Best winter event for you since the turn of the century

[Summer of 95]

1-2 Dec 2010, 18 Dec 2010, 22 Dec 2010, snow in Dec always extra special for xmas, last 2 Xmas days ive had snow on ground

25 Dec 04 was also great, only northerly toppler, not much snow but great timimg,

5th Jan 10, was okay but bloody stockport had 18 inches, i only had 3

I only had 1 1/2! And that took till 10pm to arrive when it had been snowing since daybreak in most other places. The whole of winter 2009/10 was definitely the biggest winter letdown of the century here.

Since this thread started, December 2010 (well 27 Nov-26 Dec to be precise) is definitely first with a combination of decent depths (15cm for 5 days at one point) and lasting cold (ice days galore, several sub -10 nights, and 25 days with lying snow in Nov and Dec combined).

12 March 2006 is still second (still the only time since Feb 1994 that 10cm or more has fallen in one go in Shrewsbury), Feb 2007 is challenging for third and probably just edges out the 2001/2 New Year spell, purely because of the much greater amount of snow. Neither Feb 2009 (much less here than many places, and it kept melting during the day) nor anything from 09/10 makes the top 5.

[Snowstorm1]

For me in the Northeast there is far far too many to pick from the past few winters im not complaining though!

Here is a snapshot of last winter Plenty of snow about 40cm at its peak with 2 foot drifts

2010/2011 SNOW Days

Snow Days (50% or more snow laying at 9am)

November = 25th , 26th , 27th , 28th , 29th (School Off) , 30th

December = 1st (School Off) , 2nd (School Off) , 3rd (Training Day But School Would Probably Closed) , 4th , 5th , 6th , 7th ,8th , 9th , 10th , 11th , 12th , 13th , 19th , 20th , 21st , 22nd , 23rd , 24th , 25th , 26th , 27th , 28th

[Aaron]

November - December 2010 without a doubt. We had successive snow showers which gave around 15 cm in November. On the 1st of December, a decaying snow streamer moved northwards and gave us around 15 cm. We ended up with 25 cm, with 40 cm snow drifts, temperatures on the 3rd fell to -13c here and Google weather listed the temperature for Leeds as -16c! In late December we had no snow here in east Leeds, but was very, very cold with a permanent rime frost and frozen fountains which looked stunning. The mean temperature for the entire month for me was -0.5c.

2009 - 2010 is a close second. We didn't really get any exceptional snow, around 15 - 20 cm which lasted two weeks in January, but all three winter months were colder than average. We had a white Christmas with 3 inches of snow in December 2009. February 2010 was dry and cold with a lot of ice, many pavements were treacherous and impossible to walk on. We had 3 inches one morning in late February.

February 2009 was the deepest snow I had seen for a while, but the month was actually slightly above average, January 2009 was colder, the snow lasted around two weeks but only because it turned to ice very quickly.

Then we have January 2004, the snow depths weren't great but I remember walking home up a steep hill, the snow was blowing horizontally into my face, proper blizzard conditions, my face was so cold to the point I almost cried!

Edited August 5, 2011 by aaron

[AderynCoch]

Probably 4-5th January 2010 which dumped about 15-20cm, most of it in the space of 2-3 hours. The snow on 28th December 2000 may have been slightly deeper, but only stuck around for 4 days compared with the 11 days of the former.

The heavy snowfall of 17-18th December 2010 also deserves mention for its timing and perseverance (aided by a slight top-up on the 22nd). The low temperatures of that spell were also amazing. Actually, I'm going to opt for this one over the January 2010 event as the level of cold was more extreme and it happened right before Christmas, plus the snow stuck around for about the same length of time. January 2010 beat December 2010 in terms of snow depths, but not by much.

[Weather-history]

. The whole of winter 2009/10 was definitely the biggest winter letdown of the century here.

I have mentioned this a number of times but there were hardly any Cheshire Gap effects during that winter, which was the big problem for the west Midlands. The wind had too much of a westerly component in the pre Christmas spell and that early January spell. The Liverpool and Manchester areas got pasted whilst south Cheshire and to the south of this missed out largely.

