A totally useless, underwhelming and infuriating non-severe spell of rubbish courtesy of the Cockroach from the East. Of all the cold/snow spells I can recall this will go down as the the biggest flop. Perhaps only the late February 2005 easterly could compare but then virtually the whole country was in the same boat, as opposed to this time round. What should have a prime location, to benefit from a cold easterly, inexplicably missed out while everywhere else was buried.

Comparing this to historical cold spells at this time of year is like comparing KFC to a Five Star Michelin restaurant. Obviously the cream of the recent crop would be March 2006 with 26cm level depth, icicles, thundersnow and wonderful photogenic skies. Then we had the northerly of late February 1993 which delivered a solid 20cm. 2001 and 2004 both saw 15cm.

Even what we got two years ago was more impressive with heavy snow on the afternoon of the 2nd March 2016 giving around 5-6cm in a few hours, as was the northerly on 26th April 2015 which was probably the heaviest snow I’ve seen in the past five years.

In the more distant past we had far more impressive spells much later in the month with deep snow and sub -10C readings. Most notably in 1958 when it reached -13C at Mannofield and -17C at Dyce, in the middle of the month, and 1901 when it got down to -11C on 29th March, less than half a mile from the North Sea. Of course 1947 was the most exceptional of all when snow lay throughout the first three weeks of the month having lain throughout February and even reached a depth of 30cm at Rattray Head the most snowless part of NE Scotland.

Compare those epic spells with what we got this week: a woeful 6cm and a pathetic low of -4.8C. Just three sub-zero nights and none likely over the next week. Typical of what the 36-72 hour northerly topplers that we used to get frequently, but no longer do, would produce. Only difference was they always came with photogenic convective skies that made up for the lack of depth. The hideous gloomy grey skies of the past week served only to strengthen the feelings of disappointment and despair.

Rating: 0/10. I got nothing positive out of this horrid week at all. Hated every sorry minute of it 

 

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I've really enjoyed this week and although snow amounts were quite small in my area with maybe 3 inches, I'd score it a creditable 7.5 out of 10.

Highlights include; The week starting with a deep blue sky as the cold air took hold and the great skies and cloudscapes of Monday-wednesday as we caught some snow showers. Low daytime maxima of around -3c on Wednesday and Thursday and the very cold windchill. In fact i can't remember feeling as cold in this country as i did on Thursday. The powder snow has also been great and a long time since i last saw it. Snow amounts haven't been anything special around here but there's been something falling quite often and today's top up was a pleasant surprise.

Reading everyone else's reports in here of awesome conditions all around the country has been both tremendous fun and occasionally a little frustrating, but i can't really complain as Oxfordshire was never best placed for this spell (is it ever?).

Finally, it's made for some very interesting and exciting model watching over the last few weeks. Interesting to now reflect on the knashing of teeth when some thought the spell would be dry or miss us completely. All good stuff though.

Already looking forward to doing it all again next time!!

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Today's snowfall has rescued this spell.  Frustrating at times, but thankfully I'm not one to harbour snow envy.  Ive had 4 days off work, been into the winter wonderlands 10 miles North and west of here, and felt some proper cold in my hometown for the first time since 1995.

There have been ice days.

About 4/10, which is considerably higher than it would have been without today's snow

Whether Idle.

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On a South Manchester basis (my specific location) I would also rate it 8/10.

I feel very strongly about this entire spell, and I want to write a decent report and document it all as a reflection. (What a weirdo). 

I’d even go as far as saying that I feel quite emotional that the UK has managed to achieve such an amazingly cold spell, against all the odds. Maybe there’s hope after all. 

Sounds melodramatic, but hey, its how I feel! 😉  

At the risk of being wildly OT it'll be interesting to see if the very low solar activity we're going through has a similar cluster of colder winters or winters with cold spells to that we experienced after the last solar minimum.

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On a South Manchester basis (my specific location) I would also rate it 8/10.

I feel very strongly about this entire spell, and I want to write a decent report and document it all as a reflection. (What a weirdo). 

I’d even go as far as saying that I feel quite emotional that the UK has managed to achieve such an amazingly cold spell, against all the odds. Maybe there’s hope after all. 

Sounds melodramatic, but hey, its how I feel! 😉  

 

I know you've done a little better than us but I'm honestly surprised. Manchester's had much better even since TWO started

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Love reading these reports and especially happy for Darren

 

For here I give the spell 7.5/10 so far. 

Positives 

20cm level snow.

Heavy convective showers

Four ice days (so far)

Bitter cold. High of -3.4c and low of -6.4c on Wednesday. 

Snow falling at -6.4c! 

Massive icicles (6ft one on my house now) 

Insane drifting and blowing snow. 

 

Negatives

Slow start to spell caused some anxiety. 

