UK weather extremes of 2006 11th-12th March A disruptive snowfall

There was further disruption due to heavy snow on the 12th March as Atlantic fronts stalled against a well-established cold block across Scandinavia that extended towards the UK. A very cold air mass moved westward on the 11^th to cover all but Ireland and Northern Ireland. Earlier in the week, numerical weather model output predicted the mild air from the Atlantic to make rapid progress eastward bringing a rapid thaw behind a band of snow that was to cross the country on the 12th.

As the event neared, there was a sharp turnaround in model output in such a way that hasn't been seen for some time with the block being sustained across the UK, therefore preventing the mild air from progressing further east than the Irish Sea at the surface. Consequently on the 12th, the Atlantic fronts stalled across Wales, Northwest England and Southwest Scotland bringing some significant falls of snow to these areas overnight and during the morning of the 12th. A significant contrast in temperature was maintained across the Irish Sea throughout the day; under the persistent cloud and snow some parts of Northern England struggled to rise above freezing, the lowest maxima are outlined in Table 1 below. However, across the Irish Sea in parts of Ireland in the milder Atlantic air mass it was very mild with the temperature peaking at spring-like 13.8°C at Shannon Airport during the afternoon.

Station	Maxima (°C)
Boltshope Park, (County Durham)	–1.2
Fylingdales, (North Yorks)	–0.9
Carter Bar (Roxburgh)	–0.6
Eskdalemuir (Dumfries)	–0.5
Thorncliffe (Staffs)	–0.5
Shap (Cumbria)	–0.4
Ponteland (Northumberland)	–0.4
Lake Vyrnwy (Montgomery)	–0.3
Loftus (North Yorks)	–0.2
Durham	–0.2
Wilsden (West Yorks)	–0.1
Warcop (Cumbria)	0.0

The snow fell most heavily across southwest central Scotland (with unofficial reports of 30 to 40cm of lying snow from some locations) in a strong and gusty SE’ly wind, fortunately during the late evening on Saturday and into Sunday when less people needed to travel. However, in Glasgow it left several thousand clubbers stranded during the early hours as the roads quickly became too treacherous and the usual bus and taxi services were suspended. The Garage nightclub and Central Hotel were opened to accommodate those who were stranded waiting for a taxi in the freezing conditions.

Glasgow airport was closed for much of the day as the staff fought a losing battle to keep the runways clear of snow, and rail services were decimated across the areas worst affected as the snow continued to fall thick and fast. The M74 linking Scotland and England was closed for several hours during the day to northbound traffic at Johnstonebridge, and countless minor routes across Scotland were closed for the day as they became simply impassable. Once the snow had stopped falling, there were strong winds, which drifted the snow recently cleared off the roads, back onto them. Thousands of homes were left without power at one point because of downed power lines, though these mainly in the more rural and exposed parts of Dumfries and Galloway.

Across in Wales the snow fell heaviest in the north around Llandudno and Wrexham, which led to an incident involving a motorcycle and a lorry just outside Chirk. Several other incidents occurred during the day associated with ice or snow on the road making for hazardous travelling conditions. In the south of Wales, the snow wasn’t quite as heavy however that did not prevent the National Festival of Music for Youth concert in Cwmbran being postponed.

Another casualty of the severe weather was a pregnant woman from Dalmellington

Another casualty of the severe weather was a pregnant woman from Dalmellington (East Ayrshire) who went into labour very early during Sunday morning, meaning that the journey to the hospital took over four times longer than usual (4 hours). Her journey to the hospital even required the use of a helicopter after the ambulance and police jeep used became stuck in the snow.

In Cumbria, coastguard volunteers helped to free an ambulance that had become stuck in deep snowdrifts outside Brigham. Several coastguard teams from the region were required to help escort ambulances as they made their way to emergency calls- including one woman who had injured her back sledging! The RAF Sea King helicopter was eventually required to airlift the woman to the hospital in Barrow because of the continuing appalling conditions.

The bad weather forced several of the weekends sports fixtures in the areas worst hit to be postponed. Rugby league’s Powergen Challenge Cup third round was hardest hit with five matches postponed due to the snow, which lay several inches deep on the pitches. Hamilton vs. Stranraer in the Scottish League First Division was scrapped, as were the League of Wales TNS vs. Newi Cefn Druids match, and three speedway meetings.

Snow continued to fall through much of the day leading to some large accumulations across southwest Scotland and northwest England. Notably there were several centimetres even at sea level right by the coast in Blackpool, and many areas further inland and slightly higher above sea level had much more. The highest official totals recorded at 09z were 22cm reported at Bishopton (Renfrew), 21cm at Eskdalemuir (Dumfries) and 20cm in Glasgow. The southern extent of the snow appeared to be Manchester where little or none was reported and the extent of the precipitation from the Atlantic fronts was much patchier. Nearer the coast though the precipitation was much heavier, for instance, Liverpool was blanketed by many inches of snow by mid-morning.

During the late afternoon most of the precipitation died out or changed over to ice pellets and light rain as the mild air started to work its way east, at least above the boundary layer. It remained very cold at the surface on the night of the 12th across much of the UK (apart from Northern Ireland and the extreme west coast of Scotland), the lowest temperature recorded was only –4°C at Buxton (Derbyshire) over the snowfields but with a strong S-SE’ly wind it certainly felt like a bitterly cold night.

Surface analysis by the UK Met Office for 00Z on 13th March 2006:

http://www.wetterzentraleforum.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060313.gif

The block continued to dominate and exert its influence to the east of the country preventing the mild air from progressing much at the surface. This had the result of tightening the pressure gradient across the UK and drawing gale force S’lies across Scotland, which acted to drift the snow that had fallen during the day. Mild air was beginning to move in aloft on the 13^th which led to spells of freezing rain at higher elevations under the inversion coating the snow cover in a frozen glaze, and in Scotland a thaw set in as the mild air raced in at the surface. Temperatures were slightly higher everywhere but still cold for March maxing in the 3 to 6°C range and still with the very cold wind-chill.

Surface analysis by the UK Met Office for 00Z on 14th March 2006:

http://www.wetterzentraleforum.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060314.gif

The mild air eventually moved east during the rest of the week, though making slow progress and not before another spell of snow, freezing rain and ice pellets ensued across the north and east of England on the 14^th. A further 5 – 10 cm fell across northeastern England locally during the morning renewing difficult travel conditions on the roads affected. The heavy snowfall forced the closure of Newcastle airport during the morning causing delays on several flights from the airport, it also forced the closure of many schools in Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Teeside. In south Yorkshire the A57 Snake Pass remained closed for several hours because of ice and the A66 in north Yorkshire was also temporarily closed near Scotch Corner following a serious incident. Conditions began to improve though on the 15^th as pressure began to build from the east and extend a ridge from the anticyclone

across Scandinavia, the south had some long sunny spells where it felt a bit more like spring out of the wind and most of the wintry mix had changed back over to rain as the milder air mixed through to the boundary layer. However, during the rest of the week there were strengthening easterly winds and further unseasonably cold weather for March.

Summary

The snowy spell that occurred on the weekend 11th/12th March 2006 was possibly the worst to hit the UK in March since 1995 in terms of overall extent, snow depths and disruption caused.

Dave Jameson (C) April 2006