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Event 2 - Warm Front Whiteout! - 11th/12th March 2006

On the evening of the 11th March, after over a week of cold weather, a very active warm front attempted to bring in milder air off the Atlantic. However, this warm front had a titanic struggle, with deep-seated cold air proving very difficult to shift. In fact, the warm front did not succeed, and after spending many hours draped across Wales, northern England and Scotland, it died out, leaving behind the cold air. Snowfall was the result, and lots of it. Prime location was central and southern Scotland, where over a foot of snow fell during the night of the 11th, and into the morning of the 12th. However, parts of north-west England were hit, and in particular, north-east Wales also took a pasting. Here is the midnight chart on the 11th March, going into the morning of the 12th, courtesy of the UK Met Office:

Met Office Fax Chart

Snow began to fall in north-east Wales at around 20:00 on the 11th, and continued until midday on the 12th. Although the snow was never particularly heavy, it fell steadily for this long duration. The result, was between 5 and 6 inches of level snowfall, which brought much of north-east Wales to a standstill. Roads were suitably gritted, but the relentless fall of snow quickly overpowered this. The following set of images were all taken on the morning of the 12th, by Bryn Jones.

A snowy wakeup call!
At around 08:00, the snow continues to fall across north-east Wales,
measuring accumulations of up to 4 inches at this time.

The garden has gone!
Another view of the snowy landscape during the morning of the 12th March.

Those cars aren't moving
Strong winds allowed the snow to drift, forming curious bulges on the sides of cars. The
last time I witnessed the drift surrounding the driveway gate, was back in 1996!

Gardening?
By 10:00, snow had accumulated to 5 inches, and more on some surfaces.

The village scene
The drifting nature of the snow can be seen on the roofs of houses. The south facing roofs here are snow free, whilst the east facing sides have collected plenty of the white stuff.

White
Similarly to the roofs on houses, south-facing sides of cars remain snow-free, whilst
east and north-facing sides bulge with snow.

Snow against the front door
Opening the front door of the house revealed a 5 inch drift, on top of the 5 inches of level cover. In fact, the drift was deeper than this, but the top has been snapped off,
sticking to the outside of the door (far left).

Drooping trees
Close to midday, and the snow begins to ease off. Six inches of
level snow now blanket north-east Wales.

The snow eventually dies out, leaving behind one of the
heaviest snowfalls in the area for a number of years.

The 100 hour fog

Rime and reason

In December 2006, high pressure allowed fog to set in across south-east England which lasted unbroken for 100 hours. On higher ground, this fog became freezing and deposited amazing rime formations, such as those seen above. For a detailed report, numerous images and videos of this event, please see the 100hr fog in our events section.

>Snow visits south-east
England....twice!

Up until late-January 2007, the winter of '06/'07 had been astonishingly mild. Records had tumbled during the previous two months, and any thought of cold and snowy conditions were merely a pipedream. However, all that was to change on one night in late-January, and another in early-February, when lowland areas of southern Britain were to receive some of their most widespread snowfall in years.

January 24th 2006
One of the first true northerlies of the winter had established during the 22nd of January, bringing in colder Arctic air. Wintry showers affected Scotland and north-east England, but with little else at this stage. However, during the early hours of the 24th, a small low headed southwards across the UK. The triple point of this low (the point where the cold front, warm front and occluded front meet) travelled directly through the Midlands and southwards through central-southern England. To the west of this triple point, snow fell for a while before turning to rain. To the east of this triple point, snow fell and remained as snow.

Below is the synoptic chart from the UK Met Office, which shows the position of the triple point heading southwards at midnight, thanks to Wetterzentrale:

Synoptic chart 00z 24/01/07

Over-excited by the first snowfall of the season, the EOTS team stayed awake into the early hours in anticipation of its arrival. It took its time however, so several power-naps later, the snow arrived at around 4:30am. The following series of photographs were taken from 4:30am onwards around Weybridge, Surrey. The aim was to capture the crisp blanket of snow before rush-hour traffic and commuting had chance to ruin it.

A thin but neat coating
Just after 04:30am, and the snow had been falling for about 20 minutes. Landing on a frozen ground, it was able to accumulate nicely on all surfaces.

An orange wonderland
It was very dry, powedery snow for a while, but with little wind to speak of it lay evenly across the roads and pavements.

Silent night
The orange glow of streetlights made for lovely shadows on the lying snow.

One lonely car
The main road through Weybridge with only one car having passed so far (and another coming). Snowy roads are dangerous, but far prettier than slushy car-ruined scenes.

Piling up
By 5am the snow was still falling, and the light blanket was gradually becoming thicker.

Top Gear snow
The EOTS Stilo was dying to get out into the morning snow!

Purple dawn
After another power-nap, it was time to get up at dawn. Snow was still falling lightly, and by this point there was around 2-3cm of accumulation. The dawn filled the scene with a pink-purple colouring.

Boootiful!
As dawn breaks, the coating of snow just looks beautiful under the increasingly purple-pink skies. Weybridge cricket green was very definitely not green!

By mid-morning, the snow had ceased, leaving grey and overcast skies. By early afternoon, we headed south to the North Downs of Surrey. In particular, we headed up Leith Hill, which at just under 300m is the highest point on the North Downs. At the bottom of the hill, snow was patchy, but it soon increased on the way to the top.

We filmed the drive from bottom to top and have put it together in a timelapse movie. Please click the following link to view the video, or visit our video section for more details.