[Summer of 95]

I have mentioned this a number of times but there were hardly any Cheshire Gap effects during that winter, which was the big problem for the west Midlands. The wind had too much of a westerly component in the pre Christmas spell and that early January spell. The Liverpool and Manchester areas got pasted whilst south Cheshire and to the south of this missed out largely.

On the morning of the 5th Jan I remember it had been snowing hard around Manchester/N Cheshire/N Staffs, the band moved southwards, broke up as soon as it hit Shropshire, then formed again over Worcestershire. I remember going for a drive north towards Stoke that morning and the snow cover literally started right at the Shrops/Staffs border. That was the real nail in the coffin for that winter here.

All December 2009 gave was 1cm on the evening of the 23rd, from the *south*, which lasted long enough to make the 24th count as a "snow lying" day; it had mostly gone by late that evening though so no white Christmas. And then there was that unbelievable sleety rain the weekend before, when it had scarcely risen above freezing for 3 days, and yet again snowed virtually everywhere else. Feb 2010 was the month of endless 2C and sleet. Thank goodness 2010/11 (despite an abysmal Feb) restored my faith in winter!

[Chris D]

Probably 4-5th January 2010 which dumped about 15-20cm, most of it in the space of 2-3 hours. The snow on 28th December 2000 may have been slightly deeper, but only stuck around for 4 days compared with the 11 days of the former.

The heavy snowfall of 17-18th December 2010 also deserves mention for its timing and perseverance (aided by a slight top-up on the 22nd). The low temperatures of that spell were also amazing. Actually, I'm going to opt for this one over the January 2010 event as the level of cold was more extreme and it happened right before Christmas, plus the snow stuck around for about the same length of time. January 2010 beat December 2010 in terms of snow depths, but not by much.

I'm not that far from you and I got 15cm in Jan 2010, but 25cm in Dec 2010! I know which one I'd have here, and with the record low of -13.0c on Christmas Day that month is hard to forget...But, the suddenness, heaviness and surprise at the Jan 2010 snowfall was also remarkable. Actually, I'm not sure now...

Edited August 5, 2011 by chris93

[Duane S.]

Late Nov through to Decemeber 2010 for me as well. Just the severity and duration of the cold, the lying snow, the hill where I live closed for a week due to numerous accidents caused by ice/snow. Amazing because it started in the month of November and amazing because we don't see a lot of weather like that at the best of times down here!

[Norrance]

November 28th 2010 for here. 12 hours of thundersnow.

The snow that fell from Nov 26th to Dec 3rd 2010 lasted in my garden for 50 days [with a few top ups in December and early January]. Very unusual for this near to the coast.

Edited August 8, 2011 by Norrance

[Cwmbran Eira]

Loving this topic.

Late Dec 2009 to mid Jan 2010 (can't remember exact dates) we had 3 seperate dumps of snow over 30cm. One closer to 40cm. We've had deeper falls in the past but I have never experienced so many significant falls of snow in such a small space of time. It was great.

It's a funny old world though. Jan 2011 promised so much but failed to deliver in my exact location although areas only 10 miles away were severely affected. I remember watching the radar and seeing all the heavy stuff just missing us. Very frustrating!

[Evening thunder]

In terms of snowfall amount easily the 20th December 2010 for me, 8 inches or so fell in the early morning, bringing the depth to about 10 inches/25cm or more in many places where previous snow lay. The intensity was unexpected and the front/low developed in the right way to give us the heaviest of the snow, but keep it as snow without it turning to sleet/rain down here as I was worried it might (and the forecast suggested) there was even thunder/lightning over the channel and South Devon with lots of hail there apparently, and I observed a distant flash/rumble.

Coastal areas just the other side of the Exe Estuary had mainly rain/sleet/hail and ended with a dusting, while this side had snow.

It wasn't just that snow event it was the snow before especially the 18th which was beautiful with a clear blue sky and shallow mist patches above the 2 inches of powder snow decorating all the trees etc. Also the very cold weather was memorable, -14.0C on Christmas morning! This led into a fantastic Christmas day with sparkling sunshine all day and a min\max of -14/-2.

and overall late November/December 2010 by far comes out on top, for both cold and snow amounts, and things like rime frost that I hadn't seen to that extent before, and the length. Though first part only had an inch of snow on the 2nd.

