Favourite Snow Event

[Cheese Rice]

Whats you favourite snow event and why? Is it because it was unexpected or caused loads of problems, or was work closed,or were you stuck in your car overnight

[I remember Atlantic 252]

november 19th 1996, most ive ever seen, hung around for a week, had afternoon off school sent home, snowed heavy from 5.30am-4pm,

tues 19th nov 1996

arctic air in place and low moved in from the Atlantic across the channel, remained cold until 25th nov

but dont really wanna think about snow now 2nd april, im looking for warm on models from now until end 0ct

[Nick L]

February 6th this year in Somerset, was the most snow on low ground I have ever seen. Brought down trees and we were trapped because all the minor roads leading out of where we were staying were blocked by snow and trees. Was also very unexpected!

[Thundery wintry showers]

The event of 24-26 December 1995 in Cleadon, Tyne & Wear, because of the perfect timing of the event. Christmas Day had a 2 inch covering early on, increasing to 3 inches late in the day. A fitting way to round off a remarkable year for weather.

Other favourites were the post-Christmas snaps of 26-31 December 2000 and 27-30 December 2005. Those were memorable for similar reasons, everything felt cosy, atmospheric and Christmassy, and 29 December 2000 had thundersnow at 4:50am. I also fondly remember the snowstorm on 2 March 2001 with its 8cm covering, and lying snow surviving two days of almost unbroken sunshine on the 3rd and 4th, the depth approximately halved but there was still a >70% cover by the 5th. Overnight 2nd/3rd the temperature fell below -10C, yet recovered to +3C during the day.

The snow events in February this year deserve a mention simply because I assumed that when I came to Exeter I wouldn't see any lying snow, and ended up with two significant snow events in one month! (There was also a dusting on the ground in early March).

[Cheese Rice]

Dec 4th 08 snow event

Heavy snow forecast the day before, word soon spread at my school, a lot of people were checking the weather forecast in Lessons and checking the meto websites seeing how much snow there would be. Then a report came from one of the teachers saying the forecast had changed, there is more likley to be sleet than snow. Which at the time i didnt believe, when exiting the school teachers were shouting, "listen to BBC Leeds for information on school closures" which made even more of a buzz, we were all planning on school been closed and we were all planning on meeting up. Next day woke up 1hour 30minutes early because of recieving many texts saying school was closed, for the fist time in 14YEARS!! Rushed to the window and flung the curtains open to be gretted by this winter wonderland 10-15cm of lying snow ,was snowing lightly at the time, snow increased at 7:30am to moderate snow, by 11am i went out sledging while walking to the hills the roads were still a state considering this is a main road which links Nw Leeds to north Leeds. At the time it wasnt snowing, at around 11:40am the snow suprisingly started again and was very heavy and gave a fresh 3-5cm of snow, and settled on the roads, all in all a great day.

[Bottesford]

Norwich - Feb 2004 (I think!) while I was at uni.

An hour of heavy snow brought the city to a standstill and dumped around 12 inches of snow. Everyone tried to leave early from work once they saw the snow coming - and gridlocked the city!

Not seen snow like that before or since - but to be expected in a much less snowy Nottingham!

[BarnetBlizzard]

Norwich - Feb 2004 (I think!) while I was at uni.

An hour of heavy snow brought the city to a standstill and dumped around 12 inches of snow. Everyone tried to leave early from work once they saw the snow coming - and gridlocked the city!

Not seen snow like that before or since - but to be expected in a much less snowy Nottingham!

Are you sure it dumped a foot of snow in a hour?

[Thundery wintry showers]

Sounds plausible- February 2004 did have a northerly outbreak at the end, but recollections from earlier suggest to me that it might well have been January 2003 or 2004. The event of 30 January 2003 had big snowstorms over East Anglia which penetrated as far inland as London and brought 5-10cm to the capital, while 28 January 2004 had that vigorous cold front sweeping south, all of it as snow over much of eastern Britain.

