With all this very mild weather we are experiencing currently and daffodils already in bloom in Upthorpe (Cam), writes Ian Thomas.
It is nice to look back to Christmas weather of the past when things have been completely the opposite. Believe it or not, it has been exactly 20 years since snow fell on Christmas day itself. Yes, Christmas Day 2004 saw a few snow showers around lunchtime and in the late evening,11.15pm to be precise, a front moved across parts of the county and half an inch of snow fell by midnight, so it qualified (only just) as a white Christmas. My definition of a white Christmas is snow falling either on the day or in a previous fall and lying on the ground, (not one flake seen at some location in Britain).
The last time we saw significant snowfall was 14 years ago in 2010 when two falls on the 18th and 21st put down 2-3 inches for most, but much deeper in the north of the county where up to 6 inches lay. Prior to 2004, we had a moderate fall during Christmas week 2000 following the wettest autumn on record. The early hours of New Year’s Eve 1996 saw half an inch of snow and lows of -8C (18f) and 1993 recorded snow falling and settling on the higher parts of the county. A colleague of mine lived at Hawkesbury Upton then and told me snow was lying fresh on the ground on Christmas Day but only a dusting.
The 1980s saw virtually no snow whatsoever around Christmas except 1981. That Christmas had snow lying on the ground on Christmas Day for most of Gloucestershire but further north it was a very different scene as heavy snowfall from the previous weeks had accumulated lying up to two feet deep in the Pennines and parts of Scotland. Indeed, I spent Christmas 1981 at Colsterworth (Lincolnshire) where the nearby A1 trunk road was down to one lane in either direction. I have never seen that much snow on Christmas day in my 70 Christmases on this planet.
You may remember the late Queen and her entourage had to take shelter at the Cross Hands Inn (Old Sodbury) from a blizzard on Sunday December 13th. A general thaw set in from the 27th with some flooding over the new year before the cold returned with a vengeance from January 5th, 1982. Frost first then a dynamic snowfall lasting over 40 hours between the 7th and 9th.
December 1978 was a cold one with frosts and snowfall on the 20th and 21st. This all melted away in time for Christmas with a brief mild spell before bitterly cold Polar Continental air returned from the 29th, firstly up north and gradually moving south-westwards. Rain early on the 30th turned to snow, then a cold sunny day before a prolonged spell of driving powdery snow from mid evening Saturday 30th through to early Sunday. More snow during the day and then the mercury down to -13.3C (8F) overnight, making it the coldest start to any year of the 20th century (even 1963 wasn’t that cold at that point). This was the snowiest end to the year since December 1962 and this weather continued through most of January making 1978-79 the coldest winter since 1962-63, but NOT as cold as. I well remember travelling on the trains that winter which encountered all manner of problems. Trains trapped in snow in Yorkshire, the Settle and Carlisle route closed for a few days and dislocation all over. However, the trains ran albeit very late at times.
Christmas 1970 was a white one, once again not all of Gloucestershire on the day but widespread after. Heavy Boxing Day snowfall and more the next day. Boxing day 1964 brought up to five inches of snow at Birdlip but less at lower levels and then of course, the infamous Boxing Day snowfall of 1962 with further snow following in the shape of a blizzard on Saturday December 29th plus another four-inch fall on January 3rd, 1963. Make no mistake about it, this was and still is the snowiest Christmas period of the 20th century.
Funnily enough, as I am typing this, John Kettley has just mentioned this very winter and the December snowfall of 1962 on Boom Radio. Whether we ever experience severe winters like 1962-63,1978-79 or even 1981-82 again is anybody’s guess. Never say never.
