Cold Spell The Sum Up

[high ground birmingham]

12 inches of snow last week and around two lots of 2 inches of snow before that would be classed as a very good winter for the South Pennines(Central North) of England....Scotlands ski resorts seem to of done pretty good as do Englands ski slopes and as a bonus the SW of england/Wales and briefley the SE have all had snow, infact is there anywhere it hasn't snowed in the UK?

Pretty much no where has been immune from snow...even St Mary's had a couple of inches of snow too. Not too sure whether the Western Isles had snow in this spell though. Can someone confirm?

[Mark Bayley]

Two heavy snowfalls, quite a few lighter ones in between. Had 10cm on grass for quite sometime. More were it was drifting. My school is which is higher up was a little deeper than my 10cm. Currently still have a little snow on the ground which if it last till tomorrow will make two weeks of laying snow. Not bad considering how rubbish the recent winters have been!

[dogs32]

excellent while it lasted...though I lost a few pounds from my job

...Some heavy falls for Chelt....But Im glad its over now

Just wont our Spring back with the beefy showers and TS watching

Edited February 14, 2009 by dogs32

[dodge]

From a personal point of view, this winter has turned out very well, and being on the eastern extremity of the area classed as the 'North West' with a bit of elevatation as made a difference. I didn't think the easterly would get over the pennines but in early feb, it did, and on one day there was mini-drifts almost the height of my doorstep, which is a good 7-8 inches high. Temperatures have been noticebly colder than in recenter winters too. However for the majority of the North West, particularly in the west - they have had the cold, but not the snow.

Don't worry guys/gals, all good things come to those who wait, and at some time in the future, hopefully we'll have a Polar Low drop us a little visit lol

Edited February 14, 2009 by dodgeredee

[LomondSnowstorm]

Pretty much no where has been immune from snow...even St Mary's had a couple of inches of snow too. Not too sure whether the Western Isles had snow in this spell though. Can someone confirm?

i can confirm from speaking to a guy on barra that there has been some snow there, although nothing like the totals elsewhere.

Dundee/Fife almost fit into the no snow category, until thursday brought 6-8 inches of snow in Dundee and 3 inches here

This winter will always be remembered for the snow in london though, in february, and even when it snowed in march. We had more snow in november than i can remember before, and my feeling is that the best may still be to come for the northeast of england and eastern scotland.

As for western Scotland, they've done reasonably with the snow (remembering even before the cold snap the tragic avalanche in glencoe) and the central belt had some snow on sunday night.

[high ground birmingham]

i can confirm from speaking to a guy on barra that there has been some snow there, although nothing like the totals elsewhere.

Dundee/Fife almost fit into the no snow category, until thursday brought 6-8 inches of snow in Dundee and 3 inches here

This winter will always be remembered for the snow in london though, in february, and even when it snowed in march. We had more snow in november than i can remember before, and my feeling is that the best may still be to come for the northeast of england and eastern scotland.

As for western Scotland, they've done reasonably with the snow (remembering even before the cold snap the tragic avalanche in glencoe) and the central belt had some snow on sunday night.

Thanks for this cwpiper. This has seen the true definition of a 'widespread UK snow spell'. I agree...definitely will be remembered mainly for the London snowfall...getting 6-8 inches in central London is no joke. BUT i will also remember this for the huge snowfalls in the SW....2 feet being recorded in parts!!!

Regards, hgb

[Zenarcher]

i can confirm from speaking to a guy on barra that there has been some snow there, although nothing like the totals elsewhere.

Yep the snow here more on the hills a few CM's lasted a week on lower ground hardly any snow stayed around but it was very icy.

Edited February 14, 2009 by weathermaster

[grab my graupel]

I was very satisfied with the recent cold spell, having had lying snow for 14 consecutive days, so far

Just had a look outside this evening, and there is still snow remaining on top of my garden wall, and on

my patio area as well, which is quite impressive.

I reckon that it will take most of the week for all the snow to disappear around these parts. :lol:

[Eugene]

Yes i've been very satisfied by the recent amazing cold very snowy spell too and the winter in general overall, not bothered about this week to be honest, i've had enough cold weather until next winter now, though i do think we`ll see a cold/cool spring the chances of anything as good as the recent cold spell which gave places the best snow cover since Feb 1991(even bettered it in places) or the early Jan very cold dry spell are very slim, very hard to get ice days after mid Feb but nights offer the best chance of some decent frosts well into April.

