The Big Freeze of ten years ago...

[Weather-history]

9 UK daily minimum records were broken that December and 10 in all from late November to Christmas 2010. 

 

[Weather-history]

BBC News reports from that period

 

[Mark wheeler]

Ahhh memories, My birthday is the 27th of December and I remember the forecast that day in 2010 was a frontal system to come through and produce settling snow all be it marginal . Everything pointed towards that being correct , However it wasn’t to be . 

I Remember being with my mates in the black lion in surbiton watching Arsenal vs Chelsea and it got to half time. I went out for a cigarette with my mate and noticed the big massive icicles on the street lamps were falling off. 
 

I knew then instantly it was game over .  Before the second half began it snowed for a couple of minutes before sleet set in and after the game had finished it was peeing down with rain. Chelsea had lost too , Happy Birthday Mark

I’m not sure but wasn’t that the year that had the red alert for London that didn’t quite come off ? 
 

 

[philglossop]

Funny what also comes to mind. Being in Manchester 10 years ago during the "tram crash disaster" in Weatherfield. MEN issued a special edition the following morning. 

[Weather-history]

8 hours ago, Mark wheeler said:

 

I’m not sure but wasn’t that the year that had the red alert for London that didn’t quite come off ? 
 

 

That was the 18th December 2010

 

[Decemberof2010]

So many memories for me of this great period in Leeds. The snowfall on Wednesday the 1st December started while I was at work. At 3pm we were sent home but the roads were gridlocked. 3 miles took me an hour but I got home eventually. I Got my car stuck at the end of my street and left it there. The following morning it was snowed in. More than 30cm had fallen widely in Leeds and according to Wikipedia 76cm had fallen around Sheffield. 

But as the month progressed it was the temperatures that I will always remember. The ground was more or less frozen for the whole of December. One morning getting in my car the temp on my dash was showing -12c at 630am and I don’t live in the countryside. That was mind blowing. At lunchtime the temp was showing -6c at noon. Again unheard of. Topcliffe in North Yorkshire recorded -19c. 
 

We had some more snow events through the month but the length and depth of the cold I will never forget. 

[summer blizzard]

Easily the most Arctic month I have experienced. While I preferred mid dec-mid Jan of the prior winter, Dec 10 was very dry, very sunny and constantly cold. It was surreal seeing Xcweather reporting swathes of Scotland and rural western England at -15C by early evening.

[damianslaw]

2 hours ago, summer blizzard said:

Easily the most Arctic month I have experienced. While I preferred mid dec-mid Jan of the prior winter, Dec 10 was very dry, very sunny and constantly cold. It was surreal seeing Xcweather reporting swathes of Scotland and rural western England at -15C by early evening.

Agree snowfall wise from a Lake District perspective, 2009-2010 mid dec to mid Jan was far better. However cold wise Dec 2010 was exceptional, the days leading up to Christmas made it feel like the arctic. Think we got down to about -14 degrees at one point, 9 ice days in a row. It came to an end on the 27th, we had a decent snowfall in the morning about 4 inches then a rapid thaw took place. The next 10 days though saw quite a bit of cold weather with more snow at times, transient and wet in nature, but the fells did well, so it wasnt one of those spells that came to an abrupt end so to speak. The cold tried to cling on, by mid Jan it was all over and test of winter was mostly mild and snowless. 

Edited November 28, 2020 by damianslaw

[philglossop]

6 hours ago, Weather-history said:

That was the 18th December 2010

 

If only that rain/ channel low had come up over us a bit more, we'd have been plastered . It was more of a glancing blow sadly.

[Coopsy]

I had moved to Canada by then and missed it all. Where had the most snow and how much was it?

I’ve seen reports of Sheffield receiving 5ft of snow in total between end of November to Christmas. Not sure how accurate that is?

I did have family that got stranded at Gatwick as they were coming to see us in December that year and heavy snow hit as they were waiting for their flight. Think it was Dec 18? A week before Christmas. Bad timing 

Edited November 28, 2020 by Coopsy

[Norrance]

Here is a snapshot from 2nd Dec showing snow depths. More fell in the following few days before a slightly milder spell from about the 9th to 16th when cold air returned and stayed till Boxing day in the South and through the New Year in the North. Also a link to Met office summary.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/weather/learn-about/uk-past-events/interesting/2010/snow-and-low-temperatures-december-2010---met-office.pdf

[Walsall Wood Snow]

Although very cold with a covering of snow, we didn't get great depths here in late Nov/early Dec. There was actually a brief milder interlude early to mid month when the snow and ice thawed. Not sure if it was completely. 18th Dec wasn't as deep here as some places. A very snowy day but again snow depths weren't anything special. However the morning of the 22nd finally gave a proper dumping here with big fluffy flakes falling heavily, covering side roads over enough to lose the distinction between them and the pavement. The fact it happened only 3 days before Christmas and was all still there come the day itself made it feel extra special. It was a real Christmas card image of Christmas that year. 

[SummerShower]

1 hour ago, Walsall Wood Snow said:

Although very cold with a covering of snow, we didn't get great depths here in late Nov/early Dec. There was actually a brief milder interlude early to mid month when the snow and ice thawed. Not sure if it was completely. 18th Dec wasn't as deep here as some places. A very snowy day but again snow depths weren't anything special. However the morning of the 22nd finally gave a proper dumping here with big fluffy flakes falling heavily, covering side roads over enough to lose the distinction between them and the pavement. The fact it happened only 3 days before Christmas and was all still there come the day itself made it feel extra special. It was a real Christmas card image of Christmas that year. 