The only slightly disappointing aspect was the mild end that stopped the average temp being below 0C here.

Before this it was January 2010 with 2 inches of snow here and a min of -12.2C, my previous deepest and lowest at my house.

[Ladyofthestorm]

hmmm snow events in 21st century

Snowing on the 18th of November while christmas shopping was awesome last year.

March 2006 was awesome as well, with 17 snow days.

and of course all the time Ive experienced a white christmas, 2000, 2001, 2004 and last year.

we havent had a good blizzard for a while, though our best direction is from the North for that one.

The windstorm of 2005 will probably leave a few memories I would rather not think about.

[damianslaw]

The last three winters have delivered much in the way of very cold weather in the Lake District, but unusually compared to much of the rest country not that much in the way of many heavy snowfalls.

The heaviest snowfall being that of the 21st December 2009 with 10 inches by the end of the day - the last time we saw those amounts was the infamous event in early feb 96. The Dec 2009 event was actually two events, 6-7 inches on the 20th with a further 4 inch top up in even of the 21st with thundersnow. The snow stuck around for much of the christmas period, thawing in time for new year. We missed out on the heavy falls of 5th Jan 2010 receiving 3 inches only, the snow unusually pepped up as it headed into lancashire.

Last winter saw numerous light snowfalls during december, the heaviest on the 3/4th dec with 5 inches of wet snow which began to thaw quickly. Mid month saw a thaw before further snowfall on the 17th/18th but only a couple of inches, again we missed out on the heavy snowfalls experienced in merseyside on the 20th. The snow stuck around up to the 27th with a brief light snowfall on christmas day. The rest of last winter was largely devoid of any further snowfalls apart from the 8th/9th Jan.

Would love to see a snowfall delivering over a foot of the stuff this winter, been a long time.

[Isolated Frost]

OH YES!

February 2nd 2009, I think it was transfer deadline day and there was the Arshavin story, I remember having snowball fights and going in every few minutes to check what's happening - roughly 15cm (6inch.) of snow lying.

December 18th - 21st 2009, heavy intermittent snow showers again, and finally a possibility of a white christmas was on the cards - my first one! I remember being there on the first night, going out with my mate to the village shops and then visibility fading, the ground was covered in white gold - lamppost watching galore. 15cm of snow, slowly melting by Xmas.

New Years Eve and Day 2009/2010, NE hit by showers unlike anywhere else in the nation - 3 inches of morning snow to start the decade.

24 November 2010 - Brilliant! After snow ramping on the regionals for a week, on the cold, dark evening of 24.11.11, some snow showers began in Washington, they became heavier and more persistant, and eventually led to one of the greatest snow spells in history - between November 24th and December 3rd, over 50cm of snow fell in Wearside, as at the end of it all, 42cm of snow, and -12C on the Durham Riviera woke me up on Sunday the 3rd.

Christmas 2010 - What a nice little spell this was, roughly a week before christmas, after some 'mildish' (5-10C) weather melted the snow, it came back at the perfect time, and luckily enough 10cm was lying on the day itself. Hot chocolate, -8C and a brisk Northerly, accompanied by some little prezzies, what's better?!

Bear in mind I'm only 13, so I won't have many events in there - and it's quite late 2000's heavy, but I can't recall much prestigious in the NE between 1997 and 2008 tbf

[A Winter's Tale]

I haven't got specific dates for all snow events though I have a vague idea of certain snow events.

I mentioned in an other thread that I remember some of the winters during my early childhood had decent falls so somewhere between December 1999 and March 2002.

In chronological order - my favourite snow events:

- Large snowfall(s) in early 2000.

- December 2000/Christmas snowfalls. I remember how great a spell that was and going for a walk on the Campsie Hills towards the end of the spell.

- Early 2001 large snowfalls. I know there were snowfalls in both early 2000/2001. I recall looking out the window watching snow ploughs going up the street, waking up to a winter wonderland, going to my grans in a blizzard (once or twice) and getting stuck on the way back. These events are somewhere between Dec 1999 and 2002 but there were some good winter memories.