[jy]

Am sure events while living in Kent years ago but this year in the now defunct Hampshire no snow triangle we had bouts of heavy snow which lay for 8 days something quite unique in my 19 years of living here,but for pure winter weather drama 28 01 04 takes some beating rain followed high winds followed by thunder and lightning followed by a whiteout quite incredible.

[Terminal Moraine]

It would have to be a tie between the blizzards of Feb' 14th-16th 1979 and those of April 24th-26th 1981.

The former because of the intensity of the cold and exceptionally fin,e powdery nature of the snow which penetrated every gap accessible to air. The second because of its severity for so late in April. We had an ice day on the 24th April, and this was over the 24 hour period 0900-0900 g.m.t, not just a daytime event. By the evening of the 26th there was 60cm of level snow with drifts up to 6m deep, a very similar depth to that of mid Feb' 1979 although the snow wasn't as fine and powdery. The thorn trees were just coming into leaf at the time and the leaves on the east and north east side of the bushes turned black and dropped off after being blasted by E/NE winds averaging over 40 mph for the best part of 3 days.

If I live to be 100 I doubt I'll see another snow event like that so late in the spring.

[sundog]

My fav snow event for me would have to be the snow we got in Jan 82,bitter temps,deep snow,blizzards ,the lot and i was off school for a week or so,great stuff. My fav snow event of more recent yrs was maybe late Dec 2000,didnt get a huge amount but it felt very seasonal getting it during around the xmas period.

[Mark.C]

6th feb 96 it started snowing just before dinnerbreak i was in my last year at school. By the end of dinnerbreak it was starting to settle, and by hometime there was roughly 4 ins laying snow and still snowing. That night it continued to snow and got deeper. The next morning i woke up and expected it to have melted, how wrong was i, it was still snowing and was over a foot deep level snow and deep drifts. It wasnt till late the following night that it stopped snowing and the snow lasted on the ground for almost a week and this was in Blackpool of all places!!

Anyone else remember this event in the north west?

Edited April 2, 2009 by mark blackpool

[damianslaw]

6th feb 96 it started snowing just before dinnerbreak i was in my last year at school. By the end of dinnerbreak it was starting to settle, and by hometime there was roughly 4 ins laying snow and still snowing. That night it continued to snow and got deeper. The next morning i woke up and expected it to have melted, how wrong was i, it was still snowing and was over a foot deep level snow and deep drifts. It wasnt till late the following night that it stopped snowing and the snow lasted on the ground for almost a week and this was in Blackpool of all places!!

Anyone else remember this event in the north west?

Certainly my most memorable snow event, in Windermere we saw 18 inches of snow and school was closed for a week. Haven't seen anything nearly as deep since, though 28/29 Dec 2000 deserves a mention for the fine powder, and also 29 feb 2004 in Sunderland where I was working at the time probably about 4-5 inches.

Seems poor that I have not seen a foot or more since considering having spent most of the period either in Newcastle/Sunderland, Stirling (jun 2000 - june 2001) and Windermere (i missed the march 12th 2006 event in Windermere which I believe delivered 6 inches or more..).

Going back to someones message about April 1981 what a severe event that was considering the time of year must have been some exceptionally cold air about!

[Mark.C]

Certainly my most memorable snow event, in Windermere we saw 18 inches of snow and school was closed for a week. Haven't seen anything nearly as deep since, though 28/29 Dec 2000 deserves a mention for the fine powder, and also 29 feb 2004 in Sunderland where I was working at the time probably about 4-5 inches.

Seems poor that I have not seen a foot or more since considering having spent most of the period either in Newcastle/Sunderland, Stirling (jun 2000 - june 2001) and Windermere (i missed the march 12th 2006 event in Windermere which I believe delivered 6 inches or more..).

Going back to someones message about April 1981 what a severe event that was considering the time of year must have been some exceptionally cold air about!

yes ive heard about the 1981 event wish i was old enough to witness that. As for 12th march 2006 , yes that was good about 4 ins but it turned to rain and melted same day.Nothing i can remember beats early feb 96, would love to see some pics or weather forecasts from then if anyone has them.

