One can only imagine what this spell would have produced in mid January with lower surface temperatures and a warmer North Sea, it could easily have rivaled the January 1987 spell which of course occurred at the coldest time of the year.

It would be great to think this cold spell is the start of a new trend but its shortness leads me to be less than convinced.

It could easily be Bartlett Heaven come December.

Andy

---

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 

 

I am surprised - i thought you were in Amber warning area?

---

Not going to ramble on

It was a good event low temps low windchill. 

Record low temp for March . 

Drifts across the road akin to the 80’s

Ended very well with the snow on Thursday and Friday .

8/10 

 

How much snow did you get - and was it more than that one even in December 2017?

---

A huge disappointment overall. We have been incredibly unlucky given the sheer depth and extent of this event.

Maxes (Sunday onwards) 4.3c, 2.3c, 1.9c, 0.0c, 1.7c, 0.9c

Mins (Sunday onwards) -0.3c, -1.8c, -3.1c, -3.8c, -3.9c, -2.2c

Max snow depth = 2.5 cm (this afternoon) - Now thawing

Getting early snow cover in these events is key to obtaining really low overnight temperatures further down the line. This didn't happen because we never received a snow cover and the wind was always too strong.

The ENE'ly always was going to reduce intensity of convection very locally but was expected. The streamers did form and on Monday and Tuesday evenings became potent enough to deliver some very rapid accumulations. Unfortunately they never aligned favourably dodging us by just 10 miles each side of us.

The depth of cold associated with the continental airmass on Wednesday was massively impressive. Sadly my max of 0.0c on Wednesday meant I didn't even get to record an ice day and the less cold low level air on Thursday evening for a short period with a rise to +1.7c thwarted another ice day opportunity that had seen a temperature of -3c (27f) at 1pm.

With convection failing from the deep cold ENE'ly we then had to rely on the breakdown to supply the goods. Thursday's event occurred too far west and we missed out. Today's breakdown delivered an inch and stopped at 5pm. As soon as it moved away the temps climbed above 0c (32f) and the drip drip drip started just 4 hours later at 9pm.

One massive highlight of this was the freezing rain event..truly staggering. Steady rain at around 9am with a temperature of -2c (28f) and a dewpoint of -4c (25f) is the stuff of Canadian weather books. Despite the disappointment this event will now stick in my mind and be associated with the deep easterly of late Feb 2018.

Despite it all I work at Kings Hill near West Malling. As a result I witnessed 12cm of powder snow, a min temperature of -12c (10f), drifting snow, heavy convective snow events, a freezing rain event, sublimation and the crunch of 0.5cm of ice on a 10cm layer of powder snow today.

3/10 from an IMBY perspective. 

Oh no! That's crap! sorry to hear this and just shows (like another member in Folkstone) that even coastal area's of the SE Don't always get more snow off the north sea even from an easterly yet a few miles inland there is over a foot of snow. But i agree - freezing rain was the problem esp on Friday - as the snow just went crunch under the glaze of ice!

---

Interesting reading other comments esp yours John. I have so much to say on this - It certainly ended very well but like you it's a shame it didn't occur earlier but it was well worth the wait, seeing as Exeter missed out virtually between the whole of Monday and Wednesday in terms of snow showers. Yet the very city including two towns which haven't seen snow are in the red Met Office warning zone (Exeter, Crediton, Tiverton, Cullompton etc). So that's what I call fate!?

Thursdays blizzard was spot on although perhaps started a little earlier than expected as I woke up to a dusting of power and flakes in the wind but from around 2pm Thursday it really came down and came down like old fun! Never have I seen such heavy snow fall - we had perhaps 10cms or 4-5" in 3 hours. The blizzard total gave us around 7 ins of snow. Shops closed early and transport systems stopped running! It reminded me of a snowfall event in Toronto back in Jan 2005, but shops stayed open and public transport continues - I think Jiries was there too. This was pure powdery snow 6 to 7 ins of it! - also it was lovely seeing little young ones enjoying it as some younger than 5 have never seen snowfall and settling in Exeter. So for a blizzard and snowfall settling must have been over whelming! - It was really nice to see people esp children and families happy and positive vibes - it really lifted their spirits which lifts yours - well it did mine. Of course feel for those who may have been stuck or stranded! - Thank goodness it was my week off!) ha!

