February 1986 Weather in Durham – Extremely Cold

Winter weather snow scenes 20th February 1986

February 1986 (who remembers that one then?) It was one of the coldest Februaries ever recorded in modern times. Trevor Harley, in his famous weather summaries pages, describes February 1986 like this: February 1986. Extremely cold (-1.1C CET), with frequent light snowfalls. The second coldest February of the 20th century (after February 1947), and fourth coldest month of the twentieth …

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February 1991 Weather in Durham – A very snowy episode!

Weather Diary February 1991 for Ferryhill, Co Durham

I was rooting about in the loft the other day and came across an old logbook of mine from when I lived in Ferryhill. It covered the period of late 1990 and early 1991. Immediately I took interest because there was a memorable period of heavy snowfall in February 1991. What is striking was that snow was 15” deep on …

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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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Skating on the River Wear in Durham in February 1895

skating on the frozen river wear in december 1895

This photo was taken (we think) in February 1895. It shows people sweeping the ice on the river, perhaps preparing it for skating or maybe a curling competition. The location is just below Prebends Bridge in Durham. February 1895 was one of the coldest Februaries ever recorded in Durham. Trevor Harley Summary of Feb 1895 ”Part of a severe winter, …

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February 2019 Weather in Durham – Historically warm after a freezing start

February started very cold in Durham, with the first 3 days averaging below freezing. Rain was plentiful until the 9th, but then the dry weather of February returned, accompanied by increasingly warm unseasonal temperatures. The airstream was coming from the Canary Islands. The all-time February record was smashed in England and Wales on 26th and 27th, topping 20 degC for …

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Nacreous Clouds over Durham, Feb 2016

picture of Pearlescence from Nacreous Cloud Display

  A fantastic display of nacreous (mother of pearl) clouds occured across NE England in February 2016. These photos were taken above Durham Cathedral and Castle at about 7:15am. These clouds are also known as Polar Stratospheric Clouds Nacreous Clouds are quite rare. They can glow very brightly due to iridescence and are much higher than other tropospheric clouds, a …

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Amazing Sunset in Newton Aycliffe, Feb 2008

Tomato Soup Cloud An amazing sunset over Co. Durham. This one was taken from Newton Aycliffe, but could be seen widely. It looked as if someone had poured Tomato Soup into the clouds. The sun is below the horizon, but the clouds are high enough that the sun shines on the bottom of them, illuminating them from below. Latest Cloud …

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February 1991 Weather in Durham – Cold and snowy first half

Picture of Metro Trains in the snow in the severe spell of February 1991

February 1991. A very cold first half in the south, but mild second half. Overall temperature: CET average of 1.5. There was a notable ten day cold spell at the beginning, as NE winds brought in some very cold air from north Russia, leading to snow across most of Britain and some very low temperatures, making this the most severe …

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