Retrospectives

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.  

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. The surface analysis by the UK Met Office for 00Z on 13th March 2006:http://www.wetterzentraleforum.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060313.gif

The cold 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. Here is the surface analysis by the UK Met Office for 00Z on 14th March 2006:http://www.wetterzentraleforum.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060314.gif

As ever the mild air eventually won the battle and 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. However this wintry period was possibly the worst to hit the UK in March since 1995 in terms of overall extent & snow depths.