The Winter of 1890-91

The winter of 1890-91 had an exceptional cold spell that was to last from the 25th of November 1890 to the 22nd of January 1891. This included the coldest December on record with a CET of -0.8C
Up to the 25th of November, the weather had been mild and unsettled across the UK but the weather changed when a Scandinavian high became established on the 25th that was more or less to dominate the weather for the next 58 days. The easterlies brought very low temperatures and snowfalls with parts of Kent and Surrey recording minima down to -17.8C and Jersey -8.8C, whilst snow depths were reaching 8 to 10" in parts of Lincolnshire.
December was exceptionally cold. There was little sunshine because of persistent cloud or freezing fog with parts of London recording no sunshine at all during the month. Lakes, rivers and canals froze to depths of several inches, the Thames was frozen for over a mile near Twickenham whilst the Dee near Chester was frozen for 5 and a half miles.
The number of ice days were high, Reading recorded 36 with a continous spell of 11 days. On the 14th of December it recorded a maximum of -6C
The cold weather didn't break until the 23rd of January when milder Atlantic air finally over came the block. The thaw resulted in severe flooding.
It was not the end of the winter yet as the people of the West Country were to find out that March.

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