November 2010 In late November, a snow storm had moved from southern
Sweden, reaching
Northumberland and the
Scottish Borders Region during 23 November. The
Met Office issued a number of weather warnings, and snow began to fall in the early evening of 24 November, with recorded in
Newcastle upon Tyne. By 26 November, nighttime temperatures fell well below , with the
Welsh towns of
Sennybridge and
Trawscoed being among the coldest places at . The cold snap heralded the earliest winter snow fall for 17 years. The
AA dealt with an estimated 15,500 calls regarding breakdowns on the same day. The night of the 26/27 November saw a thunder storm damage electrical systems and flood roads, causing disruption transport services on 27 November, including to trains in
Dublin. Elsewhere in Ireland, the Irish Insurance Federation revealed there were 22,450 claims from the public, the majority of which involved snow or ice damage to people's homes. Snow was causing problems on some roads, with gritters deployed as temperatures dipped to -3 °C (27 °F). Motorists in Wales and Northern Ireland struggled with icy roads while Scotland was facing more heavy snow and drifts thanks to a biting wind. The lowest temperature of the month was also recorded on this day, with recorded at
Llysdinam, Wales. The Met Office at
RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire recorded a record low for November of ; earlier that month on the 4th it had recorded a record maximum for November of .
December 2010 According to the Manley Central England Temperature record (beginning in 1659), December 2010 was the second-coldest December ever recorded in central England. It was also the coldest December in the UK since UK records began in 1890, and the coldest December in Ireland since official records began. In early December, a minimum of was recorded at Altnaharra, Scottish Highlands. A band of snow moving north affected
Lincolnshire,
Nottinghamshire,
South and
West Yorkshire, giving significant accumulations here, with further frequent heavy snow showers to
North East England and Eastern
Scotland. Up to of snow was recorded in
Rotherham and
Sheffield, of fresh snow in
Mansfield (bringing total depths to over 30 cm), in
Leeds, in
Pontefract and up to in parts of
Lincolnshire. On 3 December, an all-time record low of recorded at
RAF Leeming (since records began at Leeming in 1945) and at
RAF Topcliffe in North Yorkshire. By 6 December, snowfall in the
Central Belt in Scotland led to the closure of the
M8 motorway for two days with hundreds of motorists stranded overnight. The resulting political furore led to the resignation of Scottish
Minister for Transport,
Stewart Stevenson. By mid-December, a cold front reached the
Shetland Isles and moved southwards across Scotland. Mild air preceded the front, with cold air straight from the Arctic following it, resulting in some rapid temperature drops throughout Scotland and its Isles. An unofficial temperature of , the highest of the month so far, was recorded near
Lairg, Scottish Highlands at around 7pm in the milder air. The cold front continued to move southwards across the UK passing Northern Ireland and Northern England. ,
Warwickshire. ,
Oxfordshire, on 18 December 2010. Later in December, the
M5 became gridlocked, and shops in the Birmingham area closed early on the last Saturday before Christmas. A number of passengers travelling by coach had to spend the night at Birmingham Coach Station due to not only coaches for onwards destinations being unable to depart and arrive Birmingham, but also widespread disruption to train services making onwards alternatives impossible. Airports including
Heathrow Airport closed some its runways for a time, with Gatwick also cancelling a number of flights. And a minimum temperature of was recorded at
Castlederg, a new record for
Northern Ireland and was recorded at
Chesham,
Buckinghamshire. Heavy snow fall was also reported over large parts of
Devon causing major travel disruption.
Dublin Airport and
City of Derry Airport were forced to fully close, 15 cm (6 inches) of snow was recorded at
Dublin Airport. Only three days after breaking the record minimum for Northern Ireland, Castlederg broke the record again with a low of . On 24 December, it was decided to cancel the 27th
IRFU's
Celtic League meeting with
Leinster as
Ulster's
Ravenhill pitch froze under heavy snow. Both northern and southern Ireland were under heavy snow. 25 December 2010 was also the coldest Christmas Day since 1830, with a CET of . The Republic of Ireland's lowest-ever December temperature on record was also recorded on Christmas Day, at at Straide, County Mayo. At the end of December, thousands of homes and businesses in
Northern Ireland and
Wales were without water as melting snow and ice revealed many burst pipes.
Northern Ireland Water said it was alternating supplies from reservoirs in order to help alleviate the crisis in which some properties had been without supplies since before Christmas.
January 2011 January again was colder than average across the UK, though much milder than December, with a mean temperature across the UK of . In contrast to December, it was dry across most of the country (except
South East England which was wetter than average). It had more
frost than average across most of the UK. However,
freezing rain caused disruption in
Shropshire, and
Greater Manchester experienced heavy overnight snow which affected travel on the morning of the 4th. and snow fell in the
West Midlands and parts of
Wales,
Cheshire and
Lancashire on 7 January. Welsh flood warnings stay in place in four areas, with roads closed after heavy bursts of rain affecting Conwy and Gwynedd. By 15.55 GMT, there were four flood warnings and six flood alerts 16 January 2011.
February 2011 February was a mild month (the 9th mildest in the last century) with very little frost and much of the country having its first snow-free February since 1998. The only significant wintry weather came on the 18th-21st when some overnight dustings of snow fell as far south as the
Midlands.
March 2011 Heavy snow once again started to cover parts of Scotland, affecting travel from 9 March, with fresh snowfalls bringing more travel disruption on 12 March. Persistent snow affected much of the Highlands of Scotland during the 12th-13th of the month, with reports of of lying snow near
Fort William and of lying snow to the north of
Aviemore, with severe drifting. ==Weather statistics and records==