weather Feb1991 Ian McCaskill

[canadiancoops]

I lived in Kent in 87 and 91 and the snow was remarkable. However I live in the Rocky Mountains now in Canada and as I type the forecast for Monday is -30oC and 5 days of snow. Just a bit colder lol

[paul4kd1]

love how they rub the warmth that North America were having first - typical BBC

[paul4kd1]

bring back these symbols and map - ban this new crap BBC have made it's shit

[PatchesRips]

Minus 10, cry me a river. Try visiting Canada some winter. :)

[SheBoomer]

brrrr, that was another cold winter ...thanks for that Uncle Ian

[JollyRodders]

I think I prefer these graphics compared to what they are using now.

[stasber]

Was hoping for his trademark "Hellooo" intro that everyone impersonated!

[uberteknik]

This cold spell ain't going anywhere with that Siberian high stopping the Atlantic.

Not yet half way through winter and the real fun and games are yet to come.

[nursefan]

and it looks to be returning next week!

[jamescooling]

@uberteknik .. hope so!!

[uberteknik]

Stratosphere showing signs of warming, Atmospheric Angular Momentum well up, mountain torques rising, GWO progressing to a phase 5/6 evolution, blocking over Siberia, height rises over Greenland, strongly -ve NAO and SST's not yet bottomed out.

Watch that jet flatten out over Southern Spain / North Africa in the next few days.

All the signs are there for a reload of the last cold spell.

A significant 7-10day north easterly very cold air incursion lookslike the best solution.

:-)

[jamescooling]

@uberteknik ummmm hahaha what does that all mean for the next month?

[uberteknik]

Lets get into next week first.

Expect the TV national weather forecasts to start ramping the cold spell for next week starting as early as Sunday night into Monday.

Initially temperatures will drop with increasingly wintry showers feeding inland off the North Sea.

By Wedesday, temperatures will struggle to get above freezing everywhere bar coastal fringes and with a strong north easterly, wind chill will be significant..

Once the cold is established the snow fun begins. Bring it on!

[Vec777]

A very similar prospect to what could happen later this week! Looks similar in some ways!!

[bellybasher]

@Vec777 it is from this weekend yes

[TheMessiah79]

On top of the snow thats already there. :D

[woowoker]

if did'nt really happen thought, if anything it rose the temps a bit

[Zildjian285]

Why don't we get anything like this anymore?

[TheMessiah79]

Heavy snow falling in Essex again tonight!!! :D

[bellybasher]

2 mins 16 secs how good that would be Christmas day!

[OvErTrAiNiNg007]

WOW

thts more than 2days of snow !

[woowoker]

i wish we had wether like that now :(

[PagesFromCeefax]

WE DO !!!

Jan 2010 - another huge area of high pressure is in residence over Scandinavia, giving the UK a frozen easterly blast and dumping over a foot of snow in many places !

[woowoker]

not quitw tho, it cam from th northeast when we had that very cold weather

[gwelsh123]

used to think he sounded really posh. now that ive not been livin in glasgow for many years, he sounds like a proper glaswegian

[koksy]

I remember this very well because I had a Saturday job in a supermarket at the time. The bread lorry came and delivered to us but then couldnt get back up the hill so it was stuck there. People were panic buying so the manager spoke to the bakery and they allowed us to sell all the bread that was left on the lorry!

[5manarmy]

1991 was colder,the snow was more widespread and less marginal.2009 was a great event all the same expecially considering the crap run we have had since 1991.

[TheMessiah79]

I wonder which was worse (or for that matter better) February 1991 or February 2009?

[bellybasher]

which one was better 1991 or 2009, there's only one way to find out! FIGHT!!!!!!!

[TheMessiah79]

And we've got even more snow in SE England tonight!!!

[bellybasher]

it rained in the Midlands. the snow has melted down a lot, after 13 days though

[bellybasher]

looks like no more snow for a while now, next week getting milder rain wed night, and bit cooler next weekend, but we had good winter this year

[TheMessiah79]

It was a great winter! :)

[bellybasher]

Yes it was great, and snow is still in our back garden form the 2nd/ 5th of Feb

[CrazyFool15rwill]

If only it snowed this much again

[HIGHPRESSURE979]

UK are supposed to be getting several inches tomorrow and Tues

[TheMessiah79]

There's snow falling and settling down where I am in South East England.

VERY interesting forecast for tomorrow & Tuesday

[HIGHPRESSURE979]

Yep, looking forward to it,  Bad in South East tonight up to 15 cm, and more tomorrow, then moving northwards they say

[HIGHPRESSURE979]

2009 is very simular to 1991, high pressure bringing in continental air, also the pressure maps now are almost identical to this one from 1991

[TheMessiah79]

Loved Ian McCaskill's weather forecasts

[lilov9]

this set uo with the scandinavian high is going to happen later this week dragging easterly winds from russia to the uk! with daytime highs of 0 to +2 should be interesting....keep an eye on forecasts after wednesday

[s1collin]

This is a classic easterly cold blast, the like of which we've probably not seen since 1991. Notice how the south is significantly colder than the north and Scotland. I imagine the meteorologically ignorant were saying someting like "I bet it's even colder up north".

