Exceptionally mild then exceptionally cold in a couple of weeks......

[Weather-history]

Winter 1837-38 was a remarkable winter as it went from the exceptionally mild during the second half of December to the exceptionally cold during January.

The first half of December 1837 was cold but it turned very much milder during the second half of December and indeed it became exceptionally mild and this lasted until the end of the month.

17th-31st December: 8.3

The start of the New Year was mild but it turned much colder on the 5th and this was to herald a severe cold spell that culminated in the coldest CET day ever recorded.

On the 10th of January 1838, there was a serious fire at the Royal Exchange in London and the cold was that intense that hoses from  fire appliances sent to the scene had to be thawed out.

By the 12th, the cold had grown even more intense and ice skaters took to lakes and ponds as all water surfaces became iced over. Frosts were very severe and highly penetrating

The 20th was truely exceptional with a CET daily mean of -11.9C. Minima were as low as -20C or below in many places and maxima were well below 0C, probably as low as -10C.

The weather warmed up temporarily on the 22nd  but the cold was back and the cold waxed and wane through February but the intensity of the cold was nowhere near as bad as it was in January

December: 5.3 (+1.7)
January: -1.5  (-3.9)
February: 0.4 ( -3.6)

17th-31st December: 8.3
1st-15th January: -1.3

8th-21st January: -5.1

8th January-23rd February: -1.7

CET daily mean
18th December: 9.5
20th January: -11.9

A difference of 21.4C within 5 weeks.

 

From the Dorset County Chronicle of 25th January 1838

 

"Christchurch- such was the intensity of the frost last week, that the Christchurch Serpentine, alias the Stour, bordering on this town was so completely frozen as safely to admit a very large concourse of persons of the town and neighbourhood to assemble on the ice on Friday last. Beauty and fashion promenades on one part of the river; whilst a party was playing a most animated game of cricket on a distant part."

 

"Poole, 24th Jan. 1838- the weather we experienced for the fortnight ending on Saturday last was intensely cold. With many fluctuations, but generally increasing in intensity, the cold in Friday night was so excessive as hardly to have been paralleled in the recorded meteorlogy of the town. On Friday evening it was observed that large crystals of ice were spreading over the waters of the harbour and on Saturday morning the whole of the vast body of tidal water comprised in the harbour was covered with a sheet of ice varying one to three inches in thickness. The freezing of this estuary of the sea, subject as it is to the motion of the tide has not before occurred for the last forty nine years. Fortunately, a thaw commenced on the afternoon of Saturday, or a total interruption must have taken place in the navigation of the harbour. During the prevalence of the severe weather, immense numbers of wild fowl frequented the shores and neighbourhood of the harbour and were shot in unprecedented quantities"

 

 

Bristol (max, min °F)

Dec  

22      52, 46

23      52, 45

24      54, 48

25      54, 47

26.     53, 45

27      52, 45

28      52, 46

29      53, 46

30      56, 42

31      52, 43

Jan

1        50, 32

2        48, 37

3        47, 36

4        46, 31

5        42, 30

6        37, 32

7        37, 27

8        31, 22

9        31, 22

10      32, 36

11      32, 18

12      22, 17

13      25, 17

14      26, 16

15      27, 20

16      27, 19

17      32, 24

18      27, 15

19      23, 8

20      31, 17

21      43, 31

22      42, 31

23      38, 27

24      25, 22

25      28, 24

 

 

 

It was a mild Christmas day (max, min °F)

Cambridge   55, 49

Edgbaston  54, 44

Exeter    53, 50

Liverpool   54, 50

Manchester 52, 43

 

 

 

[trickydicky]

If you were born around 1820 and lucky enough to see it out all the way through to 1900 (which presumably would have been against the odds in those days) you would have experienced a hell of a lot of interesting winters! 

[Summer8906]

Some interesting wide diurnal ranges in early Jan, I'm guessing this period might have produced unseasonably sunny weather with, say, SSE winds, which then backed easterly bringing in the cold?

Late Dec by contrast has unseasonably mild nights too, so one can assume the kind of dull damp fest all too common nowadays.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow!]

Here's the cold start to December: A nice frosty ridge of high pressure eventually gives us a tame easterly on the 6th with -5 uppers.

The first half remains cold and mostly dry - but the high is under pressure by the 14th.

Low resolution but this looks very familiar to patterns we see today: Cold for a while then the heights shunted southeast with balmy southwesterly winds.

