Late February 2004

[damianslaw]

Remembering back to another late winter cold spell.. we seemed to have quite a few in the late 90s to mid 00s era, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006..

2003-2004 winter was mostly unsettled and Atlantic dominated but produced a few sharp arctic attacks most notably late Jan. Late Feb delivered another on with a bit of an easterly feed. I was in Tyne and Wear at the time and remember a bout of intense snowfall late afternoon of I think the 26th or 27th it was a Friday. Put down a good few inches and the snow stuck around for a few days despite the warming sun.

I think parts of Wales and SW had a decent late winter snowfall.

Any memories of this one anyone?

It was not as cold as 2001 or 2006 mind and was short lived. 

[danm]

edit

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by danm
sorry just realised you were talking about late Feb, not Jan.

[Summer8906]

I do remember this one, the cold spell was fairly long-lasting down here, not disappearing until around March 11th when an Atlantic breakdown arrived, though that said, early March was cold and dry, and unusually sunny with no snow.

What I do remember is early Feb being mild, dull and wet, then mid-month was colder, dull and dry. Late month we had a spell of cold weather with snow showers from the NE, but also very sunny. The weekend of the 28th-29th was when this peaked, IIRC. Then it became dry on March 1st, and while March 2004 wasn't particularly cold overall, it was one of the colder Marches of the post-1987 period (showing how mild most have been).

What was strange in this period is how almost the exact same setup was repeated at the same time of year in 2005 and 2006. However in 2005 in particular I seem to remember it was more potent and longer-lasting with quite heavy snow showers penetrating a long way SW.

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Summer8906

[damianslaw]

8 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

I do remember this one, the cold spell was fairly long-lasting down here, not disappearing until around March 11th when an Atlantic breakdown arrived, though that said, early March was cold and dry, and unusually sunny with no snow.

What I do remember is early Feb being mild, dull and wet, then mid-month was colder, dull and dry. Late month we had a spell of cold weather with snow showers from the NE, but also very sunny. The weekend of the 28th-29th was when this peaked, IIRC. Then it became dry on March 1st, and while March 2004 wasn't particularly cold overall, it was one of the colder Marches of the post-1987 period (showing how mild most have been).

What was strange in this period is how almost the exact same setup was repeated at the same time of year in 2005 and 2006. However in 2005 in particular I seem to remember it was more potent and longer-lasting with quite heavy snow showers penetrating a long way SW.

 

Also 2001..

[SqueakheartLW]

I think this cold spell came in distinct phases.

The first one was a very brief cold snap around the 22/23 Feb when high pressure over the UK retrogressed out into the Atlantic

Then on the 24th we saw low pressure dive down from the NW bringing a temporary blip of less cold air and some rain although I remember on the back edge of the cold front ahead of the second blast of cold the rain did turn to snow.

On the 25th the icy blast was back on and this persisted right into the following weekend and became more of an easterly flow too eventually by the end of the weekend but for me the snow died away as this happened. The 26th and 28th for me saw two more persistent snow events move down from the north. The one on the 26th was a bit of a let down with a very short spell of snow that soon melted but the one that came on the morning of the 28th was whiteout like conditions for at least a full hour that left a couple of inches of snow behind.

After this period I saw no more snow until 10th March when an easterly flow set up and we got a few scattered snow showers that didn't settle in the slightest

The Atlantic coming up against this cold promised to be an epic snow event but when it came to the night of the 11th into the 12th this was a big let down of a potential decent end to the winter.

After this spring basically started and it didn't turn cold anymore that season.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

don't remember this Feb, but remember the Feb 10 years earlier! same days/dates as this year too, think I had 36 hours continuous snow!

[damianslaw]

38 minutes ago, SqueakheartLW said:

I think this cold spell came in distinct phases.

The first one was a very brief cold snap around the 22/23 Feb when high pressure over the UK retrogressed out into the Atlantic

Then on the 24th we saw low pressure dive down from the NW bringing a temporary blip of less cold air and some rain although I remember on the back edge of the cold front ahead of the second blast of cold the rain did turn to snow.

On the 25th the icy blast was back on and this persisted right into the following weekend and became more of an easterly flow too eventually by the end of the weekend but for me the snow died away as this happened. The 26th and 28th for me saw two more persistent snow events move down from the north. The one on the 26th was a bit of a let down with a very short spell of snow that soon melted but the one that came on the morning of the 28th was whiteout like conditions for at least a full hour that left a couple of inches of snow behind.

After this period I saw no more snow until 10th March when an easterly flow set up and we got a few scattered snow showers that didn't settle in the slightest

The Atlantic coming up against this cold promised to be an epic snow event but when it came to the night of the 11th into the 12th this was a big let down of a potential decent end to the winter.

After this spring basically started and it didn't turn cold anymore that season.

Great analysis.

[damianslaw]

17 minutes ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

don't remember this Feb, but remember the Feb 10 years earlier! same days/dates as this year too, think I had 36 hours continuous snow!

Yes Feb 94 a different story. We had a foot of snow in the 23rd which was a Wednesday. I've posted about it before remember walking home from school tons of snow. Happy days! The cold in the north dug in and the front stalled here.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

6 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Yes Feb 94 a different story. We had a foot of snow in the 23rd which was a Wednesday. I've posted about it before remember walking home from school tons of snow. Happy days! The cold in the north dug in and the front stalled here.