So After yesterdays blizzard of 6- 8" in parts of Exeter city (difficult to measure depth as it was drifting). Woke up to sheet ice so all that powder snow which fell had frozen thanks to freezing rain last night and most of the day we had light snow followed by tiny ice pellets/sleet/snizzze then the odd flake mixed in as temp dropped to -0.3c and then all the precipitation becoming snowflakes and this left a trace to 0.5 of a cm. The very interesting part was actually seeing those tiny ice pellets of drizzle gradually turning more and more snow like and snow flakes. - This lasted for for two hours but it was lighter snow and it did alternate between ice pellets and snowflakes in heavier bursts but even those ice pellets settled, so we ended in large snowflakes this afternoon giving additional covering to Existing covering! - Just observing that transition from drizzle to ice pellets to snowflakes in the precipitation this afternoon evening looked mesmerising. It was almost like it was drizzle/rain _=boo!! then ice pellets/snizzle for half an hour and then the odd flake mixed in with it looking up at it then more flakes than ice pellets then all flakes and no ice pellets haha! - It really was a classic transition from one precipitation to another and to another. - Today's event reminded me of a day in an 2013 i think 17th but it was more the fact it was sleety rain and back to sleet and nothing settled as the temp was around +1.5 or something!

We had two official ice days Wed and Thursday - Wed temp rose to 0.2c but i'll consider this an ice day. Thursdays max was -2c - perhaps the coldest daytime max since December 2010. I know somewhere in Somerset recorded a temp no higher than -4c which was the coldest ever daytime max for a spring month of March.

We had the coldest daytime max of -2c on Thursday - and coldest winters daytime max of 0.2c on 28th Feb which has been the coldest daytime max since i have witnessed since moving here in 2011. I think for winter stats the max of 0.2c could well have been the coldest max since that December to remember in 2010.

The Quay had partly frozen over for the first time since Dec 2010 with snow settling on the thin ice (albeit slush) and on shallower parts of the Quay. I'll upload some photos of everything in due course. What was also impressive was also seeing such huge icicles from gutters and esp from buildings in High street - some parts were closed off by police due to safety.

Also the freezing rain causing glaze - it really looked lovely! - Just hope I can get out my driveway tomorrow - this is some real Canadian/NE USA Nor/easter style winterstorm weather here! Another good thing was lampost watching Tuesday night and Wednesday night!

I can't rate this but I will say that it was worth the wait - it really was! If it wasn't for storm Emma then I would have given this a 0/10. If it wasn't for the freezing rain Thursday night then the snow would have not turned into sheet thick ice/glaze on top - which of course meant I couldn't make use of the snow and when I could do for a snowball fight it was too powdery! Nice to walk on as the top layer had frozen and it just went "crunch!" ha!

This has ended poorly with heavy rain - I would rather see a gradual warm up and the sun to come out as well. But it's heavy rain and freezing rain too is never good because it becomes sheet ice on top of snow! It's raining heavily now as I type. So the long and short was that it got off to a really frustrating start, esp knowing many places like Plymouth, Falmouth etc and so on got snow and Exeter didn't see any thing. Then looking on the rainfall radar seeing the English channel streamer 50 miles south of us!

It was such a 'sigh' of relief in the end as the beast certainly made up for it's lost time and I pleased to announce that Exeter snow drought has ended. - First accumulation since perhaps Feb 2012 or Jan & March 2013 and the first significant fall of snow and accumulation since 2010. Even more impressive is that this has purely been snow started off as snow the blizzard and ended as snow too! - Just a shame freezing rain followed early hours of Friday.

I know many other parts has seen snow - but even in London - there have been snow showers and dustings with more flurries and more dustings or light snow for days but totals haven't been that great "2" is the max from what I observed and heard.

