10th December 2017 - The best snow event for Central England since January 2013

[Metwatch]

Quite surprised there isn't a thread for this event yet but thought I would start one.

10th December 2017 involved a low pressure system which slided under a wedge of high pressure over Greenland to then deliver a good dumping of snow to Wales and Central England. The largest depth in an inhabitated town was about 30cm in Sennybridge, South Wales. However many places reached 10-15cm with around 13-14cm here in Coventry, which up to 2024 is still the deepest snow recorded since January 2013. London managed to see some snow but not as much as in December 2022. There was another event further into eastern England towards the end of December but that didn't bring as much snow.

 

Some photos from the event around here:

 

And in Telford, photo taken by Liam Ball, 25cm there!

 

 

Edited September 3 by Metwatch

[Summer of 95]

2013? It was the deepest snow around here since at least the 1980s (probably since 1981-2). 28cm here, 5 miles north of Shrewsbury at 95m asl. An absolutely incredible event that I honestly thought I would never see in this area. 

The Friday 8th had Cheshire Gap showers perfectly aligned to hit Shrewsbury all day, then there was more snow starting Saturday night that persisted into the early hours of Monday (the band on the radar picture) from the "Bristol Channel Low" as I call them. The two best setups for snow round here, and they arrived one after the other. I always thought that a hypothetical Cheshire Gap Streamer followed by Bristol Channel Low could be the holy grail for snow here, and that weekend it actually happened. And certainly didn't disappoint!

By comparison Jan 2013 had 10cm, Dec 2010 15cm

[Metwatch]

Good point about those Cheshire streamers, only brought a dusting here but i'd imagine anyone else who was under them for most of the preceeding days would have added to the total along with Sunday's system.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

great event! bright blue sky of the 11th too

[A Face like Thunder]

2 hours ago, Summer of 95 said:

The Friday 8th had Cheshire Gap showers perfectly aligned to hit Shrewsbury all day,

I'm wondering whether this was the snow storm that hit Crewe (S Cheshire) and surrounding area quite badly during the morning. Quite unexpected and caused chaos in the town. It was definitely a Friday in December, and the 8th December 2013 could well be it.  

[Earthshine]

Zilch in Exeter.  We truly are rubbish for snow.  Last snow of any significance was February 2019 (ironically one of the mildest winter months on record).

[Summer of 95]

 A Face like Thunder this one was 8-11 Dec 2017. No snow in Dec 2013. It's quite possible that the at least some of the showers on the Friday hit Crewe as well.

The other Friday that could fit your description is 17th December 2010

[CryoraptorA303]

Sadly we only had a dusting here that time and in January 2017.

January 2013 I remember we had snow on the ground for quite a while, must've been at least a week. I remember we briefly got something in February 2013 as well. Of course the main show that "winter" was the March snowfall; we got about 10cm overnight and it was a proper shock to see so much on the ground in mid-March. It all melted within a couple days but oh well, the novelty was there.

February 2012 probably gave me the most lying snow I've seen in my life in this country, we must've been at about 15cm of snowcover. It was bloody brilliant. I remember walking up to the river with my dad - I don't entirely remember it somehow but it must've been frozen considering how cold it was. It might've been slushy actually. I do remember pelting full on snow blocks into it from the bridge. That snow lasted a long time, there must've still been ice on the ground about 10 days later, even when it started getting milder. Our snowman lasted all the way until around the 20th.

December 2010 was another brilliant one, where I lived at the time in East London probably got around 10cm within a couple hours. It's one of the only times I wished I lived in Kent as here there was widely 20+cm and several places north of the downs got a few feet's worth in lake effect snow, 1987 style. Either way, best December of my lifetime. I don't really remember the late Nov-early Dec snowfall but considering Kent got blasted we must've had something. We probably did have snow on the ground for a few days but nothing extreme. East London isn't all that good for snowfall even by SE standards.

January 2010 was another good one, but honestly I feel a bit overrated. Along with December 2009 it's probably the weakest snowfall event aside from 2017 out of this list. I'm aware that 09/10 was overall a lot colder up north than it was down here, but this is just my experience. Even with that in mind, we had a good December snowfall that managed to last a few days, and then in January we had snow on the ground for about five days. Overall in my area in January we probably had about 12cm or so.