Class month! also 3rd very snowy school morning, and the valentines snow too

[damianslaw]

3 minutes ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

Class month! also 3rd very snowy school morning, and the valentines snow too

Yes snowiest month of the 90s here with exception of Feb 96. Jan 96 third place.

Other snowy 90s months Feb 91, Dec 93, Mar 95, Dec 95, Mar 96, Dec 96. Reminiscing... winter 93-94 was good for snow though never especially cold. 

Edited February 23, 2022 by damianslaw

[I remember Atlantic 252]

17 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Yes snowiest month of the 90s here with exception of Feb 96. Jan 96 third place.

Other snowy 90s months Feb 91, Dec 93, Mar 95, Dec 95, Mar 96, Dec 96. Reminiscing... winter 93-94 was good for snow though never especially cold. 

Nov '96, remember nearly all 90's snows except for Feb '96, maybe missed out here

[damianslaw]

12 minutes ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

Nov '96, remember nearly all 90's snows except for Feb '96, maybe missed out here

Nov 96 delivered a bit of snow here, but not as much as you I think, therefore omitted. The months I mentioned all brought at least a 3 inch fall that hung around for a bit interspersed with lighter snowfalls. 

[MP-R]

Remember this spell well. There were some snow showers down here off the easterly on the 20th but the first proper snowfall was on the 26th afternoon, followed by a smaller one on the 28th.

There was another battleground snow on the 11th/12th March, but unlike the one on the same date two years later, the Atlantic then moved in and it turned wet and mild.

All this after the thundersnow of late Jan. Not a bad winter at all for snow despite its overall unsettled Atlantic nature.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I was in Lancaster during that spell and snow showers developed on the afternoons of the 25th, 26th and 27th, and there was a covering on the night of the 26th/27th, but not a lot, it melted quickly the following morning.  My parents were living in Cleadon near the coast of South Tyneside, and they had a dusting from the northerly on the 23rd.  There was a more significant fall on the evening of the 26th, but it was marginal near the coast, giving just a dusting.  For much of the 27th wet snow fell near the coast that didn't settle, though significant accumulations occurred inland (e.g. I remember Durham getting a lot).  On the 28th, as the northerly flow slackened, it was the turn of the coastal part of the region to get sizeable accumulations of snow.  Despite sunshine and daytime maxima of 4 to 6C, some of this lying snow stuck around until 3 March.

Yes, for some parts of the UK, particularly parts of eastern England, 2003/04 was a surprisingly snowy winter considering that it was generally mild, thanks to northerly outbreaks around 22 December and 28 January as well as the last week of February.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Thundery wintry showers

[damianslaw]

11 minutes ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

I was in Lancaster during that spell and snow showers developed on the afternoons of the 25th, 26th and 27th, and there was a covering on the night of the 26th/27th, but not a lot, it melted quickly the following morning.  My parents were living in Cleadon near the coast of South Tyneside, and they had a dusting from the northerly on the 23rd.  There was a more significant fall on the evening of the 26th, but it was marginal near the coast, giving just a dusting.  For much of the 27th wet snow fell near the coast that didn't settle, though significant accumulations occurred inland (e.g. I remember Durham getting a lot).  On the 28th, as the northerly flow slackened, it was the turn of the coastal part of the region to get sizeable accumulations of snow.  Despite sunshine and daytime maxima of 4 to 6C, some of this lying snow stuck around until 3 March.

Yes, for some parts of the UK, particularly parts of eastern England, 2003/04 was a surprisingly snowy winter considering that it was generally mild, thanks to northerly outbreaks around 22 December and 28 January as well as the last week of February.

My recollections are the same. I was living in Newcastle at the time and working in Sunderland. I travelled over to the Lake District on the 27th and there was little snow about having left Newcastle under 3 inches. I remember there being alot of snow in Sunderland on the Monday which was the 1st and it stuck around 3 days. Think I may have travelled to Durham during that time as well and there was much there as well.

Edited February 23, 2022 by damianslaw

[A Face like Thunder]

12 hours ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

Nov '96, remember nearly all 90's snows except for Feb '96, maybe missed out here

5th & 6th Feb 1996, a narrow but intense fall of snow on the west coast which will be remembered by many including myself at Blackpool.

[Summer8906]

1993/94 and 2003/04 did seem quite similar in that both were mostly Atlantic dominated but did contain significant snowfalls. However of the two, 1993/94 was considerably stormier - in 03/04, only January was really throughly Atlantic-dominated.

Feb 1994 was well known to be less good in the south compared to the Midlands and the north. Down here, while settling snow occurred, it was only really cold from about Feb 13th-21st, especially 13th-15th and again 20th-21st. By contrast I remember large amounts of snow lying in the Midlands when I travelled up there on the 25th. It was a battleground with the boundary between cold and mild lying between the Midlands and the south from the 22nd-25th. By the 26th the mild had advanced much further north. (As often happens, a relatively poor spring followed this cold-ish February).

Even still, one of only five Februaries to give widespread lying snow in the south since 1988 (the others being 1991, 1996, 2009 and 2012). Somewhat better than January in that respect. which only had good snow cover in 1994 (short duration), 2010 and 2013.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Summer8906

[Sunny76]

I recall the thunder snow in London, but I think that was late January. The first half of feb 2004 was cold or chilly, then we had a few really mild days with temps up to 16 or 17c in London.

Like others have said, it was a mild winter, but 03/04 had some very cold days at times.