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Was there a snowy spell in late February 2006?


Walsall Wood Snow

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

Does anybody remember a snowy spell in late Feb 06? I know there is a thread for the easterly in late Feb 05, but there is one day in which I remember heavy snow was forecast, which it did, but it just couldn't settle, despite coming down for hours (I was quite depressed about it at the time). I've always thought this was in 2006. But the easterly of 05 is starting to make me wonder if it was actually a year earlier than that. Does anybody else remember this event in 06 (bear in mind it might not have been in Feb, but I think it was).

Edited by Walsall Wood Snow
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Posted
  • Location: Gillingham, Kent
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunderstorms,
  • Location: Gillingham, Kent

I feel like there was a streamer across N Kent around that time. I remember being at school and the snow continuously came down for hours, settled a few inches and the school closed. In the 20 minutes it took for me to get home, it had started raining and the snow was melting away, I was absolutely gutted.

I might be thinking of a different one, though.

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

February. Average temperatures overall, with a cold beginning and end but mild middle. Quite dry and the dullest since 1993, and very dull in the east. However, there were no very warm days - the highest temperature of the month was 13.2 in County Tyrone, the lowest February maximum since 1986. A dry beginning. In the first few days there were some "frost days" for the first time in a while. The lowest temperature of the month was -11.5C at Braemar on the 1st; the maximum at Dunkeswell (Devon) was -2.9C on the 3rd. Parts of north London (e.g. Northolt) had no rain for 22 days ending on the 7th. The anticyclonic gloom was followed by a short northerly spell. After an unsettled spell starting on the 10th, with rain, a cold NE wind persisted from the 20th until the end of the month. There was some snow on the 23rd and 24th and more on the 27th, particularly in the north and east.

March. Cold and wet. Northerly winds in the first week, prolonged easterlies in the middle, but a mild end with southerly winds in the final week brought the average temperature. A cold start with snow showers in the east. The minimum at Altnaharra on the 2nd was -16.4C. Several places remained beneath freezing for more than 24 hours in the first four days and midmonth. The maximum at Fylingdales (North Yorks.) on the 4th was only -1.3C. There was more heavy snow in central Scotland on the 11th and 12th, standing many motorists in the Glasgow area. The winds turned more SW and it became more mild from the 24th. The highest temperature of the month was 17.8C on the 25th. Indeed, this was the first time 15C was exceeded this year - the latest date this has happened since 1980. The final week was particularly wet: 240 mm of rain fell at Capel Curig in the final week of the month alone. It was quite dull in the north. The CET was the coldest since 1996.

the extract from Britweather,hope this answers your question

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL

I'm starting to think the day I'm thinking about (when it snowed all day without settling) might have been the late Feb 05 event rather than 06. Apart from the cold spell in late Nov 05, I don't remember any other snow events affecting here that Winter. There may have been dustings, or brief flurries perhaps, but nothing else that sticks in my mind. The brief snowy spell of early Feb 07 made up for it though.

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl

Don't recall much snow in late February 2006, though it was quite cold overall with a fair bit of frost, perhaps some wintry showers and a slight dusting at times - I was in the NE of England at the time. Early March 2006 brought quite a bit of snow though, which stuck around thanks to the bitter polar air, some very sharp frosts. March 12 2006 was a very cold day with a band of snow from the west.

Late Feb 2005 brought many snow showers and spells of wet snow to many, however, temperatures were often very marginal for settling snow, you needed to go above about 200 metres for any appreciable long lasting snow cover. So it may well have been late Feb 2005.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

There were indeed snow flurries/showers around in the last week of Feb 2006 but the easterly responsible was even more marginal than 2005. The proper snow didn't arrive until the wind northerly at the end of the month. March produced more snow here.

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee

There was around a foot  of snow from frequent heavy snow showers in a Northerly in NE Scotland in late February and the very beginning of March 2006. Later on the 11th and 12th March heavy snow fell in Central and Southern Scotland and parts of Western England and Wales. The deepest reported lying snow on the 12th was 39cms at Artalnaig in Perthshire.

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

Feb 28th 2006 it started snowing at about 9.30, went on till about noon, settled (2cm). I remember the details because it showed the arbitrary nature of the 0900 rule- it was too late to count for Feb 28th so Feb went down as 0 days lying snow. However enough remained the next day that it counted for March instead. We then had a bit of a top up the night of 1st-2nd, then over the next few days (is this what you remember) there were a few daytime snow showers that didn't really settle (they did initially, but melted the minute the sun came out)- but then came that memorable Sunday 12th when the forecast said rain, maybe sleet, "wintry in places" etc, and we got 12cm of snow; the deepest since December 1995.

In Feb 2005 not only did the snow struggle to settle but it only fell as snow at all at night. It was sleety rain in the daytime.

