March 12th-13th 2006

[high ground birmingham]

Despite not delivering for birmingham but that delivered for areas 25 miles west of me, Wales, NW England and much of Scotland was the March 12th-13th 2006. It was an event that not quite but was on the way to matching Feb 1996.

I remember there being snow right on the coast for this event with the milder air losing out at very short notice. Is this correct?

This thread is for:

What the synoptic situation was and whether anyone can post charts (Mr Data please)?? lol

What were the snow depths??

What were people's personal experiences?

Also, did snow follow the event when milder air eventually won out?

Regards, hgb

[damianslaw]

Don't have the synoptics to show, but do believe the snow was caused by an occluded front from the atlantic stalling against a cold block to the east; the front fizzled out when it reached the east coast, but I do remember there being a couple of inches in the centre of Newcastle. I remember it very well as I took part in the redcar half marathon, it never got above freezing and I kept my gloves and hat on throughout.

I think parts of Cumbria saw some moderate falls alongside SW Scotland, last decent snowfall in Windermere i.e. 4 inches+

[Thundery wintry showers]

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/20...00120060312.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/20...00220060312.gif

The 500hPa chart doesn't look very interesting at first sight, but the 850's reveal all. I had 5cm in the middle of Leeds. One strange thing about the event was the high ground temperatures, due to a mild spell shortly before the event, thus where the snow was light it struggled to settle on concrete surfaces, but settled readily on grassy surfaces. Where the snow was heavy, though, it settled everywhere.

This kind of setup, with a front aligned N-S up the western side of Britain, is also what happened on 5-7 February 1996, and consequently it delivered big falls to most of the same areas (north-west Lancashire was quite heavily affected for instance) though depths were not generally as extreme.

[high ground birmingham]

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/20...00120060312.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/20...00220060312.gif

The 500hPa chart doesn't look very interesting at first sight, but the 850's reveal all. I had 5cm in the middle of Leeds. One strange thing about the event was the high ground temperatures, due to a mild spell shortly before the event, thus where the snow was light it struggled to settle on concrete surfaces, but settled readily on grassy surfaces. Where the snow was heavy, though, it settled everywhere.

This kind of setup, with a front aligned N-S up the western side of Britain, is also what happened on 5-7 February 1996, and consequently it delivered big falls to most of the same areas (north-west Lancashire was quite heavily affected for instance) though depths were not generally as extreme.

Thanks for that TWS. Indeed the 850s chart looks very good!! Was I right in saying that the cold air won out and was there a transient snow event following this when milder air eventually won out?

Regards, hgb

[Thundery wintry showers]

The cold air did indeed win out. I do remember that on the 14th there was some unexpected wet snow in Leeds early on, but that it didn't last, so could that be the transient snow event? A Scandinavian High intensified and pushed the Atlantic systems westwards, and the associated easterlies brought sunshine and snow showers on the 16th, but it thereafter became dull and dry, with a bit of drizzle in the east.

[SnowKidding]

The 12th of March 2006 was the most decent snow event we had here for a long time. I remember waking up that Sunday morning watching the snow fall heavily, expecting it to all turn to a slushy mess when the mild sector moved in as forcast. Instead it just kept on snowing for almost the whole day with gusty eastily winds, and it was the dry snow type that blew about like sand in the wind. In the end I think we had around 10cm and huge drifts which stuck around for at least 5 days or more after the event. It was one of those events you only see every 10 years or so, and it just goes to show how it can all boil down to nowcasting.

I hope we get something similar to that event here again soon, as we almost always miss out here on the west coast at sea level. Heres a few pictures and a short video of that day:

Mark :unsure:

Snow.wmv

[high ground birmingham]

The 12th of March 2006 was the most decent snow event we had here for a long time. I remember waking up that Sunday morning watching the snow fall heavily, expecting it to all turn to a slushy mess when the mild sector moved in as forcast. Instead it just kept on snowing for almost the whole day with gusty eastily winds, and it was the dry snow type that blew about like sand in the wind. In the end I think we had around 10cm and huge drifts which stuck around for at least 5 days or more after the event. It was one of those events you only see every 10 years or so, and it just goes to show how it can all boil down to nowcasting.

I hope we get something similar to that event here again soon, as we almost always miss out here on the west coast at sea level. Heres a few pictures and a short video of that day:

Mark :unsure:

Brilliant photos especially the third one and final one....looks like there was far more snow on the grass compared to the concrete but even the concrete had a very good covering. NW England did very well in this event and even there was a lot of snow in Blackpool right on the coast. Very reare do you get such good snow events on the NW coast.

It mustve been the best snowfall for the NW since Feb 1996 probably.

