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 spell of weather since 1987 (and still not bettered, if that’s the right word).
The cold air arived from Siberia on the 4th, with temperatures falling on the 5th and 6th, with the 7-9th as the coldest days. Barbourne (Hereford & Worcs.) recorded -15.6 on the 14th; Cawood (North Yorks.) had the lowest at -16.0 on the 14th. There was much powdery snow over England in this period, with some places having 48 hours of snowfall; snow depths of 30cm+ were widespread, particularly in the North East: 50 cms at Bradford and Longframlington.
Even London had 20 cm of snow, the deepest cover since December 1962. The temperature in many places did not rise above freezing from the 5-10th. Some places of the southeast had the coldest February day of the century on the 7th, with maxima around -6C, but widespread very low maxima on the 7th: -5.7 at Bastreet (Cornwall), -5.2C at Whipsnade (Deds.), and at Brighton.The minimum at Guernsey airport on the 7th was -7.2, the equal low for February.
On the 8th the maximum at Princetown (Dartmoor) was -6.0C. There were many injuries from falls on ice and sledging accidents, and a woman in Dartford received severe head injuries from falling icicles. This is the last notably cold snap I remember. It was the last time that most of Britain had snow cover.
This was the infamous “wrong type of snow” for British Rail: dry and powdery. The thaw caused flooding in north Yorkshire. Milder air and a thaw arrived in all parts on the 15th, with Torquay recording 12.6C. An anticyclone enabled a thaw by day, with some sharp frosts at night, until the 19th, when it became unsettled. There were 133mm of rain in mid-Wales on the 22nd.
http://www.trevorharley.com/weather_web_pages/1991_weather.htm