Winter of 2010–11 in Europe
The winter arrived particularly early for the European climate, with temperatures dropping significantly lower than previous lows for the month of November.
The UK Met Office issued severe-weather warnings for heavy snow for eastern Scotland and the north-east of England.
[1] Other earlier, but unrelated, storms had dusted Northumberland and the Scottish Borders on 23–24 November, before being absorbed into the advancing Scandinavian weather system.
Heavy snow caused many problems across the UK and the first disruption of snowfall occurred on 24 November in the Grampians, Eastern Scotland and Cairngorms, where snow showers blown from a northerly wind caused havoc as accumulations up to 20 centimetres (8 in) in Aviemore made conditions difficult and major roads in Aberdeen had gridlock problems in the rush hour.
Temperatures in Carterhouse, Scottish Borders, fell to −7.8 °C (18 °F), and several inches of snow were recorded in Devon and Cornwall.
On 22 November, forecasters in the Baltic nations saw snow storms expected some in parts of Sweden on the next day, especially in the south of the country.
[4] The Scandinavian low moved southward bringing snow and frost to both The Netherlands and the north west coast of Germany.
[1] A Thomsonfly Boeing 737-800 plane with 196 passengers overshot its landing position at Newcastle Airport due to an icy runway.
[6][7] On 26 November, night-time temperatures plummeted well below 0 °C (32 °F), with the Welsh towns of Sennybridge and Trawscoed being among the coldest places at −10.2 °C (13.6 °F).
The town of Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands saw the temperatures fall to −8.2 °C (17.2 °F) and Chesham in Buckinghamshire fell to −7 °C (19 °F), and Preston, Lancashire recorded −5.8 °C (21.6 °F).
[8] The Met Office then issued severe weather warnings for almost every part of the UK[8] The Welsh village of Hawarden recorded its coldest November temperature since 1944 with a reading of −9 °C (16 °F).
[10] Shawbury, in Shropshire was hit with −12.5 °C (9.5 °F); Lough Fea, in Northern Ireland was left hopping with −9.2 °C (15.4 °F); and Church Fenton in North Yorkshire chilled out with a nocturnal low of −11.9 °C (10.6 °F).
Sub-zero overnight temperatures were recorded across the country, with the coldest place being at Carterhouse in the Scottish Borders at −7.8 °C (18.0 °F) while Benson in Oxfordshire fell to −7.6 °C (18.3 °F).
[16] AA said that 29 November 2010 was one of its busiest times in its entire 105-year history as they were called to more than 200,000 broken down drivers across the UK.
[8] The evening of 30 November and the whole of 1 December saw extremely heavy snowfall hit Sheffield, one of the worst affected cities in England.
Snow even settled in Central London, causing travel disruptions to the city's Underground system and airports.
The Irish Insurance Federation revealed there were 22,450 claims from the public, the vast majority of which involved snow or ice damage to people's homes.
[17] Met Éireann said the areas worst affected by the overnight snow were eastern parts of Leinster, County Donegal and Connacht and said the bad weather was expected to last for up to a week, with depths of up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in places.
[17] Heavy snowfall was reported across higher parts of the country on 26 November and in lowland Switzerland on the next day.
[21] Severe blizzards hit southern Sweden and Denmark, affecting flights at Copenhagen Airport.
The east coast of Sweden experienced heavy snowfall in November/December, coming from very cold air influenced by the still open water of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia.
Throughout the winter, the snow had caused a one-minute increase in the average response time of the city's fire and rescue department.
Worst hit was Bornholm, Denmark on 23 December, which got all roads unpassable for days, which meant that arriving visitors had to celebrate Christmas in schools or hotels, Bornholm got to 130 cm snow in December 2010, the deepest snow cover on record in Denmark's weather history.
[26] The month was slightly milder in the south, due to two notable periods of thawing and maximum temperatures of up to +15 °C around 8 December and shortly before Christmas.
At Germany's busiest airport in Frankfurt, many flights were cancelled for the second day running on 2 December due to the severe weather conditions.
Much different temperatures occurred in the beginning of December in the Balkans, where heavy rain caused floodings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
The River Drina reached a high point of around eleven times its normal level, and the Lim flooded around 250 acres of land, as well as around 50 buildings.
[41] In addition to domestic resources, NATO dispatched five helicopters from Greece and Turkey, while Italy delivered 25 tonnes of supplies to the country.