Yes, have to agree in some parts especially further south, the snowfalls were nothing exceptional.  It was more the intensity of the cold.  We had a decent fall overnight 1st/2nd though which wasnt forecast until within 24h of the actual event, and we got about 2in from the event on the 18th.  It did stay on the ground until xmas though and this was down to the prolonged cold.

Snowfalls were much better in jan 2010, and feb 2019 here.  Even march 2018 was deeper, twice in the month

Edited November 28, 2020 by SummerShower

[Norrance]

10 years ago today we had 12 hours of thundersnow beginning around 2.30AM and dying out around 3pm. There were a few claps of  thunder again on the 29th but nothing like the same intensity.
 

[TheMoonman]

Easily my favourite period of weather. My now ex wife was pregnant with our eldest and the heating packed up on 22nd December. Managed to get someone out to replace the boiler the following day, well, the landlady did. 

I can distinctly remember sitting in the rocking chair by the living room window, fire on, Christmas decorations up, watching some teenagers walk past in the heavy snow, no coats on, absolutely frozen, thinking "kids are stupid". 

[WalsallWeather]

What a month that was. I had just moved back to Birmingham into a property that still had single glazed windows! Not ideal!

[Relativistic]

A decade ago today, 14-year-old me woke up to three inches of fresh November snow. Had no idea how awesome the following weeks would be. December 2010 was the month that sparked my interest in meteorology.

[johnholmes]

On 28/11/2020 at 15:13, Norrance said:

Here is a snapshot from 2nd Dec showing snow depths. More fell in the following few days before a slightly milder spell from about the 9th to 16th when cold air returned and stayed till Boxing day in the South and through the New Year in the North. Also a link to Met office summary.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/weather/learn-about/uk-past-events/interesting/2010/snow-and-low-temperatures-december-2010---met-office.pdf

The snow depths are not that accurate for South Yorkshire, the Peak District and some areas of Lincolnshire.

 

I did an article on this soon after the event with a number of folk sending me their depths. Here I measure 35 cm level snow 5 pm 30th to 0730 1st. That is, as far as I could find, with some help from UK Met, is the highest total in this area, possibly in over 100 years if not longer, parts of the Peak District had reliable depths in excess of 50-60 cm.

[johnholmes]

Hopefully this data will load on to this page. It is 12 pages long and formed the basis of a talk to RMet Soc at Leeds Uni, just forget when.

Snowfall of 30 November into 1 December in this area.doc

just see if it downloads

 

[johnholmes]

Just now, johnholmes said:

Hopefully this data will load on to this page. It is 12 pages long and formed the basis of a talk to RMet Soc at Leeds Uni, just forget when.

Snowfall of 30 November into 1 December in this area.doc 1.81 MB · 0 downloads

just see if it downloads

yep is okay, hope some of you enjoy it.

Oddly enough in, I think Feb 2009, I posted snow piccs of another snow event here, which at the time, was the 3rd heaviest snow in over 50 years. I was able to say that as I have the daily weather for RAF Finningley 1942-1995

 

 

[Iceaxecrampon]

1 hour ago, Relativistic said:

A decade ago today, 14-year-old me woke up to three inches of fresh November snow. Had no idea how awesome the following weeks would be. December 2010 was the month that sparked my interest in meteorology.

My lad was 10 - he's no longer a teenager next month - the first question I have to ask is where on earth has that gone?

Yes  - it just didn't seem to stop that afternoon and all evening substantial freeze too.

12" of snow on the airfield where I worked at the time. 

1979 was as near as that got for the usually barren Tundra of the Fylde.

[Iceaxecrampon]

22 hours ago, WalsallWeather said:

What a month that was. I had just moved back to Birmingham into a property that still had single glazed windows! Not ideal!

Lol - some parts here in Lancashire still don't have electricity!

[Iceaxecrampon]

On 28/11/2020 at 14:38, damianslaw said:

Agree snowfall wise from a Lake District perspective, 2009-2010 mid dec to mid Jan was far better. However cold wise Dec 2010 was exceptional, the days leading up to Christmas made it feel like the arctic. Think we got down to about -14 degrees at one point, 9 ice days in a row. It came to an end on the 27th, we had a decent snowfall in the morning about 4 inches then a rapid thaw took place. The next 10 days though saw quite a bit of cold weather with more snow at times, transient and wet in nature, but the fells did well, so it wasnt one of those spells that came to an abrupt end so to speak. The cold tried to cling on, by mid Jan it was all over and test of winter was mostly mild and snowless. 

Yes - it was just a bit character building being out and about in it.

We took refuge after a Langdale attempt  (and what seemed to be an endless slog down Mickleden) in the ODG - manager said the water pipes had frozen up but the beer was still on top form.

The door of the pub flung opened accompanied by one of those blizzard flurries you see in the films  - and a young lad was making his way from Eskdale to Hesket Newmarket we thawed him out by the fire  - he was lucky.

[DogToffee]

Weirdly I don't remember much about it apart from the disappointment of it ending. I was spoilt by the previous winter and the endless snow.

Probably had travel problems, but again I can't remember if they were 09 or 10.

[damianslaw]

Vividly remember the Monday and Tuesday of that first full week of cold, either the 29th and 30th or 30th and 1st.. unusually we had blizzard type showers off and on on a bitter easterly wind, however, totals were very small, an inch or two tops, it often looked like it was snowing but it was just the wind whipping up the powdery snow.