Big freeze - January 1987 - weather forecast presented by Ian McCaskill

[@depman1972]

Ian mckaskill always brought us snow, always loved his friendly hello at beginning.

[@rjjcms1]

Even then they managed to weave the dreaded M word ("misery") into the weather reports. I never thought of it that way,it was just something different to make the most of.

[@adamcormie3362]

When winters were great in Britain, not sure if we’ll ever see winter weather like this again, brings back memories of what it was like back then.

[@stequality]

​@smf333there's a whole generation of them now

[@grayrabbit2211]

oh, you'll definitely see it again. Not sure when, but it will happen.

[@notmanynamesleft]

We're now entering the Eddy minimum and hundreds of years of cooling so the snow will be back in the near future!

[@DANEBLUEGNOME]

21st century back in the future weather in the 1980s.

[@jasecox3912]

When the weather forecasts were much easier to read and understand.Plus good weather presenters,the good old days .

[@davidosilverman900]

"I've finally worked out what 'Vorsprung durch technik' means. It means my car won't start" - Ian McCaskill, January 1987

[@ds1868]

I always thought Ian MacCaskill was a great weather presenter - intelligent, enthusiastic, and a real personality. And although not the 'fridge magnets', still using the weather symbols, which I much prefer to the rubbish presented to us today. Thanks for posting!

[@nickda1]

lol i hated the magnetic symbols nearly always fell off but i do actually like todays graphics they don't confuse me

[@steviewonder2049]

A fun weatherman to listen to..a cross between Sylvester Mccoy and Dennis Taylor

[@robtyman4281]

Yes, he was very 'quirky' certainly. The nearest we have to him today is probably Tomas Schafenacker!!

[@paulcoalville]

The days I understood the maps nice symbols and the day the forecasters covered whole country and the bloody map stayed still !!!! R.I.P Ian McCaskill a memory from my childhood watching the forecasts

[@stephensnell1379]

The modern day 3d graphics are even better than the pisspore symbols that got used before by the bbc,the old day symbols would only cover up to 1 mile and weather simply is not like that,yep the modern 3d graphics are fantastic

[@kellyfinch5257]

@@stephensnell1379 all blobs now and only cover 4 counties now . Forecasts have gone downhill

[@paulkenney4021]

@@stephensnell1379 false - the symbols were better , they use blobs now to cover their mistakes

[@paulkenney4021]

@@stephensnell1379 2 symbols on Wales - so Wales is 2 miles long ?

[@WokeHate]

I was born on 14th January 1987, my parents were on Look East/Anglia News giving an interview from the maternity ward due to having been rushed in as she entered labour, was hoping this would contain the interview! I had a copy at home but it got lost!

[@bolochongli9267]

I was born on january, 5th 1987

[@ispi_video_photo]

I remember working late, I was the last one left in the office. Looked outside and decided against the drive home, so I went to the pub, had a couple of beers an went back to the office and slept on the sofa in reception until about 5am. Started doing some more work, and when the MD came in at 8am I told him I had worked all night. The nice man sent me home to get some sleep.

[@shaheerakhatun886]

PlastiqueFantastique LMAOO ITS 2018 OMG ARE YOU ALIVE??!!! 😲 I'm thirteen lol

[@JW-th4nn]

Haha really? That's brilliant! There'd be no getting away with that nowadays. 😂😂

[@TheNelster72]

​@@shaheerakhatun886 I think you mean seventeen. It skips by like that.

[@alextilson5809]

Wow I remember the big freeze of 87 I was off school for a whole week 😊

[@rjjcms1]

We had a hat-trick of mid-January snowfalls heralding big freezes for weeks in 1985,1986 and 1987! The 1985 one was probably the most prolonged of these,the 1987 one definitely the least so.

[@yougottabejokingright2879]

R.I.P Ian !!! Too all those bumpkins that state "too cold to snow" look at temps here with snow !

[@rjjcms1]

France and Belgium had it even colder than us judging by that!

