Memories of 1983

[danm]

12th July 1983:

 

[Sunny76]

On 14/09/2022 at 13:24, Summer8906 said:

Overnight 24-25 July was a pretty epic one, a typical night-time first-half-of-the-80s storm following a warm thundery day previously.

Many instances of this kind of overnight storm earlier in the 80s, the others being the aforementioned 1/2 June 1981, 5/6 June 1982 (in Galloway, Scotland, so out of my normal area), 31 May/1 June 1983 and 31 July/1 Aug 1983. From the 90s, the storms of 1/2 June and 2/3 July 1999 were very reminiscent of the earlier 80s events - summer 1999 did have that thundery "back to the 80s" feel.

1992 and 94 had that feel also. 

[Summer8906]

18 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

1992 and 94 had that feel also. 

True. 1994 had mostly daytime storms but 1992 did have a few night-time storms in late July/early August.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Summer8906

[Sunny76]

12 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

True. 1994 had mostly daytime storms but 1992 did have a few night-time storms in late July/early August.

94 had a few night time storms. One notable storm was the late evening into the night time of June 24th 1994.

London had another overnight storm some time in July during that hot month. Think it was a Tuesday.

Then, we had another storm on a Saturday evening in early August I think.

 

[Summer8906]

6 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

94 had a few night time storms. One notable storm was the late evening into the night time of June 24th 1994.

Yes, there were a few evening storms, though where I was (Hampshire) they were mostly during the hours of daylight, which at that time of the year are extend well towards midnight, or very early in the hours of darkness. The June 24 storm, and the similar one on July 1, both peaked in the evening. I was thinking more of the big night-time storms which peak in the small hours and wake you up

6 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

London had another overnight storm some time in July during that hot month. Think it was a Tuesday.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that one. Again in Hampshire, I was on the edge of it, so I remember hearing the thunder and seeing the lightning but there was little or no rain. This was the night of July 12-13, so it was a Tuesday night. There was then a brief interruption to the hot weather on the Wednesday (a typical gloomy after-storm day) before it then became fine again.

6 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Then, we had another storm on a Saturday evening in early August I think.

 

There were the evening storms of Wed Aug 3, at about the same time as the June 24 storms, but as it was Aug the nights had drawn in a little and they peaked during the early hours of darkness, perhaps around 10pm. Notable for visible Cb clouds and frequent lightning, though I was in the Bath area on this day. Not sure if they affected London.

I can't remember any Sat storms in early August though, but conceivable they may have occurred on Sat July 30 which was an extremely humid day with storms forecast, though I didn't encounter any.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

Back to 1983, and I do have a memory of a mild and dry spell around Bonfire Night. In fact, oddly (given this time of year's propensity for extremely unsettled weather) most of the Bonfire Night events I remember from the 80s enjoyed benign weather, with about half mild and half cold.

The following weekend (I think) I remember a school trip to London Zoo on a Friday, so probably Friday 11th, though it could have been Friday 4th (the dates in 1983 were the same as this year). It was an unusually late occurrence of both mild and sunny weather, which is normally very rare once you get past the end of October. The only other years with such weather I can remember were 1989 (a very notable spell) and 2011, though maybe with a bit of luck we might get some next weekend.

Autumn 1983 as a whole was an odd one, with each month progressively more settled than the last, the reverse of the normal. Sep was mostly unsettled though from the 22nd it was warm and dry; October was mixed; and November was mostly settled with just short wet spells. Storminess peaked in January that winter!

Edited November 6, 2022 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

Something interesting about 1983 that I found out is that despite the classic summer, it was a duller than average year. In fact if it weren't for the summer it would have been an absolute crap year.

Spring 1983 is the dullest spring on record and featured persistent wet and cold weather with the latest first 20C reading on record, the 25th of May(!). Sunshine once again took a nosedive in the autumn once again, plus January and December were ridiculously mild at times. Definitely not a "classic" year like 2022, 2003, 1995, 1955 which featured generally pleasant conditions throughout much of the year. Surprised at June 1983 being dull as well. Was it even a good month for people who were alive at the time? It had those major storms early on. I'd say apart from the summer the only redeeming quality was February having a snowy spell in the first half.

