1927

1927 was saved from weather anonymity by an exceptional Christmas blizzard, and by the Paisley Storm in January. The summer was poor.

January. Severe gale in Scotland on the 28th: the Paisley Storm. A highest gust of 89 kn, 11 people killed, and damage across the Clyde Valley.

February. Unsettled start with westerly winds. Widespread snow on the 2nd. Quiet, rather dull, and foggy midmonth, with some widespread frosts.

March. Mild and unsettled; wet in England and Wales and in Ireland.

April. A cold end. There was snow at the end of the month, and -8C was recorded at Balmoral on the 29th.

May. Dry and sunny. The second lowest May minimum (see 1941): -8.9C at Braemar on the 1st.

June. A cold month. It was the coldest June in Edinburgh since 1763.

July. Unsettled and wet, with some notable thunderstorms. On the night of the 6-7th, 78 mm of rain fell at Deal and 72 mm at Clacton. 45 mm of rain fell in a thunderstorm on the 11th in East Anglia. 27 mm fell in 25 minutes in a thunderstorm at Kensington on the 11th.

August. Fine beginning and end, but otherwise wet and unsettled, apart from the NW of Scotland. It was very wet in NE England.

September. Cold, windy, dull, and very wet. 63 mm of rain fell at Brighton on the 14th.

October. Severe gales over the NW on the 28-29th. Flooding on the Lancashire coast.

November. 19C recorded in Wakefield on the 2nd; similar hight temperatures at Tynemouth and Geldeston (Norfolk).

December. An extremely easterly month, and hence quite cold (CET 2.1C). There was snowfall in the second week, and then some freezing rain. There was a mild interlude on the 21-22nd, but then on Christmas Eve a cold NE affected all the country apart from the south. A deep depression off Cornwall fought with high pressure off Scotland; the Arctic air from the NE met the mild, damp air along the English Channel. This fed the low, and led to a severe snowfall; indeed, this was one of the most severe snowstorms of the century. On Christmas Day there was continual snowfall over the Midlands and Wales, but just heavy rain with easterly gales in the south. But then as the temperature dropped on Christmas night, the rain in the south turned to heavy snow. The blizzard continued into Boxing Day. At the end snow lay a foot deep over much of the south, two feet of level snow in Kent, with drifts of up to 20' reported the next morning in the Chilterns, and 25' deep on Salisbury Plain. There was much damage to trees, overhead wires, with many villages being cut off. There was flooding in the Northwest after Christmas. The thaw on the snow in Janyart 1928 led to disastrous flooding in central London.