[@AaronUnknownPerformance]

what a great video, especially with the home video at the end. theres so much dramatics in the weather these days, the papers make it 10 times worst. thank u for making it

[@rjjcms1]

Nice collection of icicles! Is there an official Guinness Book of Records award for having the longest?

[@yipwaynewaion9802]

I still remember it started heavy snowfall during Christmas 1986. That was my first experienced snowfall since I was studying at Southend college as overseas student from Hong Kong.

[@chaingangsoldier3100]

And who would've guessed that 9 months later, we would be battered by the worst storm since 1703?

[@robtyman4281]

....thank Michael Fish for that! lol

[@West.Ham1964]

I was on holiday in Tenerife at the time and due to come home when London got the worst of it as a result, all the airports was closed and we had an extra day out there in heatwave temperatures, so happy memories.

[@JollyRodders]

I was working on the trains out of Waterloo at the time. We had some fireworks with the thrid rail, and of course there was severe disruption, but British Rail never abandoned whole routes like these private operating companies do at the slightest hint of snow.

[@dvidclapperton]

+GoneFishing Yes. Bring back British Rail

[@ZadenZane]

Yeah how on earth do they keep the Trans-Siberian railway going all winter when we grind to a halt after a heavy frost!???!

[@notexactlyrocketscience]

I remember the snow drifts, they were taller than me in some places. We built huge snow caves in it.

[@VoiceOfThe]

Aaaah... the days before they dumbed it all down. No sense of hysteria, or stupid graphics warning us of inclement weather on the horizon. Don't get me started on them naming the low pressure systems and writing words in big capital letters like 'COLD AIR'...

[@ebdoneggs244]

+vinyldude1210 So true , I cannot stand the new graphs , and why does it have to move around the country - irritating !!!

[@dvidclapperton]

And the map is tilted in such a way that London is larger proportionately than anywhere else.

[@dvidclapperton]

Shadows moving across the Uk per the current maps to show it getting cloudy after a sunny morning not necessary. A change of symbol between morning and evening and presenter describing it back in the day was clear enough.

[@VoiceOfThe]

I also hate the new Meteo Group graphics. The map is tiny, precipitation type isn't clear and why on earth do we need major cities locations of the country shown for heavens sake. What a nanny state we've become. Pathetic.

[@DeezN1892]

VoiceOfTheSoul is this what old people care about?

[@Phil-1969]

I past my driving test in December 86 , what fun I had in my mk1 escort, when this turned up a month later 😅

[@phuquerz]

What I like most of all about what I just watched, is the total lack of the flashing graphics, announcing a 'SEVERE WEATHER WARNING', no sense of exaggerated elevated hysteria and complete absence of red triangles with exclaimation marks in them.

[@rob16248]

I was searching for Feb' 87 in Britain, 'cos that's the one I REALLY remember, but this was as close as I could get. There was some serious snow in Essex that Feb', and I'm sure the temperature dropped to close to -20. My cat was seriously ill, and in fact dying. I had a row with my parents because they wouldn't take it to the vets as there were warnings not to go out unless it was an emergency (It WAS an emergancy). I was so enraged, I went out for a walk without a jumper, or coat, just my tee-shirt. I walked a half mile round trip. When I returned, parts of my arms turned light blue, as if coloured by a diffuse spray from an airbrush.

[@TheKonga88]

rob16248 So what happened to your cat?? 🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱

[@si4632]

Chucked it on the fire to keep warm

[@rjjcms1]

Now that's above and beyond the call of duty.

[@rob16248]

snarky comment.@@rjjcms1

[@Emily-vs9ju]

Imagine the complete catastrophe this would bring now. “ only leave your house if it’s a matter of life and death”. “Do not even think about driving” “all schools will close until at least June....”

[@KJames2345]

Remember 1987 really well the first and only time I ever used my sledge as a youngster. We don't get them winter anymore. ❄️ The last three winters have been weird.

[@stephensnell1379]

Snow in the UK will eventually become a thing of the past as the climate warms up more

[@connoroleary591]

@@stephensnell1379 yes, they told us that 20 years ago. Indeed Bill Giles planted an orchard of Olive trees in his Oxfordshire garden, i wonder how they are doing now?