[bellybasher]

Yes it is annoying when people say that, but I think the quote where I really want to hit people is "It's too cold to snow", it is just more powdery colder, I remember having an arguement when someone said it can't snow at freezing point (what the fuck!). It is wetter and heavier a little warmer i.e 1-2 degrees, but not being able to snow at 0 celcius is bollocks

[s1collin]

Basically they've distorted the fact that if it snows at night it tends to warm up a little because of the cloud cover. Simple solution to people who say this - ask them if it has never snowed in either of the Poles.

[bellybasher]

Tried they don't wanna know then, and they say they're melting.

UK usually gets snow when milder weather pushes in from Atlantic, which is why our winters are lame, but as snow is basically crystallised ice, they do sound rather stupid claiming too cold

[NorthLimitation]

The reason people say 'I bet its even colder up north' is because unlike this scenario, it normally is colder up north. A lot colder.

[s1collin]

"A lot colder"? Is this comment based on statistical fact or just another ignorant comment of the type I referred to? Compare the climate stats during the winter months for Edinburgh and London and you will see there is very little difference in temperature. As I type the coldest temps are in the south-east at the moment. Look for yourself.

[NorthLimitation]

Ignorance on your part I'm afraid. The colder temperatures at the moment are in the north, around Inverness. Day time maximum for today was -3'C. Inverness is colder than London, as is Aviemore, Braemar and Carrbridge, therefore the north is colder than the south. NOWHERE on the east coast of England is colder than the central Scottish Highlands normally.

And about the weather at the moment, the Greenland High which might form will likely bring a NORTH Erly.

[s1collin]

It was minus 3 there because of freezing fog. Take away that fog and it would be several degrees warmer. The other said places are on higher ground so they dont count. They have nothing to do with latitude. When it comes it a continental setup the south east always fares worst because there is only the narrow stretch of the English Channel to warm the cold air. Whereas in the north and Scotland you have the much wider North Sea protecting them.

[NorthLimitation]

Oh and Edinburgh's average minimum temperature is a good 2'C colder than London's in winter. Also, Edinburgh is quite southern for Scotland, consider Aberdeen and Inverness perhaps.

[s1collin]

Hardly "much colder" though, is it? Anyway, you referred to the "north" so I would say Edinburgh qualifies. I am currently in a city hundreds of miles south of Inverness and it is much colder I can assure you. It's Bratislava:-)

[NorthLimitation]

Oh come on. People say 'it must be much colder up north', they are referring to the UK. And the north is colder. Also, quite hilariously Inverness is currently much the same as Bratislava, daytime maximum here was -4'C and the minimum at night was -9'C. Quite funny :)

Unless you have any points to make that are actually true, I guess we can just stop it there?

[s1collin]

Granted thanks to the persistant fog there temps are matching eastern central Europe. But observing current UK data there are very low temps being recorded up and down the country (currently -4 Biggin Hill, Kent and -5 your neck of the woods). My point being that when there is high pressure over the near continent there is little difference temp wise north-south. This was very much the case during the cold 80s winters. During the recent 'modern' mild winters the north tended to be cooler.

[NorthLimitation]

Also, degrees is the different between heavy rain and heavy snow. Furthermore, wind chill makes the north feel much colder, about 5'C colder than the south. (Inverness and Aberdeen frequently experience days which feel close to freezing).

[howiej103]

Oh my word, chill out you geeks

UK weather is generally crap wherever you are!

[NorthLimitation]

'Oh my word', fuck off and don't get involved.

[ShiveCanber]

I will never forget that blizzard in the UK over a 48 hour period from Thu 7th to Sat 9th Feb 1991 which snow accumulated to nearly 18 inches deep. That cold weather lasted for another week with many Eastern areas having another 6 inches fall on the evening on Tue 12th Feb 1991 when an Atlantic system pushed across the country. By the following weekend, the milder weather had pushed in and the rain (this time) thawed out virtually all the lying snow. Not really had a winter like this since.

[neil73]

Until now. As of todays date (12/12/08), we have had the longest prolonged cold spell since this video. With snow last week and temperatures not getting above 5c for the last 2 weeks. A bit of winter at last, although this time round, i feel the cold more than i did back in 1991 and im only bloody 35!

[bellybasher]

What a great weather forecast, that has to be a record for country wide snow and low temps

[bellybasher]

oh i see I put about how this must have been a record breaking forecast and I get thumbs down?

