Today (8th December) marks the 50th anniversary of the amazing blizzard that affected the south coast of Sussex in December 1967.

In an otherwise unremarkable winter, December began with mild misty weather with temperatures rising to between 10 and 12 Celsius.  the 4th was a shade cooler but it was sunny all day. The 6th became colder in the afternoon after a mild morning, and in the evening there was a sleet shower.  The 7th was a crisp winter’s day with plenty of sunshine but the temperature only rose to 3 Celsius. A sharp frost occurred after sunset as the wind died down, and the evening weather forecast mentioned the risk of  a little snow for southern England.

The next morning dawned bright and frosty, but clouds quickly thickened and the frost melted as the temperature rose above freezing. Around 9 o’clock a few drops of rain  fell, but as the intensity increased the rain turned to heavy snow. The snow then fell for the rest of the day before finally petering out around 6’o clock. The snow was accompanied by a biting easterly wind and the heavy snow was whipped into huge drifts. There was even a rumble of thunder in the middle of the day. By the end of the storm, the snow was lying to a depth of 20 to 35 centimetres across Shoreham, with drifts of 1 to 2 metres. 

Skies cleared overnight and temperatures plummeted  to minus 8. Not surprisingly, there was total chaos. London trains terminated at Haywards Heath with virtually no transport running south of the Downs from Worthing to Brighton with the coastal road east of Brighton also badly affected. It took several days for normality to resume, with rain on the 12th helping to quicken the thaw.

The cause of the snow was a Polar Low , an area of intense convection that can form in very cold arctic air-streams. It was noticed north of Scotland on the previous day, but it weakened as it headed south across the cold land overnight, evidenced by places north of Steyning only having 2 to 5 centimetres of snow.  However, as the vortex hit the relatively warm English Channel it exploded into life, deepening rapidly and slowing down, The result was the worst blizzard for a generation, but now largely forgotten.

Another Polar Low crossed into the Channel west of Sussex a little over a week later, but since then this phenomenon has been very rare indeed. However, it is a feature that can occur in very cold north or northwesterly air-flows, and since the latter part of this Autumn there have been more northwesterly winds than normal. We await with interest! 

Although there have been several grass frosts during November, last night produced the first widespread air frost of the Autumn. Air temperatures were typically minus 1 Celsius in central Shoreham and minus 2 Celsius in the more rural parts. There will be a milder interlude at the beginning of next week, but further frosty nights are likely to occur before the end of the month.

The first frost of the autumn occurred last night. For many it was just a grass frost, with the air temperature staying above freezing whilst the grass temperature dipped a couple of degrees below zero. However, at Shoreham Airport the minimum was minus 1 Celsius, suggestive of a plant damaging air frost for a few outlying gardens.

Storm Brian, so named by the Irish Met. Service, was felt along the Sussex coast during Saturday. Squally winds, gusting to over 50 mph at Shoreham Airport, accompanied sudden downpours. Although the storm was not exceptional for the time of year, it was accompanied by some fairly high tides and very high seas. A local buoy reported waves regularly in excess of 5 metres,  some of which were captured on camera by the Old Fort.  Not a day to cross the Channel by ship, in fact some of the windiest weather  has been in the Channel Islands, with Alderney reporting gusts of 63 mph.

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The eerie orange sun followed by day darkness was not a precursor to the end of the world, but an unusual, if entirely natural, sequence of events. Easterly winds over north Africa produced some very warm weather in the Canary Islands but the air was thick with Saharan sand. Meanwhile, hurricane Ophelia was edging northeastwards to the west of Iberia where prolonged drought has caused numerous forest fires. As Ophelia became a deep, but extra-tropical,  depression, it rushed north towards southwest Ireland dragging the Saharan sand and smoke from Iberian forest fires  with it. It caused the sun to weaken and appear orange. Thick, mostly upper level, cloud associated with the remnants of the hurricane,  together with the sand and smoke, led to near darkness in the middle of the afternoon. Fortunately, very little rain fell, but the few spots that dropped from the leaden skies were very dusty, and those with light vehicles could hardly fail to notice a colour change.