December 1979

December 1979 was an interesting month. The first third of the month was very mild with tropical maritime airmasses frequently crossing the UK. Maxima were in double figures with values as high as 17.2C on the 5th. A deep depression on the 14th/15th gave severe gales to the south with gusts of 80mph+ reported. A shift in the weather pattern occurred on the 17th as a low tracked through the north of Scotland and this pulled in colder NWlies. By the 18th, high pressure in the mid north Atlantic was gradually pushing the flow across the UK into a more northerly flow and the showers turned increasingly to snow with frosts at night. Christmas Day was mostly dry and there was further cold snap in the last 3 days of 1979.
The colder second half of the month was not enough to offset the very mild first half and the CET for the month was 5.8

Weather statistics

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