[s1collin]

Nope. See winters 1947/48, 1962/63, 1978/79, 1981/82, 1985/86 and the severe cold spell in January 1987 - known for it's record low daytime maximas in south-east England (minus 8 in Kent I believe).

[bellybasher]

Yes but were they countrywide including cornwall and southern ireland, where it is usually always mild because of atlantic fronts. I never known it snow countrywide like this forecast, at the same time anyway.

[s1collin]

Oh yes, particularly winter 1962/63. Pretty much everywhere across the Brtish Isles had heavy snow and low temps for neraly two months.

[bellybasher]

I remember that winter of 1991, We in the midlands had a blizzard previously a week before Christmas 1990. 1991 we had a max temp of -5 on one day

[Supersmooth007]

Nostalgia for snow during the wintertime

Anything belowfreezing with a couple cm's causes closures of airports and schools!" In this video they talk inches and a up to a foot.

[5manarmy]

dont think we have seen snow and tempratures like this during the day time since then in south england i was 7 then and still remember being home from school at lunch time and by 4 in the afternoon the roads were cut off crazy and unheard of now in worthing west sussex

[Andrew932]

I vaguely remember this when I was just 4 years old.

I was supposed to be going to Playschool but both my mums and friends car wouldn't start due to the snow and cold. So we stayed at home and played in the snow. Some plastic roofing of a shed had blown of somewhere from the gales and we used that to slide around in it on the road which was solid ice, it was a very cold sunny dayfrom what I remember. Also remember having to go back indoors to warm up several times!

[Supersmooth007]

Nostalgia for cold and snow during the wintertime

Anything below, freezing with a couple cm's causes closures of airports and schools!"

[juttyhog]

I have very fond personal memories of february '91 :) 19 and in love :D. Whatever happened to our winters? I think that was the last proper one we had in the Southeast.

[kalkrazy2084]

i used to think that was harold bishop when i was younger

[Jedbickers]

That was a clssic set-up for snow, what id give for that next februrary!

High pressure centred over scandinavia, a weakened atlantic jet, low pressure over italy and an incredible cold pool of air advecting over from europe! This is the most textbook set up you will ever see!

[KaMaCaRz]

@Jedbickers what about January 1987?

[JollyRodders]

@KaMaCaRz "what about January 1987?"

Do you mean the storm of October 1987 and Michael Fish's There is no hurricane on the way forecast...??

[KaMaCaRz]

@JollyRodders No, I mean mid-January 1987. It was basically a MORE severe form of the above easterly, although relatively similar in general evolution, nut with colder temperatures (both surface and upper air), stronger winds, and heavier and deeper snow.

Search: 'thames news. big freeze, january 1987' in the youtube search bar.

[JollyRodders]

@KaMaCaRz Ah yes. Interesting contrast with last December 2010...Mabye February 2011 will be another cold one...We will see.

[ChrissyboyH44]

I'm from Southend (Essex) and I remember that week so well. I was only 10 and I remember all the snow. We were given time off school but unfortunitly I fell ill with the sickness bug which was around at the time! Was always ill when it snowed for some reason but never that bad heh. Anyways aint it amazin how much ud gasp if u saw a weather forcast like that today?! It will never happen again I swear!!

[ccccrsraasfsdf]

wow, vaguely remember this but can't imagine anything like that now - minus 3C max in Plymouth?! Impressed too with the detail and length of the forecast - much better than nowadays

[Visonu]

Which bulletin was shown before this?

[barneyffc]

I was 10 then and to this day we havnt had a winter like that. The last of the great winters.

[tl54]

omg we were fricking roasting in the us of a

[theonlyblackspot]

I got married on the 9th. Most of the guests had to cancel. Totally memorable week with London like a ghost town.

[blenk71]

Great work, can we have some weather like this again? I miss the snow.

[Conway79]

When was the last time we had a winter like that in Britain? I don't even remember one.

[fowlman81]

Umm 1991?

[juttyhog]

I think that was actually the last decent winter we had, Conway. It's a shame you weren't a teen in the 80's, myself and a few mates actually built a full-sized igloo during the winter of 85-86 :-)

[Supersmooth007]

Nostalgia for cold and snow during the wintertime

Anything below, freezing with a couple cm's causes closures of airports and schools!" In this video they talk inches and a up to a foot.

[FIRESTORM848]

now thats my kind of forecast!

ok if we dont get somthing of that sort this

year i think im gunna jump off a cliff! :D

[Gmansroyalguard]

Brilliant stuff! "A grim outlook" LOL!

[sodaspops]

Magnificent and thrilling, one of my all time favourite forecasts !! From a time when forecasts were presented in the way they should be.

A BIG THANK YOU for uploading Neil, would love to see more from this 2 week period or January 1987 !!

[pug21306]

Fantastic clip. Do you have any news reports from th same time?