[cheeky_monkey]

probably have to the say the snow event 15-20 feb 1978 i was 11 and living in exeter at the time and an exceptionally snowy period by anyones standard culminating in the great south west blizzard where cars were literally buried and snow was blown into drifts almost to the roof tops.

79 was good..and i lived in essex during the 1980s and early 90s so saw some hefty snowfalls the last being 1991..but nothing quite matches 1978...even this years snow was just a mere dusting in comparison.

[weather eater]

Are you sure it dumped a foot of snow in a hour?

It was not a foot of snow, full stop I was there, but it did jam the city up, mainly because of people going home early and clogging the roads up so the gritters couldn’t get through.

My favourites all in Norfolk, 78/79 snow New Years Eve, after leaving the pub a crowd of us went to the local police station and challenged them to a snow ball fight, building an igloo big enough to fit 3 or 4 teenagers in comfortably and trying to tunnel our way through snow drifts 5/6 feet high. 81/82 hitchhiking my way home in a blizzard with the A11 down to one carriageway and just getting home before the drifts closed the road altogether, 87 was pretty good in Norwich as well. Can’t say I've seen snow of any real note since then. a couple of moderate falls up here this year but nothing special.

[Grimsby Snow Lover]

For me it would have to be December 30th 1996 - January 5th ish 1997. The snow began to fall quite heavy during the afternoon of the 30th and didn't stop until the evening of the next day. There was well over a foot of lying snow everywhere, with drifts even deeper. I have never seen that much snow before and haven't since. Although there was snow on the ground til around the 5th of January it was slowly thawing. I can remember there being clear blue skys and sunshine which probably helped with the slow thaw.

Edited April 3, 2009 by Grimsby Snow Lover

[tundra]

For me it would have to be all the powder snow events that occurred post 1966, about as far as my memory goes back. Proper freezes with ice days, frost days and drifting powder snow.

The ones that really jump out are white christmas 1970, new year 78-79, feb 79, Dec 81, Jan 82(nearly a foot of level snow) Jan and Feb 85, Feb 91 and Feb 18 or 19 1996.

I should be able to include Jan 87 in there especially living in the south east but apart from the exceptional cold we only got about an inch max from the showers while other areas near by were being buried, although we did get around 4 inches from the depression on the 15 i think it was.

[Mikel Nimbus]

I've been weather watching for about 10 years but February this year was just incredible. Being right under the Thames streamer on that Sunday night on the M25 is a sight I will never forget. Lorries pointing in every direction possible and the motorway impassable, I was stuck there for a good 4 hours. Without a weather radar, I thought whenever the snow lightened "surely that has to be the last shower?". How wrong I was, it went on all night until midday then started up a few hours later when a front moved up from the south. 8 inches.

[andy_leics22]

For me it's either Feb 4th snow event here when we had 4-5 inches of level snow or the December 28th 2000 event here when we had 4 inches overnight and it stayed unmelted for around 3-4 days.

Edited April 5, 2009 by andy_leics22

[londonsnow]

december 81 and jan 82 by far the best. -23c in oxfordshire with deep snow drifts, school shut. the power cuts were a drag but we just sat around the fireplace, with family and neighbours and whiskey (not for me!). in london feb 91 was good, when around 8 inches of powder fell in the centre of london and there were even drifts in covent garden. feb 2009 was pretty good too but shortlived. most of the decent snow events down here seem to be products of that holy grail, the thames streamer

[johnholmes]

It would have to be a tie between the blizzards of Feb' 14th-16th 1979 and those of April 24th-26th 1981.

The former because of the intensity of the cold and exceptionally fin,e powdery nature of the snow which penetrated every gap accessible to air. The second because of its severity for so late in April. We had an ice day on the 24th April, and this was over the 24 hour period 0900-0900 g.m.t, not just a daytime event. By the evening of the 26th there was 60cm of level snow with drifts up to 6m deep, a very similar depth to that of mid Feb' 1979 although the snow wasn't as fine and powdery. The thorn trees were just coming into leaf at the time and the leaves on the east and north east side of the bushes turned black and dropped off after being blasted by E/NE winds averaging over 40 mph for the best part of 3 days.