UK sunshine stats for each month:

January: 91%

February: 109%

March: 72% (8th dullest)

April: 86%

May: 65% (the dullest on record by a fair margin)

June: 91%

July: 127% (despite the heat it only ranks 14th sunniest)

August: 121% (9th sunniest)

September: 81% (6th dullest)

October: 105%

November: 73% (12th dullest)

December: 104%

Edited July 12 by LetItSnow!

[A Face like Thunder]

On 14/09/2022 at 13:24, Summer8906 said:

Many instances of this kind of overnight storm earlier in the 80s, the others being the aforementioned 1/2 June 1981, 5/6 June 1982 (in Galloway, Scotland, so out of my normal area), 31 May/1 June 1983 and 31 July/1 Aug 1983. From the 90s, the storms of 1/2 June and 2/3 July 1999 were very reminiscent of the earlier 80s events - summer 1999 did have that thundery "back to the 80s" feel.

Not forgetting the epic thunderstorm cells of 6th August 1981 'when day turned into night' in London and the South East.

[LetItSnow]

I started in 1984, but the data goes all the way back to 1948!

Heathrow stats for 1983 against 1961-1990 averages.

JANUARY 1983: Exceptionally mild, but dry with average sunshine.

Max: 10.0C (+2.4) Min: 4.3C (+2.9) Rainfall: 47.2mm (91%) Sunshine: 51.8hrs (100%) Highest Max: 14.0C (27th) Lowest Min: -4.1C (21st)

FEBRUARY 1983: Exceptionally cold, but dry and very sunny.

Max: 5.5C (-2.1) Min: -0.5C (-2.0) Rainfall: 31.0mm (90%) Sunshine: 85.3hrs (126%) Highest Max: 12.8C (26th) Lowest Min: -5.1C (5th)

MARCH 1983: Dry, but very dull with average temperatures.

Max: 10.8C (+0.5) Min: 3.0C (+0.3) Rainfall: 33.7mm (71%) Sunshine: 93.4hrs (84%) Highest Max: 14.8C (17th) Lowest Min: -1.3C (6th)

APRIL 1983: Cool and extremely wet, but average sunshine.

Max: 12.4C (-0.7) Min: 3.6C (-1.1) Rainfall: 101.5mm (228%) Sunshine: 145.4hrs (99%) Highest Max: 18.6C (16th) Lowest Min: -1.3C (14th)

MAY 1983: Cool, very wet and very dull.

Max: 15.6C (-1.4) Min: 7.5C (-0.5) Rainfall: 72.9mm (144%) Sunshine: 136.8hrs (71%) Highest Max: 22.6C (31st) Lowest Min: 3.4C (12th)

JUNE 1983: Extremely dry, but dull with average temperatures.

Max: 20.8C (+0.4) Min: 11.4C (+0.4) Rainfall: 12.0mm (24%) Sunshine: 188.8hrs (95%) Highest Max: 25.4C (26th) Lowest Min: 7.0C (29th)

JULY 1983: Extremely hot and very sunny, but wet.

Max: 27.6C (+5.1) Min: 16.0C (+2.9) Rainfall: 50.3mm (110%) Sunshine: 247.8hrs (128%) Highest Max: 32.8C (16th) Lowest Min: 8.6C (2nd)

AUGUST 1983: Very warm, very sunny and extremely dry.

Max: 24.5C (+2.4) Min: 13.8C (+1.0) Rainfall: 11.4mm (22%) Sunshine: 219.1hrs (117%) Highest Max: 30.2C (19th) Lowest Min: 7.1C (4th)

SEPTEMBER 1983: Dry, but very dull with average temperatures.

Max: 19.3C (=) Min: 11.3C (+0.5) Rainfall: 42.9mm (85%) Sunshine: 113.7hrs (79%) Highest Max: 23.4C (4th) Lowest Min: 5.6C (23rd)

OCTOBER 1983: Sunny and very dry with average temperatures..

Max: 15.1C (-0.3) Min: 7.6C (-0.4) Rainfall: 41.7mm (72%) Sunshine: 114.0hrs (106%) Highest Max: 23.8C (4th) Lowest Min: -2.3C (31st)

NOVEMBER 1983: Mild and dry, but exceptionally dull.