[@notmanynamesleft]

​@@stephensnell1379overall global temperatures have been declining since 2016 and we're now entering the Eddy minimum and hundreds of years of cooling so the snow will be back very soon.

[@3667woof]

Remember this well, we had very deep snow for ages in my area north of Portsmouth but buses still operated

[@rjjcms1]

My car's gas pedal froze in overnight (in Oxford) in that snow. The next day I couldn't understand why car was racing so in my naivety I was hammering the brake pedal to hold it back on my way home with a friend badgering me to get him to a job interview in time. The brakes suddenly went on the Ebury roundabout in Rickmansworth. So with little time to think to stop it I demolished a brick wall driving it into an old couple's front garden. They were very nice about it but the vehicle was wrecked.

[@Hertfordshire247]

Rickmansworth was still a thing when a baby aye? Who knew? Born '85, still live near the Uxbridge Road.

[@rjjcms1]

@@Hertfordshire247Had a friend living with his parents and siblings in Moneyhill Road at the time.

[@mellonmarshall]

thanks for this one Of my earliest memory is the snow being just below my knee but I never did have any idea when it happen and now I know

[@MrMickyboyblue]

I bunked off school in this & loved it !

[@jordanhicks5131]

"Halllooooo" Love this man's puppet on Spitting Image

[@RichardTingey]

I would like to thank everyone who has made a comment about my video for making sensible remarks without any unnecessary swear words which sadly seem to plague some You Tube videos. So far I have not received one, but if I do it will be deleted immediately.

[@nickda1]

amazingly i remember only having one day off school during that period and it lasted about the same time as 1986 winter which also produced some quite thick snow also

[@scottishguy924]

R.I.P WHAT A GREAT MAN GOD BLESS

[@benbridgen2345]

khail chain concidering what happened on outober

[@33Crazydude]

I was 9 years old when this heavy snow arrived in January 1987, I remember it well. Winters today are more boring and milder.

[@Religious_man]

Are you saying that it used to be quite common to get regular snow and Arctic cold in Britain every winter?

[@TheNelster72]

​@@Religious_man It was colder in the winters of 2010 and 2011 as I remember it.

[@pieman3007]

I think this must have been the day when me and my primary school mate, walked to school through the snowdrifts, only to find out it was closed...the teacher who was there sent us both home.

[@thaitim007]

Old people started to freeze. Whilst Britain was booming for some, Thatcher and the mean Tories eventually gave them 5 pounds per week extra for 2 weeks in order to pay increased bills. It was given only if the daytime temperatures stayed below -1 degrees c. Just imagine the cold at night with the snow and ice on the ground -9 in Cornwall, -15 in the midlands, -20 or lower in Scotland. A lot of pipes burst and my school closed for 2 weeks!

[@dvidclapperton]

+TIm Dyer 1 degrees C is not exactly significantly milder than -1. Barely noticeable really, and if there's a biting wind it will feel a lot colder than that 1 degrees C. You will still need to put the heating on high at 1 degrees C as at -1 degrees C. As the temperatures dropped even though they are above freezing the energy companies raise the unit price. You have to use more energy at a much higher rate to heat your house or flat. Disgusting especially now that energy is privatised, but if as an OAP you are not given the extra cold weather payment money just because the temperatures have not dropped to then remained at below -1 for 7 unbroken days you won't be able to afford the much increased energy bill. Rise back to -1 for even just a few minutes one daytime even though it's below for the whole of thr rest of the 7 days are below -1 you get no cold weather payment. Energy should be back in public ownership really.

[@ianb07]

omg that was amazing remember that winter so well and having about a week off school !!

[@jameslowe7294]

This has brought back some memories.. I was 13 at the time in school in North Wales. We were sent home and there were daily updates on the local radio station - Marcher Sound letting everyone know if the school would be open that day. So everyday for a few days I'd tune in with my brother and sister and see whether it was more sledging or back to school! Rumour has it that headteachers would ring in everyday to the radio station to confirm if school was open or not, to establish that it was actually the head master ringing a special 'codeword' was given which was apparently 'snowman'. Local legend has it that some kids got wind of this and we actually got a day extra off because they'd rung in confirming to the radio station that the school was closed when actually it was open!