Exeter and most of East Devon, West Somerset and Dorset as per above missed all this nonsense etc had between "6 - 8" in the space of a 5 or so hours. I don't know what I would have preferred looking back. More frequent snow each day giving little accumulations or a no snow followed by a blizzard! I think many parts (excluding NE) but London had snow shower after snow shower giving little accumulation or flakes evaporating and only giving a dustings where as we had a well forecast red warning for a blizzard giving a dump (which is memorable too!?) The GFS/Met O and or BBC could have easily backed off from this and I thought they would have done. Even the day before the blizzard was forecast. - I thought this because we have been let down before many a time - most notorious was back in March 2013 when the channel isles got a dump and we (Devon) were forecast to have heavy snow (potential blizzards) but never did, because the system moved further south closer to the time.

Cardiff got 50cms of snow, that almost breaks if not has broken records!? Even December 2010 there was similar amount but it took several snowfalls to get to this amount and of course it lasted longer. NIGHTS were colder too.

So we know snow showers are very hit and miss with easterlies and also this easterly never really gave us a severe frost. - too windy! The greatest frost was perhaps near the start Monday morning!

So as mentioned above - if only this had occurred earlier in season, we could have broken more records!?

Part of me feels upset that, if only this low could just give us the blizzard only and then stay south or sink south after to keep us in the cold easterly for longer so we could record some nightime lows with the snow cover!? But another part of me feel's that this cold an snow has to end soon because it is spring and it needs to melt and soon because the driveway in my cul-de sac is under half a foot of snow/sheet ice and my car is frozen solid due to freezing rain.

Just hope we don't have to wait another decade or so for this to occur and when it does - make sure it happens in winter! 🙂 -I agree with John above - it would have been more memorable and snowy as well as colder etc, had it occurred earlier on. But with longer days we got to see the snow longer in daylight hours I guess and not dark by 4pm - So it has it's pros and cons.

Another thing which has been fantastic with this Siberian feast from the east - is the snow is not only dry, powdery and settles everywhere like icing sugar and was never transitional, but (unless it's pure luck) the heavy snow/blizzard actually fell during time hours so it could be observed and experienced. Unlike pulses of sticky wet snow back in winter 12/13 which occurred night time and to some extent December 2010 and Feb 2009. Those snowfalls that gave good accumulations occurred overnight into early hours, when everyone was/is asleep. - So of course no on experienced this. - Only upon waking to see the covering. etc. 

Back to here and now - One thing for sure is certain- It will be a fantastic weekend for skiing in Scotland highlands where the cold is due to last all weekend and plenty of fresh powder there i bet!

I can talk on for ages but will leave it here - Photo's will be added to this message in due course.

Sorry for delay:

Here with photos commencing Friday 10 am view looking out my bedroom window:

It was just what I wanted to experience - I was actually much happier with the blizzard which gave us a dump perhaps the same levels as we got in Dec 2010 but not lasting as long and a blizzard and falling during the daytime this time around unlike 2010 when most of the snow event's were in the form of showers and at nighttime. As much as I moaned that the channel isles and south Devon and cornwall etc got snow showers when Exeter got nothing I was much happier with this blizzard - rather than snow showers giving dustings of 0.5cms to 1cm each time and flakes just blowing around in wind giving a trace or evaporating - like some have reported on here.

So the snow day was Thursday afternoon into evening but it started off as a few flakes followed by light snow. Temp was -3c all day rose to -2.5c by early evening. It was at it's heaviest around 6pm. - Powdery dry snow. We also had freezing rain Thursday night followed by ice pellets then more snow and then on Friday we had freezing rain thus crutch - lot's of glaze and sheet ice and then afternoon we had snizzle /ice pellets followed by heavy snizzle and then moderate snow that gave an additional 0.5 to 1cm of covering and temperature dropped from 0.2c to -0.5c in the snow shower on Friday which lasted from 3pm to 5/530pm ish. The main snowfall event was on Thursday of course. Shame the freezing rain ruined things so not sure of the depth but was around 7 inches to take the average - So perhaps 17cm's of snow. It's not easy to measure the snow depth esp as some was drifting - some places exceeded 20cms of snow come Thursday night where as other spots didn't make 15 cm's. SO I take the average of 17cms which is what we had back in 2010 - albeit it took two snowfall's (both at night times) to get tho this amount.

