20 years ago, parts of England had some of their worst flooding of the 20th century in April 1998 on the 9th/10th. April 1998 is notable by British and Irish weather enthusiasts for its unseasonable snowfalls and a very cold late season snap which caused the lowest temperature of the entire year to be during this spell following a very mild Winter breaking records for mild and December 1998 was nothing spectacular either with it stormy or mild. -5.5c was the air minimum at Casement Aerodrome on April 10th 1998, its lowest on record at this time. Dublin Airport's air minimum of -4.0c on the same day was its lowest on record for April at the time also. April 1998's CET was at 7.7c whilst March's CET that year was 7.9c. It was also an exceptionally wet month for the south and east of both Ireland and the UK. It was the wettest April since 1966 for those parts in Ireland but in England & Wales, it was the wettest since 1818 - though obviously has since been beaten by April 2012 which is now the wettest April on record. Phoenix Park's daily rainfall of 38.8mm on the 9th was its wettest April day in over a century of records. The Easter 1998 floods were not nearly as bad in the east of Ireland as they were in England but still very wet and miserable.
This is what Professor Trevor Harley says about the month:
Generally extremely wet - the wettest since 1818 over England and Wales, and cold (the coldest since 1989). An average of 138mm across England and Wales. Dull in places too.Widespread and exceptionally severe flooding across the Midlands and East Anglia on Maundy Thursday 9th: a narrow but slowly moving yet very active front, fed by a cold NE airflow, became unexpectedly stationary, giving large amounts of rain on the 9-10th: 77 mm at Pershore (Worcs.) The rivers Leam and Avon were particularly badly affected, leading to flooding in Warwick and Leamington town centres, and great traffic disruption as flooding affected the A46 and M40 (with up to 3' water in some places). Further away, the Nene flooded the Northampton area, after 54 mm of rain, with 48 mm falling between 09.30 and 22.30. (There is some argument that poor water management and poor drainage contributed to the extent of the flooding of the Avon, Nene, Leam, and Cherwell.) Six deaths. After the depression moved east, the cold air trying to push south then won, and there were widespread snow showers midmonth to the 15th, leading to a "white Easter" in some places. North Wales saw particularly heavy snowfalls on the 10-11, and northern England on the 14-15th. Mold had 37 cm on the night of the 140-15th. -9.0C recorded at Altnharra on the morning of the 10th. A warm day on the 22nd, though: 23.8 at Rickmansworth. It was also very wet on the Scottish east coast. This year, April was colder than March, for the first time since 1990.
We're firmly in a northeasterly on April 10th 1998 bringing in bitterly cold air, unseasonable for the time of year and snowfalls. Meanwhile, in England, it was mostly of very heavy rain. This rain was so intense that the majority of the rivers burst their banks and flooding became a major problem. To emphasise how severe this was, these parts had been suffering a long drought since 1995 with the start of 1998 being very dry again. Five people died in the floods.
This is the UK Met Office's take on it:
At the start of Easter 1998 (9-10 April) a stationary band of heavy rain affected the Midlands. This resulted in floods in which five people died and thousands had to be evacuated from their homes. The wettest area, with over 75 mm, stretched from Worcestershire towards The Wash and the flooded towns included Evesham, Leamington Spa, Stratford-on-Avon, Bedford, Northampton and Huntingdon.
Impacts
In the river systems draining the 5,000 km2 area bounded by Bedford in the east, Evesham in the west, Peterborough in the north and Oxford in the south, the flood levels were generally higher than those of the record-breaking 1947 flood. The already saturated nature of the ground worsened the impacts, leading to excessive surface run-off in the upper reaches and widespread flooding further downstream. Rivers such as the Avon, Ouse and Nene readily burst their banks. Over 4,200 homes and businesses were flooded in England and Wales, including some 2,000 properties in Northampton alone. Electricity supplies were lost and there was damage to cars, boats and caravan parks - being a holiday weekend, this disruption hit particularly hard. The cost of the flooding was estimated as £350m.
An independent review described the lessons from the Easter 1998 flood experiences in relation to flood-plain management and flood forecasting, and investment in flood defences and warning systems followed.
Weather data
On Maundy Thursday (9 April), thundery rain in the south of England moved northwards and became slow-moving from East Anglia through the Midlands to north Wales. This band gave some very heavy downpours with hail and thunder. On Good Friday (10th) the band rotated slowly anticlockwise spreading to Lincolnshire and the west country and continued to rotate, with sleet and heavy bursts of rain in places. There was sleet and snow across the Pennines and north Wales during the evening.
Rainfall 0900 GMT 9 April to 0900 GMT 10 April 1998 for England:
Following this very wet period, the northerlies to northeasterlies just lingered and the low cleared leaving plenty of showers of hail, snow and sleet.
https://twitter.com/weatherwiseuk/status/983379652575195136
Port Erin over the summit at Keristal, Isle of Man on 15 April 1998:
https://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/13607-mid-april-1998-snow-cover/
http://www.met.ie/climate/MonthlyWeather/clim-1998-Apr.pdf
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/easter1998
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