February 2009 was apparently a big deal - I remember a snowfall but it all turned to black ice the next day. Further north it apparently lasted a bit longer before spring began early that year and we had one of the sunniest springs on record.

Imo Feb 2009 and 09/10 get more credit than they probably should purely because they were the first notable snowfall events in nearly 20 years. In the grand scheme of things, outside of Scotland where 09/10 was nearly as cold as 62/63 was (although 62/63 was most anomaously cold and snowy in the south), neither are all that special to me. December 2010, February 2012 and winter 2012/13 are the only ones that deserve the attention between 2009 and 2017 if you ask me.

Of course we need to put this all into perspective - Pre-climate change 2017/18 sounds like the kind of winter that would be quite cold with multiple snow events (and BFTE would've been absolutely Arctic), and 2012/13 would've likely been a mini-1962/63, perhaps analogous to 78/79. February 2012 would've given January 1987 a serious run for it's money and could've even entertained February 1947 for a short while, and December 2010 would be completely Arctic and comparable to February 1947. 09/10 would've also likely challenged 1981/82 if not be outright colder.

Edited September 3 by CryoraptorA303

[LetItSnow]

This was great where I lived at the time, New Ash Green, NW Kent. Rain gradually turned to snow through the morning and whalloped us with a proper dumping of snow during the day that settled.

[Cheshire Freeze]

 A Face like Thunder pretty sure you’re thinking of that morning in December 2011. Really really marginal stuff from a Cheshire gap streamer but it absolutely tonked it down and brought chaos to the roads. Uppers were -5 that day I think.

[Frigid]

Absolutely nothing in Manchester, was so frustrating looking at the weather maps at the time and seeing bountiful amounts of snow in the midlands whereas here it was merely a few flurries.

Since then we've had some good falls in January 2019/21 but they've only been a few cm, nothing like a couple of inches some experienced. 

 

[A Face like Thunder]

 Summer of 95  this one was 8-11 Dec 2017. No snow in Dec 2013. It's quite possible that the at least some of the showers on the Friday hit Crewe as well. The other Friday that could fit your description is 17th December 2010.

 

Whoops, senior moment, misread it, and thank you for clarifying. I thought the Crewe December snow event was a bit later than December 2010, but you could be right. I know it was very localised and was before I joined the forum, hence I took no pics to post on the site.

[Sparkiee storm]

Remember this like it was yesterday, Thursday night and Friday was on the edge of the Shropshire streamer gave a couple cm's, was patchy by Saturday but then had an alarm on for 2am Sunday Morning just as the main snow event started, then by the end of the day we got around 20cm, then on the following Wednesday night we had a narrow but very heavy band of snow with gave another couple cm's but was all gone by the end of the week. Short but sweet event. Did have some clips but don't have them anymore. Also at the same time, Scotland had minus double digit temperatures for a night or 2 under clear skies and light winds.

Edited September 4 by Sparkiee storm

[Metwatch]

7 years ago now!

[I remember Atlantic 252]

was ace! see I posted on 3rd Sept

[Summer8906]

Remember this one but a bust here, sadly. Too far north. Looks like it was a slider low of the sort that can often give snow, but its track was that bit too far north and I remember we went into the milder air for a time. Snow did fall, of the wet variety, on the Monday morning but zero settling.

Last snow which settled thickly enough to cover surfaces for more than a few hours was end of Jan / beginning of Feb 2019 here also, that event actually producing a thick cover further north in Hampshire so the last "proper snow event" in any part of Hampshire.

Not the longest gap though: in even inland parts of the central south there were no "thick snow" events I believe between March 1996 and January 2009 (aside from a few April events which quickly melted in the sun) - though some of the winters were coldish at times. Contrast that to the 60s when, IIRC, every calendar year bar 1965 produced one at some point in the year!

Edited Tuesday at 19:30 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

Vivid memories of this. It started out as rain early in the morning but within about half an hour-ish it turned to snow and settled fast. Only stuck around for a day as it became very slushy the next day. But gave a proper walloping.