Staggering Duration Of This Cold Spell.

[damianslaw]

Some statistics -

12th day with snow cover

8th ice day since 27th November

The river Kent in parts of Kendal has a full layer of ice from one side to the other - this never happened at any stage during last winter indicative of the very cold nights and consistent cold minima, but also indicative of the rather low river levels. The river Kent is the fastest flowing river in England.

I'm getting used to seeing white snow filled fields and fells, I'm just hoping this imminent less cold spell doesn't do too much damage to the snow at higher levels, allowing patches of green to show..but the cold and snow will be quickly back to fill in any holes.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

I went to Derwent Water today and there was very little open water!

[Rustynailer]

The Forest above where I was working today and yesterday has been frozen for days, see picture taken yesterday, it was the same scene all day today where I took the picture too.

I have lived on the Isle of Wight for 21 years, to have days on end of this so early is new ground for me. I got 7" snow in the back garden last week..............

Outstanding weather OON.

Russ

Photo taken at approximately 180m ASL, Brightstone forest, Isle of Wight 07 12 2010

Edited December 8, 2010 by Rustynailer

[Hairy Celt]

I recorded my lowest temp since at this address (10 years) a few days ago, and have already had as many ice days (four) as the total from the previous 4 years. Could do with a cumberland sausage to warm me up, just thinking about all that cold!

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Could do with a cumberland sausage to warm me up, just thinking about all that cold!

Nice try, but you're just not my type.

After dropping down to -12.9 before midnight (with a maximum yesterday of just -6.9C) it's turned positively balmy at just -8.2C right now.

[Weather-history]

It will be interesting to compare temperatures recorded in the last fortnight with those recorded in the equivalent fortnight in 1979 and 2000. A marked contrast, it will be!

[swipe]

From Joe B*astardi's blog:  

"HOW COLD IS IT?

Gavin Partridge has supplied the details:

The central England Temperature (CET) from the 1st-7th of December is -1.9, making this the coldest opening week of December since 1879; 1879 is the coldest opening week on CET record, so this week has been the second coldest opening week to December since CET records began in 1659.  The two-week period, last week of November and first week of December is the coldest since CET records began in 1659.  My addition:  I guess when a lot of us started speculating about going back to the time of the Victorian era... we underestimated it.  

Ciao for now"

Edited December 9, 2010 by swipe

[johnholmes]

my mean for December(to the 8th) is -1.8C

for the period 24/11-8/12=-0.8C

[Bottesford]

Do you live in Bottesford (see you have Nottingham in profile, I live in Newark.

I won't respond to all your data at moment. Monday night minimum was -12.0C. I have recorded in Newark since 1949, That was second coldest December night on Record

Lowest was in 1981 at -12.6C

Average minimum for last two weeks about -5C

No I'm city centre Nottingham - I just 'borrowed' the village name... (long story!).

So for me living 5 or so mins walk from a major city centre to record -9.3c in early December is quite something!

[Polar Continental]

This end of Autumn and early winter cold is truly incredible, I have recorded the lowest minimum for any month since local records began of –11.2c on November 28th, then a few days later, the record was broken yet again, –11.6c on the 3rd of December, this was then followed by an all time lowest maximum of –5.8c 6th December.

The mean maximum currently stands at an incredible –0.3c, while the mean minimum is currently at an astonishing –7.5c, -8.2c below the local average.

Roslison station, just 2 miles from here, has recorded even lower temperatures, Lowest temperature: -12.0C on 28th Nov..

Just to add, today is the mildest since November 24th, the temperature reached the dizzy heights of 3.8c.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Polar Continental

[Isolated Frost]

On the morning of the Third, I reached -12.2C, which was my lowest temperature since I started recording in 1987, and we've only just started.

An amazing 15 consecutive snow days, from November the 25^th , which is immense, last winter, I recorded a total of 41 days, so I think somehow this winter will beat it, especially if it survives this less cold interlude.

So colder and very possibly snowier, with a larger snow depth than at anypoint of last winter, not bad.

[greybing]

i dont think i would say that this cold spell went on for a staggering duration of time,pretty average amount of time ,2 weeks or so.

[A Winter's Tale]

It looks like today, the Big Freeze has come to an end across the United Kingdom. With more than two weeks of excitement with watching radar and lamposts and checking temperatures nationwide, this snow/severe winter event has certainly been memroable. For snowfall and even temperature for my location, this cold snap has probably beaten last years, however having lying snow with the clear skies during the Christmas and New Year period was perfect.

The first snowfall which fell in my area came on Friday the 26th November and what a snowfall it was. It brought 5-10cm of lying snow, however it was one of the best blizzards I have ever seen (almost on the same level as those in the early 00s and late 90s). Easterlies consistently brought snowfall right up to Wednesday/Thursday the 1st/2nd of December. A totall of 15 days of lying snow and 11 days of falling snowfall. Maximum snow depth was 25cm between Monday 6th December and Thursday the 8th. Lowest minimum was about -14/-15c on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

So in terms of snowfall, how has the period been for you and where does it rank.

For me, I have many favourite snow event; some short lived, some not, however this year's big freeze and December and January last year would top the table. March 2006 was the deepest snow event.

Temperature wise, this was colder than all of last winter.

