Irish Weather Statistics

Meanwhile, in terms of days with 20c or more (up to September 15th) at Carlow (Oak Park), 2018 was also the third highest amount on record at 74 such days behind only 1995 and 1975 at 85 and 77 days respectively.



Data comes from Met Éireann.

Historical post on this event here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=107286533&postcount=610

https://twitter.com/BruenSryan/status/1042153648049008640

sryanbruen wrote: »

Cork Airport recording a maximum of 10.3c yesterday under Storm Bronagh would make it one of the coldest September days here on record (back to 1962). Top 5 coldest:

1. 26 Sep 1974 - 9.9
2. 24 Sep 1965 - 10.2
3. 28 Sep 1974 - 10.2
4. 20 Sep 2018 - 10.3
5. 30 Sep 1993 - 10.4

Amazing considering the Summer experienced just before it unlike the others here which were all cool and unsettled Summers in comparison to 2018.

22 September 2018 falls into the top 10 coldest September days for Cork Airport on record:



Data comes from Met Éireann.

Now here's the top 10 wettest and driest seasons on record using the same series. I have edited the excel file attached above and added the seasonal data in it too.





Data again comes from ICARUS and Met Éireann.

mickmackey1 wrote: »

If we look at the extreme records page -

https://www.met.ie/climate/weather-extreme-records

It says the wettest April day was in Cloone Lake (Leitrim) and the wettest September day was also in Cloone Lake, but in Kerry. Is that a typo?

It is likely to be a typo. Leitrim has two closed stations which had Cloone in its name, Cloone G.S. and Cloone (Aughnaglace House). I cannot check their data to see if they meant one of them for the Leitrim one as the historical database on met.ie is bugged right now.

November 1919 (99 years ago) recorded one of the most extraordinary cold spells in the history of the UK and Ireland. The fact the cold spell occurred in mid-November (not even the end of the month) says it all really. The November 1919 cold spell is my second favourite weather event to research or discuss about after November/December 2010 as I find it so fascinating how it could be as cold as it was then (Autumn 1919 in general was extremely intriguing, not November alone). Just goes to show how cold it can get in mid-November if the setup is there.

The pattern of November 1919 was similar to that of November 2010. There was blocking over Greenland with anomalous below average heights to the southeast of the UK driving winds in from the northeast with air coming from Scandinavia. The 500mb height anomaly reanalysis of November 1919 below shows this.



The first ten days of November were rather cold already with some overnight frost and light easterly winds at first, gradually becoming windier. The easterlies led to a lack of sunshine for many especially to the south of the UK and east of Ireland. These days were just damp, quiet and chilly.



The cold spell really took hold on the 11th (my birthday ) with northeasterlies dominating. There was plenty of snow showers. There was reports of thundersnow including for Blackpool in the northeast of England. A snowstorm occurred overnight into the 12th in Scotland as a secondary low passed within the severely cold air. Villages were cut off by the snow. There was a foot of snow (30cm) at Dartmoor, 17 inches (44cm) at Balmoral and 8 inches (20cm) at Edinburgh. At Balmoral, this snow continuously laid on the ground from the 8th to 30th November. The snow showers continued for a few days up to the 16th.



Light northeasterly winds and pressure rising led to bitterly cold temperatures being recorded. The snow cover acted as an excellent insulator in further dropping the temperatures to abnormally cold levels for mid-November (probably unprecedented) especially over Scotland. Braemar got down to a whopping -23.3c on November 14th! That is an exceptionally low temperature in the middle of Winter, never mind mid-November. This is the November record low temperature for the UK to the present day when writing this. November 14th 1919 is the earliest a minimum temperature of -20c (AND -15c!) has been recorded in the UK. This is such a phenomenal figure in many ways as you can see. On the same day, Perth got down to -21.7c. Balmoral recorded afternoon maximum temperatures of -10c on the 14th and -12c on the 15th. The temperature fell again to -22.8c on November 15th at Balmoral, the second earliest -15c/-20c temperature in the UK and the second lowest November temperature on record. The maximum at Carlisle, Cumbria in England on November 14th was only -2.7c whilst England's lowest minimum was -12.8c at Scaleby on the 16th. Lisburn in Northern Ireland recorded a minimum of -12.2c on November 15th, Northern Ireland's November record low to this day. 2010 got close at -11.9c on the 28th but not quite beating the 1919 record.