Views From my house the day commences @ 11am:

11 am - Few flakes and flurries

 

12pm midday - Flurries/light snow with tiny flakes

 

1pm light snow becoming moderate snow

 

2pm - Heavy snow - with blizzards and drifting off rooftops: 

 

Fast forward (as I was in town).

Just after 5pm:

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exeter high street around mid afternoon: - As you can see busy eh!? Buses and shops - people @ work ha! Again the snow was being blown off rooftops and even road and pavements which added to the drifting which made it look more severe and the snow heavier of course.

 

 

Castle Street

 

Queen st:

 

Gandy Street:

 

Exeter Cathedral in a blizzard:

 

Exeter Quay 5:30pm Thursday: - Already 4-5 inches in places.

 

View of the Waterfront -Exeter Quay

 

FRIDAY:

After light snow followed by freezing rain there was (as alluded to above) more snow in the afternoon Friday - the drizzle became snizzle which then became flakes and then moderate and at times heavy snow for 2 hours which then became flakes and then freezing rain followed by light rain as temps rose above 0c late on Friday to ruin things!

This was in Exeter high street once again - Love those icicles: - This reminded me of streets in Toronto! 

 

Exeter Cathedral on Friday around 4pm when freezing drizzle pellets turned back to pure snow.

 

Freezing rain during most of Friday gave us Glaze: - By my driveway on the Quay!

 

Such a shame it melted quickly, but it did start earlier- by 9am as seen in first few pics there was already a trace/dusting! - and as I may have said it came far too late in the season but it was well worth the wait. Even though London had snow on more days - just like Plymouth and Truro from that English channel streamer there wasn't more that 5cms of lying snow there and they didn't really experience the full dump' of the blizzard we did. Again there were many other locations - perhaps Aberdeen even where by snow fell many days but there wasn't a period of heavy persistent snow or blizzard like in east Devon, Somerset and Bristol & Avon which lasted 6 - 8 hours or so. This really made up for it's lost time and everyone was so excited and happy - which made me happy! I feel emotional in some ways because I don't know when we will next see any snow let alone a blizzard dumping up to 1ft of snow in some parts of the SW. - It was worth the wait. But shame it wasn't earlier. It would have also been nice if skies cleared that night to allow temps to plummet so we could have recorded some record low's but sadly temps rose.

That being said - i'll rate this event a good 9 out of 10. - This easterly with the blizzard made me feel as if I was in Toronto Canada! I felt like it was a lake effect snow event too but instead Bay of Biscay effect snow!

I was beginning to give up hope as you know and i honestly thought the models would flip, like always! If I was asked a couple weeks back I would have never had guessed Exeter would have seen snow again this year let alone have a blizzard! Best of all it was as good as the great Blizzard of Toronto on 21st Jan 2005 - This blizzard only lost a few marks for the fact that there was rain and freezing rain on Thursday night as well as Friday and Friday wasn't an official ice day.

In fact to compare this was the great blizzard in Toronto Canada - Jan 2005: -See below - This is Spadina Avenue and Queens street:

People still out and buses/trams working as normal as well as the cars moving as they normally would do regardless of the weather.

 Toronto's Blizzard 21st Jan 2005: - Well, it just looks like a normal day really!? People get on with their every day lives and even drive too.

 

Exeter's Blizzard 1st March 2018:

Very similar in terms of snow depths and temps (both sub-zero in terms of temperatures!) and powder snow but notice shops all closed and no public transport compared to above in Toronto where by tram and buses still operate and cars can still drive to where they have to go to and in general people continue to commute. In Exeter - not one bus or car was spotted moving after 3pm if you see below pic.

 

Icicles off buildings in Exeter: On High street and Queen st (ironic eh?) - Another Queen street!? OOB's too!

 

Icicles on a street in Toronto on queen st:

 

---

Well, 'The Beast' is still in it's death thoes here with snizzle and still an occasionally strong easterly breeze at -1 C

I'll give 8/10 ... 

Unexpectedly heavy showers/snow storms did make it over the southern Pennine/Derbyshire hills - some even intensified over the Cheshire plain!

At one point we had around 10cm of level snow.

One very hard frost of -8.9 C 72% RH

Witnessed drifting snow and low blowing snow - not seen that since some time in the '80's.

