We're coming up to 10 years since this interesting spell of weather. The final days of October 2008 saw northerly winds bring notably low temperatures and even snow to quite a large portion of the UK. Strangely, I have absolutely no memory of this one, so I could tell you if it snowed in my area or not.

The early-season cold wave began on 27 October as an area of low pressure moved north-east of the UK and high pressure moved out west, shifting winds into the north.

On 28 October, a weather front from the south west interacted with the cold air that was in place across the UK, bringing an exceptionally widespread snowfall for October. Snow was even reported in London and other areas of South East England for the first time since 1934, and lay up to a depth of 3cm quite widely. In some areas, the snow lay for several days. Nottingham recorded a maximum temperature of just 5.3C on this day.

Skies then turned clear overnight, bringing a hard frost on the morning of the 29th. Though the spell didn't see any record-breakingly low temperatures, some areas saw their coldest October day for 50 years. A minimum of -6.6C was recorded at Topcliffe, North Yorkshire and a maximum of just 3.1C was recorded at Leek, Staffordshire. There were also more snow showers reported on this day.

The final days of October seen the spell moderate slightly. Temperatures remained chilly, but the depth of cold had eased. Halloween was cold in 2008 under a north-easterly wind.

 I'm probably going to make a historic video on this event and the winter of 2008-09 some time next week.

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When I first started using weather forums I never knew there was an October 2008 cold spell, but we didn't get any snow here so I guess that's why.

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I remember it as if it were yesterday - I was almost washed away in my car (was a write off!) in the freak floods of east Devon:


https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/weather-phenomena/case-studies/ottery-hail

10 years on the chart's are looking very similar but more of a dry cold northerly air mass than a cold and wet one like in 2008 etc! Crazy to think we get the exact same sort of weather pattern around there same time a decade on: - almost identical pressure charts/set up!

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I remember this cold spell well, with reports of snow down as far as London. We didn't get any snow here in Lowestoft but had thundery showers early on 30 Oct as the cold arctic air interacted with the warm sea. 29 Oct was a cold day of only 7 C, but beautiful with unbroken sunshine and very little wind, the previous night being frosty.

I think this snow event avoided us Bolty. I'm wondering if it was a case of the cold air undercutting the front after it had passed our region.

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Some pics I took in Berkhamsted and Regent's Park of the October 2008 snow.

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/twocontent.aspx?type=bg&id=1680 

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I think this snow event avoided us Bolty. I'm wondering if it was a case of the cold air undercutting the front after it had passed our region.

 

Think that is correct.

I was driving back from Derby and there was some snow up the A38 towards Mansfield but nothing north of that.

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Living in North London Ally Pally at the time we got a decent covering from this event. But more significantly it heralded the start of the cold winters between 09 and 13. 

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I was on the M42 ....SW of Brum that afternoon....huge flakes of Snow and covering the carriageway around 4pm....Arrived home around 5.30pm...light covering of Snow lasted overnight where it froze...Some years apart from last winter recently would have welcomed that amount of Snow !!!

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I think this snow event avoided us Bolty. I'm wondering if it was a case of the cold air undercutting the front after it had passed our region.

Ah thanks. That's probably why I don't remember it then. It must have just been a cold late October day in the north, with the south getting the snow.

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We even had a couple of centimetres here in balmy Berkshire! This was the morning after.

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I strained to see a blob of sleet on the windscreen and did a bit of LPW. My father had recently moved into a new place on the low hills of W Dorset, north of Bridport, and told me about big, wet flakes falling for a few minutes in the dark hours. Jealous.

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I was in America at the time, but I remember following events on TWO

There was also a cold plunge across the great lakes about a week before and we had some falling snow but then it warmed up in time for Obama's election

 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSy5rd5b6yA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibGWHD0L9pQ

 

What happened to Kirsty McCabe?

I used to quite fancy her

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We didn't have any snow in my part of Surrey, as far as I could see.

I do remember one occasion in, I think, the late 1970s when we had heavy but brief snow showers on the afternoon of (IIRC) 31st October, when I was working at West Byfleet near Woking in Surrey. During the heaviest shower the snow settled on the grass, but as soon as the shower finished the snow cover rapidly melted.  

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We even had a couple of centimetres here in balmy Berkshire! This was the morning after.

We had a cm or two here as well, but I can’t find any photos. I remember 2008 as being the year that we had snow in both April (closer to 10cm IIRC) and October. That’s got to be very rare for lowland southern England!

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The 1993 and 2012 snowfalls were far more notable here. 4cm fell on 16th October 1993 and there were still remains by evening. Probably just as much fell on 26th October 2012, if not more. I was returning home from the Canaries and the depth of snow around Laurencekirk was incredible for October and even back home it was more than just a dusting. Unfortunately by the following morning when it was measured it had thawed considerably to just a cm.

2008, by contrast delivered just a dusting. The most notable aspect was the low daytime high of 2.7C which was the coldest October max since at least 1934. However the 21st century curse struck when it came to minima, barely getting below freezing when as low as -5C has been seen in October before. While we can easily get maxima as cold as in the distant past that just doesn’t seem possible with minima due to the ever present nagging breeze that never drops out over autumn and winter. Beyond infuriating and just one of several factors making this the worst era for weather observing in modern times.

 

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