[@RichardTingey]

James - thank you for your memory of the time. My wife was Deputy Head at Yarmouth High. We lived in Norfolk in a small village between Gt Yarmouth and Stalham. We were cut off for several days.

[@jacksugden8190]

Was thinking about 1987 a short while ago, the women/events and circumstances of that time, that storm of which I have no memory of, they were trying times in 87, pleased that I had done what I had done - harking back.

[@stevetaylor8698]

The good thing about winter at this time was all the package holiday companies doing their tv advertising in January for sunny, summer resorts. Made the snow bearable.

[@keithwilliams-jl9ev]

Wish BBC was still like this !! Symbols rather than shitty blobs

[@jmpcrx]

I was 7 then, living in Suffolk, I remember huge snowdrifts, all the the roads blocked and no school!

[@Discoretrox]

RIP.. :(

[@traffic71]

I remember that winter well. Was 15 and it great when I was out at 6am doing my paper round in all that snow. Wonder if we’ll ever see anything like that again?

[@dvidclapperton]

On the coast in the south eastern North Sea it was -12C, -13C and -10C overnight and it was -10C, -10C and -4C the following day. Meanwhile on the coast in the south western North Sea it was -6C -6C and -6C overnight and it was -3C, -3C and -4C the following day. So what would have been the temperature of the North sea between the coastal locations nearest to each other either side of the sea to make it a few degrees C less cold on the UK side of the sea than it was on the continental side?

[@BibtheBoulder]

July 2023: Having been promised we would be getting "Mediterranean summers by 2020" we have had a full month of rain, and 16c.

[@SamiKhan-zs7go]

I remember him from my childhood 👍🏻😊😊

[@colingreenfield3615]

Brilliant 👏👏, feels like that's the last time southern England had a proper dumping 🤣🤣

[@alexishamer6427]

I honestly remembered very well 👌 back in January 1987 it was snowing 🌨☃️⛄️ in north Devon, south west England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

[@AJ-qn6gd]

Today (2019) this would be a “climate emergency” with all sorts of dire warnings back then it was just a minor inconvenience and we went about our normal business.

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Yes, if this happened today, the climate scientists would be saying it's the start of the next ice age!

[@AJ-qn6gd]

NOW, That's Richy. Then what would little Greta say ?

[@softshallow7435]

Now schools close for just a dusting! Too much health stand safety. No wonder nowadays grown up generation are salty about little things!

[@matthewrichards9658]

Either that, or those who wish to believe things aren't getting warmer would use it as "proof" that it isn't.

[@cray1875]

A whole week for me and just after the Xmas holidays. Bus never turned up in the morning for three straight days before the council closed the schools for the rest of the week. I remember it was bloody cold :-)

[@garyvisick1409]

The ultimate "beast from the east" from the best forecaster, remember it well, 0:28 the most perfect pressure chart for extreme cold!

[@TheMessiah79]

This was on 14th January 1987 during the heavy 1987 snowfall which saw 30'' of snow in parts of Southeast England.

[@TheFishingrod1]

And then came the Hurricane that he said wasn't on the way lol epicentre half mile from where I lived. Still loved his forecasts

[@jojofc88]

This storm happened a year before I was born. My mum and dad only had 3 children then and I remember them and my parents telling me about it. Mum opened the curtains in the morning to find the back garden a scene of absolute devastation. Her rotary line had blown over to a 45 degree angle BUT EVERY LAST ITEM WAS STILL PEGGED ON! 😅

[@zebedep]

A ferociously cold spell of weather.

[@dvidclapperton]

What's happened to high level blocking between December and February these days?

[@kushpatel2153]

south wet winds

[@dvidclapperton]

The Icelandic high was very prominent back then.

[@MrPlanetthanet]

Total shutdown on the Isle of Sheppy from this spell. Snow depth like I’ve never seen before. 2010 came close but nothing like it since.

