WunderBlog Archive » Weather Extremes
Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.United Kingdom and Ireland dig out from snowstorm. Bangkok record heat
United Kingdom and Ireland dig out from massive snowstorm. Bangkok, Thailand endures record heat
Portions of southwest Scotland, northwest England and Northern Ireland experienced their heaviest snowfall in 30 years last weekend (March 23-24) followed by bitterly cold weather making this the coldest March since 1962 according to the U.K. Met Office. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, Bangkok, Thailand has registered its hottest temperature on record.
A snowdrift buries a country pub in Cheshire County, England following last weekend’s blizzard. Photo by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Daily Mail newspaper.
A cold easterly airflow combined with a strong Atlantic low pressure system produced true blizzard conditions last weekend over much of the U.K. and higher elevations of northern Ireland. Wind gusts of 50-60 mph piled 12” of snowfall into towering 10-15’ drifts that trapped hundreds of motorists and buried livestock. Unconfirmed reports mentioned drifts up to 24’ on the Isle of Arran, Scotland and Cumbria, England according to a report filed by weather blogger Mark Vogan. As of Tuesday (March 26th) up to 10,000 sheep and lambs were feared still buried in snowdrifts and likely to have perished.
Farmer Donald O’Reilly searches for buried ewes in the Aughafatten area of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Photographer not identified, from Reuters News Agency.
Extreme cold has followed the storm with a daily record low of -3.1°C (26.4°F) recorded at Shannon Airport, near Limerick in southern Ireland the morning of March 27th. The cold weather is forecast to persist through at least Easter Sunday (March 31st) with the potential of another significant snowstorm striking early next week, although this is looking less and less likely with each new model run.
The ECMWF model predicts cold air from Siberia to continue pressing westward over the British Isles for the next several days.
I will have a recap of the severe March weather in the U.K. in my monthly review of global weather extremes on April 10th.
Bangkok heat
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Eurasian continent, Bangkok, Thailand reached 40.1°C (104.2°F) on March 26th. This is the hottest temperature ever measured at the city’s official Metropolis weather station. The former record was 40.0°C (104.0°F) in April 2012 and April 1979. Other sites in the city, however, have reported higher temperatures in the past with the maximum being 40.8°C (105.4°F) in May 1983 at either the Don Muang Airport or Klong Toei (Bangkok Port) sites.
KUDOS: Thanks to Mark Vogan for U.K. information and Maximiliano Herrera for Bangkok report.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
Portions of southwest Scotland, northwest England and Northern Ireland experienced their heaviest snowfall in 30 years last weekend (March 23-24) followed by bitterly cold weather making this the coldest March since 1962 according to the U.K. Met Office. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, Bangkok, Thailand has registered its hottest temperature on record.
A snowdrift buries a country pub in Cheshire County, England following last weekend’s blizzard. Photo by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Daily Mail newspaper.
A cold easterly airflow combined with a strong Atlantic low pressure system produced true blizzard conditions last weekend over much of the U.K. and higher elevations of northern Ireland. Wind gusts of 50-60 mph piled 12” of snowfall into towering 10-15’ drifts that trapped hundreds of motorists and buried livestock. Unconfirmed reports mentioned drifts up to 24’ on the Isle of Arran, Scotland and Cumbria, England according to a report filed by weather blogger Mark Vogan. As of Tuesday (March 26th) up to 10,000 sheep and lambs were feared still buried in snowdrifts and likely to have perished.
Farmer Donald O’Reilly searches for buried ewes in the Aughafatten area of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Photographer not identified, from Reuters News Agency.
Extreme cold has followed the storm with a daily record low of -3.1°C (26.4°F) recorded at Shannon Airport, near Limerick in southern Ireland the morning of March 27th. The cold weather is forecast to persist through at least Easter Sunday (March 31st) with the potential of another significant snowstorm striking early next week, although this is looking less and less likely with each new model run.
The ECMWF model predicts cold air from Siberia to continue pressing westward over the British Isles for the next several days.
I will have a recap of the severe March weather in the U.K. in my monthly review of global weather extremes on April 10th.
Bangkok heat
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Eurasian continent, Bangkok, Thailand reached 40.1°C (104.2°F) on March 26th. This is the hottest temperature ever measured at the city’s official Metropolis weather station. The former record was 40.0°C (104.0°F) in April 2012 and April 1979. Other sites in the city, however, have reported higher temperatures in the past with the maximum being 40.8°C (105.4°F) in May 1983 at either the Don Muang Airport or Klong Toei (Bangkok Port) sites.
KUDOS: Thanks to Mark Vogan for U.K. information and Maximiliano Herrera for Bangkok report.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
Extreme Weather Mini Blog Snow Temperature
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