After the 17th, the weather turned more changeable with day to day variation of mild and cold. There were further instances of snow, sleet and hail from the 20th-23rd. Was the extraordinary cold going to become a distant memory or would Winter 1919-20 continue the cold? Winter 1919-20 was unsettled and mild so the November cold was to become the coldest weather of the whole season.



Lowest minimum temperatures of November 1919 for various Irish stations (via the UK Met Office monthly weather report).

Station|County|Minimum temperature|Date(s)
Markree Castle|Sligo|-11.1*|14th
Blacksod Pt.|Mayo|-1.7|14th/15th
Mallarany|Mayo|-1.7|13th/15th/30th
Dunfanaghy|Donegal|-3.9|14th
Malin Head|Donegal|-1.1|14th/15th
Lisburn|Antrim|-12.2|15th
Donaghadee|Down|-1.7|17th
Armagh Observatory|Armagh|-8.3|15th
Newtownforbes|Longford|-8.3|15th
Dublin City|Dublin|-3.9|15th/30th
Glasnevin|Dublin|-6.1|15th/16th/30th
Phoenix Park|Dublin|-9.4|15th
Trinity College|Dublin|-6.7|15th
Ranelagh|Dublin|-5.6|16th/30th
Newcastle|Wicklow|-2.2|9th/16th
Birr Castle|Offaly|-9.4|14th/15th/16th
Mountmellick|Laois|-6.7|14th
Kilkenny|Kilkenny|-8.9|12th
Gortmore|Waterford|-5.6|12th
Training College|Waterford|-7.2|12th
Seskin, Carrick-on-Suir|Waterford|-4.4|11th/13th/15th
Cahir|Tipperary|-9.4|12th
Foynes|Limerick|-5.6|15th
Mungret College|Limerick|-10.6|15th
Killarney|Kerry|-6.7|15th
Valentia Observatory|Kerry|-4.4|12th
Ballinacurra|Cork|-6.7|12th
Roches Point|Cork|-2.2|12th/13th


*The -11.1c temperature at Markree Castle on November 14th 1919 was the record low November minimum temperature for the Republic of Ireland until 2010 when it was beaten at -11.5c by Clonroche, Co. Wexford.

At a CET of 3.3c, November 1919 was the equal 7th coldest on record back to 1659. Just 4 years before, November 1915 was the second coldest on record with a CET of 2.8c (the coldest being 1782 at 2.3c). The coldest CET we've seen since 1970 was November 1985 at 4.1c in comparison. November 1915 was persistently cold and frosty whilst November 1919 had an extreme cold spell but was moderated later.







Data comes from the UK Met Office.

Now here's the maximum wind gusts (knots) for selected Irish stations for the named storms of 2016-17. Did not include Storm Angus as it did not impact Ireland. Again, you'll find the dates to each of the storms in the second image if you do not know them.

Thanks to Kevin Bradshaw (aka Mr. Data) for letting me know about this. May-July 2018 was a record breaker in terms of sunshine totals for NW England & N. Wales back to 1929. It recorded a total of 763.8 hrs which beats the previous record of 704.3 hrs in 1989.

This total also beats the sunniest Summer (June-August) on record for the areas which was 1976 with 681.5 hrs. Extraordinary stats I have to say.



Maximum temperatures are another standout for that period in NW England & N. Wales.

May 2018: 17.3°C 2nd warmest ever May

June 2018: 20.3°C 2nd warmest ever June

July 2018: 22.3°C 3rd warmest ever July

The maximum temperature for May to July 2018 average at just under 20.0°C. They were only 5 "summers" (again June to August) since 1929 warmer than this in terms of maximum temperatures.

Last but not least, rainfall totals are interesting, only summers 1976 and 1995 were drier than May to July 2018 for summers since 1929 in NW England & N. Wales.

A real historical period of weather May to July 2018 was for the regions named.

Data originally comes from the UK Met Office.

News collection from January 1987 showing traffic travelling through snow on Stillorgan Dual Carriageway. Gritting machine in operation.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21236000-weather-conditions/

With all the talks on the prospects of an October 2018 cold snap courtesy of a northerly shot of Arctic air, let's take a brief trip down memory lane to 10 years ago.

10 years later.... the cold snap of late October 2008.

