Could 3ft of snow ever fall to low levels (below 150m) in Britain?

[BornFromTheVoid]

In a Met Eireann report here for 1917, a snowstorm in early April dropped an estimated 1.3m of snow in parts of southern Ireland.

[Snowyowl9]

The most I`ve seen was in January 1982 with 18inches to 2foot what a severe blizzard that turned out to be.

[damianslaw]

We managed 18 inches from the stalling front on 5/6 Feb 1996, not bettered since. I've seen pictures of the Lake District in late Jan 1940, wouldn't be surprised if some spots saw more than 2 foot then.

[March Blizzard]

In a Met Eireann report here for 1917, a snowstorm in early April dropped an estimated 1.3m of snow in parts of southern Ireland.

All these impressive historic March/April accumulations, yet we've already got people worried about the "strong" February sun!

[picog]

In Bath in 1962/63 we had close to 3 foot of snow. Truly wonderful.

It was almost level to our front garden wall which was exactly 3 foot high. The whole of the front garden was just one deep snowy field. Remarkable.

Edited February 1, 2015 by picog

[AderynCoch]

Cardiff, January 1945

[Evening thunder]

I read somewhere that SE Dartmoor had a level fall of 6 feet once.. sounded like in one fall though not sure.

 

Think it may be in a book I had though without searching through it's hundreds of pages I don't know.

 

Edit: found a reference to it for February 1929 here http://www.neforum2.co.uk/ferryhillweather/bonacina.html

 

Not sure where 'Holne Chase' refers to, but the village of Holne is generally around 100-200m in the Dart Valley, though with much higher moorland nearby. Though if those amounts occurred higher up it could well have been substantial down to lower levels too..

 

I did hear it was potentially a record for relatively low levels in the UK (assuming that is actually a level depth not an incorrect measurement)

Edited February 2, 2015 by Evening thunder

[hillbilly]

I read somewhere that SE Dartmoor had a level fall of 6 feet once.. sounded like in one fall though not sure.

 

Think it may be in a book I had though without searching through it's hundreds of pages I don't know.

 

Edit: found a reference to it for February 1929 here http://www.neforum2.co.uk/ferryhillweather/bonacina.html

 

Not sure where 'Holne Chase' refers to, but the village of Holne is generally around 100-200m in the Dart Valley, though with much higher moorland nearby. Though if those amounts occurred higher up it could well have been substantial down to lower levels too..

 

I did hear it was potentially a record for relatively low levels in the UK (assuming that is actually a level depth not an incorrect measurement)

Yes,reputedly so,182 cm / 6 ft 1n 15 hours near Ashburton!

[Snowyowl9]

All these impressive historic March/April accumulations, yet we've already got people worried about the "strong" February sun!

March/april 2013 stands out as the record that I`ve seen for that time of year.

And I thought april 1998 was severe.

[Interitus]

I read somewhere that SE Dartmoor had a level fall of 6 feet once.. sounded like in one fall though not sure.

 

Think it may be in a book I had though without searching through it's hundreds of pages I don't know.

 

Edit: found a reference to it for February 1929 here http://www.neforum2.co.uk/ferryhillweather/bonacina.html

 

Not sure where 'Holne Chase' refers to, but the village of Holne is generally around 100-200m in the Dart Valley, though with much higher moorland nearby. Though if those amounts occurred higher up it could well have been substantial down to lower levels too..

 

I did hear it was potentially a record for relatively low levels in the UK (assuming that is actually a level depth not an incorrect measurement)

 

Regarding this incident and overall here is a post from Philip Eden to the uk.sci.weather newsgroup from February 2005 - http://www.weather-banter.co.uk/uk-sci-weather-uk-weather/89828-boltshope-park-snow-4.html

 

 

 

Ingrid Holford, in her "Guiness Book of Weather Facts and Feats" says 

that,

in 1947, "an accumulated level fall of 60 in (1524 mm) was recorded in 

Upper

Teesdale and in the Denbighshire Hills". I think "Upper Teesdale" 

actually

refers to the village of Middleton-in-Teesdale - not far from Ken Cook.

Nearly ... it was For®est-in-Teesdale, where the observations were

done for decades by two sisters who ran the village post-office. Somehow

I doubt it's still there :-( The Denbighshire location was Clawdd-newydd

(which sounds so much nicer than New Ditch, doesn't it?) which is a

village about 7km SW of Ruthin; it was a Forestry Commission station.

These depths were subsequently eclipsed by 65in (1.65m) reported at

the climatological station in Tredegar in February 1963. On that occasion

(and possibly on the earlier occasion too) the snow depth resulted

from a combination of heavy falling snow and snow blown from

adjacent high ground.

These are, of course, the highest reported depths in populated parts

of the UK.

You will also find the in the literature mentions of 6ft of snow in

the Dart Valley as it passes around Holne Chase (Devon) in

February 1929, but I can find no reference to indicate that

this is other than anecdotal. It was also widely claimed that

Tavy Cleave, a 300ft deep gulley also on the southern fringe

of Dartmoor, was filled with snow during the March 1891

storm, presumably mostly blown off the moor. Reports of level

snow 4 feet deep on the western side of the Isle of Wight

after the Jan 1881 snowstorm are generally regarded as legit,

although it must have been difficult to find "level snow" as

an easterly gale blew throughout. Many houses had drifts to

roof level -- as they did in 1891 in Cornwall and Devon.

Philip Eden 

[Evening thunder]

Yes,reputedly so,182 cm / 6 ft 1n 15 hours near Ashburton!

 

That is something I wouldn't mind witnessing!

 

Regarding this incident and overall here is a post from Philip Eden to the uk.sci.weather newsgroup from February 2005 - http://www.weather-banter.co.uk/uk-sci-weather-uk-weather/89828-boltshope-park-snow-4.html

 

Interesting thanks, always wondered if it was a true reading or whether it was slightly 'optimistic' reporting or measurement of drifts, as would have taken something pretty impressive.. (roughly 182mm water equivalent in 15 hours in a cold winter airmass? (assuming 1/10 ratio)).