20cm snow whilst good happened gradually so no complete snowmageddon although disruption caused.

Not likely to end with a big bang. 

 

Summary

Monday : Light covering Am, light showers from east no real accumulation.  High 0.4c

Tuesday: Snow in early hours. Most missed us to the west but got 3-4cm. Quiet through day with snow melting from paths and road. High -0.3c. Better snow showers started late Tuesday .

Wednesday: 8cm snow by morning due to heavy showers. Continued through day  12cm by evening. Bitter cold with high of -3.4c. Snowing at -6.4c in evening.  Overnight constant light moderate snow. 

Thursday: constant light moderate snow Am. Max depth 20cm.  Chaos on roads first thing with blowing snow and gales .  Cloudy pm with blowing snow.  high -2.2c

Friday: Quite day with clouds and gales and blowing snow. High -0.3c

If only it could now end in a spectacular way like in Ireland and the SW.

I notice some fields have lost their snow as it has blown away. Thankfully I am sheltered from the wind but it's still reduced to 12- 13cm from 20cm despite the sub zero temps

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I know you've done a little better than us but I'm honestly surprised.

We had the snow event Monday night/Tuesday morning, more beefy snow showers Tuesday evening, and a streamer which lasted the whole of Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Non stop snow. 

We did well. I know you travel into the city centre every day but you’d be surprised just how conditions can differ over very short distances.. To be honest it wasn’t just about the actual depth of the snow. Like I said I’ll get my full thoughts down at some point this weekend.

For western parts of NW England (I include places in west Manchester such as Sale,) I accept it has been a sh1tshow.. :-( 

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7 out of 10 for me in mid east sussex.
longevity,the really cold temperatures, especially wed and thur day time and the lack of marginality will make it memorable but it just lacked the snow volumes to get any higher.
Villages on the north east sussex/kent border did reasonable well and often do (a much forgotten bit of the country for snow that have had many a big fall over the years.)
But even they didnt get the volumes of quite a few recent years cold spells.
So good but not quite good enough.

The rare beast when it comes still delivers..But it seems extraordinary this only happens when the strat comes under changes..Maybe when we see change the Atlantic phase we may see this a little more...other factors Solar min....and moving into a general phase of extremely low Solar activity through the next 2 cycles...but overall a great reminder that the beast isn't dead.....Just likes to sleep a lot!!....Overall UK perspective and not an imby ....a good 8/10 from past experience....

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I’ve been following the TWO since around 2001 and it’s been a hard slog at times to get the fabelled easterly.

I’ve lived in various locations in London, with Wimbledon my original hometown - it’s always been tough getting snow down that way as most of our spells over the years have been northerly.

None the less this has been a good spell for London - it’s tough getting snow, let alone having it settle - It has done on this occasion. Depth wise it’s not been spectacular, 2010 and Feb 2009 were much better, but I’ll take a couple of inches.

Depth of cold however has been brutal, blowing snow and drifts were something I never thought I’d ever see in the big smoke and that’s a massive tick in the box.

However - I still feel like this spell didn’t quite deliver in terms of snow, >10cm and it would have been a 10/10.

My final rating for this location is 7/10

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All sorts of records broken up here, 46cm fell at Bishopton, just over 50cm roundabout Lanark, Alexandria had over 40cm as well, remarkable week

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Objectively I will score this 8.5/10. Temperatures have remained below 0C for the last few days and I'll not forget walking to the pub and back last night for a St David's day meal. However it was not a patch on 1987 and I've come to the conclusion the reason for that has nothing to do with temperatures or snow amounts. It is all to do with age. I suspect young people will be talking nostalgically about this cold spell when they reach my age in the same way that I reference 1979 / 81 / 87 etc. The weather is about far more than statistics.  

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A totally useless, underwhelming and infuriating non-severe spell of rubbish courtesy of the Cockroach from the East. Of all the cold/snow spells I can recall this will go down as the the biggest flop. Perhaps only the late February 2005 easterly could compare but then virtually the whole country was in the same boat, as opposed to this time round. What should have a prime location, to benefit from a cold easterly, inexplicably missed out while everywhere else was buried.

Comparing this to historical cold spells at this time of year is like comparing KFC to a Five Star Michelin restaurant. Obviously the cream of the recent crop would be March 2006 with 26cm level depth, icicles, thundersnow and wonderful photogenic skies. Then we had the northerly of late February 1993 which delivered a solid 20cm. 2001 and 2004 both saw 15cm.

Even what we got two years ago was more impressive with heavy snow on the afternoon of the 2nd March 2016 giving around 5-6cm in a few hours, as was the northerly on 26th April 2015 which was probably the heaviest snow I’ve seen in the past five years.

