A White Christmas: 2010

The coldest Novemeber since records began, traffic chaos, school closures, £4 billion a week lost from British businesses - SURELY IT CANT GET WORSE?

THE SNOW OF XMAS 2010:

Britain Grdlocked: Read the article and images from the Telegraph here

For us in South Wales, the weather was just as bad as had the start of the year.

So Why all the snow this time?

The Guardian Newspaper released a fantastic INTERACTIVE MAP to explain

Snow in November!

The earliest snow falls for nearly 20 years has plunged Britain into an early winter. In parts of Scotland, temperatures have plummeted to -20 (Monday 29th Nov 2010) closing hundreds of schools and resulting in extremely dangerous driving conditions. Snow falls of 20 cm have been recorded so far.

The coldest recorded temperature ever recorded in the UK was -27 in Braemar, Scotland in January 1982.





In WALES, the coldest temperatures EVER have been recorded in Mid Wales (-18) outdoing the previous record of -12(set in Welshpool 1921). But, forecasters are predicting this could fall further as 10 more days of arctic winds are predicted!



LEFT: The view from Pen-y-fan Mountain, Brecon Beacons (Sun 28th Nov 2010)



So why is it so cold and why so unusually early in the season??


THE JET STREAM + THE ARCTIC BLAST Connection - read on.....

The main reason for the severe weather is the position of the JET STREAM. At present, the jet stream is situated to the south of the UK unable to move north due to the high pressure system off the NW coast of the UK. This HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM is drawing down cold air from the arctic circle and acting like a barrier to the warm, moist air to the south.




















What other factors effect the Climate of the UK?