The last week of October 2008 delivered a northerly shot with air coming from the Arctic. This air was unusually cold by October standards in the UK and Ireland with the earliest snowfalls for some since October 2003 whilst the most widespread October snow in the south since 1880. Northern Ireland had its first October snow since 1934.

The 28/29 October 2008 were the coldest October days in the UK since 1974 with maximum temperatures widely over both countries below 10c throughout each of the days. Leuchars in Scotland had a maximum of only 4.5c on the 28th October beating its previous record low October max. of 4.7c on 30th October 1974 (records go back to 1957). Aberporth in Wales had a maximum of only 5.2c on the 29th October completely smashing its previous October record low of 7.4c on 22nd October 2003 (records go back to 1957). Both Wales and Northern Ireland had their lowest October maximums on record during this period with 2.2c on the 29th at Alwen (Wales) and 2.7c on the 28th at Killylane (Northern Ireland) respectively. The afternoon maximum at Dalwhinnie in the Highlands of Scotland on October 28th was 0.9c. Topcliffe in England recorded the lowest October minimum temperature in the UK since 2003 with -6.6c on the 29th.

In the Republic of Ireland, the lowest minimum temperature during the period was -3.0c at Casement Aerodrome, Co. Dublin on October 29th, its lowest October temperature since 1993 but for Ireland, this was only the lowest October minimum temperature since 2004 when -3.8c was recorded at Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim on October 20th.

Some notable low maxima recorded over Ireland during the period:

5.8c at Dublin Airport on the 28th and 6.3c on the 29th (both its lowest on record for October)
5.2c at Casement Aerodrome on the 28th and 6.4c on the 29th
5.6c at Phoenix Park on the 28th and 6.4c on the 29th
5.3c at Mullingar on the 28th
5.2c at Dunsany on the 28th and 6.4c on the 29th
5.5c at Derrygreenagh on the 28th
6.0c at Cork Airport on the 30th
6.3c at Moore Park on the 30th
6.4c at Oak Park on the 30th
5.8c at Slieve Bloom Mtns (Nealstown) on the 28th and 5.8c on the 30th
6.0c at Ardee (Boharnamoe) on the 28th
5.3c at Carrickmacross (Dunoge) on the 28th and 4.9c on the 29th

There was widespread lying snow on the night of the 28th/29th and the morning of the 29th October even as far south as London (see pictures below).


Hatfield, Hertfordshire


Big Ben, London on 29 October 2008.


Berkshire, England.


London on 29 October 2008.


A drive from Enniskerry to Rathfarnham on 29 October 2008 through the Dublin Mountains. Credit: DOCARCH.

The reanalysis chart for 28 October 2008 below shows the winds coming from a north to northeasterly direction with air originating from Arctic. There is a 1040mb area of high pressure in the Atlantic only helping to force this abnormal pattern of weather that occurred at the end of October 2008.









More of DOCARCH's awesome pics can be found here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57728763

Other pics: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055407751
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57727429

Especially check out the second link, they are superb pics that are unbelievable to see considering it was October by our good ol' friend, Supercell.

Data comes from Met Éireann and the UK Met Office.

October 2018 was another drier than average month at Dublin Airport making the May-October 2018 period the driest such period on record here back to 1942 with a total of only 198.4mm of rain beating the previous record (again like May-September) of 219.8mm in 1995.



Will be editing the above post in a moment as I found more records (with aid from Kilkenny Weather) and thus edited the files.

Data comes from Met Éireann.

mickmackey1 wrote: »

And yet the total for 2018 is already 141mm more than the record low annual total in 1887. Just shows what an amazing year that was, not just for the max temp record.

Problem (or saviour) with 2018 was the zonal conditions in January and low pressure centred over us during March/April which led to very wet conditions at times. Unless November/December continue to be unusually dry months (which I don't expect them to, especially November), don't think 2018 will be very remarkable overall for rainfall.

nacho libre wrote: »

Was there a major snow event in the South west of England during the winter of 1979?

Was going to leave the Winter 1978/79 historical post 'til a month later but I guess now is as good a time as any.

Winter 1978/79 was the coldest since 1962/63 at the time and it has not been beaten for most since by any succeeding Winters - 2009/10 was the coldest since 1978/79. It was the third coldest Winter of the 20th century behind only 1962-63 and 1946-47.

