Christmas 2000 Snowfall

[let it snow!]

Hi guys

I was just reminising about the very cold spell over christmas and new years 2000. I remember being on holiday in the far northwest of ireland and awaking about 8am one morning (I think the 27th) december, to a fantastic sight. Although our garden was covered in clear skies with a heavy frost, there was an ominous bank of cloud to the west. This duely arrived and it started snowing onto the frozen surface at about 8:20am...

...and boy did it snow! It snowed solidly and very heavily until just after 1pm, and left us with 8 inches of level snow. We rather stupidly went for a drive and got stuck on a hill! By about 3pm the snow receded and I remember having to walk home (leaving the car at the bottom of the hill!). We had one more extremely heavy shower later that day which gave whiteout conditions and was actually pretty scary to be out in. From then on for the next few days it became cold and sunny, but the snow stayed for the best part of the week.

The question I have is what gave such intense snowfall in the northwest of ireland? Surely if it was an atlantic front it would have introduced milder air? It certainly wasnt a passing shower!

Also, what other memories do people have of this event? Certainly the best snow ive seen in my 21 years. Ah the memories...

[Zerouali lives]

Well unfortunately I don't remember this snow event which is not like me. Just checked the archive and it shows the formation of nice Greenland HIGH setting up a week of cold conditions. My own city of Aberdeen must have received a decent covering, although, as I say I can't remember this event. I could be wrong, but did Rob McElwee do a lot of the BBC Weather Broadcasts prior to that Christmas? Also, the deep depression which swept in on the 31st could've been the one which absolutely soaked me that Hogmanay night out - heavy rain and very strong winds which fell as snow above 200m for a time. I remember an news incident which happened in Wanlockhead in Scotland just after New Year which showed pictures from the scene - the village was absolutely buried in snow!

http://www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk/images/V...n_snow_2001.JPG

Edited January 3, 2006 by Zerouali lives

[Weather-history]

Here's some photos I took of that snowfall

http://www.net-weather.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=13823

[Michael Fishermans Friend]

I remember that snowfall, here in Essex it consisted of large wet flakes and about 3" of snow fell here mainly between the 27th -28th with maxes in the range of 0.5C-2C to about the 30th, infact more noteworthy than the spell we've just had!

[Michael Fishermans Friend]

Actually if you look at the charts for that time a Greenland HP was present with LP near to the channel which moved close to southern parts and then 'split' with another cell nearer to the west, all with associated cold air wrapped in the circulation, the cell then moved out into the north sea by the 30th followed by the re-introduction of milder conditions from the Atlantic.

[Thundery wintry showers]

It was quite an odd feature, I don't think the front that produced the snow in the NW was part of the Atlantic cell to our south, although the Atlantic system might have affected the south.

The polar low took a strange track- it headed south/south-east to the north of Ireland on the 27th, and then tracked south-eastwards, in a loop, across the British Isles on the 28th. Then, along with the Atlantic system to our south, it moved into the North Sea on the 29th, temporarily bringing snow showers and local thunder to some eastern areas.

[let it snow!]

Glad you all remember it as fondly as I do, was a fantastic spell of snow for the north of Ireland. It was the first instance for a very long time that snow settled in large quantities on the west coast of Ireland-its almost always too mild. If I remember Met Eirean were caught out slightly, they predicted 'snow showers with some accumulations' the night before!

[summer blizzard]

Here is the chart from that day...

Eight inches of snow in around five hours is 1.6 inches per hour, very heavy.