[@richardsweden]

we measured 4 foot 3 inches after 2 days of snow when I lived in Kent - we had a whole week off school.

[@weatherwatch100]

Classic old footage - nice one

[@ALEXANDER31988]

That was a very nasty and cold winter. I still remember that we had -8 C as a maximum and a minimum of arround -14 C Januari 14, 1987. Well we had even colder winters here in The Netherlands.

[@sryanbruen7775]

Alexander Nijman Well Cavan in Ireland recorded -9.8c as a MAXIMUM on December 21 2010 and a minimum of around -17.2c

[@ALEXANDER31988]

Sryan Bruen At February 4, 2012 we had one night with -17 C here!

[@sryanbruen7775]

I thought it was February 11 2012?

[@portcullis5622]

I woke up this morning wondering what the weather was doing in January 1987. Thank goodness for KZbin.

[@shazanali692]

Is it me or do these deep lows over france never happen anymore, that is a big deep low, that spans the whole of france into britain, dont see that in the maps anymore

[@jamezpipe]

what do u think of that now this is a map forecast but i'm was watching it in 2014 and it's 2016 now it'll be published on 2016 may but this is the newest version on to the big freeze

[@everycloud7144]

1987 was a crazy year for British weather

[@richardwatts4660]

Ian MacCaskill was awesome; so much better and calmer than the annoying forecasters today, whom seem to thrive on writing themselves into the weather forecast with as much drama /hysteria / nanny state advice as possible.

[@steveanio]

I REMEMBER THIS WINTER AS I LIVED IN SOUTHEND ON SEA ESSEX AT THE TIME.

[@APBCTechnique]

I was in Wickford Essex

[@andycooling6759]

Wish the winters now are that cold like the big freeze of 1987 coz now its far to warm and hardly no snow and just all rain

[@notmanynamesleft]

They'll be back very soon.

[@shaheerakhatun886]

Omg its 2018 now god bless this man !

[@paulcoalville]

love the part tomorrow not as cold as it has been - and it was minus 3 lol.

[@dgiles6642]

I remember that forecast and weather as we were checking to see if there was any possibility of working the rest of the week,yippee,no chance,I was only 20..you could not imagine that type of weather again,god knows what would happen to country now,they'd be forecasting armegeddon with a snowstorm like that

[@leroyhobden9171]

Is there a video forecast for the 12th of January 1987

[@RichardTingey]

Sorry Leroy - that's the only video I've got. Don't know the date I recorded it on. Long time ago!

[@kaspernilsson3663]

1:55 RIP The Netherlands

[@renaultlover1]

Nice video. I wonder if it really did go down to -14 c in London on that night? Nice Passat you had too.

[@abdullahabdilaahi3872]

Alexander Daniels I think that was wind chill

[@JACM10]

Heh. I got a week off school because of this!

[@nickda1]

really i only got 1 day lol

[@hatsunemikuchannel2023]

2:57: Only yakut people can survive this... cold! 😲😲😄😄😅😅

[@chrisayling7675]

I remember this Chris.

[@alexanderjames6328]

What I would give to have just one more weather event like 1987... before I turn my toes up.

[@indyjones1135]

Cold weather and snow isn't "misery" it's normal and usually beautiful. It's only misery to miserable people.

[@Thomas828]

January 1987, absolutely the worst winter I had ever known (although I admit I was only 15 at the time). I've hated winter time ever since!

[@paulcoalville]

3:11 they used to summarise the whole country now they cover 4 counties and that is it

[@davh1231]

i was working outside during this time jan, feb 87, i was 17, sooooo cold.

[@jamezpipe]

Big freeze - January 1987

[@jessdavis2106]

I remember when they used to stick on the weather signs 😂

[@zebra3519]

Happy days.

[@jamezpipe]

Britain Let it snow

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Back from when we had 'proper' winters, before climate change kicked in, It's a bit sad nowadays that many kids will grow up without seeing snow in real life! Much preferred these weather graphics too!

