Bbc Weather: Exceptionally Severe Winter Weather Warning Late February 2001

[Weather-history]

Don't often hear this warning given of exceptionally severe winter weather. Not happened around this neck of the woods, we got a little bit of snow but it was pretty much a non event. Lot different further north though! The Countryfile forecast had the low further south with the snow but it quickly changed to further north.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Mr_Data

[JRMcLeod]

I miss those BBC graphics. I always felt they gave a better depiction of the weather!

As for that snow, event...i remember it well! We had a similar set up in late feb/early march 2006 too if i recall.

[trickydicky]

Got 2 days off college from that little baby. Best post 1996 snow event for West Cumbria. Due to the dry frosty period that followed, the depth of the snow, and the height it was piled up to next to the roads, the snow hung around for weeks afterwards. I seem to recall it getting pretty warm in the weeks that followed.

[NW Leeds Russ]

Remember that well.

The missus and I went to Glasgow on the train on the Friday morning from Leeds.

Had to get off at Berwick and take the bus from there to Edinburgh because the line was blocked around the borders.

I remember the snow on the side of the A1 where ploughed was massive..!

Edited February 6, 2012 by NW Leeds Russ

[damianslaw]

I remember being quite dissapointed with the event- just missing out on an exceptional fall. I was living in Stirling at the time and although we did see some heavy snow and very strong winds - the total amounts were only 2 inches, and the wind quickly wipped the snow up making many surfaces clear of the stuff. I remember thinking is it snowing or is it just the wind blowing the snow about.

Places just 10 miles away nr Falkirk saw very severe conditions with much greater amounts of snow - as the front appeared to become unstuck over Lothian. The Borders and NE Eng were very badly affected. I remember the snow stuck around well into March. I travelled to Newcastle the weekend after and remember seeing the huge drifts from a darkened train window as I went through the borders.

March 2001 delivered a further wintry cold spell mid month with raw easterly winds.

We did see four preety wintry first halves to March in the 00's in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In the case of 2006 the cold extended to the 21st. 2010 also saw a cold though dry first half. Indeed the first half of March can and often does two faces - winter and spring. Last March was preety average and benign, I have a feeling this March will start on a much more wintry note.

[sundog]

It snowed most of the day here that day with Dublin airport closing for the first time in many years. Got a good few inches of snow that day with temps just hovering around zero. There wasnt much snowfall here after that but sunny days and frosty nights with the snow staying on the ground until around the 4th of March.

[trickydicky]

Wasn't it this spell that delivered the sub -20 temperature at Kinbrace on about 2nd March?

[Thundery wintry showers]

In Tyne and Wear the snow provided significant accumulations inland but fell as sleet near the coast. On the morning of the 28th I could see snow-fields out to the west from Cleadon but there was no lying snow at Cleadon itself. Parts of south-west Scotland reported undrifted snow of about 50cm deep- parts of Northern Ireland, the Scottish Lowlands and Northumberland were particularly heavily hit.

During the 1st/2nd March 2001, as the weather system retreated south-eastwards and Britain ended up under a slackening north-easterly flow, it was eastern coastal areas that got hit most- Cleadon had 8cm on the 2nd while about 10-11cm was reported from the outskirts of Norwich according to Philip Eden. In the areas which had snow cover it got exceptionally cold by night, hence the Scottish readings below -20C. At Cleadon I recorded one of only two sub -10C nights in a record going back to 1993 (3rd December 2010 being the other), and Durham got to -10.8C. In many parts of Scotland, north-east England, Lincolnshire and Norfolk the snow cover survived during the 3rd and 4th, with just slight afternoon thaws despite near-unbroken sunshine, though milder air resulted in a more rapid thaw in the sun on the 5th.

[Weather-history]

The forecasts in the run up to this event.

The Countryfile forecast suggests an Arctic blast was on the way

18th February 2001

19th February 2001: Helen Willetts indicating winter may not be over yet

20th February 2001: weather watch out now for snow

[iand61]

Remember the days following this event.

We had booked a weekend away in Edinburgh and left home on the Friday with about 3 inches of snow on the ground.

Got to Edinburgh ok but in places around the borders the roads were single track with drifts many feet high.

Edinburgh had a slight covering of snow but this was on everything and it was so cold that even that modest cm or so just refused to melt, even from cars driving around the city.

It was commented at the time that it was the coldest conditions we could ever remember being out in and was certainly the case until early 2010.

Coming home we took the A1 and conditions, certainly as far south as Alnwick were every bit as severe as in southern Scotland with power lines down here and there and many abandoned vehicles.

This was actually the only time i can remember ever seeing a snow blower in operation.

[Weather-history]

21th February 2001: threat of a channel low never happened

22nd February 2001: snow coming into the far north of Scotland. A new development, a low coming in from the NW for Sunday

23rd February 2001: notable how the models were struggling with the track of that low that brought the snowstorm.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Weather-history

[Weather-history]

24th February 2001: I remember snow falling here Saturday evening

25th February 2001: it seemed the Met Office model struggled with the track of the low that brought the snowstorm

25th February 2001: note the track of the low has changed again.

[Weather-history]

26th February 2001: 19cm of snow at Kirkwall

BBC News report on the snowstorm

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Don't remember this, think I must have missed out, do remember 21st march 2001, was predicted to be a snowfest, but all I had was wet slushy stuff

[Weather-history]

28th February 2001: snow finally spreads southwards

1st March 2001: severe frosts in the north, sub -10C