UK Review - February 2010

Snow grounds aeroplane on an airport runway

The last few days of February saw heavy snowfall and disruption across Highland Scotland. High pressure during the second week of February brought plenty of fine weather but the remainder of the month was generally unsettled.

It was generally cold with only a few brief milder interludes, mainly in the west and south.

There were some sharp frosts and snowfalls especially over higher ground.

Overall, it was cold with mean temperatures 1-2C below the 1971-2000 average across England and Wales and 2-2.5C below over Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Provisionally it was the coldest February in the UK since 1991.

Rainfall totals were below average in most areas, apart from East Anglia, south-east England and eastern coastal areas where over twice the normal amount fell.

Western Scotland, north-west England and the west of Northern Ireland were drier than usually expected at the time of year.

Sunshine totals ranged from below average across eastern England to well above in western coastal areas.

A maximum temperature of 12.3C was recorded on 5th February at Kew Gardens (Greater London). A minimum temperature of -19.2C was recorded on 23rd at Braemar (Aberdeenshire).

In the 24 hours ending at 0900 on 26th, 52mm of rainfall was measured at Benmore, Younger Botanic Garden (Argyll and Bute). On 25th at 0900, 44cm of lying snow was reported from Aviemore (Highland).

Diary of interesting events

The wintry weather continued with several snowfalls. Disruption tended to be localised and short-lived.

Ten to 20cm of snow fell in Kent and East Sussex on 10th and 11th February, resulting in road and rail delays and hundreds of school closures.

Northern Ireland received 10-15cm in the west on the 17th bringing disruption to County Fermanagh and parts of County Tyrone.

Snow and ice also caused problems for travellers across much of the Midlands and South Wales on the 18th and into the 19th, closing Birmingham Airport whilst also affecting main roads and rail routes.

From the 21st to the 23rd snow affected Wales, the Midlands, parts of northern and eastern England and Northern Ireland, causing delays for drivers, particularly on higher ground.

The most significant snowfalls and disruption during February were seen during 24th to 26th, mainly over central and northern Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.

Persistent snow brought depths over 30cm across much of central and northern Scotland with drifting in strong winds, leading to widespread travel delays, school closures and power cuts.

Several trunk roads were closed including the A9 in Perthshire, the A82 at Glencoe and the A96 in Aberdeenshire; on 25th, hundreds of motorists were stranded for hours on the A9 between Perth and Dunblane.

ScotRail services from Inverness, Aberdeen, Perth, Glasgow and Fort William were disrupted and more than 200 schools in Aberdeenshire and the Highlands closed.

On 25th, power supplies to 45,000 homes were cut after snow and ice brought down trees and power lines.

The five Scottish ski centres benefited from the conditions with at least 50cm of fresh snow reported.