[@adamlea6339]

That wasn't normal winter weather, that was an extreme event for the UK, hence why people over a certain age ramp about it at any opportunity. Snow will happen in the UK, climate change or not, any polar or Arctic air mass will bring temperatures low enough for snow, look at December 2010, the coldest for 100 years and a rare month with a sub-zero central England temperature. Old people remember the extreme events and project it onto normal weather, when it wasn't, you don't remember the boring drizzly days sat at home reading a book 40 years later.

[@NOWThatsRichy]

@@adamlea6339 It's a bit like you always think the summers were better when you were a kid, when in fact alot of them were quite avarage but you only remember the good ones!

[@1980extremeG]

You do indeed remember the major snow events in the UK. However, there is usually a minor amount of snow most winter's but people only talk about the major snowfalls. My recollections: 1987 was extreme, probably the most amount of snow I've ever witnessed but was only 7 years old at the time so can't remember many details other than the snow level was above my head in the garden. December 2010 was exceptionally cold, I remember driving home from work and the temperature display on the dashboard said -15°. The coolant pump wasn't working so i couldn't warm the inside of the car, was an interesting drive home! January 2013 was quite bad, a fair amount of snow then. And most recently the beast from the east in 2018; most snow I've seen since 1987. I live near the north Norfolk coast; couldn't drive out of the village for 2 days, was snowbound. Mega snow drifts, abandoned vehicles everywhere, diggers clearing the roads. We don't get cold winters very often these days but when we do they are often spectacular and memorable!

[@notmanynamesleft]

Well we're now entering the Eddy minimum and hundreds of years of cooling so the snow will soon be back.

[@stefanwiechmann7049]

There you go folks an example of a beast from the East 20th century style. Not the 21st century hit and miss slop we get today. Happy warming!.

[@2frate]

Oh the days when Fahrenheit was used.

[@zach7128]

gee, thanks for the great advice. i really need weather forecast from 25 years ago... not!

[@billybong7394]

Whatever happened to BBC weather forecasters being characters? Nowadays it's just women who are 8/10 on the looks scale, who are either overly nice or ice queens

[@nickmoore8177]

Apart from late Feb 2018 our winters are boring now. I blame climate change :(

[@robtyman4281]

well, on the flipside we're getting much hotter summers now. Time was when 24/25 c was considered a hot summer's day....not anymore. That's what our Spring's are like!

[@KJames2345]

I like the hotter summers but getting less frequent thunderstorms. Not like the 1990s ⛈️🌩️⛈️🌩️ Thunder was a common thing back then.

[@capybara2450]

@@robtyman4281 1947, 55, 59, 75, 76, 83, 84, 89, 90, 95 and 97 all had a lot of days 30c+. A spring day of 25c is unusual now we’re not in the south of France.

[@clarky2356]

When winters where proper winters

[@danw1374]

The seasons were more defined.

[@notmanynamesleft]

The proper winters are on the way back.

[@swiatkamerzysty2466]

Skąd wiesz ?!​@@notmanynamesleft

[@bonoja]

The main. reason why I sadly don't live there anymore😢

[@rotman1288]

"When icicles hang by the wall and Dick the Shepherd blows his nail."

[@twinflamesforever]

I was off school for 2 weeks back then, they had a burst pipe 😄

[@spawn8641]

Don't see winters like this anymore in the south shame really

[@notmanynamesleft]

They'll be back very soon!

[@savegsquad5372]

today it,s all drama,drama

[@se6se421]

hoping for a bit the same this year

[@se6se421]

2021

[@craigdavidson2278]

I bet the old dog liked that snow.

[@cloudkixi9041]

Am I the only one who is watching this on 2021??

[@billiardball9650]

when they did get the forcast rite !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@stephensnell1379]

They get it correct nowadays too

[@michaelmoran2022]

The great Ian mc caskill🌞🌞🌦🌧

[@kevinryan8335]

What a beautiful accent!

[@wishawweather5421]

I wonder how the soft southerners will cope with the coming siberian blast (end of Feb 2018), compared to how we did with this one thirty one years earlier?