Max: 11.3C (+0.9) Min: 5.5C (+1.4) Rainfall: 39.5mm (72%) Sunshine: 42.9hrs (63%) Highest Max: 17.0C (8th) Lowest Min: -7.0C (24th)

DECEMBER 1983: Mild, dry and very sunny.

Max: 9.2C (+1.2) Min: 2.7C (+0.4) Rainfall: 50.9mm (90%) Sunshine: 58.5hrs (127%) Highest Max: 13.7C (24th) Lowest Min: -4.9C (4th)

 

1983: Max: 15.2C (+0.7) Min: 7.2C (+0.5) Rainfall: 535.0mm (90%) Sunshine: 1,497.5mm (90%) Highest Max: 32.8C (16 July 1983) Lowest Min: -7.0C (24 November 1983)

Notes:

The contrast between an extremely mild January and a cold February stand out amongst the most notable ever recorded. February 1983 seems to have been a month where I'd have been frustrated to live in the capital as temperature records show many days were annoyingly cold, but not cold enough for snow. Further east I know this wasn't the case as there was a notable snow streamer in Kent IIRC on the 7th/8th. March 1983 stands out as remarkably static for temperature with no notable cold or mild weather to speak of. April 1983 seemed to contain the entire years rain! Though it wasn't overly dull, highlighting the brightness associated with springtime lows. May 1983 on the other hand looks to have been very, very poor.

A very hot summer, even if concentrated on July 1983 - an outstandingly hot month with an average high close to 28C! The same anomaly today would provide an average of 28.9C. Not extremely sunny though and surprisingly wet, but I imagine this was solely due to potent storms. The summer came to a crashing halt in September 1983 which was very dull. October was sunnier!

October through December seemed to contain an unusual amount of extreme frosts despite being a generally mild period. Late October was very frosty, then there was a rather extreme reading of -7C in November, then the first half of December had very severe frosts even though daytime temperatures were close to normal. The Christmas-New Year period was extremely mild.

A very dry year, much drier than 1984 surprisingly, which would turn out to be a very wet year in London surprisingly.

Edited October 9 by LetItSnow

[ChrisN11]

I live in North London, and have done so since 1978.  As I try to attend a football match every Saturday, plus some cricket during the summer, and because I have kept records, I can tell you what the weather was like in the relevant town from my memory. I will start with 1983 but will add more years later. 

January 1983 - a good month with little if any severe frost in London, and probably no wetter than average.

February 1983 - as others have noted, a lot of frost and snow for the middle of the month. I attended Enfield v Trowbridge Town on Sat 12th and I was fortunate that the game was played, as light snow fell in North London that day and photos from the local newspaper show the pitch being heavy in the second half, so the snow can't have settled. On Sat 19th we were going to attend Oxford United v Millwall (I used to live in Oxford) and the match was called off in the morning due to a frozen pitch. However, we managed to get to Milton Keynes City v Aylesbury Utd instead and the pitch was in relatively good condition, so the frost may have varied from one area to another. This month also saw the arrest of Denis Nilsen, who lived just ten minutes walk away from where we were living at the time and TV footage from outside his home in N10 shows snow falling.

March 1983 - probably a dry month as I recall that the four Saturdays all had fine weather. Also attended evening games in London on the 1st and the 15th when the weather was also dry.

April 1983 - On Easter Monday (4th) I attended Basildon United v Leyton-Wingate and although it was dry from daybreak onwards, there must have been very heavy rain overnight because the game was played on a very saturated (as opposed to waterlogged) pitch and I later found out that other matches in the south-east had been called off. My main memory of the day is sitting down in the wrong part of the stand and getting the bottom of my jeans wet! The rest of April 1983 was quite pleasant.

May 1983 - On the early bank holiday (2nd) I attended Chesham United v Worthing and I recall this being another disappointing bank holiday with overcast and drizzly weather.

June 1983 - I attended cricket matches at the Oval (Surrey v Pakistan) on Friday 3rd and at Lords on Sunday 5th June (Middlesex v Worcs) plus a third on Tuesday 11th June at the Oval (Surrey v Middlesex in the County Championship) so the weather on London must have been good on all three days, particularly as I suspect that I may have bunked off college on at least one of these days!

