February 1956 February 1956 was a very cold month with frequent frosts but snowfalls were restricted mostly to eastern parts. The CET for the month was -0.2 The transistion from a relatively average end of January to a very cold start to a very cold February was spectacular. High pressure had been building across Scandinavia and a very cold easterly flow began to advance westwards towards the UK. At first, a number of places reported rain but it turned to snow as temperatures plummet to sub zero values freezing everything that was wet. There were heavy snowfalls in the east with depths approaching 30cm and drifting in the easterly wind. The 2nd February was the coldest day that winter generally with maxima as low as -6C in some places. Another blast of very cold air from the east came around the 18th, which brought very severe frosts, some snowfalls to the east and southern counties fo England, parts of Cornwall had around 25cm of level snow, and sub zero maxima. Sheltered western areas escaped the worst of the snow and there was plenty of winter sunshine but the frosts were very severe with little cloud insulation at night.