In late November 2010 the weather turned cold and in places snowy, there were some very heavy snow falls in Scotland and the North East of England.
On 27 November I was in York where there was a covering of snow and snow showers, as seen here at College Street, off Goodramgate.
Back home in Mossley it had been very cold but with little snow. But by the morning of the 29th of November the snow arrived, this is a view of the frozen Huddersfield Narrow Canal.
By the 30th November there was a proper covering in Mossley
In the evening of 30 November on Stockport Road, Mossley with piles of snow where the roads had been cleared but fresh snow was falling again
There was an east wind too which always drifts the snow out of the fields at Lydgate, Saddleworth. Some huge drifts are appearing on the morning of 1st December 2010
to see some extra photos from the last few days around Mossley & Saddleworth have a look here . Oh, go on....
Due to the wind blowing the snow everywhere it was hard to judge how deep the snow was in Mossley. In the sheltered areas of my back yard I measured about 18cm after several falls. The depth can be seen on this van on 2nd December
This was nothing compared to the depths in parts of Scotland and the east of England with 40-60cm reported in many places.
But the snow in Mossley was much deeper than that in the centre of Manchester, though even in the city there as a covering and the canal had frozen over. This is Castlefield, Manchester on 2nd December with the Beetham Tower on the background.
The morning of 3rd December was an extremely cold one, minus 9c at my house on the hillside and no doubt colder down in the valley. This is the frozen scene at Roughtown Road, Mossley.
Another view of Mossley and the hills of Saddleworth beyond on the morning of 3rd December
Icicles in the morning sun
This is the Pavilion Gardens at Buxton on 4th December 2010. There'd been over 30cms of snow in Buxton, though the town is quite used to heavy falls, note the bloke on the tractor at work clearing the snow.
It was also the mildest day for some time, with temperatures getting a degree or two above freezing with sleet and drizzle causing a slight thaw
Despite the thaw the snow was still deep, as can be seen here on the tables outside the Old Sun Inn in Buxton
There were lots of icicles about too
Buxton Opera House at dusk on the 4th December, with some Xmas lights brightening up the gloomy day
The next day I went to the Lake District, there was deep snow, blue sky and below freezing temperatures - for photos follow this link
Back home, and the clear sunny and very cold weather had headed south. This is the view down the Tame Valley to Greenfield in Saddleworth at dusk on the 6th December, ovenight it had reached minus 9 and stayed below freezing all day.
The real thaw arrived on 9th December, with temperatues a few degrees above freezing and some rain. This is the scene in Mossley late on the 9th in the fog, still plenty of snow around and some very icy footpaths.
The thaw continued until the only snow left around my local area was the
remains of drifts on the hills and fields, as can be seen here on 12th
December looking from the Mossley/Saddleworth border to Wharmton through
a passing shower. But it had begun to turn cooler again, hopefully the
snow will be back...
(It was! - see here)