New Year's Eve 1837 shows that heights are prevalent across over to our east but still not in a prime position for UK cold.

Into January 1838 and the lows to our west are becoming stuck. By the 7th we are being knocked on the front door by cold easterly winds.

The day of that fire and the uppers are very cold under this slack airmass.

Instead of the high being shunted away back east again, we have another push of easterly winds and with similar uppers too. With nothing to shake up the atmosphere, it's no surprise that the ground conditions were becoming more and more severe each day.

Rinse and repeat. The high looks like it's going to retreat only for a third push of cold air. Three strikes + the most intense cold pool yet + nothing to shake the surface conditions makes it no wonder a record was set. Uppers are probably about -17C over East Anglia.

Brutal imbedded cold combined with a slack pressure pattern and bam! Record cold, even if the uppers are less intense on the 20th.

The eventual thaw on the 22nd. I imagine there was some serious snow on the leading edge and maybe freezing rain too.

...However, the cold was back with a vengeance. The Atlantic had absolutely NO power during this January. With ease, the heights to our east flood -10C uppers for a fourth time during the month. How incredible is it that this month had four instances of -10C uppers or lower when nowadays we're lucky to see its appearance in 4 consecutive winters.

The month ends with a relaxation of the cold in the south but it never truly leaves Scotland and northern England.

Looking at February 1838 as it's another cold one and the month starts with a fifth plunge from the east, though this time more centred to our south. Imagine being glad the cold went too far south!

By the 9th we see low pressure finally making a comeback, though certainly not back to mild. This is quite a potent northerly and just on a whim like that! Nothing marginal here.

High pressure within cold air builds again mid-month, and while not to the same level as January, I imagine nights still must have been really chilly. This on the 17th looks like a snow event.

February ends unsettled and probably with temperatures remaining below average, especially across Scotland and northern England, but a definite relaxtion down south - Cold snow turning to cold rain there no doubt.

March 1838 isn't without synoptic interest either. The patterns of the winter are still at play, though less severe. The first half has attempts to go back to December's mild, balmy southwesterly dominated conditions, but it doesn't quite make it. Eventually it becomes blocked again and we have another easterly outbreak on the 23rd. This is nowhere near as intense though and doesn't last long before high pressure settles in - and while it still looks cold at night, perhaps some semblance of spring by day. Unfortunately though for lovers of warmth, the following April was to come in at a very cold 6.1C on the C.E.T. and May was also cool. The summer had fairly normal temperatures but the cold came back in the autumn. Overall 1838 was a very cold year with an annual C.E.T. of 8.1C. It is currently the 18th coldest year on record and very, very unlikely to be pushed down in the ever-warming climate of today.

Edited December 20, 2023 by LetItSnow!
Correction of a mis-typed word and the wrong chart for December 31st, 1837

[AderynCoch]

This winter famously became known as "Murphy's Winter" after Patrick Murphy predicted a cold spell peaking on 20th January - which is exactly what happened. It's one of the coldest spells ever recorded for the CET. I just wonder how the worst periods of cold in 1684 and 1740 compared.

A low of -26C was reported at Beckenham in Kent on the morning of the 20th. It was -11C in Greenwich at noon.

Weather in History 1800 to 1849 AD

PREMIUM.WEATHERWEB.NET

Though January 1838 had a very low CET of -1.5C, the coldest month-long period that winter was below -2C (I don't remember the exact dates). 1855 and 1895 also had month-long CET spells below -2C.

 

[AderynCoch]

At Zwanenburg (near Amsterdam) January 1838 had a mean of -6.6C, the second coldest month ever recorded there (since at least 1736). Only January 1823 was colder (-7.0C).

19th January 1838 had a daytime high of -16.6C.

Januari 1838, een zeer koude maand

WWW.METEOLINK.NL

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De winter van 1838 was een zeer koude winter met een gemiddelde temperatuur van -1.6 graden. De koudste maand van deze winter...

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by AderynCoch

[AderynCoch]

On 21/12/2023 at 09:36, AderynCoch said:

Though January 1838 had a very low CET of -1.5C, the coldest month-long period that winter was below -2C (I don't remember the exact dates). 1855 and 1895 also had month-long CET spells below -2C.

 

The 30-day mean from 8th January to 6th February 1838 was -2.58C.

Also:

25th January - 23rd February 1855 = -2.31C

22nd January - 20th February 1895 = -2.75C