[summer '85]

December 1993 was an interesting month with a variety of weather with severe gales, snow, exceptional mildness and very wet.

The month began with the Atlantic overcoming the Scandinavian block which brought cold weather to the UK during late November

 

On the 8th, a vigorous and deep low moved through central Scotland. The central pressure of the system was 962mb and along its southern flank there were severe gales across Ireland, England and Wales with gusts reaching over 90mph, Redruth recorded a gust of 97mph, Cardiff 86mph, Plymouth 75mph, London and Nottingham 65mph. Not surprisingly, there was structural damage to buildings and trees uprooted

 

On the 12th, a deep depression brought rain across most parts but as it engaged colder air that had filtered down from the north, there was snow especially over the hills.

 

The weather became exceptionally mild around the 19th as tropical maritime air flooded NE wards behind a warm front with Hemsby recording a daily maximum record for the 19th with 15.5C

 

The week before Christmas 1993 turned notably wintry. On the 21st, a low pressure tracked through England and gave snowfalls across North Wales, northern England and north Midlands as deep as 14cm across parts of Clwyd.

 

A cold NNW airflow pulled down across the UK in the run up to Christmas and an Atlantic system moved down western parts giving the first white Christmas to some parts for a number of years as snow fell in places. Any snow cover was restricted to high ground generally

 

On the 28th, an Atlantic system displaced the cold air over the UK and this gave snowfalls to many central and eastern areas.

 

The weather was unsettled in the run up to the New Year but some snow did fall at times in places especially on New Year's Eve



December 1993
CET: 5.5

It was a colder month in Scotland, the coldest December since 1981

The mildest CET maximum day: 13.6 (18th)
The coldest CET maximum day: 2.5 (26th)
The coldest CET minimum night: -28 (27th)

It was the 9th wettest December on record for England and Wales with 172.1mm.
224.0mm for Scotland, 197.9mm for Northern Ireland

The 12th was a particularly wet day with a number of stations reporting it as their wettest day of the month

For a wet month, snow and sleet occurred fairly frequently especially in the north, probably the most since any winter month since February 1991 for a number of places

Number of days with falling sleet/snow

Stornoway: 14
Aviemore: 20
Abbotsinch: 15
Manchester: 12
Watnall: 12
Elmdon: 9
Heathrow: 3
Belfast: 10
Cardiff: 5

[Thunderblaster]

I remember the 29th December 1993 being unstable and thundery with an afternoon thunderstorm depositing large hail over Westport.

[Greeny1050mb]

I remember this December as being one of the snowier Decembers of both the 1990s and 2000s for northern England northwards at least. It was interesting that although it was generally a mild month for the CET, it managed to produce a fair amount of cold zonal polar maritime setups and a number of snow events in places, albeit mostly short lived except for high ground.

Overall Winter 1993-94 in my opinion was one of the better winters in the 1990s and 2000s put together despite it not being cold overall. It did see average snowfall in many areas and was snowier than the previous two winters put together. After a December that produced cold zonality and a number of short lived snow events, February 1994 was one of the colder Februarys / winter months in the last two decades and it gave some easterly spells around mid-month and in the second half that gave snow in many areas, albeit snow didn't hang about on low ground for any length of time.

[JHJ21]

In Sheffield, I think December 1993 was one of the snowiest months (not just Decembers) I can remember, in terms of the amount of snow falling rather than lying. It was possibly comparable even with January 2010, though I don't have exact figures. That depression on the 12th gave a particularly dramatic snowfall - I think the fastest I've ever seen snow accumulate - which brought the city to a complete standstill.

None of the snow lasted very long.

[summer '85]

Latest download from December 1993

https://www.youtube....h?v=jdBdl49TJjE

[BUTTERFLY]

I remember December 1993 as being very wet but don't remember snow being frequent, which shows how memory plays tricks.

[summer '85]

summer said:

On the 8th, a vigorous and deep low moved through central Scotland. The central pressure of the system was 962mb and along its southern flank there were severe gales across Ireland, England and Wales with gusts reaching over 90mph, Redruth recorded a gust of 97mph, Cardiff 86mph, Plymouth 75mph, London and Nottingham 65mph. Not surprisingly, there was structural damage to buildings

It was a wild night here thanks to this gale.

[Paulo]

Remember this storm well. In Heswall a very large fir tree some 40ft high was felled by it in the night outside Tesco on Telegraph Road. Fortunately nobody was about or it could have been catastrophic. Overhead thunder and lightning at the height of the force 10 storm here in the early hours of the 9th.

[summer '85]

summer said:

On the 12th, a deep depression brought rain across most parts but as it engaged colder air that had filtered down from the north, there was snow especially over the hills.


The 12th was a particularly wet day with a number of stations reporting it as their wettest day of the month

We had heavy rain and sleet here which turned to snow in bursts.

[summer '85]

summer said:

The weather became exceptionally mild around the 19th as tropical maritime air flooded NE wards behind a warm front with Hemsby recording a daily maximum record for the 19th with 15.5C

[Nigel Bolton]

Certainly remember the gale on the night of the 8th. Where I lived then had woods on its eastern and southern side. Needless to say, it was a noisy night.

Relatively few trees down in this storm as there had been a number of notable gales in the preceding years.

N.

[summer '85]

[summer '85]

[summer '85]

[summer '85]

[summer '85]

Classic scenario for frontal snow

[summer '85]

The last forecast from 1993, we had snow here that night, so it was a white New Year.

[jonathanwebb]

There was an unusually severe downpour in south coast counties on 30th associated with a wave depression - recall 50mm in Hants/Sussex which initiated a series of floods in the Chichester area early in the new year. Persistent shower trains off the Bristol Channel also contributed to flooding in the Upper Thames

[summer '85]

jonathanwebb, on 12 June 2012 - 20:46, said:

There was an unusually severe downpour in south coast counties on 30th associated with a wave depression - recall 50mm in Hants/Sussex which initiated a series of floods in the Chichester area early in the new year. Persistent shower trains off the Bristol Channel also contributed to flooding in the Upper Thames