July 1983 - cricket at Lords on Sunday 3rd (Middlesex v Gloucs) Sun 10th (Northants v Yorkshire at Tring) Monday 11th (Middlesex v New Zealand at Lords) so the weather was fine on these days. But a fourth day's cricket which I attended on Sunday 31st (Middlesex v Warwickshire) had to be decided on a faster scoring rate, so there was rain at some point at Lords that afternoon.

August 1983 - a fine and dry month, no rain during any of the eight football matches (plus cricket on the 7th at Chelmsford, plus both the 24th and 25th at Lords) which I attended that month and temperatures average or above average (but not unbearably hot) 

September 1983 - Sat 3rd was unusually cold (and possibly windy) when I attended Barton Rovers v Egham Town (Barton Rovers are located 3 miles north of Luton)

Sat 10th - I was at Horsham v Hungerford Town (0-3) and I recall having to take shelter from a fairly heavy shower in the second half. But generally quite a decent September, I also attended a cricket match at Lords on Thursday 8th September, so the weather in London must have been good that day.

October 1983 - notable for a very wet Saturday 15th. I was at Ware v Hemel Hempstead that day and I was fortunate that the match was completed, although it did help that the pitch at Ware's old ground (since demolished) was sloping and well-drained. I recall seeing a game on Match of the Day that was abandoned (think it was at Leicester City?) which suggests that the rain covered a large area of England. The rest of the month was probably no wetter than average but I recall that on Sat 22nd there was something in the news about some railway lines being affected by strong winds the day before and so I decided not to travel too far from London, going to Alma Swanley v Tunbridge Wells (Swanley in Kent, the 'Alma' part of their name had nothing to do with any geographical area)

November 1983 - a generally dry month, I attended three midweek games and a Sunday match (Poole Town v Newport County in the FA Cup) as well as on all Saturdays and there was no rain during any of these matches.

December 1983 - unusually mild in the London area, although I was fortunate to attend a game on Saturday 24th as there were very few games that day and it had been a but wet in the days before - I eventually attended Whitehawk v Eastbourne Town (Whitehawk are based in Brighton)

 

 

[cheeky_monkey]

 LetItSnow im guessing that 50mm rain in Heathrow for July 1983 was a rogue storm that could have dumped that in a few hours..so i wouldnt say July was wet ..where i was it was bone dry and hot but a dry heat..my favourite summer month after August 1995

[LetItSnow]

 cheeky_monkey Agreed, but I am just going by what the stat says to save time. Records suggest the 6th and 23rd saw most of the months rainfall. There were only 5 days with measurable rain.

[cheeky_monkey]

 LetItSnow i do remember the switch around from Mild to cold that happened on the last Day of Jan 1983...February for us in the south wasnt cold enough for any real dumpings of snow here it was mainly a mixture of rain, sleet and snow..most of the snow fell from the midlands north where it was cold snowy month.

[LetItSnow]

 cheeky_monkey Yes, February 1983 would have irritated me living where I do now. As stated though, I think east Kent had a good dumping on the 7th/8th when uppers dipped to about -10C. But here, after a mild January, a cold February with lots of sleet and cold rain would have just seemed to add insult to injury. 

1983 is a bit like an anti-2011 in the sense that it was a great summer in an overall poor/mixed year whereas 2011 was a poor summer in an otherwise warm and dry year. Clearly the unsettled spells in 1983 didn't make it down south though due to the dry anomalies...

[Chesil View]

Here in South Dorset the local weather story of the year was the exceptional sequence of thunderstorms that formed over Lyme Bay and moved eastwards along coastal areas on Sunday 5th June

In advance of the first storm. A shelf cloud in advance of an ink black  cloud base that 'looked like the end of the world' according to some residents.

As they moved across south Dorset. The storms dumped three inches of rain leading to flash flooding and exceptionally large hail that injured  fun runners at Wallisdown in Bournemouth.

At Owermoign near Dorchester. £5000 worth of lettuces were shredded in minutes by severe hail along with many sun room and conservatory rooms being punctured.

Embedded in the storms was a tornado that sucked up coal and coke from a yard and sent it into the hail making process before throwing back to the ground the Bournemouth coated in Ice.!!

Small Boats dinghys in Poole Harbour were also sunk under the weight of hail.

Quite a lively Sunday.

Edited October 11 by Chesil View