November last year, when winter came early
After this November’s notable warmth, it’s hard to believe that this time last year the UK was in the icy grip of weather more akin to the middle of winter.
High pressure sat across Greenland and low pressure over the Baltic Sea and between them they pushed a huge mass of cold Arctic air across the UK, bringing the earliest start to winter for many years.
What made this sudden arrival of winter so remarkable was that the first three weeks of the month had been mild, wet and windy. A temperature of 19CÂ was recorded at St James’s Park, London on the 4th. Even mid-month, temperatures were still in the mid-teens.
Scotland and northeast England were the first parts of the UK to feel the brunt of the icy blast brought by a very cold northerly, then easterly wind. Showers turned increasingly wintry, with snow falling down to low levels by the 25th.
During the final few days of the month snow affected many other parts of the country, with significant falls in places. Balmoral, Aberdeenshire had 58cm – more than half a metre – of snow on the ground by the end of the month.
Image showing much of the UK covered in snow. Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response.
The snow caused significant travel disruption. Trains were cancelled and there was chaos on the roads, with the AA reporting an increase in the number of breakdowns.
Hundreds of schools were closed and many sporting fixtures abandoned or postponed.
It’s not just the snow that made the headlines either. Wales and Northern Ireland had record-breaking November minimum temperatures of -18C at Llysdinam, Powys and -11.9C at Mucker Broughderg, County Tyrone.
The cold and snowy weather wasn’t in any rush to leave. The following few weeks saw a continuation of the bitter cold, snow and ice, leaving most of us with a story or two to tell about the coldest November in the UK since 1993.
As a weatherman, it certainly kept me very busy in the run up to Christmas!
Follow Liam on Twitter @liamdutton