface of everything......my car was emtombed in ice.....96 to 99 saw some cold spells but snow amounts were generally fairly small, certainly seen some more notable Winter events since we moved into the 21st Century....

Yes, I remember returning from the South Coast to the NW on New Years Eve 1995 and it was a nightmare on the A34, M42 and to beyond Birmingham on the M6. The problem was the de-icing liquid which the authorities had put down on the roads which clogged up the windscreens, and of course the windscreen washers were frozen up in the intense cold and the muck could not be cleaned off without stopping. The inside lanes became a huge car park whilst the outside lane was used by cars which had been temporarily de-clogged. 

[damianslaw]

Last time we had a severe freesing rain event was Feb 2012, it coated everything thick and was lethal, think it was around the 9th but memory fades me.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

9th Dec 2010, freezing rain here