February 1986 - A very cold month

Mothman

Feb 86 deserves a thread of its own

Paddy.1 wrote: »

Spent the day in NUIG today gathering temp data for previous Februarys.
Mothman and I mentioned yesterday the great Feb of 86. So I did up a chart of the daily Irish mean (using all the main stations except Casement) for that month. How it differs from recent Febs:(apologies if quality is a bit crap, will improve later)



On no day did the overall mean exceed the Feb mean of 5.1c. Indeed, towards the end of the month, the overall mean fell below 0.0c, an exceptional figure.

Here is how the monthly mean for each station totalled up:


Overall Irish Feb Mean for 1986 came in at 1.6c, that is 3.5c below normal.
Station deviations included on the chart above just to show what an exceptionally cold month it was. Lowest temperature of the month was -7.3c, recorded in Clones on the 21st, not an exceptionally low figure, but it was the persistance of low temperatures, barely passing freezing point by day, that made this month one of the greats in recent weather history.

The max temp for the whole month was 8.0C at Valentia.
Generally max temps was 5-6C
Very little precipitation, only Valentia, Casement and Dublin AP making it into double figures. Shannon recording 0.8mm for the month. Sunshine amounts were only slightly above normal.

Gonzo

1986 was also the year we had a heavy 10 minute proper powder snow shower around 9.50am mid-June during my last 2 weeks of primary school education.

Calibos

Gonzo wrote: »

1986 was also the year we had a heavy 10 minute proper powder snow shower around 9.50am mid-June during my last 2 weeks of primary school education.

Just goes to show that global warming lark is true. It never snows in June here anymore!

Snowbie

March '06 aswell as March '01 were cooler than avg iirc first half of the month at least.
Maybe if any the lads here have the time to post up data from these months too just to compare that March can be cooler than Febuary.

On topic,for the life of me, i cant recall anything special about this month snow wise but i do vaguely remember the cold and dry conditions with frost persisting through the day.It was just positioning of the HP that brought us the below avg month.It be the same if our high now was in the same position. Nothing to do with GW but just a couple hundred miles north or south makes the difference.

Supercell

My abiding memory of this event was listening to the radio and after the news the newsreader read out the forecast..cold ...eastery winds..isolated snow showers etc..then he said .."God will it ever end!!"..needless to say I was hoping it didnt!!

darkman2

Gonzo wrote: »

1986 was also the year we had a heavy 10 minute proper powder snow shower around 9.50am mid-June during my last 2 weeks of primary school education.

Im not saying I dont believe you Gonzo but these charts cannot bring snow with upper temps like this

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1986/Rrea00219860615.gif


Are you sure it might not have been earlier?

Snowbie

Snowbie wrote: »

On topic,for the life of me, i cant recall anything special about this month snow wise but i do vaguely remember the cold and dry conditions with frost persisting through the day.

Oh there was snow in dublin that month,I was living in goatstown at the time and remember midnight taboggoning down the hill towards clonskeagh :)There was at least a couple of inches.

On a more important point,See the source of the air flow on the above chart.
Thats a proper easterly.
None of this muck flowing in over france in it.
It's similar to the flow that gave Gonzo his snow in early january ie it traveled from the due East.
The only thing is,it lasted obviously a lot,lot longer in '86.

There was a significant easterly spell in either jan or february '85 also.
Snow showers all week iirc and then a weather system that dumped a lot of snow on a friday night into saturday morning.
Again I was living in Goatstown at the time and by the time the front passed through,there could have been 8 inches or more

As has often been said,the 80's delivered at least 1 week of snowy easterlies(snowy in the east at any rate) every year of the decade that I can remember.
Why can't it be like that again!

Snowbie

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh there was snow in dublin that month,I was living in goatstown at the time and remember midnight taboggoning down the hill towards clonskeagh :)There was at least a couple of inches.

I recall the '86 thunderstorms overshadowing everything else in that year weatherwise for me here. More than likely the snow was in the form of showers and the significant heavier stuff missed here.

There was a significant easterly spell in either jan or february '85 also.
Snow showers all week iirc and then a weather system that dumped a lot of snow on a friday night into saturday morning.
Again I was living in Goatstown at the time and by the time the front passed through,there could have been 8 inches or more

Ok the '85 storm overshadowed this too. According to my (by now) prehistoric notes for both the above years 1 inch fell in the whole winter months(would love that now) in 86' and i just have alot of snow for '85.

As has often been said,the 80's delivered at least 1 week of snowy easterlies(snowy in the east at any rate) every year of the decade that I can remember.

Tis why im trying to pinpoint the above years for snow.Totally spoilt throughout 80s, it was just the norm for several snow events even in one winter peroid. The obvious '82 and '87(snow) i have a big write up on them.In other words,there is too much snow events to recall.

Why can't it be like that again!

100%, Seriously your never too old to dislike the stuff, i think i be more frantic now than way back then(just too used to it back then). I feel sorry for the younger members on this forum not seeing proper snow.

True.
I'm only going on memory.I'm recalling the '85 and '86 episodes specifically from where I was living.
We moved 4 doors away to a bigger house in time for the '86 spell still in Taney.
I remember the '85 spell , (it could have been more than a week) as delivering snow cover on one of the days and then the following day it was bright and cold with the snow still lying.
I remember thinking was there going to be anymore and it didnt look like it (no radar to look at then of course and just the forecast to listen to).
By 11am it got quickly very dull in the east wind and started snowing at UCD and snowed all day.
This was from a shallow Irish sea low that formed off wexford and moved north up the east coast.That much I got from the sea area at lunchtime.
That was on the wenesday.That evening the Dublin Bus stopped running at 7pm because it was just too icy and snowy irrespective of the gritting.
The friday night into saturday episode I mentioned above topped off that week.

Like you said snowbie,thoses instances were so common back then I can only remember the details of the spell and the year rather than the specefic dates.
But I'd have thought early february or january and no later than that for the '85 one.

Snowbie

Aye, is all very interesting BB:).

Slightly off topic,Jan 3rd 2008 9 miles up the road was getting this


Snow was over my feet on the pavement at about 4 inches.

Radar



Neighbour of mine didnt believe me when i told him there was 6-8" of snow in parts of Meath. The joys of modern day internet as without it we just wouldn know they got it too.:)

Paddy.1

Yeah 1986 was an interesting year weatherwise, I only remember the big events such as feb and june. Would be great to get another year like it. It was also one of the coldest years of the 20th century in Ireland. The above post which mentions snow in June of that year could well be true as snow was reported as late as june that year.

Snowbie

Paddy.1 wrote: »

The above post which mentions snow in June of that year could well be true as snow was reported as late as june that year.

In this [thread=2055078898]thread[/thread] Gonzo talked about the snow in early June. Longfield and myself remembered an event in May,i wonder if it was the same year?.

Sam Kade

Calibos wrote: »

Just goes to show that global warming lark is true. It never snows in June here anymore! Yes global warming is true whats false is that its man made

Mothman

darkman2 wrote: »

Im not saying I dont believe you Gonzo but these charts cannot bring snow with upper temps like this

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1986/Rrea00219860615.gif


Are you sure it might not have been earlier?

You should have shown the June 11th chart
or June 4th
if first week on June as per other thread Snowbie linked to.

Danno

My Aunt recalls snow on the Dublin Mountains in July/August 1979 I think. Must ask her about that again.

nacho libre

I recall a few snow showers on May the third 1997. I can't ever recollect snow falling in June, though.