25 years ago: a snowfall in an exceptionally mild winter.

[Weather-history]

I remember this Friday evening of the 24th February 1989 very well. December and January had been virtually devoid of anything wintry but February did have the odd wintry episode, I recall soft hail showers during half term on one day.

Friday, 24th February 1989 was a cold wet day here but during the late afternoon, I notice the rain looked a bit sleety and up to 5pm, you could see it getting sleetier and sleetier with odd wet flakes of snow mixed in. After 5pm, it had turned increasingly to snow and as it started getting, it was snowing. What surprised me was how quickly it started to stick, you could see the lawn and soil going whiter and whiter.

By 8pm the snow had started but we had a covering on all surfaces, snow showers continued for the rest of the night into the morning part of the next day. The sun came out late morning and the snow thawed away that afternoon.

What was surprising is that higher suburbs to the east of me only a couple of miles away got nothing but sleet, showing how marginalised and dependent on intensity of precipitation it was.