[Bristawl Si]

Pretty decent cold/snowy spell for BTL and the south west. Compared to last 15 years or so, one would have to say "better than good!"

Compared to some of the late 70s/early 80s not so good. why? This spell has had lack of deep cold that meant snow lasted for days on roads, as well as fields. Those winters from yesteryear also produced better quality snow (i.e. drier, powdery) and below freezing temps during day, albeit for shorter periods i.e. a few days, before milder weather set in for a week or so, before next blizzard.

Maybe this winter signals the start of a snowier, colder sequence of winters.

still i'm ready for an early spring; don't need any more severe spells with the Cheltenham Festival on the horizon!

If Cheltenham week is blessed with weather like today, calm and relatively mild that'll do me!

Winter's sting in the tail can arrive in late March, please!

[Zerouali lives]

The snow is hanging on in there in my back garden, can start to see the grass now.

If we make it until tomorrow, it will be 17 consecutive days of lying snow in Aberdeen - everyday in February. Quite remarkable. I would like to know what the record is for the number of consecutive days of snow lying in Aberdeen.

Edited February 16, 2009 by Zerouali lives

[Northernlights]

Can easily spot the north facing shaded areas of ground that have been frozen since the New Year frosts with minimums of -12c and no snow cover. These are the areas where the February snow is still hanging on and I believe is waiting for more. Very mild today and most of the snow has gone but as I have said before I don"t think this winter weather will end until April on low ground up here as it it seems to default back to cold all the time and we may even see fresh snow on the hills over 3000 feet in May and June. In fact in the last 2 years we have seen June and September snow on the high hills over 3000 feet as was the case in the sixties and seventies. This winter has been a reminder of these years with a generally cold theme with short lived mild periods and nature back to its old timetable in terms of bulb emergence and grass growth completely stopped in February.

[Nick L]

The last morsels of snow in my garden melted yesterday, making that 14 days with snow on the ground! Next doors snowman still exists, but you can't really count that!

Haven't seen many daffodils out at the moment...this time last year they were in full bloom! Says a lot about how normal this winter has been.

Edited February 16, 2009 by nick2702

[Shirelord]

Corking year here in N Oxon, Snow in October, transient snow November. Cold for the majority of December then mild up to Xmas, then that really cold spell NY - early Jan, with sub-zero days frequent, and those -12C/-13C night minima, average to cool for the remainder of the month in January then from 31st Jan - 12th February at least some snow fell on every single day, we had 10 inches at one point and the greenery to the countryside only returned yesterday. Pretty good IMBY.

[mackerel sky]

Still a bit of snow knocking around here even today, despite the spring-like temperatures. I walked the dogs through the park and some of paths were still slippy with much of the fields on the outskirts of town still covered in a diminishing covering of snow. The back garden today has finally lost its snow after two weeks. Revealing an unappealing mess, which will require me returfing the lot, having also had two whippets dancing around and three layers of turds. A few days dry weather right now allows the chance to smarten up a bit.

Joy!

Corking year here in N Oxon, Snow in October, transient snow November. Cold for the majority of December then mild up to Xmas, then that really cold spell NY - early Jan, with sub-zero days frequent, and those -12C/-13C night minima, average to cool for the remainder of the month in January then from 31st Jan - 12th February at least some snow fell on every single day, we had 10 inches at one point and the greenery to the countryside only returned yesterday. Pretty good IMBY.

Quite good yes - but having spent valentines in Bicester, there was a big difference between the amount of snow there and Brackley, just in the space of a few miles, comparatively. Quite clearly anywhere in Northamptonshire had an awful amount more snow that of Bucks or Oxon. Good stuff nonetheless - even yesterday most of the fields are still covered, though suffering today. Slippy in the park today and slushy.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The snow is hanging on in there in my back garden, can start to see the grass now.

If we make it until tomorrow, it will be 17 consecutive days of lying snow in Aberdeen - everyday in February. Quite remarkable. I would like to know what the record is for the number of consecutive days of snow lying in Aberdeen.