Of course, this was infamously known as the 'Winter of Discontent' and 2018/19 will be the 40th anniversary of this Winter. I hear this Winter mentioned a lot for the UK but rarely by Irish people, overshadowed by 1981/82 which happened a few years after? 1978-79 was so called the 'Winter of Discontent' because it was when there was an onset of widespread strikes by trade unions in the UK demanding larger pay rises following the ongoing pay caps of the Labour Party government led by James Callaghan against Trades Union Congress opposition to control inflation.

After a cool Summer with the coldest July of the 1970s, Autumn 1978 was very mild for much of the season (in fact the equal warmest of the century for the CET) with a lot of high pressure influence to the south of Ireland and the UK whilst in the north and over Scotland, it tended to be more unsettled especially in mid-September when the remnants of ex-hurricane Flossie brought gusts up to 104 mph in Fair Isle.



October 1978 was very dry with only 0.1mm of rainfall at Gravesend, Kent all month. Monthly rainfall totals for selected Irish stations during October 1978 with percentage of average rainfall if available:

Valentia Observatory - 59.6mm (42%)
Dublin Airport - 31.9mm (51%)
Galway (University College) - 48.8mm
Shannon Airport - 46.6mm (54%)
Ardee (Boharnamoe) - 26.2mm
Kilkenny - 34.7mm (41%)
Mullingar - 41.9mm (46%)

November 1978 would continue the mild theme for much of the month with very dull and dry conditions too. It was the dullest November on record at Valentia Observatory (since its records began in 1880) at the time with only 54% of the average November sunshine, this would later be beaten by an exceptionally dull November in 1983. Up to November 23rd, November 1978 was at a CET of 10.4c. To compare, the warmest November on record for the CET is 1994 with a CET of 10.1c, showing just how warm the period November 1st-23rd 1978 was by November standards.

With all this very mild weather in the Autumn of 1978 (far warmer than Summer 1978 in terms of anomalies from average), one must have wondered when Winter would start showing its hand or if there even was going to be a Winter. 1976-77 was a front loaded Winter with a cold December and start to January whilst a very mild and wet February. 1977-78 was the opposite pretty much with a severe cold spell and blizzard during February 1978 though even February had a mild start and end.

The pattern changed somewhat in the last week of November. High pressure built over Greenland and northeastern Canada sending a cold front southwards down the UK and Ireland on 24th November veering winds into a cold northwesterly behind the front. Once the low pushed eastwards into Scandinavia on the 25th/26th, the winds turned more to a northerly bringing air straight down from Arctic origins. There was a few outbreaks of wintry and even snow showers to the north of Ireland, Scotland and the east of the UK. Depths between 5-20cm of snow were reported in these regions especially in northwestern Scotland and Northern Ireland. Between the 26th-28th, high pressure from the northwest and west exerted influence over Ireland leading to severe frost but dry conditions with freezing fog. Over west Munster, some rain belts brought relatively milder conditions on these days compared to most of the country.

Winds veered more southeasterly on the 29th and 30th as Atlantic rain belts pushed eastwards and there was a gradual rise in temperature. The UK remained very cold 'til the start of December though still under the influence of a cold easterly wind.

Minimum temperatures recorded in this late November 1978 spell:

Mepal, Cambridgeshire at -11.5c on the 30th
Oak Park, Co. Carlow at -5.3c on the 28th
Mallow, Co. Cork at -3.5c on the 28th
Glenties, Co. Donegal at -4.5c on the 28th
Dublin Airport, Co. Dublin at -2.4c on the 28th
Lucan, Co. Dublin at -5.4c on the 28th
Lullymore, Co. Kildare at -6.1c on the 28th (including a grass minima of -12.2c)
Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny at -6.0c on the 28th
Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim at -5.0c on the 28th
Ardee (Boharnamoe), Co. Louth at -6.5c on the 28th
Dunsany, Co. Meath at -5.5c on the 28th
Birr, Co. Offaly at -5.4c on the 28th

Not quite November 2010 standard but still very good by November standards.



