User:This is Paul/January 2013 Great Britain and Ireland dnowfall

The snowfall across Great Britain and Ireland in January 2013 refers to a prolonged period of snowfall that began on 14 January 2013, and affected large areas within much of Great Britain and Ireland.

An initial fall of heavy snow occurred in the early hours of 14 January that affected England, Wales, and Scotland. Following this widespread snowfall, lighter but still considerable snowfall was reported on most days, except for a slight respite on 16 January. However, the worst of the snowfall arrived on 18 January across most of the UK. This led to the Met Office issuing a rare red warning for severe snowfall - the highest warning possible of its type - for parts of Wales on the 18th, while much of England was placed under an amber warning, the second-highest level, that same day. As well as heavy snow warnings, weather warnings were also issued across England and Wales due to ice, especially on 19 January. Also, the Met Office declared a Level 3 Cold Weather Alert across England, the second-highest level for cold weather in this special advanced warning system, on most days following 14 January. Another band of heavy snow crossed the UK, this time from the south to the north, on 20-21 January.

Snowfall forced the cancellation of flights at a number of British airports, including Birmingham, Heathrow, and Southampton. At Heathrow, more than 400 flights were cancelled on 18 January, followed by over 100 more during the morning of 19 January and 20% of the total number of flights on 20 January. There was also widespread disruption to other forms of transport across the UK, with many roads, even some major routes, becoming blocked and impassable. As many as 3,000 schools were closed in England, while in Northern Ireland, heavy snow downed power lines, leaving over 2,400 homes along the eastern coast of County Down without power. Further large power cuts were reported in the towns of Banbridge and Craigavon, also in Northern Ireland.

Background

The winter of 2012 and 2013 started with a severe coldwave in November and December 2012, which peaked on 14 December when a severe band of freezing rain passed over the UK. This caused severe black ice on roads and paths. This was worst in parts of Yorkshire, where there were numerous road accidents, including a five-vehicle pile-up on the A6135 Barnsley Road in Sheffield which involved a fire engine, paramedic response car, and three other cars. This same low pressure system, named Nicki, brought flooding to coastal areas and some towns in Scotland. Following the passage of Nicki came milder temperatures and flooding, particularly over the Christmas period. Mild temperatures continued into 2013 - the temperature reached 10°C in London on 9 January, well above the January average - before the arrival of a new low pressure system on 14 January caused temperatures to plummet and brought considerable snowfall to some areas.

Fatalities

On 18 January, a young woman was killed in a crash on the A1 at Little Ponton, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire. The accident involved several vehicles and occurred at 6pm local time.

Four climbers were killed by an avalanche near Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands on 19 January. The avalanche occurred close to Church Door Buttress, while the climbers were descending the south side of Bidean nam Bian. A fifth member of the party was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries, while a sixth escaped unharmed. It was the deadliest single avalanche in Scottish history and the worst avalanche anywhere in the UK since the Lewes avalanche in 1836.

A woman died after she was found collapsed in the snow in Deal, Kent on 20 January.

See also

• Winter of 2008–2009
• Winter of 2009–2010
• Winter of 2010–2011
• Winter of 2011–2012

References

Category:2013 in Ireland Category:2013 in the United Kingdom Category:2013 meteorology Category:Natural disasters in Ireland Category:Natural disasters in the United Kingdom Category:Weather events in Europe Category:Weather events in Ireland Category:Weather events in the United Kingdom