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Posted
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
  • Location: Walsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands 145m ASL
49 minutes ago, Summer of 95 said:

Feb 28th 2006 it started snowing at about 9.30, went on till about noon, settled (2cm). I remember the details because it showed the arbitrary nature of the 0900 rule- it was too late to count for Feb 28th so Feb went down as 0 days lying snow. However enough remained the next day that it counted for March instead. We then had a bit of a top up the night of 1st-2nd, then over the next few days (is this what you remember) there were a few daytime snow showers that didn't really settle (they did initially, but melted the minute the sun came out)- but then came that memorable Sunday 12th when the forecast said rain, maybe sleet, "wintry in places" etc, and we got 12cm of snow; the deepest since December 1995.

In Feb 2005 not only did the snow struggle to settle but it only fell as snow at all at night. It was sleety rain in the daytime.

I think Feb 05 seems more likely. All's I remember about it was there was quite a build up to it, with the met office putting out warnings, and advising people not to travel unless absolutely necessary etc. Indeed the snow came and it snowed most of the day from what I can remember, but in the end it was just the wrong side of marginal and couldn't settle. Of course you're not a million miles away so I'd imagine conditions where you are were similar. 

By the sounds of it though you had a better Winter in 2005/06 for snow where you are, than round here. I certainly don't remember any snow round here in early March 06. As I've said before the only appreciable snowfall I remember round here in that extended Winter was the late Nov 05 event.

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury
53 minutes ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

I think Feb 05 seems more likely. All's I remember about it was there was quite a build up to it, with the met office putting out warnings, and advising people not to travel unless absolutely necessary etc. Indeed the snow came and it snowed most of the day from what I can remember, but in the end it was just the wrong side of marginal and couldn't settle. Of course you're not a million miles away so I'd imagine conditions where you are were similar. 

By the sounds of it though you had a better Winter in 2005/06 for snow where you are, than round here. I certainly don't remember any snow round here in early March 06. As I've said before the only appreciable snowfall I remember round here in that extended Winter was the late Nov 05 event.

It was an odd one, it was often cold (and was notably free of mild, wet mucky stuff) but it had very little snow until right at the end (late Feb and March).

The first half of winter was very poor for snow; we got virtually nothing in the November (despite some really cold nights) and December's easterly was a let down too: no snow when it was cold, then the huge disappointment of 29/30th when it started snowing about 8pm, had a couple of cm by midnight, woke up to rain and no trace of snow at all (we were forecast 5-10cm or something).

There was a snow cover on 7-8 Jan (only a cm or so, but it wasn't really forecast) but that was it till the end of Feb. In the March snowfalls, the early ones were from a N/NW ly airflow down the Cheshire Gap, Birmingham may have missed them. The 12th was brilliant here, but driving east the next day (when we still had full cover) there was nothing east of Wellington. And I remember on the Sunday the sports news had someone in Manchester where it was snowing hard but nothing was sticking- while on the coast at Liverpool and Blackpool it was like we had. Really odd- and looking at it now, it's weird how everywhere that missed out on Feb 4th 2012 (when we were promised blizzards and got rain at -1C), got the lying snow on March 12th 06- and vice versa.

Another thing I remember from this winter and it was the weirdest of the lot:

Around the beginning of Feb (or maybe very end of Jan) there was a run of ice days where the temp remained below zero for about 3-4 days straight. However, the ground never froze. My thermometer read -2 at noon, it felt it, water left in bird baths and other things off the ground formed ice. But anything in contact with the soil remained liquid. Mud, puddles, grass- no ice at all. And It wasn't a "black frost"- the ground was actually damp and squelchy. This really did happen not only here but in other parts of the Midlands (I went over Birmingham way one day during it, same conditions). Anyone else remember it, and what on earth caused it that the ground surface was so much warmer than the air? Normally it's colder- frost on the ground at +3 air temps happens regularly.

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.

Yes a great more memorable sharper cold snap to February 2005.

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 19:03, hillbilly said:

 

Best days of the cold spell 2006 more memorable than 2005.... 23rd with 2 inches of snow 24th winds turned easterly strong to gale force with blizzards for 3 hours drifting like crazy 1c max 25th plenty more drifting overnight and all that morning winds were really strong indeed from the east and then by the 28th it all switched to the north,heavy snow showers drifting and another blizzard in one of showers,couldn`t see a thing.

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Posted
  • Location: Wildwood, Stafford 104m asl
  • Weather Preferences: obviously snow!
  • Location: Wildwood, Stafford 104m asl
On 23/10/2017 at 18:32, Summer of 95 said:

Feb 28th 2006 it started snowing at about 9.30, went on till about noon, settled (2cm). I remember the details because it showed the arbitrary nature of the 0900 rule- it was too late to count for Feb 28th so Feb went down as 0 days lying snow. However enough remained the next day that it counted for March instead. We then had a bit of a top up the night of 1st-2nd, then over the next few days (is this what you remember) there were a few daytime snow showers that didn't really settle (they did initially, but melted the minute the sun came out)- but then came that memorable Sunday 12th when the forecast said rain, maybe sleet, "wintry in places" etc, and we got 12cm of snow; the deepest since December 1995.

