FWIW, that wasn't an easterly - the air came from the Arctic Ocean north of Scandinavia, then moved in over the North Sea. In the easterlies of old a cold pool was advected westwards via Scandinavia from the Siberian high - the air originated east of the Urals. It's been a long time since we last saw one of those in midwinter!
Yup, much less severe here - no icicles, no drifts, blizzards or anything like it. This was due to the temperature being just a couple of degrees above the "sweet spot" - so those inland wouldn't have noticed much difference, but it ruined it here.
By the 30th Nov there was a snow depth of 6cm of slushy wet stuff - no ice days. It then half-melted on the 1st, then on the 2nd there was a marked dump of snow (6 inches)... it was slushy though as the temperature was above freezing as it fell. There were two ice days on the 3rd and 4th (-0.4C as a high) and then it pee'd down with rain, thawing the snow.
By recent standards that would have been amazing, but even the relatively poor easterly of January 1997 - the last true midwinter easterly - delivered 6 inches of powder and highs of -2C.
2010 was an absolute disappointment, especially given as pretty much everywhere inland had a truly memorable spell!
Jonesy - are you old enough to have seen a proper easterly, those in the 80s and 90s?
Originally Posted by: Retron