Winter Chills : The Great Winters of 1947 and 1963 in the UK

This is archived content that used to be on the Met Office website, but isn’t anymore so I decided to resurrect it for posterity, adding my own comments and adaptions. It’s a page to refer to when people talk about the harsh winters of 1946-47 and 1962-63, the two UK winters that are used as benchmarks for how bad winter …

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December 2018 Weather in durham

Sherburn from the railway path

December started quite wet, then mostly dry later. The second half of the month was quieter with a lot of High Pressure influence. Rainfall total was 41mm, which is only 72% of normal for December. In late afternoon/evening of 15th December there was a fall of snow/sleet/freezing rain. A right hogs breakfast with strong south easterly winds. Precipitation total was …

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December 2015 Weather in Durham – Freakishly mild, but wild and wet.

The River Tees gushing over High Force Waterfall in December 2015

December 2015 was easily the mildest December on record. The mean of 7.9 degC at Durham was 3.9 degC above average. Top 5 warmest Decembers in Durham 1 2015 7.9 degC 2= 1843 7.3 2= 1988 7.3 4 1857 7.0 5 1934 6.8 December 19th 2015 featured the highest ever December temperature recorded in Durham. It reached 15.9 degC, a …

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Coldest Christmas Days – 2010 is up there!

This list has been compiled from CET records after we experienced the coldest December for more than a century in Durham. In a climate that has shown a seemingly inexorable rise in temperature, December 2010 came as a huge shock to the system. Christmas Day 2010 ranks third in a series going back to 1772, marginally behind 1830. Coldest Christmas …

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Frozen River Wear in Durham, December 2010

frozen river wear december 2010

The River Wear froze in Durham in late November/December 2010. Here’s a daily weather diary of the period with photographs of the brutal spell of weather we hadn’t experienced for a long time. November/December 2010 25th Nov   Snow cover at 0900hrs. 2″ in Ferryhill, 5-6″ in Newcastle. 26th Nov   Snow cover continuing. Brighter, with improvement in road conditions …

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December 1981 – The River Wear freezes up in Durham

December 1981 was a phenomenally cold snowy month in Durham (along with the first half of January 1982). Snow lay for most of the month as a result of several heavy falls in the region. Coming so soon after the cold winter of 1978-79, we had become used to ‘proper winters’. There were some brutally low temperatures, double figure negative …

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