[Guest]

From Watford - what snow?, I doubt we got a centimetre and it is long gone now.

[Downburst]

In Ireland, most of the East Coast and Midlands have had record breaking temperatures. We've had snow lying for at least 13 days. This will go down in the consciousness of this Isle for sure, not least since it started in November; we are usually cutting grass in 12 to 14 degrees at the end of November in Ireland wishing for some frost to stop it. The deviation form the mean has been immense. Now i have more of a conceptual understanding of the ice age, 15,000 years ago where I write there was 1 kilometer of Ice above me. I believe now that that was possible. Four dumping’s of snow in two weeks! The rations in the previous 20 years delivered in two weeks.

[LomondSnowstorm]

I'm sorry Watford was so snowless, we got 42cm of the stuff here, remarkable for any time of year but this early is stunning. There was frequent thundersnow on the 27th,28th and 29th November, falls of over an inch on every day from the 26th November to the 1st December and also an additional 12cm on the 6th December. That last event caused huge problems for central Scotland and the M 8 (not the mate as the swear filter might stupidly put it but the motorway) in particular - 74cm reported in Falkirk on that day. It was a once in a generation spell of snow for many parts of Scotland and certainly not one I will forget in a hurry.

[Optimus Prime]

Hardly any snow apart from gettting a kind of windfall from the storms to the south and east a week back but very cold.

[Richard Lake]

14 days of lying snow here, piles of snow are set to be still around at least until the start of the next 'big freeze'.

Most of our snowfall fell overnight Tuesday 30th November and especially into the early hours of Wednesday 1st December leaving a depth of 25cm. Another further 5cm fell on Thursday 2nd December bringing the total to 30cm. Living less than 2 miles from the coast line, this is/was an impressive fall for this small area of the UK. Need to go back to at least Jan '87 in these parts to find a comparable snowfall. The coldest temperature I managed to observe was on Tuesday 7th December at 7.30am when I jumped in the car to see the thermometer reading -10C!

Edited December 11, 2010 by djrikki

[Guest]

14 days of lying snow here, piles of snow are set to be still around at least until the start of the next 'big freeze'.

Most of our snowfall fell overnight Tuesday 30th November and especially into the early hours of Wednesday 1st December leaving a depth of 25cm. Another further 5cm fell on Thursday 2nd December bringing the total to 30cm. Living less than 2 miles from the coast line, this is/was an impressive fall for this small area of the UK. Need to go back to at least Jan '87 in these parts to find a comparable snowfall. The coldest temperature I managed to observe was on Tuesday 7th December at 7.30am when I jumped in the car to see the thermometer reading -10C!

Very impressive - from 1954 to 1960 I was living at Holton le Clay and generally 8 to 10 cms was our limit, though it did get pretty cold at times with nice powdery white stuff.

However circa Jan 1954 or 55 we were travelling back from the midlands and got stuck for 3 days over the Wolds with drifts of 6 feet.

One storm I recall was when I was a boy in January circa 1954.

We had been down to visit my grandparents in South Derbyshire and were returning to out home at Holton le Clay, just outside Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

Before we set off, I noted that it was cloudy and the temperature was below freezing.

We set off via Nottingham and then on to Lincoln and up until that point the journey was uneventful, though my step father being very perceptive noted that oncoming lorries had snow on them and remarked that we were heading into snow.

When we got to Lincoln it started to snow big flakes the size of half crowns. As we got to the top of the hill and headed out through the other side, the snow depth increased dramatically. It had obviously been snowing for quite some time and was banked up at the sides of the road in some cases to about 6 feet. The wind was blowing furiously and the drifting snow had the appearance of fog.

My step father decided to take a lower route rather take our usual one over the Wolds, however we eventually came to a crossroads where it was not possible to make any further progress and parked our car, an old 1935 Humber 12, outside an AA box.

On looking round we spied a farm labourer's cottage and sought shelter there. Before we knew where we were about another 10 people had joined us. Since we were short on food, the farm labourer went out to the woods and shot some pigeons. The following morning his wife walked 3 miles to the local shop to try and obtain bread and ended up heart broken to find there wasn't any left.

My mother had a goodly supply of mince pies given to us by my grandmother and she was able to make soda bread for us.

The visits to the toilet were an education. This was a wooden outbuilding built over a hole in the ground with the old plank with a hole in it for sitting. The bottom of the wood had rotted away allowing the snow to swirl in and freeze our nether regions as we were answering nature's call.

I marvelled at the shape and complexity of the snow drifts and loved watching them grow.

In all we were there for 3 days before they could get the roads cleared again. The cylinder block on our old car had frozen so it was kaput. We got a lift back home with a breakdown lorry.

Along the way there were countless telegraph poles broken in half and countless wires down.

In those days they used to have the snow reports on the TV and these were preceded by a photograph and imagine our surprise when we saw that the photograph was our poor old Humber outside the AA box.

The cold weather did not last and after a few days it seemed that we had positively balmy weather with sunshine melting the snow.

Now I would greatly appreciate it if anybody was able to get hold of any synoptic charts and observations so that I could look at it in further detail. As far as I recall, it was the only substantial snowfall that winter and it was in January shortly before I was due to return to school after the Christmas break, hence the mince pies.

Edited December 11, 2010 by mike Meehan