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Snow Chaos Hits Birmingham Jan. 2004


knocker

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Posted
  • Location: Camborne
  • Location: Camborne

During the afternoon of the 28th January 2004, Birmingham and much of central England was hit by a double whammy. Two actice cold fronts rapidly passed over the area between 1500UTC and 1600. The first gave heavy rain that washed away residual salt off the roads; the rain rapidly turned to heavy snow as the second arctic front passed over. Result: complete chaos. The local media christened the affair 'Gritgate'

I was going to witter on about this until I realised that a paper on the subject written by Dr John E. Thornes, Snow and road chaos in Birmingham on 28 January 2004, for Weather, June 2005, Vol. 60, No.6, was available online. If you have an interest in a detailed analysis look no further.

Phew had some trouble with that link.

http://onlinelibrary.../wea.220.04/pdf

I have uploaded the surface plotted charts from 12z to 16z. They don't show the frontal depictions but they aren't that difficult to place. Some brief observations.

At 12z there is continuous slight snow at Carlisle. By 13z there is heavy snow at Manchester which by 14z has reached the East Midlands airport but not Birmingham although by 15z the latter has moderate snow. This continues at 16z and note the temp and dew point difference between Birmingham and Bristol.

post-12275-0-87067200-1303122035_thumb.j

post-12275-0-78396800-1303122044_thumb.j

post-12275-0-27163800-1303122063_thumb.j

post-12275-0-67829900-1303122071_thumb.j

Edited by weather ship
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Posted
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: Cold & Snowy, Summer: Just not hot
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire

I remember it well, most of the snow that had fell in the morning had already melted, the rain just finished it off and washed the grit away. I was sitting in maths at the time and literally in the space of a few minutes it had gone from throwing it down with rain to absolutely throwing it down with snow, and it didn't take long to settle. Getting home was a nightmare.

And those temperature/dew point differences are quite remarkable! Just shows how quickly and how far the temperature dropped that afternoon.

Edited by Nick L
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Posted
  • Location: Sunderland
  • Weather Preferences: Hot Summer, Snowy winter and thunderstorms all year round!
  • Location: Sunderland

Fascinating read...Thanks very much Weather Ship for the post :good:

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Posted
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall
  • Weather Preferences: Winter - Heavy Snow Summer - Hot with Night time Thunderstorms
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall

I remember this so well. As Nick said, the mornings snow was melting and rain pursued into the afternoon but just after 3pm i think it was, massive flakes started falling and it did so for ages. Gridlock was everywhere and of course a hell of a lot of snow built up in a short space of time. Perhaps one of the quickest weather "turn around" events ive seen.

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Posted
  • Location: Condorrat, Cumbernauld G67
  • Location: Condorrat, Cumbernauld G67

Similair thing happened to us 19th December 2009 here. Weather front came in and started as pretty heavy rain (and the snow we had was getting washed away quick) Just after 3 o clock that afternoon I remember looking out the window and it was still raining. Within 1 minute though the rain had turned to huge snowflakes and everything was very white very quickly!

Edited by NUT
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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

I flew into EMA that evening to find my car well covered in frozen slush and snow, 2-3cm on the ground I would reckon from memory. When I got home the depth was 1cm.

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

The front hit Newcastle (where I was at the time) about 11am, and produced about 45 minutes of heavy snow, but without the thunder that many places recorded. There had been snow showers the night before that gave a 2-3cm cover, which hadn't totally melted when the front arrived. Despite arriving with temps of +2-3C the snow from the front settled instantly, giving about 6-7 cm of fresh snow in less than an hour which lasted until the Saturday morning.

In Shrewsbury from what I heard the front arrived around 3.30pm, started as rain which then turned to heavy snow which struggled to stick at first, but eventually gave a 2-3cm covering, which replaced a similar amount that had lain that morning but melted.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

I remember the event, although I don't recall a significant amount of snow here.

Same here. There was a lot of large hail which only turned to snow in the last 5 or so minutes which meant a nice blanket of frozen hail the following morning.

The northerly that came at the end of February was what gave the best snow that winter with 5-10cm here.

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  • 2 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)

Remember this very well. Was in central London all day for a University interview and open day. Got on the tube to head back home during the rush hour. It was cold, cloudy, but completely dry and calm. In the half hour it took to get home to north east London, an almighty blizzard had kicked off. Stepping out of my local station was like walking into a snow machine. Within about half an hour, 4-5 inches of snow had fallen. One of the best weather events i've ever witnessed. Don't think i've ever seen snow that intense and that heavy.

Edited by danm
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Posted
  • Location: Longlevens, 16m ASL (H)/Bradley Stoke, 75m ASL (W)
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny summers, cold snowy winters
  • Location: Longlevens, 16m ASL (H)/Bradley Stoke, 75m ASL (W)

I remember the event as a big let down, I was in Cardiff at the time and had been waiting all day for the front to arrive. As I was leaving to catch the train home at about 5.10pm a sudden burst of torrential rain started and lasted about 5-10 mins before turning to snow which lasted another 5mins or so leaving a slight covering. When i got home only 10 miles away there was only a few traces of snow here and there and was sickening to see the amounts of snow everywhere else had got compared to our zilch. :cray:

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