- December 2001 brief snowfalls. I remember being in school watching an amazing blizzard. It wasn't 2000 and it could be 2001 but I remember doing the Christmas tree during a great snowfall. There seemed to be so many decent snowfalls (albeit shortlived) during this period.

- December 2003? - A think there was a decent battleground snowfall after Christmas.

- Christmas 2004 - A white Christmas.

- Perhaps December 2005 - Another battleground snowfall

- March 2006 - Of course, the largest snowfall I have ever seen. 30cm from battleground snowfall.

- February 2nd 2009 - The first decent snowfall we had in many years.

- February 8th 2009 - A very decent infact very good snowfall and the best since March 2006. Around 10 or more cm dumped by a front.

- December 20th 2009 - A very simular event to Feb 8th 2009 except this time it came from a polar low.

- Winter 2009-2010 snowfalls - Mainly the big freeze as it probably was overall the snowiest and coldest winter I have ever seen.

- November 26th/28th 2010- Best November snowfall I have ever seen. 26th was an epic blizzard with thunder snow.

- December 6th 2010 - An incredible snowfall that caused absolute mayhem.

- Big Freeze Nov/Dec Snowfalls - An exceptional month of amazing snowy and cold weather aswell as a White Christmas.

So my Top 5 Events in Chronolgical order:

- Snow events from 1999-2002 including Dec 2000.

- March 2006

- Feb 8th 2009.

- Winter snowfalls 2009-2010.

- November/December snowfalls 2010.

[damianslaw]

I haven't got specific dates for all snow events though I have a vague idea of certain snow events.

I mentioned in an other thread that I remember some of the winters during my early childhood had decent falls so somewhere between December 1999 and March 2002.

In chronological order - my favourite snow events:

- Large snowfall(s) in early 2000.

- December 2000/Christmas snowfalls. I remember how great a spell that was and going for a walk on the Campsie Hills towards the end of the spell.

- Early 2001 large snowfalls. I know there were snowfalls in both early 2000/2001. I recall looking out the window watching snow ploughs going up the street, waking up to a winter wonderland, going to my grans in a blizzard (once or twice) and getting stuck on the way back. These events are somewhere between Dec 1999 and 2002 but there were some good winter memories.

- December 2001 brief snowfalls. I remember being in school watching an amazing blizzard. It wasn't 2000 and it could be 2001 but I remember doing the Christmas tree during a great snowfall. There seemed to be so many decent snowfalls (albeit shortlived) during this period.

- December 2003? - A think there was a decent battleground snowfall after Christmas.

- Christmas 2004 - A white Christmas.

- Perhaps December 2005 - Another battleground snowfall

- March 2006 - Of course, the largest snowfall I have ever seen. 30cm from battleground snowfall.

- February 2nd 2009 - The first decent snowfall we had in many years.

- February 8th 2009 - A very decent infact very good snowfall and the best since March 2006. Around 10 or more cm dumped by a front.

- December 20th 2009 - A very simular event to Feb 8th 2009 except this time it came from a polar low.

- Winter 2009-2010 snowfalls - Mainly the big freeze as it probably was overall the snowiest and coldest winter I have ever seen.

- November 26th/28th 2010- Best November snowfall I have ever seen. 26th was an epic blizzard with thunder snow.

- December 6th 2010 - An incredible snowfall that caused absolute mayhem.

- Big Freeze Nov/Dec Snowfalls - An exceptional month of amazing snowy and cold weather aswell as a White Christmas.

So my Top 5 Events in Chronolgical order:

- Snow events from 1999-2002 including Dec 2000.

- March 2006

- Feb 8th 2009.

- Winter snowfalls 2009-2010.

- November/December snowfalls 2010.

Don't recall many snowfalls in jan 2000 - indeed it was a very sunny benign dry month with few temp extremes. Feb 2000 delivered one snowfall mid month - but don't recall it being particularly anywhere. Indeed April 2000 delivered more snow here than Jan, Feb or March.

24-31 Dec 2000 - saw very cold weather with sub-zero maxima in the north. Heavy snow on the 28th - one of the best snow events for west/sw scotland, cumbria and n ireland in the last 15 years. Glasgow was particularly hard hit I remember.

