The December 1990 Wet Snowstorm This was one of the great snow events of the last 20 years and was largely unpredicted. High pressure was sitting over the UK and began to move to the west as a cold front moved down from the NW. By the 7th of December, the cold front was across central parts of the UK but it began to develop a wave feature on the front. At the same time, cold Arctic air was moving behind the cold front from the north. A closed circulation developed and pressure fell by 40mbs in 36 hours reaching 987mb by the 8th and was centred over the SE of England. Heavy preciptation fell over the Midlands and the Peninnes, this fell as snow over the highest parts but at low levels, it was initially rain. With Arctic air moving along the western flank, the rain rapidly turned into snow and since temperatures were fractionally above freezing the snow was wet. The rate of snowfall was high about 6cm an hour and as result many areas were snow covered within half an hour of the snow starting to fall. The rate of pressure fall caused the winds to increase and across the Midlands, the winds reached gale force causing blizzard conditions and drifting snow. Transport was severely disrupted and many people were trapped in their cars on the M5 and M6 motorways as well as numerous A roads in the Midlands. The NEC in Birmingham was used as a haven for rescued drivers. Many parts of the Midlands reported at least 20cm of level snow and there were depths of 60cm in the Derby area. and there were drifts of up to 3.7m. In the centre of Birmingham itself depths were approaching 30cm. The economic impact of the snowstorm was huge. The Saturday takings for stores and shops were well down compounded by the fact that it was three weeks to Christmas. 650,000 people were without electricity and about 1.2 million were without water. All rail services in the Midlands were cancelled. Within 4 days most of the snow had gone