In the more distant past we had far more impressive spells much later in the month with deep snow and sub -10C readings. Most notably in 1958 when it reached -13C at Mannofield and -17C at Dyce, in the middle of the month, and 1901 when it got down to -11C on 29th March, less than half a mile from the North Sea. Of course 1947 was the most exceptional of all when snow lay throughout the first three weeks of the month having lain throughout February and even reached a depth of 30cm at Rattray Head the most snowless part of NE Scotland.

Compare those epic spells with what we got this week: a woeful 6cm and a pathetic low of -4.8C. Just three sub-zero nights and none likely over the next week. Typical of what the 36-72 hour northerly topplers that we used to get frequently, but no longer do, would produce. Only difference was they always came with photogenic convective skies that made up for the lack of depth. The hideous gloomy grey skies of the past week served only to strengthen the feelings of disappointment and despair.

Rating: 0/10. I got nothing positive out of this horrid week at all. Hated every sorry minute of it 

 

Yes. 1963 was like that for a lot of Scotland. 

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One word EPIC!! This has been the 1980`s revisited we`v`e now had 4 ice days in a row 3``-5`` inches of pwder snow some severe frosts with minimums down to -7c and coming at the very end of February and going into March.

9 out of 10 the only thing stopping me giving it 10 is we haven`t had the bone chilling temperatures as February 1986.

One word EPIC!! This has been the 1980`s revisited we`v`e now had 4 ice days in a row 3``-5`` inches of pwder snow some severe frosts with minimums down to -7c and coming at the very end of February and going into March.

9 out of 10 the only thing stopping me giving it 10 is we haven`t had the bone chilling temperatures as February 1986.

A totally useless, underwhelming and infuriating non-severe spell of rubbish courtesy of the Cockroach from the East. Of all the cold/snow spells I can recall this will go down as the the biggest flop. Perhaps only the late February 2005 easterly could compare but then virtually the whole country was in the same boat, as opposed to this time round. What should have a prime location, to benefit from a cold easterly, inexplicably missed out while everywhere else was buried.

Comparing this to historical cold spells at this time of year is like comparing KFC to a Five Star Michelin restaurant. Obviously the cream of the recent crop would be March 2006 with 26cm level depth, icicles, thundersnow and wonderful photogenic skies. Then we had the northerly of late February 1993 which delivered a solid 20cm. 2001 and 2004 both saw 15cm.

Even what we got two years ago was more impressive with heavy snow on the afternoon of the 2nd March 2016 giving around 5-6cm in a few hours, as was the northerly on 26th April 2015 which was probably the heaviest snow I’ve seen in the past five years.

In the more distant past we had far more impressive spells much later in the month with deep snow and sub -10C readings. Most notably in 1958 when it reached -13C at Mannofield and -17C at Dyce, in the middle of the month, and 1901 when it got down to -11C on 29th March, less than half a mile from the North Sea. Of course 1947 was the most exceptional of all when snow lay throughout the first three weeks of the month having lain throughout February and even reached a depth of 30cm at Rattray Head the most snowless part of NE Scotland.

Compare those epic spells with what we got this week: a woeful 6cm and a pathetic low of -4.8C. Just three sub-zero nights and none likely over the next week. Typical of what the 36-72 hour northerly topplers that we used to get frequently, but no longer do, would produce. Only difference was they always came with photogenic convective skies that made up for the lack of depth. The hideous gloomy grey skies of the past week served only to strengthen the feelings of disappointment and despair.

Rating: 0/10. I got nothing positive out of this horrid week at all. Hated every sorry minute of it 

 

Gladd to see you've enjpyed it Richard!

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Epic couple of days here in South Wales. The lanes out of the town have hedge high drifts, over 6ft in places. Still snowing this afternoon ... a good 12hrs non-stop. 

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Were I still that enthusiastic teenage meteorologist I once was this would be (for March) something like 10*/10. Its been unbelievably cold (for March), beautifully continental, then very snowy (for March) though we've not seen drifting (snow storm - 7/10) like many have here (too much freezing rain (a 10/10 occurrence we're I younger)). Unlike the great blizzard of '78 the snow is lingering too.

Now, when I'm slightly older, its been a total pain. I can't get about the place for just being heavy enough to fall through ice covered snow, my feet and hands have been frozen, we're trying to keep pipes from freezing and poly tunnels from collapsing and I'm looking forward to spring and I hate to see wildlife suffering.

So, 0/10 just for it being a pain and being 40 years (ouch) too late...

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It is great hearing from places like Bournmouth that have done so well.. the Beast has clearly done its business... I am not jealous, honest 😜😜

Great week. I’ve seen drifting powder snow, ice and snow on my windows like a Christmas card and it must have been good because I can’t wait for it to go now even though I have been wishing for it for many years 🙂 Roll on summer now - 1976 style hopefully

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