Have never seen such low daytime temperatures and dew points so late in the season.

Schools closed 2 consecutive days.

Some local roads blocked for a time and damage to some trees due to winds gusting to severe gale force.

I've deducted  2 marks because the local hills did kick back in with the snow shield once the frontal snow arrived - meaning that we've had/are still having a snizzle-fest here!

Also the severity of the winds meant interupted sleep and damage to some trees as well as rapidly reducing the snow cover by sublimation/evaporation - or just simply blowing it elsewhere! .. Tho' of course a true easterly beast is very strong and very dry!!

 

I'm often amazed by just how different conditions can be just several miles down the road.

This spell would have to be rated a 4/10 max for me. Just 12 miles or so between us and yet you get 10cm of snow and I get an inch max.

Bar the Wednesday, the spell was very very underwhelming here in Crewe. Cold in the wind, yes but not particularly snowy or noteable in any other aspect. In fact the spell in early December was much more noteable in terms of snowfall. 

Off the the top of my head, Dec 2017, Jan 2013, Dec 2010 and Jan 2010 were all much more noteable in terms of sheer wintry weather here.

---

Fantastic photos Tally fab post 

 

Sorry for delay:

Here with photos commencing Friday 10 am view looking out my bedroom window:

It was just what I wanted to experience - I was actually much happier with the blizzard which gave us a dump perhaps the same levels as we got in Dec 2010 but not lasting as long and a blizzard and falling during the daytime this time around unlike 2010 when most of the snow event's were in the form of showers and at nighttime. As much as I moaned that the channel isles and south Devon and cornwall etc got snow showers when Exeter got nothing I was much happier with this blizzard - rather than snow showers giving dustings of 0.5cms to 1cm each time and flakes just blowing around in wind giving a trace or evaporating - like some have reported on here.

So the snow day was Thursday afternoon into evening but it started off as a few flakes followed by light snow. Temp was -3c all day rose to -2.5c by early evening. It was at it's heaviest around 6pm. - Powdery dry snow. We also had freezing rain Thursday night followed by ice pellets then more snow and then on Friday we had freezing rain thus crutch - lot's of glaze and sheet ice and then afternoon we had snizzle /ice pellets followed by heavy snizzle and then moderate snow that gave an additional 0.5 to 1cm of covering and temperature dropped from 0.2c to -0.5c in the snow shower on Friday which lasted from 3pm to 5/530pm ish. The main snowfall event was on Thursday of course. Shame the freezing rain ruined things so not sure of the depth but was around 7 inches to take the average - So perhaps 17cm's of snow. It's not easy to measure the snow depth esp as some was drifting - some places exceeded 20cms of snow come Thursday night where as other spots didn't make 15 cm's. SO I take the average of 17cms which is what we had back in 2010 - albeit it took two snowfall's (both at night times) to get tho this amount.

Views From my house the day commences @ 11am:

11 am - Few flakes and flurries

 

12pm midday - Flurries/light snow with tiny flakes

 

1pm light snow becoming moderate snow

 

2pm - Heavy snow - with blizzards and drifting off rooftops: 

 

Fast forward (as I was in town).

Just after 5pm:

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exeter high street around mid afternoon: - As you can see busy eh!? Buses and shops - people @ work ha! Again the snow was being blown off rooftops and even road and pavements which added to the drifting which made it look more severe and the snow heavier of course.

 

 

Castle Street

 

Queen st:

 

Gandy Street:

 

Exeter Cathedral in a blizzard:

 

Exeter Quay 5:30pm Thursday: - Already 4-5 inches in places.

 

View of the Waterfront -Exeter Quay

 

FRIDAY:

After light snow followed by freezing rain there was (as alluded to above) more snow in the afternoon Friday - the drizzle became snizzle which then became flakes and then moderate and at times heavy snow for 2 hours which then became flakes and then freezing rain followed by light rain as temps rose above 0c late on Friday to ruin things!

This was in Exeter high street once again - Love those icicles: - This reminded me of streets in Toronto! 

 

Exeter Cathedral on Friday around 4pm when freezing drizzle pellets turned back to pure snow.

