7th/8th January 1986 snowfalls

[Weather-history]

Remember this well.  It was Tuesday 7th January 1986, a cold cloudy day and the forecast said there was possibility of snow. The school playground was an ice rink and it was  great fun playing on it. By the end of school day, the snow hadn't started and I was disappointed. As darkness descended, I began a lamp post watch but still no snow and I gave up. A couple of hours later I looked out the window to see a white world and snow being whipped around. The next day was a day of snowball fights at school.   The snow cover didn't last long and the following day, the thaw set in and it was a sloppy mess.  The winter of 1985-86 was one of my favourite winters, there was a teacher's strike at the time, so we had extra time away from school

 

                   

 

          

     

 

 

[damianslaw]

7 hours ago, Weather-history said:

Remember this well.  It was Tuesday 7th January 1986, a cold cloudy day and the forecast said there was possibility of snow. The school playground was an ice rink and it was  great fun playing on it. By the end of school day, the snow hadn't started and I was disappointed. As darkness descended, I began a lamp post watch but still no snow and I gave up. A couple of hours later I looked out the window to see a white world and snow being whipped around. The next day was a day of snowball fights at school.   The snow cover didn't last long and the following day, the thaw set in and it was a sloppy mess.  The winter of 1985-86 was one of my favourite winters, there was a teacher's strike at the time, so we had extra time away from school

 

                   

 

          

     

 

 

I remember snow the weekend before, at least on the ground.. don't remember snow on the 7th, but believe their was a decent fall. After a very mild December, conditions became cold on Boxing Day, easing a little by New Year but then cold and snowy until the 9th Jan. The rest of Jan 86 was quite average, before turning bitterly cold at tail end, setting us up for  very cold Feb. Indeed winter 85-86 came in the middle of a cold period that started Jan 85 and finished roughly Autumn 87. 

Sort of wish we didn't have access to computer model radar today, and go back to the childhood days of opening the curtains to see a surprise white mantle. 

 

[hillbilly]

It was very cold here in the first week of January with some snow on the 2nd,freezing nights right through.There was no snow on the 7th but a good amount of snow came on the 8thwith winds creating drifts.My motorcycle test was cancelled and we battled to get my brothers car down the farm lane from 340 metres into civilisation so we could get about.It was also very icy before becoming milder on the 9th then heavy rain arrived on the 10th leading to a fast thaw.There was some windy weather in the days following before a few colder days from the 15th then a few days of rain before the very severe main event starting with snow showers on the 23rd which brought Antarctica to these Pennine hills for 6 weeks the likes we havnt seen since.

[damianslaw]

On 08/01/2024 at 16:35, hillbilly said:

It was very cold here in the first week of January with some snow on the 2nd,freezing nights right through.There was no snow on the 7th but a good amount of snow came on the 8thwith winds creating drifts.My motorcycle test was cancelled and we battled to get my brothers car down the farm lane from 340 metres into civilisation so we could get about.It was also very icy before becoming milder on the 9th then heavy rain arrived on the 10th leading to a fast thaw.There was some windy weather in the days following before a few colder days from the 15th then a few days of rain before the very severe main event starting with snow showers on the 23rd which brought Antarctica to these Pennine hills for 6 weeks the likes we havnt seen since.

A forgotten winter 85-86. from last week of Dec bar a blip or two in Jan, it was very cold right through until and even through April.

I think because it was very dry, with no major snowfalls, just a lot of light snowfalls. Temp wise that 4 month period from christmas to late April probably up there as coldest relative to average of last 40 years plus.. Mid Jan to mid May 13 may have beat it. Good to have stats..

[hillbilly]

18 hours ago, damianslaw said:

A forgotten winter 85-86. from last week of Dec bar a blip or two in Jan, it was very cold right through until and even through April.

I think because it was very dry, with no major snowfalls, just a lot of light snowfalls. Temp wise that 4 month period from christmas to late April probably up there as coldest relative to average of last 40 years plus.. Mid Jan to mid May 13 may have beat it. Good to have stats..

Just using Met office stats for this area Jan-April 1986 is almost a degree colder than that of 2013 average 2.8 and 3.75 respectively and even including May it is still colder at 4.4 and 5.1 deg average

[damianslaw]

4 hours ago, hillbilly said:

Just using Met office stats for this area Jan-April 1986 is almost a degree colder than that of 2013 average 2.8 and 3.75 respectively and even including May it is still colder at 4.4 and 5.1 deg average

As I suspected easily coldest 4 month period in last 40 plus years, Jan- May 79 might rival it..if talking 50 plus years.. 

Late Jan to late May 96 also a cold 4 month period.

Edited January 10 by damianslaw

[hillbilly]

18 hours ago, damianslaw said:

As I suspected easily coldest 4 month period in last 40 plus years, Jan- May 79 might rival it..if talking 50 plus years.. 

Late Jan to late May 96 also a cold 4 month period.

Yes you guessed right  average for 1996 Jan to May inclusive is 5.25 deg with 1979 at 3.86 beating 1986 by half a degree and just taking January to April inclusive 1979 still comes out on top v 1986 at 2.05 deg and 2.27 deg respectively,both astonishing years no wonder snowdrifts remained under the walls here until late April 1986 and mid May 1979.