December 1978 was a pretty unusual month. Overall, temperatures were close to average for most though Scotland was on the quite cold side. The month was dominated by a battleground scenario with the Atlantic bringing in plenty of wet conditions at the same time as easterlies tried to bring in cold weather. This battleground led to a very wet month for most places. At Dublin Airport, it was and still is the wettest month on record with a rainfall total of 217.0mm of rain. The closest to this since was December 2015 at 193.5mm. Killarney (Muckross House), Co. Kerry had 5 five days with 25mm or more during December 1978 and two of these days had 50mm or more including 64.0mm on the 6th. Northern Ireland had its wettest December on record since records began in 1900 - until December 2015. England & Wales had their wettest December since 1934. Persistent heavy rain caused extensive flooding over Ireland and the UK with the worst floods since 1947 recorded in York. The River Ouse was nearly 5m above its normal latter. In Silent Valley, Co. Down, 214.3mm fell in a 48-hour period ending at 0900 GMT on the 27th December 1978. Whilst 205.5mm fell at West Baldwin Reservoir, Isle of Man during the same period. The periods around the 4th to 6th and then again around Christmas were particularly wet.

In contrast to all of the above, northwestern Scotland had around only 20-25% of its average December rainfall which is normally among the wettest places in an average month so something was seriously up here.

December 1978 had the potential to be an exceptionally snowy month but the blocking to the north and easterlies just weren't strong enough to win the battle against the Atlantic - until the end of the month. If the forums had been around during this month, think there'd be a lot of frustration and disappointment. As they say though, patience is a virtue!

Fairly typical chart for December 1978 on the 13th:



Now, the fun begins here. You're about to witness one of the most epic Winter spells of the 20th century. This is THE week people mainly remember Winter 1978-79 for when you hear it mentioned. From the 28th December 1978 onwards, a strong east to northeasterly airstream became the dominance over the UK and Ireland with temperatures progressively getting colder. It took a bit longer to get to the south of the UK as mild southwesterlies were apparent here until the 30th along with more heavy rain. But when it changed, it was absolutely amazing! In this easterly flow, there was frequent snow showers almost everywhere and even blizzards especially on New Year's Eve though the west of Ireland had somewhat lighter showers. Snow depths on the 31st December and 1st January were up to 15-25cm widely whilst gale force easterly winds led to drifting of up to 2m even as far south as southwestern England (the second time in a year that the region had a blizzard then - the other was in February 1978. This period must have been a godsend for snow lovers in the southwest of England). This was the first New Year blizzard since 1962 and up to 2017 is the most recent New Year blizzard. According to Met Éireann's Snowfall in Ireland PDF, snowfall depths at Irish stations during this spell included 26cm at Casement Aerodrome, 16cm at Claremorris and 15cm at Cork Airport. Remember these were official stations so there would have been much larger depths in rural regions.

All the floodwaters froze from this spell and the 1st/2nd January featured frosts of unusual severity especially in Ireland. Lullymore, Co. Kildare had an air minimum temperature of -18.8c on 2nd January 1979. This was the lowest air temperature in Ireland during the 20th century and the second lowest known on record in the country behind -19.1c at Markree Castle, Co. Sligo during an even more epic cold spell in January 1881. The closest we've seen since to this temperature in January 1979 was -17.5c at Straide, Co. Mayo on 25th December 2010. Other very low temperatures recorded include:

-14.1c at Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny on the 2nd (air minimum)
-19.5c at Lullymore, Co. Kildare on the 2nd (grass minimum - a new grass minimum record for Ireland which was later beaten in January 1982)
-5.8c at Lullymore, Co. Kildare on the 1st (air maximum, the lowest in Ireland since December 1882)
-15.5c at Oak Park, Co. Carlow on the 2nd (air minimum)
-7.4c at Shannon Airport, Co. Clare on the 1st (air minimum)
-10.1c at Mallow, Co. Cork on the 1st (air minimum)
-12.4c at Casement Aerodrome, Co. Dublin on the 1st (air minimum)
-8.1c at Dublin Airport, Co. Dublin on the 1st (air minimum)
-5.6c at Valentia Observatory, Co. Kerry on the 1st (air minimum)
-15.2c at Ardee (Boharnamoe), Co. Louth on the 1st (air minimum)
-10.0c at Claremorris, Co. Mayo on the 1st (air minimum)
-16.0c at Dunsany, Co. Meath on the 1st (air minimum)
-14.9c at Mullingar, Co. Westmeath on the 1st (air minimum); -14.6c was recorded on the 2nd
-6.2c at Malin Head, Co. Donegal on the 1st (air minimum)

The severe frosts were as a result of very clear conditions and deep snow cover on the ground. Perfect Winter days on 1st/2nd January 1979 with light winds, snow cover and blue skies.