If I live to be 100 I doubt I'll see another snow event like that so late in the spring.

the 1981 April event was certainly memorable, I tried for 2 days to drive my parents back from south of Stockport to Chesterfield. The first time I got no further than the higher outskirts of Stockport=Disley, 2-3 inches there but police road blocks preventing anyone trying to go further into the Peak District. The next day up as far as Whaley Bridge before the same thing happened. Finally I got through in bright sunshine the next day, with the fastest thaw I've ever seen, snow drifted/piled over 4 foot deep by the roadside near the A6/A617 junction with about 4 inches of water rushing down the road. Some of the fairly major routes were still blocked that evening when I returned.

[Norrance]

It would have to be a tie between the blizzards of Feb' 14th-16th 1979 and those of April 24th-26th 1981.

The former because of the intensity of the cold and exceptionally fin,e powdery nature of the snow which penetrated every gap accessible to air. The second because of its severity for so late in April. We had an ice day on the 24th April, and this was over the 24 hour period 0900-0900 g.m.t, not just a daytime event. By the evening of the 26th there was 60cm of level snow with drifts up to 6m deep, a very similar depth to that of mid Feb' 1979 although the snow wasn't as fine and powdery. The thorn trees were just coming into leaf at the time and the leaves on the east and north east side of the bushes turned black and dropped off after being blasted by E/NE winds averaging over 40 mph for the best part of 3 days.

If I live to be 100 I doubt I'll see another snow event like that so late in the spring.

You are right about the powdery snow of Feb 14th -16th 1979. I was on an overnight train from Scotland to London for a job interview on the 14th and the snow got in everywhere through the air vents and tiny gaps by the windows.The train was 5 hours late due to the diesel engine freezing North of Perth so the heating did not really get going for a long time. I got to the interview that afternoon only to find out that the Personnel manager did not get in to work from somehwere in Herts that morning.

The train back that night was even worse being 10 hours late and it then terminated at Perth rather than carrying on to Inverness. B)

My favourite snow event was on Christmas day 1995 with an all out powder snow blizzard at my parents home in the Highlands that lasted all night, clearing to beautiful sub zero sunshine and calm winds in the afternoon.

Special mention to late December 1978 because the snow that fell that day again at my parents home did not fully leave the ground until the 28th Feb.

January's 1978 and 1984 [24 inches level snow] were memorable too as was mid Jan 1987 as I was working on the East coast then.

[noggin]

I will have two favourites, if I may!

1962/3........I remember building a snowman with the boy from over the road. Without a doubt this is my best childhood memory.

February 2009.......4 heavy falls giving 9 days of lying snow. I have had to wait a long, long time for this quantity of snow and felt like I had been transported to heaven. I love snow so much . Sorry, do excuse me....getting a bit carried away here. :blush:

Edited April 5, 2009 by noggin

[Summer of 95]

Jan 1987 I can remember although not very well; my memory (in South Wales) is of something around 20-30cm falling one weekday afternoon, keeping us off school for 3-4 days and lying for over a week- my clearest memory of that spell however is the 2-3ft icicles everywhere (cars, gutters, rooves) which I kept picking up and putting in the freezer to preserve :blush:

8th Dec 1990 and Feb 1991 (in Shrewsbury) are clearer memories; similar amounts both times. December didn't last as long but was more of a surprise- it came with no warning overnight and led to a day off school (yes I had to go in on Saturday mornings then) which was fantastic to an 11 yr old Also an honourable mention to 20th November 1988 which I remember as the only decent snow between 1987 and 1990 and one which came totally out of the blue.

More recently I enjoyed Christmas 2004 (not a huge amount but well timed) and 12 March 2006 for being another surprise, that produced the deepest snow here for over a decade.