Must be quite a while- certainly breaking records back to the 1980s at least (maybe Feb '86 or Jan '84 or '85).

Not sure what the record is, but with regards when it happened, 1947, 1963 and 1979 will of course be strong contenders. The months of January 1940, January 1945, December 1950, February 1955, January 1959, February 1969, February 1970 and December 1981 may also be contenders as they featured persistent northerly winds.

[Shirelord]

Still a bit of snow knocking around here even today, despite the spring-like temperatures. I walked the dogs through the park and some of paths were still slippy with much of the fields on the outskirts of town still covered in a diminishing covering of snow. The back garden today has finally lost its snow after two weeks. Revealing an unappealing mess, which will require me returfing the lot, having also had two whippets dancing around and three layers of turds. A few days dry weather right now allows the chance to smarten up a bit.

Joy!

Quite good yes - but having spent valentines in Bicester, there was a big difference between the amount of snow there and Brackley, just in the space of a few miles, comparatively. Quite clearly anywhere in Northamptonshire had an awful amount more snow that of Bucks or Oxon. Good stuff nonetheless - even yesterday most of the fields are still covered, though suffering today. Slippy in the park today and slushy.

I'm further north than Bicester, nearer to Banbury - I think it was snowier up here - especially my area which is the north-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, where the altitude helps., and all that snow that hit the SW also made it to my area. I didn't go to Northants during the spell, though Brackley isn't too far from Banbury, so I should imagine the tale was fairly similar between Northants and my area, but not Oxfordshire generally.

[Drew]

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets...7.terra.721.1km

See the attached modis satellite image from yesterday. You can clearly see turquoise areas on the ground indicating there's still laying snow on a lot of the cotswolds...

[Turnedoutniceagain]

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets...7.terra.721.1km

See the attached modis satellite image from yesterday. You can clearly see turquoise areas on the ground indicating there's still laying snow on a lot of the cotswolds...

There's still a fair bit around here, utterly bored with it now

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Very special winter for me. As has been uttered by many deep southern central people it just is unheard of down here.

1-2 inches tops that lasts no more than 24 hours and gone. So to have over a week of the lying stuff was just magical!Totally magical. I got snowed in with no buses coming out here. Our car was broke in the garage so was relying on the local shop where everyone was panic buying! Waking up daily to hear and see happy children playing in the park. Just lovely. They deserved the time off school just to sample this as it may not happen again for another 10-20 years. Just fan-tas-tic!!!

[Norrance]

Must be quite a while- certainly breaking records back to the 1980s at least (maybe Feb '86 or Jan '84 or '85).

Not sure what the record is, but with regards when it happened, 1947, 1963 and 1979 will of course be strong contenders. The months of January 1940, January 1945, December 1950, February 1955, January 1959, February 1969, February 1970 and December 1981 may also be contenders as they featured persistent northerly winds.

It was probably 1947 in say the last hundred years. George Booth's Winter of 47 will give the figures for Aberdeen but from memory it is way more than 17. Can't get it here at work.

Dyce monthly records though indicate that the 17 days has been beaten several times since though I can't be sure though as my figures are monthly totals.

1979 funnily enough wasn't one of them. In February 1979 in Aberdeen it was almost bone dry and there were only 3 days of lying snow at Dyce. There were 18 snow lying days in January but I don't think that they were consecutive.

Noticed that I don't have the 1963 figures. As the cold lasted longer that year perhaps the snow did too.

To contrast, Faskally in Perthgshire had 30 and 25 days respectively in Jan / Feb 1979 but as the 1st Feb was a no snow day 30 was their max consecutively.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Norrance

[mackerel sky]

I think the surprising thing for me is that despite the past two days being exceptionally mild, the ground is still frozen in places, having been under basically two weeks worth of continuous snow cover. Not since 1991 can I recall that, and I know from digging in 2 metre deep frozen ground in Sweden to bury seismometers what that is like in April - and we are only talking about 10-20cm worth of frozen ground. This is why all the snow fell and settled here even in the marginal settings. We can argue about the marginal uppers all you like from some quarters (which apparently has no bearing, as all the recent snow in Northants must have been a nonsense and figment of my imagination), but wet snow lies on snow and frozen ground. Then freezes.