 

Freezing rain during most of Friday gave us Glaze: - By my driveway on the Quay!

 

Such a shame it melted quickly, but it did start earlier- by 9am as seen in first few pics there was already a trace/dusting! - and as I may have said it came far too late in the season but it was well worth the wait. Even though London had snow on more days - just like Plymouth and Truro from that English channel streamer there wasn't more that 5cms of lying snow there and they didn't really experience the full dump' of the blizzard we did. Again there were many other locations - perhaps Aberdeen even where by snow fell many days but there wasn't a period of heavy persistent snow or blizzard like in east Devon, Somerset and Bristol & Avon which lasted 6 - 8 hours or so. This really made up for it's lost time and everyone was so excited and happy - which made me happy! I feel emotional in some ways because I don't know when we will next see any snow let alone a blizzard dumping up to 1ft of snow in some parts of the SW. - It was worth the wait. But shame it wasn't earlier. It would have also been nice if skies cleared that night to allow temps to plummet so we could have recorded some record low's but sadly temps rose.

That being said - i'll rate this event a good 9 out of 10. - This easterly with the blizzard made me feel as if I was in Toronto Canada! I felt like it was a lake effect snow event too but instead Bay of Biscay effect snow!

I was beginning to give up hope as you know and i honestly thought the models would flip, like always! If I was asked a couple weeks back I would have never had guessed Exeter would have seen snow again this year let alone have a blizzard! Best of all it was as good as the great Blizzard of Toronto on 21st Jan 2005 - This blizzard only lost a few marks for the fact that there was rain and freezing rain on Thursday night as well as Friday and Friday wasn't an official ice day.

In fact to compare this was the great blizzard in Toronto Canada - Jan 2005: -See below - This is Spadina Avenue and Queens street:

People still out and buses/trams working as normal as well as the cars moving as they normally would do regardless of the weather.

 Toronto's Blizzard 21st Jan 2005: - Well, it just looks like a normal day really!? People get on with their every day lives and even drive too.

 

Exeter's Blizzard 1st March 2018:

Very similar in terms of snow depths and temps (both sub-zero in terms of temperatures!) and powder snow but notice shops all closed and no public transport compared to above in Toronto where by tram and buses still operate and cars can still drive to where they have to go to and in general people continue to commute. In Exeter - not one bus or car was spotted moving after 3pm if you see below pic.

 

Icicles off buildings in Exeter: On High street and Queen st (ironic eh?) - Another Queen street!? OOB's too!

 

Icicles on a street in Toronto on queen st:

 

Locally I'd give it 6/10 due to the ice days and overall conditions, but lack of proper snow.

Nationwide 8/10.

I just wish it happened in Dec/Jan to take advantage of the warm sea and that it ended in a different way (a proper channel low followed by a blocking high over us would have been perfect, but it'd also cause more serious problems).

 

 

 

 

Worth it just to see Class 37s snowploughing in East Anglia:

Lowestoft line

 

 

That's convinced me. I want to be an engine driver when I grow up.

---

Fantastic photos Tally fab post 

 

THANKS - Have more pics and to add but i think that should be enough! What was really fantastic to hear was the sudden upgrade and red warning issues by Met Office early Thursday with the potential for more than expected:

 

I honestly thought it would have been a downgrade - like the March 2013 blizzard forecast - which never materliaised and only hit the channel isles, far south of Devon and it moved south weather as this one moved northwestwards and we had this in the forecast!?

---

Fantastic photos Tally fab post 

 

Yes, great photos!

---

Yes great photos Tally , a well deserved snowstorm for the SW.

 

---

One can only imagine what this spell would have produced in mid January with lower surface temperatures and a warmer North Sea, it could easily have rivaled the January 1987 spell which of course occurred at the coldest time of the year.

It would be great to think this cold spell is the start of a new trend but its shortness leads me to be less than convinced.

It could easily be Bartlett Heaven come December.

Andy

The early Feb 2009 cold spell didn't last that long either according to my recollection, yet the shortness of that spell didn't mean much when it came to the events of the following two winters.