Jan 2001 - a quite cold month for the north with very cold weather and snow mid month but nothing exceptional. Feb 2001 delivered two major snowfalls in scotland early and late in the month. The snowfall at the end of the month brought very large totals to eastern parts and the borders as well as NE Eng. I remember it well living in Stirling at the time, but was very frustrated being on the western edge of the heavy stuff, I think we only saw 2-3 inches in the end. Edinburgh and Perth were much harder hit.

Dec 2001 - was a cold dry month in many places with sporadic light snowfalls in the run up to christmas and thereafter, scotland recieved the heaviest falls just after christmas. New year 2002 was particularly chilly and the opening days of Jan 2002 saw sub zero maxima in the north and scotland. Then someone turned a light switch and the rest of the winter was a complete write off for cold and snow - a much more toned down version of winter 10/11 delivering early christmas presents but then alot of short change after christmas.

[The watcher]

December 2010....over 10 days of lying snow (over 6 inches deep)...lowest temperatures ever recorded in N.I, beaten twice within a few days.

Snowfall was on average 8 inches deep.

Not only that, but a nighttime Thundersnow event with pea sized hail leaving 3 inches ontop of the snowfall.

Edited August 17, 2011 by The watcher

[Backtrack]

Winter 09/10 was the best winter I can remember. It was the best in terms of snow (1ft maximum) and hail.

For cold, it was the winter just gone. We reached -11C, which is a new local record!

[Liam J]

Last winter 2010/2011 with two big snow events November and December with -15c as an overnight low, which was an all time record low along with an all time lowest daytime maximum of -5c.

January 2005 storm which the met office issued an emergency weather warning for the wind storm, violent storm force 11 on land near the coast in Cumbria with gusts 90-100mph. Widespread damage that night plus the floods in Carlisle and other areas.

[cheeky_monkey]

nothing has come close to Feb 1978 in terms of snowfall..even in Canada..but my lowest so far is -42c here in Edmonton

[Liam J]

Last winter 2010/2011 with two big snow events November and December with -15c as an overnight low, which was an all time record low along with an all time lowest daytime maximum of -5c.

January 2005 storm which the met office issued an emergency weather warning for the wind storm, violent storm force 11 on land near the coast in Cumbria with gusts 90-100mph. Widespread damage that night plus the floods in Carlisle and other areas.

Sting jet formation into January 8th 2005 over Cumbria with gusts exceeding 100mph

http://www.geography.org.uk/download/GA_FloodingCarlisleStingJets.pdf

[summer blizzard]

i posted in 07 that my best events were dec 31st 03 and 23rd feb 05. these have nowbeing overtsken by feb10, feb 09, dec 10 and jan 10 with depths of 10cm, 14cm, 23cm in and 29cm.

[Aaron]

Only 23cm in December 2010? That's pretty low considering we got more here around 90 meters asl and parts of Leeds got around a foot.

[summer blizzard]

im yes, that was on dec 2nd although the snow did last until the 2nd cold spell so we had 25 days of lying snow. winter 2010 was better here with 29cm on january 5th and 31 days of lying snow.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Had I been in Cleadon between 24 November and 3 December 2010, that spell would have won by a large margin, but unfortunately I was down in Norwich where we sat in the "dry corridor" during 30 November-2 December with a layer of partially thawed/refrozen ice on the ground, so it's memorable partly for the wrong reasons. Nonetheless, the period 25-29 November 2010 in Norwich represented the snowiest November spell that I've experienced.

My favourite spell was the period 31 December 2009-9 January 2010. I was in Cleadon until the 5th January, there was thundersnow on the evening of the 31st, and there were big snowstorms on New Year's Day, and most subsequent days were cold and bright with sunshine and snow showers. I went down to Norwich on the 5th, and the 6th-9th had more of the same there too.

In second place was the spell 18th-26th December 2010 (I was in Cleadon throughout this spell), again cold and bright with sunshine and snow showers on most days, and the aggregate snow depth reached 11cm on the 24th/25th December. 8cm fell in a couple of hours on the evening of the 19th December, followed by a record low maximum for my site of -3.3 on the 20th in spite of unbroken sunshine.

Those two spells beat anything that I experienced during 1993-2009.