In Feb 2005 not only did the snow struggle to settle but it only fell as snow at all at night. It was sleety rain in the daytime.

yes, not uncommon for the modern erah, February seems to be the month that's changed the most, tends to be thaws in the day now, even in cold air, sometimes easterlies just bring sleet and rain

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  • 2 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)

My memories of Feb 2006 in London was that it was quite cold and dry. Dull as well and there were a few days where it was very cold at the surface with a few snow grains blowing in the wind.

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Posted
  • Location: Harborne, Bham 187m asl
  • Location: Harborne, Bham 187m asl
On 22/10/2017 at 10:32, Walsall Wood Snow said:

Does anybody remember a snowy spell in late Feb 06? I know there is a thread for the easterly in late Feb 05, but there is one day in which I remember heavy snow was forecast, which it did, but it just couldn't settle, despite coming down for hours (I was quite depressed about it at the time). I've always thought this was in 2006. But the easterly of 05 is starting to make me wonder if it was actually a year earlier than that. Does anybody else remember this event in 06 (bear in mind it might not have been in Feb, but I think it was).

It was definitely February 2005. You were right that the snow did come but it just didn’t settle. It snowed all day when I was at school. A huge disappointment that nothing settled.

i can’t remember the exact date in Feb 2005 but it was a system coming up from the SE

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  • 1 year later...
Posted
  • Location: Scunthorpe
  • Location: Scunthorpe
On 23/10/2017 at 20:58, Summer of 95 said:

It was an odd one, it was often cold (and was notably free of mild, wet mucky stuff) but it had very little snow until right at the end (late Feb and March).

The first half of winter was very poor for snow; we got virtually nothing in the November (despite some really cold nights) and December's easterly was a let down too: no snow when it was cold, then the huge disappointment of 29/30th when it started snowing about 8pm, had a couple of cm by midnight, woke up to rain and no trace of snow at all (we were forecast 5-10cm or something).

There was a snow cover on 7-8 Jan (only a cm or so, but it wasn't really forecast) but that was it till the end of Feb. In the March snowfalls, the early ones were from a N/NW ly airflow down the Cheshire Gap, Birmingham may have missed them. The 12th was brilliant here, but driving east the next day (when we still had full cover) there was nothing east of Wellington. And I remember on the Sunday the sports news had someone in Manchester where it was snowing hard but nothing was sticking- while on the coast at Liverpool and Blackpool it was like we had. Really odd- and looking at it now, it's weird how everywhere that missed out on Feb 4th 2012 (when we were promised blizzards and got rain at -1C), got the lying snow on March 12th 06- and vice versa.

Another thing I remember from this winter and it was the weirdest of the lot:

Around the beginning of Feb (or maybe very end of Jan) there was a run of ice days where the temp remained below zero for about 3-4 days straight. However, the ground never froze. My thermometer read -2 at noon, it felt it, water left in bird baths and other things off the ground formed ice. But anything in contact with the soil remained liquid. Mud, puddles, grass- no ice at all. And It wasn't a "black frost"- the ground was actually damp and squelchy. This really did happen not only here but in other parts of the Midlands (I went over Birmingham way one day during it, same conditions). Anyone else remember it, and what on earth caused it that the ground surface was so much warmer than the air? Normally it's colder- frost on the ground at +3 air temps happens regularly.

I think we had it better in 2005/06 than you did. Not so much for the November 05 event but was in the firing line with the December 05 easterly. Heavy snow showers started on 27th December and went through to the 28th as well. Stuck all day and in fact stuck even during the let down transition event at the end of the year. Other than that the only other main snow event was 2nd March with a band of heavy snow moving down from the north giving 2 - 3 inches in just 30 minutes. All of it melted the next day unfortunately in the stronger March sunshine.

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Posted
  • Location: Wildwood, Stafford 104m asl
  • Weather Preferences: obviously snow!
  • Location: Wildwood, Stafford 104m asl
On 22/10/2017 at 19:16, Walsall Wood Snow said:

I'm starting to think the day I'm thinking about (when it snowed all day without settling) might have been the late Feb 05 event rather than 06. Apart from the cold spell in late Nov 05, I don't remember any other snow events affecting here that Winter. There may have been dustings, or brief flurries perhaps, but nothing else that sticks in my mind. The brief snowy spell of early Feb 07 made up for it though.

Feb '05 that was, Thurs 24th, infact was a thaw, as the wet snow thawed existing snaw

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl

There were heavy snow showers in Tyne and Wear on 28 Feb I seem to remember and the snow stuck around for a few days into March. Winter 05/06 was often cold without being especially so, lots of dry frosty conditions - too dry for snow most of the time.

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