[SnowKidding]

Brilliant photos especially the third one and final one....looks like there was far more snow on the grass compared to the concrete but even the concrete had a very good covering. NW England did very well in this event and even there was a lot of snow in Blackpool right on the coast. Very reare do you get such good snow events on the NW coast.

It mustve been the best snowfall for the NW since Feb 1996 probably.

Thanks HGB, I agree it was a very rare event I dont think we will see anything like that again for a long time unfortunatley, still you never know . We were having a clear-out the day before, as you can see in the second picture with a nice dump of snow on the top of my old TV I've never seen snow accumulate like it did on the back of that Fiat punto in my first picture, it was nice to see some "proper" snow for a change

Edited January 27, 2009 by SnowKidding

[Grimsby Snow Lover]

The 12th of March 2006 was the most decent snow event we had here for a long time. I remember waking up that Sunday morning watching the snow fall heavily, expecting it to all turn to a slushy mess when the mild sector moved in as forcast. Instead it just kept on snowing for almost the whole day with gusty eastily winds, and it was the dry snow type that blew about like sand in the wind. In the end I think we had around 10cm and huge drifts which stuck around for at least 5 days or more after the event. It was one of those events you only see every 10 years or so, and it just goes to show how it can all boil down to nowcasting.

I hope we get something similar to that event here again soon, as we almost always miss out here on the west coast at sea level. Heres a few pictures and a short video of that day:

Mark

Those are excellent pictures, I especially like the way the snow has stuck on the cars I dont think I have ever seen that before.

[Snowyowl9]

The mild air did win out briefly as the snow turned to freezing rain on the 13th even at temps of 1 or 2c it was still freezing on everything from a SE-ly, here given an ice sheet like nothing I`ve seen since 1978 it was nasty!!!! not as severe as that year.

The 14th there was a thaw upto 7.7c,then by the 15th the cold east wind returned yet again.

Although there was a freezing drizzle day in the mid 90`s that came a very close 3rd to that.

Edited February 16, 2009 by Snowyowl9

[high ground birmingham]

The mild air did win out briefly as the snow turned to freezing rain on the 13th even at temps of 1 or 2c it was still freezing on everything from a SE-ly, here given an ice sheet like nothing I`ve seen since 1978 it was nasty!!!! not as severe as that year.

The 14th there was a thaw upto 7.7c,then by the 15th the cold east wind returned yet again.

Although there was a freezing drizzle day in the mid 90`s that came a very close 3rd to that.

March 2006 in the end I think turned out to be a cold month. A spell of milder weather in the last week of that month increased the CET though. Without that mild spell, March 2006 would of gone down as one of the coldest March's in living memory and much colder than that of 2001.

[cheeky_monkey]

March 2006 in the end I think turned out to be a cold month. A spell of milder weather in the last week of that month increased the CET though. Without that mild spell, March 2006 would of gone down as one of the coldest March's in living memory and much colder than that of 2001.

umm march 2006 was colder than march 2001 so?

Edited February 18, 2009 by cheeky_monkey

[damianslaw]

Interesting how the snowy spell for the north in 2006 coincided exactly with a cold snowy spell 10 years previous in March 1996 - would be interesting if anyone has any memories on that one. Both Marches 1996 and 2006 were very similiar in synoptics with easterlies dominating. In recent years March has been a very interesting month synoptic wise with northerlies and easterlies very much in evidence.

[Rob]

i can't remember anything down here, but can anyone else shed some light on to this.

The only major snowfalls i can remember are

March 2005

February 2007

February 2009

[Summer of 95]

Here it beat Feb 1996, it was actually the deepest snow since December 1995, and the biggest single fall since Feb 1994. On the Saturday night (11th) I remember a forecast giving a chance of snow, looked out just after midnight and there were a few flakes swirling around but nothing sticking, I thought "oh well, that's it for another year" (the most snow we had had that winter was 2cm in Mar 2nd, the DJF winter had a max of 1cm on 7-8 Jan). So it's fair to say I was amazed, and at the same time relieved (ie it could snow properly in Shrewsbury after all!) to see at 9 on the Sunday morning 12cm of snow lying on all surfaces, with drifts in places a foot deep. (We only had 6cm in Feb 1996, 8cm max in Jan 1997, 5cm max in 2000/1, also in March). It snowed till about midday, although the temp got up to about 2C during the afternoon and the snow did start to disappear from the roads, it maintained a full cover on grass/cars/houses till late on Monday (6cm at 9am on 13th) despite it being mid-March when snow usually vanishes in a few hours.

That 12cm record depth for the 2000's hasn't been threatened since, with 7cm, 0cm and 5cm the top depths so far in the winters since. In many ways 12th March 2006 was like 20th November 1988; a surprise Sunday morning snowfall notable by local standards outside the official "winter".