December
A brief northerly blast mid-month brought frequent hail and snow showers down the east coast, where a covering of snow was reported in Norfolk on the 17th.
Then, after a quiet and relatively settled Christmas period, showers over Essex and Kent turned increasingly wintry on Boxing day night as cold air arrived from the east. Here the snow settled, and frequent snow showers in Southeast England and East Anglia on 27 and 28 December gave a covering of 30 cm across the Downs in Kent, causing some roads and the Channel Tunnel terminal to close for two hours. By the 28th, the snow showers began to affect other northern regions, including Norfolk, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire and Northeast England. North Yorkshire received 20 cm of snow over high ground, whilst the snow caused huge tailbacks on the A1 between Alnwick and Berwick. The snow showers petered later on the 29th as outbreaks of rain, sleet and hill snow moved into western areas.
On Friday 30 December, a band of heavy rain pushed eastwards, with heavy snow on the leading edge. This brought several hours of snow followed by rain, where 20 cm fell in some parts of Yorkshire, with snowdrifts of 1 metre reported. The snow caused hundreds of drivers to be stranded on the A1079 during the late morning at Arras Hill in the East Riding of Yorkshire. There was a marked temperature difference on the 30th, with Redesdale, Northumberland, only reaching 0.4°C as a maximum, whilst some places reached 12°C in Southwest England.
Read more about this topic: 2005 United Kingdom Snow Events
Famous quotes containing the word december:
“Work—work—work,
In the dull December light,
And work—work—work,
When the weather is warm and bright—
While underneath the eaves
The brooding swallows cling
As if to show me their sunny backs
And twit me with the spring.”
—Thomas Hood (1799–1845)