5th November 1988 - Fog Event : West Midlands

[MarkW]

Hello all, haven't posted for some years, but I am back. I recall from my teens (was 16 in 1988) an evening of the thickest fog I have ever known. It was Bonfire Night , 1988. I lived in Tipton, in the Black Country (West Mids). 

In the afternoon, I was at the West  Bromwich Albion v Oxford game (when we won 3-2) and during the second half the fog started to come down. Not as bad as Port Vale where it was abandoned (see the clips below - 12:12 in for the weather with John Kettley at the height of his chart fame  -  and further on for Midlands Today), but you could notice it getting worse by the final whistle. By the time I was home, it was quite bad and on the evening I met some mates and out we went I think we went to a couple of local pubs, but walking between places the fog was tremendous. You could not see 5 feet in front of you and it had an eerie impact on the atmosphere - very quiet. 

I've seen mentions of bad conditions on the M6 in and to the north of the region. 

I think it was quite an event, but hear very little of it. Anyone else recall this?

 

[Oliver1212]

This is a bit weird but I remember this. The way I've come across this post is, the memory popped into my head as it's bonfire night tonight and I remembered the fog. I was really young it was one of my first memories. The reason it stuck in my head I think is that we had a bonfire at my house and my grandmother had to stay at our house overnight, as my dad literally couldn't drive her home. I was born in 1984 so must only have been 4 at the time, I've always thought I was older for some reason. How  I found this post was I asked chatgpt if there was a record of a really severe forg in the Midlands on bonfire night and it returned this post! Probably wouldn't have found it otherwise. I signed up to this forum just to reply 

[MarkW]

Yes, there's not much discussion of it. Elsewhere it was on an Aston Villa forum (if you Google) and the posters on there talk about the driving conditions as they came back from Manchester (they played Man Utd that day). I also knew a Villa fan who went and at the time he talked of it. 

It's not a widely discussed issue and must have been fairly unique to the Midlands and North West. 

[StretfordEnd1996]

I was born in 1996 - so there's the reason I don't recall it personally (!) However, as soon as I read the post, I knew straight away the date was familiar  -

My friend owns a website of train and bus photos from his trainspotting years around my area (near Oldham, Greater Manchester) and on a photo he has of 6th November 1988 he adds in the caption - 

"This was a day of unusual weather conditions, with a mist hanging in the valley late on an autumn afternoon, which is not a common occurrence here. I had hoped to get an orange ball of the setting sun in the background for this shot, but was not in luck". 

So there you go, that's my personal affiliation with the day

My local area doesn't often see mist or fog clinging to the valleys in the daytime but on the moors above and around us, including our local motorway junction (J22 of the M62, probably a stretch of motorway everyone has driven on at some point), at 350m+ a.s.l at this time of year mist, fog and general poor visibility is extremely common up there at this time of year.  

Edited November 6, 2023 by StretfordEnd1996

[MarkW]

8 hours ago, StretfordEnd1996 said:

I was born in 1996 - so there's the reason I don't recall it personally (!) However, as soon as I read the post, I knew straight away the date was familiar  -

My friend owns a website of train and bus photos from his trainspotting years around my area (near Oldham, Greater Manchester) and on a photo he has of 6th November 1988 he adds in the caption - 

"This was a day of unusual weather conditions, with a mist hanging in the valley late on an autumn afternoon, which is not a common occurrence here. I had hoped to get an orange ball of the setting sun in the background for this shot, but was not in luck". 

So there you go, that's my personal affiliation with the day

My local area doesn't often see mist or fog clinging to the valleys in the daytime but on the moors above and around us, including our local motorway junction (J22 of the M62, probably a stretch of motorway everyone has driven on at some point), at 350m+ a.s.l at this time of year mist, fog and general poor visibility is extremely common up there at this time of year.  

Would be good to see that website. I just recall a real peasouper that night.

From memory, I recall it was still foggy/misty the following day , and perhaps fro a few days. But the Saturday was the worst. 

[northwestsnow]

On 24/09/2023 at 21:01, MarkW said:

Hello all, haven't posted for some years, but I am back. I recall from my teens (was 16 in 1988) an evening of the thickest fog I have ever known. It was Bonfire Night , 1988. I lived in Tipton, in the Black Country (West Mids). 

In the afternoon, I was at the West  Bromwich Albion v Oxford game (when we won 3-2) and during the second half the fog started to come down. Not as bad as Port Vale where it was abandoned (see the clips below - 12:12 in for the weather with John Kettley at the height of his chart fame  -  and further on for Midlands Today), but you could notice it getting worse by the final whistle. By the time I was home, it was quite bad and on the evening I met some mates and out we went I think we went to a couple of local pubs, but walking between places the fog was tremendous. You could not see 5 feet in front of you and it had an eerie impact on the atmosphere - very quiet. 

I've seen mentions of bad conditions on the M6 in and to the north of the region. 

I think it was quite an event, but hear very little of it. Anyone else recall this?

 

Really enjoy these kinds of posts

Here's a clip from oldham Portsmouth during the beast from the East in  feb2018

 

[Weather-history]

I think I recall this fog. It was definitely a Saturday and it was the autumn of 1988.