November 1979 A topsy-turvy month

November 1979 was an interesting month with a cold spell just before mid-month and a very mild spell at the end of the month.
The cold spell began on the 8th as NWly winds brought wintry showers and night frosts. There was a short milder interlude on the 11th as a low tracked through Scotland across England and Wales beringing rain here but it turned to snow across southern parts of Scotland. As the low moved into the North Sea, the cold weather moved southwards gain and this produced some sharp night frosts with Crawfordjohn recording -11C. The weather changed again on the 14th as Atlantic systems began to push into the west, this gave snowfalls at first across northern parts with Glasgow Airport recording 7cm of lying snow before it turned to rain. This was the end of the cold spell
The weather was mixed for the next few days but the start of the very mild spell began on the 25th as a warm front pushed up NEwards flooding the UK with tropical maritime SWlies and pushing maxima into the mid teens. An even milder pool of air from North Africa flooded the UK on the 28th with temperatures as high as 17C. Saharan dust fell with the rain across NW parts of the UK indicating the source of the air. This mild spell was to continue into the December.
The CET for the month was 6.8, close to the 1961-90 average.

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