December 1859: very cold overall

[Weather-history]

December 1859 was a very cold month overall with a CET of 1.6°C. It was also a very interesting month with thunder occurring  frequently for December

Sheffield  (min, max °F)

1. 33, 40

2. 33, 37

3. 30, 35

4. 26, 38  Snow

5. 36, 52

6.  34, 42

7. 33, 40

8.  31, 44

9.  38, 42

10. 35, 38

11. 28, 35

12. 33, 44

13. 30, 38

14. 23, 29

15. 21.5,  29  Snow

16. 11.5, 29

17. 12.5, 27

18. 15, 25

19. 10.7, 26

20. 15, 40

21. 37, 40  Snow

22. 35, 41

23. 24, 38  Snow

24. 35, 40  Snow

25. 31, 37

26. 35, 39  Snow

27. 33, 40  Snow

28. 34, 44

29. 36, 47

30. 42, 48

31. 41, 45 

 

Reports of thunder

 17th Dec (thunder snow) : Newcastle

21st Dec: Bristol

 21st Dec: Manchester

21st: Dec: Liverpool

 22nd Dec: Preston

28th Dec: Exeter

28th Dec: Newport, Isle of Wight

28th Dec: Liverpool

29th: Calne  (tornado hit the area)

29th Dec: Chester

29th Dec: Retford

30th Dec: Belvoir

30th Dec: Bristol

30th Dec: Norwich

30th Dec: Grantham

 

 

Isle of Wight                                                          Calne tornado            Bristol thunder

                                      

 

 

 

[Weather-history]

Can you imagine a national newspaper publishing this detail weather report today?

[trickydicky]

Interesting that even then cold winters were seen as old fashioned. 

[LetItSnow!]

Interesting most of all is the frequent reports of thunder and lightning during the month. Thundery cold winter months surely must be hard to come by.

Actually reminds me of something maybe one of you can help me pinpoint. The only instance of thundersnow I can remember is when I was a young child, it must have been around the mid 2000s. I lived in northwest Kent and it must have been in January or February as there wasn't anything Christmassy going on. It was late at night and the snow was absolutely piled high and there was this giant thunderclap and lightning and it may have even caused a power outage in the local area, though I'm told it wasn't, it seemed well timed. I'm thinking maybe February 2007 or February 2009. Does anyone remember any heavy thundersnow in the southeast in the 2000s?

[MP-R]

11 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

Interesting most of all is the frequent reports of thunder and lightning during the month. Thundery cold winter months surely must be hard to come by.

Actually reminds me of something maybe one of you can help me pinpoint. The only instance of thundersnow I can remember is when I was a young child, it must have been around the mid 2000s. I lived in northwest Kent and it must have been in January or February as there wasn't anything Christmassy going on. It was late at night and the snow was absolutely piled high and there was this giant thunderclap and lightning and it may have even caused a power outage in the local area, though I'm told it wasn't, it seemed well timed. I'm thinking maybe February 2007 or February 2009. Does anyone remember any heavy thundersnow in the southeast in the 2000s?

Probably early Feb 2009. I'm not sure how the thundersnow in Jan 2004 affected the southeast.

[LetItSnow!]

Just now, MP-R said:

Probably early Feb 2009. I'm not sure how the thundersnow in Jan 2004 affected the southeast.

Definitely wasn’t January 2004 as I would have been 3 and I was older than that. Probably was February 2009.

[Harry's House]

43 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

Definitely wasn’t January 2004 as I would have been 3 and I was older than that. Probably was February 2009.

At nearly 6.30am on 6th February 2009, I was working at Larkhill, Wiltshire when I saw some distant lightning. The weather was wintry with all sorts of precipitation including snow and small hail. I don't know if that was the day you were thinking of, LetitSnow!.

[Weather-history]

Manchester (Max, Min °F)

 

1.  41, 34

2.  36, 31

3.  35, 29

4.  46, 27

5.  41, 36

6.  41, 34

7.  40, 34

8.  45, 37

9.  43, 37

10.  38, 32

11. 34, 29

12. 34, 25

13. 31, 26

14. 29, 18

15. 29, 18

16. 22, 18

17. 20, 10

18. 23, 11

19. 20, 10

20. 35, 15

21. 39, 22

22. 35, 25

23. 32, 24

24. 40, 30

25. 36, 30

26. 38, 32

27. 40, 31

28. 45, 35

29. 45, 35

30. 42, 39

31. 50, 41

[Summer8906]

Interesting that the charts "look" consistently fairly mild from the 21st onwards but it only turned average-to-mild from the 28th. Wonder how such low maxima were achieved on the 21st and 25th, for example?

Edited December 9, 2023 by Summer8906