A snowy Leith Hill
The walk from the carpark of Leith Hill to the summit rose around 50 metres. Snow depths were up to 5cm on Leith Hill, and it was a true winter wonderland.

Bleak mid-winter
On the summit, it was particularly windy, whipping the snow around.

	>eots photo SNOW & FROST page 10
>A Double Snowfall North-east Wales March 2006 Event 2 - Warm Front Whiteout! - 11th/12th March 2006 On the evening of the 11th March, after over a week of cold weather, a very active warm front attempted to bring in milder air off the Atlantic. However, this warm front had a titanic struggle, with deep-seated cold air proving very difficult to shift. In fact, the warm front did not succeed, and after spending many hours draped across Wales, northern England and Scotland, it died out, leaving behind the cold air. Snowfall was the result, and lots of it. Prime location was central and southern Scotland, where over a foot of snow fell during the night of the 11th, and into the morning of the 12th. However, parts of north-west England were hit, and in particular, north-east Wales also took a pasting. Here is the midnight chart on the 11th March, going into the morning of the 12th, courtesy of the UK Met Office: Snow began to fall in north-east Wales at around 20:00 on the 11th, and continued until midday on the 12th. Although the snow was never particularly heavy, it fell steadily for this long duration. The result, was between 5 and 6 inches of level snowfall, which brought much of north-east Wales to a standstill. Roads were suitably gritted, but the relentless fall of snow quickly overpowered this. The following set of images were all taken on the morning of the 12th, by Bryn Jones. At around 08:00, the snow continues to fall across north-east Wales, measuring accumulations of up to 4 inches at this time. Another view of the snowy landscape during the morning of the 12th March. Strong winds allowed the snow to drift, forming curious bulges on the sides of cars. The last time I witnessed the drift surrounding the driveway gate, was back in 1996! By 10:00, snow had accumulated to 5 inches, and more on some surfaces. The drifting nature of the snow can be seen on the roofs of houses. The south facing roofs here are snow free, whilst the east facing sides have collected plenty of the white stuff. Similarly to the roofs on houses, south-facing sides of cars remain snow-free, whilst east and north-facing sides bulge with snow. Opening the front door of the house revealed a 5 inch drift, on top of the 5 inches of level cover. In fact, the drift was deeper than this, but the top has been snapped off, sticking to the outside of the door (far left). Close to midday, and the snow begins to ease off. Six inches of level snow now blanket north-east Wales. The snow eventually dies out, leaving behind one of the heaviest snowfalls in the area for a number of years. The 100 hour fog In December 2006, high pressure allowed fog to set in across south-east England which lasted unbroken for 100 hours. On higher ground, this fog became freezing and deposited amazing rime formations, such as those seen above. For a detailed report, numerous images and videos of this event, please see the 100hr fog in our events section. >Snow visits south-east England....twice! Up until late-January 2007, the winter of '06/'07 had been astonishingly mild. Records had tumbled during the previous two months, and any thought of cold and snowy conditions were merely a pipedream. However, all that was to change on one night in late-January, and another in early-February, when lowland areas of southern Britain were to receive some of their most widespread snowfall in years. January 24th 2006 One of the first true northerlies of the winter had established during the 22nd of January, bringing in colder Arctic air. Wintry showers affected Scotland and north-east England, but with little else at this stage. However, during the early hours of the 24th, a small low headed southwards across the UK. The triple point of this low (the point where the cold front, warm front and occluded front meet) travelled directly through the Midlands and southwards through central-southern England. To the west of this triple point, snow fell for a while before turning to rain. To the east of this triple point, snow fell and remained as snow. Below is the synoptic chart from the UK Met Office, which shows the position of the triple point heading southwards at midnight, thanks to Wetterzentrale: Over-excited by the first snowfall of the season, the EOTS team stayed awake into the early hours in anticipation of its arrival. It took its time however, so several power-naps later, the snow arrived at around 4:30am. The following series of photographs were taken from 4:30am onwards around Weybridge, Surrey. The aim was to capture the crisp blanket of snow before rush-hour traffic and commuting had chance to ruin it. Just after 04:30am, and the snow had been falling for about 20 minutes. Landing on a frozen ground, it was able to accumulate nicely on all surfaces. It was very dry, powedery snow for a while, but with little wind to speak of it lay evenly across the roads and pavements. The orange glow of streetlights made for lovely shadows on the lying snow. The main road through Weybridge with only one car having passed so far (and another coming). Snowy roads are dangerous, but far prettier than slushy car-ruined scenes. By 5am the snow was still falling, and the light blanket was gradually becoming thicker. The EOTS Stilo was dying to get out into the morning snow! After another power-nap, it was time to get up at dawn. Snow was still falling lightly, and by this point there was around 2-3cm of accumulation. The dawn filled the scene with a pink-purple colouring. As dawn breaks, the coating of snow just looks beautiful under the increasingly purple-pink skies. Weybridge cricket green was very definitely not green! By mid-morning, the snow had ceased, leaving grey and overcast skies. By early afternoon, we headed south to the North Downs of Surrey. In particular, we headed up Leith Hill, which at just under 300m is the highest point on the North Downs. At the bottom of the hill, snow was patchy, but it soon increased on the way to the top. We filmed the drive from bottom to top and have put it together in a timelapse movie. Please click the following link to view the video, or visit our video section for more details. The walk from the carpark of Leith Hill to the summit rose around 50 metres. Snow depths were up to 5cm on Leith Hill, and it was a true winter wonderland. On the summit, it was particularly windy, whipping the snow around. Copyright eye on the sky 2001-2008