In terms of the UK, -17.5c was recorded at Magherally, Co. Down on January 1st which was the record low for Northern Ireland for any month before December 2010. Parts of Cornwall struggled below freezing all day on the 1st including Stithians having a maximum of only -4c all day and an overnight minimum around -16c which was a new record for Cornwall.

What a chart for 31st December 1978!





Now some pictures from this spell:

These first two pictures were taken in Ireland during the first few days of January 1979.





A snow scene at Marazion Station, Cornwall on New Years Day 1st January 1979 as a Class 47 heads an express, possibly the Cornishman to Leeds and Bradford. Credit: Roger Winnen



TheWeatherOutlook shared some UK weather photos from this Winter here: https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/twocontent.aspx?type=bg&id=1625
https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/twocontent.aspx?type=bg&id=1626&title=Readers+photos+from+the+winters+of+1979+-+Part+2

It was the coldest January overall since 1963 with a CET of -0.4c and this was the last time (up to 2018 at least when writing this) January had a CET under 0c. Out of the three Winter months, January is the most overdue for a subzero CET month as the last time December had a subzero CET was 2010 and the last time February had a subzero CET was 1986.

It became less cold during the middle and latter part of the first week though there was a prolonged period of snowfall in the Channel Isles on the 4th/5th but conditions continued to be dry and frosty. The weather became fairly changeable from there on with generally milder weather. However, it was still colder than average for the most part with further severe frosts at times. Some heavy snowfalls occurred widespread on the 9th-10th, 19th-20th, 25th and 28th-29th. In the strong winds, these snowfalls tended to drift. It was the snowiest January since 1963.

A ridge of high pressure built in on the 12th to 14th January 1979 bringing more very low temperatures to the UK and Ireland. Carnwath, Strathclyde recorded a minimum temperature of -24.6c on 13th January which was the lowest for any month in the UK since 1955 at the time and the second lowest since 1895. On the same night, Claremorris, Co. Mayo recorded an air minimum of -10.3c whilst Clones, Co. Monaghan recorded -11.2c.

It was a sunny January for most and the sunniest in 20 years (since 1959) whilst Torbay, Torquay had its sunniest January on record since records began in 1898 with 105.1 hours of sunshine. This meant the station had an average of 3.4 hours of sunshine per day.

February 1979 continued the cold Winter with a CET of 1.2c making it the coldest February in 10 years (since 1969). Ireland and the south of the UK tended to alternate between mild and cold during the month whilst the north was locked into cold through the majority of the period. A front on the 7th February pushed northwards leading to rain over most of Ireland, England and Wales but this turned to snow over northern England. This was pushed back southwards as a ridge from an anticyclone to the north extended south-southeastwards over the North Sea with further fronts becoming stuck over the southwest of the country. The 8th/9th February 1979 was a very cold night for parts with Lagganlia, Highlands of Scotland recording a minima of -16.4c on this night.

A strong easterly flow developed on the 14th dropping temperatures back to well below average including subzero daytime temperatures and heavy snowfalls.

Snowfall depths during the 14th-16th easterly again accumulating to 50cm in parts of northern England though strong winds led to deep drifts. East Anglia had between 20-30cm. Buxton, Norwich and Great Yarmouth were all cut off.

Glenties, Co. Donegal got down to a minimum of -9.7c on the night of February 15th/16th. Other temperature observations from Irish stations during the period:

Station|Maximum temperature|Minimum temperature|Date
Birr|-0.2|-5.8|15 February 1979
Kilkenny|-1.6|-5.7|15 February 1979
Mullingar|-0.6|-5.8|15 February 1979






The last week of February 1979 was rather milder as an anticyclone developed over both countries by the 23rd. The south Midlands of England reached a mean sea level pressure observation of 1045mb on February 25th. The meteorological Winter season ended on a benign note.



CETs for different periods of the Winter:

27th Nov-1st Dec; -0.6
31st Dec-6th Jan; -2.9
21st-28th Jan; -1.7
14th-18th Feb; -1.8

The CET maximum for 31st December 1978 was only -2.4c making it the coldest New Year's Eve in terms of CET maxima known on record (records back to 1878).

That wasn't the end of the Winter though as the rest of the first half of 1979 continued colder than average including a notable cold spell for the time of year in May. It was a very wet Spring mind you.

Data comes from the UK Met Office & Met Éireann.