January 1987

Despite being only 5-years-old at the time, I remember "The Big Snow of 1987" extremely vividly. In fact, it probably stands out as my very favourite childhood memory.

Late on the Saturday night (well, probably around 10 or 11pm - which is exceptionally late when you're only five), my parents excitedly woke me up to tell me that it was snowing outside. It was only light, but they told me that the place would be white in the morning.

You can imagine my disappointment when I woke up on the Sunday morning to find not one bit of snow on the ground (it's a feeling which I still experience to this day, as a result of reading the occasional ever-so-slightly optimistic forecast on this forum...). "Don't worry," my parents told me. "There's definitely snow forecast." Then, to add to my excitement, it started lashing hail on the way home from mass (ah, mass... like snow, another distant memory). Alas, It soon stopped, and apart from a couple of stray flakes in the afternoon, that was it for Sunday...

On the Monday morning, my mother woke me for school and told me to look out the window. The snow had finally arrived. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before or since. There were around two or three inches of snow lying on the ground, amid blizzard conditions. Visability was so bad that I couldn't see beyond the top of the garden. I remember standing in the kitchen with my mother, beside the Superser heater, looking out the back window, both in complete amazement. It snowed for what seemed like hours, and then it was sunny on the Tuesday, but far too cold to for a thaw. And then on either the Wednesday or Thursday, just when I thought it was all coming to an end, we had another huge blizzard.

All in all, it was an incredible, exciting week. At one point, the snow had drifted so high that the 4ft wall at the front of my garden was completely covered. My neighbour's rusty Datsun was stuck at the top of the road for three days. Even a council gritting truck managed to get stranded. My school was closed for over a week. There were threats of power-cuts, bread shortages, milk shortages, burst pipes. Not being fortunate enough to remember 1982, January 1987 was the starting point of my love-affair with snow. I haven't lost hope that some day, we might see a repeat of that kind of event.

This happened on my 13th bday, I lived in Co Monaghan at the time and the local lakes all froze up to the point where you could walk on them (although it NOT recommended).
I vivdly recall myself and my mother going into town that night to get food from the new chinese restaurant and the car not being able to make it through the snow which was starting to drift at this stage and not a gritter in sight, so we got out and walked and then walked the 2 miles home...by that stage the first blizzard had died and the moon was out, all the fields and roads along the way home were glowing blue in the moonlight.
No schol for almost two weeks that time , best bday preset ever.
No pics unfortunately although I do have one of me standing beside one huge f*cker of a icicle coming off our flat roof in 82

I honestly don't think the country could cope these days if we had a prolonged cold snap like that here now....it'sd be fun finding out though lol

There's nothing wrong with bringing up an old thread, as long as what you're posting is relevant! January 1982 was a memorable event, and as there was already a thread on it, Wild Bill did the right thing in having a search first before starting another thread on it. It is duplicate threading that is discouraged.

Some threads are started on a particular event - eg. the snow forecast discussion thread two weeks ago, and that thread was closed after the event as there was nothing more to add.

Re January 1982, I remember it well. As a 6-year old living in north Co. Dublin, at 140 m, I can still remember climbing up the drifts along the ditches and not being far from touching the telegraph wires. My sister went out to the village for supplies but got disorientated in the whiteout and was lost for several hours. I remember they had to helicopter in supplies to nearby Oldtown. I wish my parents had taken some photos at the time.

Record Cold Spell of 1987: How It All Started

It is well accepted that the most severe spell of weather in southern England since the 'Little Ice Age' occurred in the unlikely year of 1987 in an otherwise 'average' winter.

So what brought about such a severe spell and why did it end as quickly as it started.

The story begins in the first few days of January 1987, looking at the surface chart a cold spell seemed miles away as a strong High of 1032mb sat over Spain with the U.K. and Western Europe in a strong Westerly flow, temperatures through most of Europe were above normal, however in Scandinavia and Northwest Russia it was intensely cold.

The first change occurred quickly on the 2nd as the Iberian High shifted Westwards and low pressure transferred into the North Sea, a brief Northerly swept south across the U.K. but it was hardly cold.

By Sunday 4th High pressure was back over France with the U.K. in another mild flow, however by now the models thought something was up and on the Countryfile forecast on the 4th the forecast was for a short but very cold Northeasterly outbreak mid week as low pressure crossed Holland. The models however predicted that the Arctic outbreak would be short and that milder westerly winds would take over again by the weekend.

The short cold spell was in fact a non-event as rising pressure over Ireland killed off the Arctic Airflow and by the 7th High pressure was centered over the Irish Sea and the weather cool and quiet.

By the 7th the models still couldn’t decide which way things were going to go and the Met. Office remained silent about prospects for the weekend.

Things then moved very quickly, a deepening low moved south across Norway on the 8th and into Germany by the 9th and behind this low there was a massive rise in pressure over Scandinavia. At the same time a large pool of intensely cold air had swept out of Western Russia and was crossing Poland and East Germany, at last the models could see what was going to happen and early on the 9th the message went out: 'Very Cold later in the weekend'.

Meanwhile pressure continued to rise over Scandy reaching 1040mb over Finland by the 10th. Sub freezing air reached Eastern England on the afternoon of the 10th and this very cold air reached all areas by dawn on the 11th.

The Countryfile Forecast on the 11th was a 'classic' John Kettley saying "The only bright thing on this forecast is my tie!" He rightly predicted freezing temperatures and blizzards all week although even now the depth of the cold was being under estimated.

During the day temperatures kept on falling as snow showers became more intense, Monday 12th was probably one of the most remarkable days of the 20th Century as temperatures stayed below -5c throughout England and below -8c in several places in the home Counties.

The Weather Log for Jan. 1987 describes the 12th-14th as the coldest spell of weather in southern England since January 1740.

Over the next few days the U.K. was swept by blizzards and freezing temperatures as an upper cold pool crossed England.

The models showed no sign of a break in the weather and on the Countryfile Forecast on January 18th the forecast was for a very cold but drier week, however within 24 hours this forecast went wrong.

During the 19th a warm front crossed the U.K. cutting off the continental feed and high pressure then formed in the warm sector.

By the 20th temperatures of 4c-6c were recorded over most parts and a steady thaw began. The next 10 days were dull and sunless the severe spell becoming a distant memory.

The interesting thing about the cold spell is the poor performance of the forecast models even up to +72 hours, O.K. computers are better now but I still think they would struggle with a similar chain of events.