Low pressure brought sharp showers for late on the 1st. The 2nd saw similar events and the 3rd was a dreadful day weatherwise with further strong winds along with snow and heavy rain intermingled that fell all day. There were further snow showers on the 4th, but they but didn't stick.

There was a dry interlude for the next two days but the 6th was windy with more strong winds. Yet further strong gusts occurred on the mornings of the 8th and 9th. However, temperatures during this disturbed spell were average or mild.

The 11th was gloomy as heavy rain fell practically all day. Conditions were overcast but drier on the 12th but temperatures turned colder on the 14th and snow fell that evening, and did again on the morning of the 15th.

Two days later an active cold front moved southwards reintroducing air of arctic origin and this produced the coldest spell of the month if not the year, between the 18th and the 21st. The maximum temperature on the 19th was 34F, the coldest day of the year. The temperature that day fell to 22F, the lowest recorded since the cold weather that occurred in the first days of 1997. I didn't keep weather observations then though so I can't produce an exact figure for that time.

Although conditions were cold, they were briefly settled and dry, and two sunny days occurred on the 18th and the 19th, the latter was the sunniest day of the month. Further snow fell just after 6am on the 21st but didn't last.

On the 22nd Atlantic fronts brought milder weather. There was further heavy rain on Christmas Eve but not the strong gales that occurred on Christmas Eve in 1997 and Boxing Day in 1998. Snow actually fell on Christmas Day making it technically a White Christmas. If there is two or three feet of snow on the ground and it doesn't snow that day it doesn't count as a white Christmas. There has to be snow falling on the day itself. The snow that fell at 1.30pm didn't last though.

The rest of the month, year and millennium had generally below average temperatures but nothing wintry and the weather was quieter than the previous three weeks. The 28th and 29th were sunny and dry days. The 30th overcast. The final night of the millennium saw showers fall between 8.30 and 10pm but they stopped and the sky cleared for the rest of that evening to be dry.

December 1999 was the third wettest during the last 20 years (1993 and 1979 were wetter December's) and it proved to the wettest month of the year, with almost double the average rainfall expected but despite the disturbed and stormy, not to mention very wet and unsettled conditions for the first three weeks, sunshine totals were well above average and the month was the sunniest December recorded since that of 1973. Daytime temperatures were slightly below average. Night-time values were exactly average, making the month overall slightly below average in temperature.

Kevin Phillips - 8.45pm - Wednesday 5th January 2000.