Early March 1995 snowfalls polar north westerly

[damianslaw]

Looking at some of the model predictions for next week suggesting copious snowfalls... my memory is taking me back to the events of March 1995. After a thoroughly wet and often mild winter - with a few northerly incursions that did deliver some snow here (we missed out on the large totals that fell not far to the south of us in late Jan), late Feb 95 turned colder and we entered March with a blast of cold polar maritime air. There followed 8 days of frequent snowfalls here, many gave a good 2-3 inch cover, that thawed in the day, then re-froze at night. At times there were blizzard type conditions. Some would call it cold zonal I guess.

It was a memorable spell given it came late in the season, and I lost count of how much total accumulation there was on the ground.

It emphasises how in the right conditions March especially first half can give signficant lying snow.

Anyone have memories of this spell?

[Thundery wintry showers]

I remember spending it in Cleadon Village in Tyne and Wear and enjoying the frequent days of sunshine and wintry showers - hail was quite frequent and temperatures would often fluctuate significantly, but I remember being disappointed by the lack of sustained snow cover, as there was very little precipitation overnight due to the shelter from the Pennines.  Snow sometimes accumulated during the heavier showers, but melted immediately in the sun afterwards.  I remember a GMTV forecaster on the 2nd March 1995 excitedly saying, "And this evening, we'll see more snow coming in, not from the west, but from the south-west!", and thinking, "Wow, I don't normally think of westerly and south-westerly winds as snowy directions", but Tyneside was a little bit too far north to get anything from that system.  It wasn't the only time that month either - just one week later 15 March 1995 also had snow showers from a westerly.

I remember during my days at Lancaster University when I browsed the records from their Hazelrigg weather station, the records point to a similar scenario to what you described.  The observer reported lying snow on 5 of the first 8 mornings of the month, with a maximum depth of 10cm on the 3rd, but with daytime maxima between 4 and 6C, the snow usually melted away during the day, except on the 3rd when the 10cm cover got trimmed to a 3cm one the next day. 

For the Lancaster area, the first 8 days of March 1995 probably constituted the snowiest spell of the 1990s outside of the winter of 1995/96 (when, unusually, Lancaster seemed to become a magnet for snow events, including the big one in early February '96).

 

[damianslaw]

11 hours ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

I remember spending it in Cleadon Village in Tyne and Wear and enjoying the frequent days of sunshine and wintry showers - hail was quite frequent and temperatures would often fluctuate significantly, but I remember being disappointed by the lack of sustained snow cover, as there was very little precipitation overnight due to the shelter from the Pennines.  Snow sometimes accumulated during the heavier showers, but melted immediately in the sun afterwards.  I remember a GMTV forecaster on the 2nd March 1995 excitedly saying, "And this evening, we'll see more snow coming in, not from the west, but from the south-west!", and thinking, "Wow, I don't normally think of westerly and south-westerly winds as snowy directions", but Tyneside was a little bit too far north to get anything from that system.  It wasn't the only time that month either - just one week later 15 March 1995 also had snow showers from a westerly.

I remember during my days at Lancaster University when I browsed the records from their Hazelrigg weather station, the records point to a similar scenario to what you described.  The observer reported lying snow on 5 of the first 8 mornings of the month, with a maximum depth of 10cm on the 3rd, but with daytime maxima between 4 and 6C, the snow usually melted away during the day, except on the 3rd when the 10cm cover got trimmed to a 3cm one the next day. 

For the Lancaster area, the first 8 days of March 1995 probably constituted the snowiest spell of the 1990s outside of the winter of 1995/96 (when, unusually, Lancaster seemed to become a magnet for snow events, including the big one in early February '96).

 

Thanks for the reply to this post, was beginning to think only I thought it eventful.. yes the March sun quickly got to work on it, but I lost count of the number of snowfalls we had, seem to have one every day, distinctly remember a good few inch cover at times, it melting then re-freezing. There were 2 back to back mornings on the 7th and 8th when we had blizzard like conditions for a couple of hours in the morning. Convective snowfalls.

 

[SummerShower]

Even down here in the south we had a decent fall.  Rain in the afternoon of the 2nd gradually turned to snow in the evening giving a good couple of inches but it all froze overnight.  It was nevertheless on the ground for a good 3 days.

I don't remember any other snow here in early March 1995 but IIRC another event happened on the 28th.  We had snow to rain with no settling, but further north it was a good event I believe.. before 21C was reached just a few days later!

[cheeky_monkey]

i was living in a small village just 5 mins west of Exeter in 1995 with a little bit of elevation..March 1995 was the snowiest March of the 1990s lots of PMA airmasses with heavy snow showers interspersed with longer spells of sleet and wet snow esp in the first 2-3 weeks gradually warmed up after that 

Edited March 14, 2023 by cheeky_monkey

[Summer8906]

A very interesting March, the complete opposite to the drear-fest that is March 2023.

I spent time both in south Hampshire and in the Bath area that month; the weather was broadly similar.

The winter had been mild, wet and zonal, though in the first half of winter there were some northerly spells as noted. On the final weekend of Feb the winds turned more NW-ly with an initial N-ly outbreak that weekend. More notably, the NW-ly produced snow showers followed by a longer period of snow in the Bath area on the 2nd, though the snow did not lie at low levels. It appeared to extend well south into Hampshire as noted by @SummerShower, though no further south than the Basingstoke-Salisbury latitude. The 3rd was sunny but cold, but the snow only melted fully when it turned slightly milder on the 5th accompanied by an Atlantic storm.

The following week kept the NW-ly type going; I didn't experience further snow but apparently significant amounts fell in Sussex round the 7th-8th.

There was a sudden change to warmer weather on Fri 10th and the 11th-13th were sunny and distinctly warm, IIRC. Then a further NW-ly plunge with hail showers, though no snow, around the 17th-19th followed by another warm-up with anticyclonic weather, and often sunny. Then a short N-ly plunge from the 27th-29th, with the 27th and 29th cold and sunny but the 28th had some wet, non settling snow due to a small low. Finally, warm dry air moved back in again to close the month.

Perfect weather for spring. A mix of cold N-lies and NW-lies, and warmer anticyclonic weather, and plenty of sunshine. Dull, damp, dreary days in March 1995 were as rare as sunny days have been this March.