December 1933 was one of those months when Scotland recorded a higher mean temperature than south of the Border.

From the Areal series

Scotland: 2.6
England and Wales: 1.3




This was thanks to the position of the anticyclone that dominated much of December 1933. Whilst a cold continental flow or calm conditions dominated the south, Further north, an Atlantic influence flowed around the top of the anticyclone kept northern parts milder especially the Western and Northern Isles; Lerwick and Stornoway recorded only one air frost in the month and no reports of falling sleet or snow. It was a very cold month over England and Wales, the CET was 1.6 and it was the coldest December since 1890.It was a dry month, the 13th driest December on record for England and Wales. The winter as a whole was a very dry one, 5th driest winter on record. As a consequence, it was a pretty snowless winter  despite the CET being only 3.2

From the 10th of December 1933 edition of the Times

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Interestingly the pattern is not dissimilar to what we have in store for much of December 2013. The remainder of winter 1933/34 was often dry / anticyclonic with only occasional, brief westerly incursions. The most cyclonic / disturbed part of the 'winter' was in spring - March 1934.

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