I think the main issue with last weeks' spell was the fact that it occurred so late in the meteorogical winter season, i.e right at the end. That said, it probably would have lasted for longer than it did last week had it not been for the fact that the HP cell that was over Scandi this time last week and led to the start of the snowy spell then quickly moved across to Greenland and then to Canada, which left the UK open to an atlantic attack from the SW.

---

An excellent wintry spell in Aberdeenshire at my locaiton at 125m asl - just 28 miles inland from Aberdeen which apparently had a poor snow event :)

30cm of snow, and great for cross-country skiing on across fields, over fences buried by snow drifts

snowed in at home for 3 days by waist deep snow blocking the road

biggest snow even for us in 8 years.

Where are you in Aberdeenshire Telemarker?

One can only imagine what this spell would have produced in mid January with lower surface temperatures and a warmer North Sea, it could easily have rivaled the January 1987 spell which of course occurred at the coldest time of the year.

It would be great to think this cold spell is the start of a new trend but its shortness leads me to be less than convinced.

It could easily be Bartlett Heaven come December.

Andy

You say the duration has been short - however if you look at the latest NWP, if it were December or January, I’d be optimistic about an extended cold and snowy spell with a southerly tracking jet and HLB. 

---

Like the format of your review, so have copied it with a few additions and removals:

* Powder snow
Yes and it stayed as powder though to Friday. Also had snow grains and graupel.

* Ice days
Yes - Local weather station reported temperature at 0 or below from Monday to Friday

* Extremely cold nights
No - Lowest temperature would have been in the region of -6 to -7

* Icicles
No - not at home, though did see some round a friends house

* Days off work
Unable to get into work Wed to Fri

* Snow depth
21.5cm maximum depth before the wind picked up and snowmelt occured.

* Drifting
Yes - most minor roads around the village completely covered in drifts. Some nearby villages had drifts or 6 to 7 foot

* Sublimation
Yes but only noticed it on Friday. Difficult to predict exactly when it started as wind was blowing snow all over the place

* Being cut-off
No - I was able to get to the main road (which is approx 500 metres away) and to nearby towns 3 to 5 miles away

* Wind chill

YES - especially on Thursday when temperature was down to -4.5 in the morning and wind was at its stongest

* Duration

Cold from Sunday afternoon/evening to Friday evening. Felt much milder on Saturday. On Friday would guess half to two thirds general snowcover dissapeared. Snowcover began Monday late afternoon/evening

* Snowfall

Mainly occurred Monday late afternoon and overnight - 6cm; Tuesday night into Wednesday morning - 15cm; Friday night - 4cm


Overall:

Certainly up there with the best of the 79 to 91 episodes especially as it was so late in the season. Snow depth of 20cm plus, has been very rare here since 1991.  This must be the first heavy drifting here since 1991
Only shame is that so much snow started dissapearing on Friday and that the temperatures rose on Saturday. Would have been nice to experience the deep snow at the weekend.
Also which is quite typical of Easterly flow over the Southern North Sea, is that there was not continuous snowfall. There were long periods where there was no snow falling or just a few flurries. All the parameters need to be right for heavy persisstant snowfall and this only occurred Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. North of the wash always seems to be better for more persisstant, frequent, heavy snowfall from an Easterly

I would give this week  8/10  2 marks lost for: lack of more frequent snowfall, milder temperatures arriving too soon and the dissapearance of so much snow so quickly  

---

Where are you in Aberdeenshire Telemarker?

 

near Insch

Just looking at the highest official snow depths, Little Rissington (Glos) recorded 64cm at 12Z on March 3. Is that a legit reading?

---

Pretty decent here in East Lothian and overall I'd give it 7/10. We ended up with ~10 inches of snow which isn't bad considering we're right on the coast at sea level.

Funnily enough the Edinburgh area ended up with less snow than further West in the central belt, mainly because some of the beefy streamers missed us to the North and the South. I'll never forget Wednesday and Thursday though,when we had horizontal snow on and off and temperatures maxed at -3C during daylight, despite an incessant Easterly wind and almost constant cloud cover. It is pretty sad the way it all ended with a whimper; pretty much a non-event with gradually rising temperatures to ~2/3C which have still been enough to start the snow melt from Sunday morning.

---