Weather of 2009

Winter storms of 2009–2010
A satellite photo showing most of the U.K.. It shows the extent of snow cover tip to toe across the 700mile long island. From Cardiff in the South to Aberdeen in the North the UK was hit with the heaviest snowfall in thirty-two years.
Seasonal statistics
Total fatalities	Unknown
Total damage	Unknown

See also: Winter of 2009–2010 in the United Kingdom, Winter storms of 2009–2010 in East Asia, and Winter of 2009–2010 in Europe

Winter storms of 2009–2010 profiles the major worldwide winter storms, including blizzards, ice storms, snowstorms, and other winter events. A winter storm is an event in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are forms that only occur at cold temperatures; such as snow, hail, sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice to form (i.e. freezing rain). The time scope is between July 1 2009 to June 30 2010. Very cold and/or snowy weather was reported across the Northern Hemisphere, with many severe cases being reported in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, Finland, Russia, India, South Korea, China and Japan over the winter of 2009-2010. Even places that do not get more than an inch of snow on a single day, such as Texas, got up to five to ten inches and more overall.

As this occurred, unusually heavy rain hit Brazil, southern Bangladesh, Italy, Haiti and Argentina, while major flooding events and landslides hit Brazil, Peru and Uganda. A heat wave and/or unforeseen monsoon weather also hit parts of Australia. Guam was hit by Super Typhoon Nida on November 29, 2009, and flooding and hailstorms hit southeastern Australia and Queensland in March 2010.

2009

October 1-3

A heavy and snowy cyclone hit the Kedrovaya River in Primorsky Krai and parts of the Aleutian islands on October 1.

A heavy and rainy cyclone hit the Bering sea and parts of the Chukchi Sea on October 3. 21 people were confirmed dead following rainstorms and landslides in Sicily . A fishing boat was damaged at sea off the coast of Sicily. Austria saw heavy flooding, with lesser levels in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova and southern parts of Ukraine. 2 Ukrainians and a Moldavian died in the storm.

October 11-18

Main article: October 2009 North American storm complex

Late on October 11, the remains of Super Typhoon Melor were absorbed by a newly formed low-pressure system just north of it, similar to how Typhoon Kujira's remains were absorbed. The low-pressure system slowly began to intensify as it crossed the Pacific Ocean. Several wind and flood watches/warnings were issued on October 17 in advance for the expected arrival of the winter storm. A high wave advisory was issued for the entire western seaboard. Just before midnight of October 18, the powerful winter storm struck California with gale-force winds and torrential rainfall. In Northern California, the rainfall was seemingly endless. The San Francisco Bay area suffered the most damage, from 40-foot (12 m) high waves and reported gusts of 85 mph (140 km/h). A rare storm warning was posted for San Francisco Bay and subsequently, wind gusts were clocked at 75 mph (125 km/h) on Angel Island. Because the storm stayed stationary, it began to weaken, but soon afterward it moved east and then south. As it moved south, it rained moderately in some parts of California before moving towards the east coast. It caused heavy rainfall while it was moving towards the eastern seaboard. The winter storm moved off the eastern coast of the United States and into the Atlantic Ocean early on Saturday, November 7, 2009, and dissipated completely in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the Wednesday, November 11, 2009. The damage that the storm done to the west coast from Sunday, October 11, 2009 to Friday, October 15, 2009 is currently estimated at about $1.5 billion (2009 USD).

Moderate snow fell between the 15th and 18th in the Northeast US as far as the suburbs of New York City, with light snow being reported in the city itsself. Boston suburbs saw moderate, wet snow fall on the morning of October 16, in spots accumulating up to 0.5 inches. The area was then hit on October 18, when in the afternoon, heavy rain turned to heavy snow and almost white-out conditions. The ground was too warm for any significant accumulation, but up to 2 inches were reported at spots between Boston and Lowell. It all melted by October 20.

October 12–13

On 12 October 2009, Just over 200 herdsmen and 1,000 heads of livestock had been stranded by heavy snowfalls in Ali prefecture. The week-long snowfall had accumulated to about 30 centimetres in Pulan County in Ali, with some areas reaching as much as 1 meter depth, according to Xing Xiuyin, head of an armed police detachment stationed in the Tibetan region. 30 soldiers and two snow-clearing machines were sent on the way to Ali, according to Xing Xiuyin. Thousands of people were trapped as heavy snow fell in Tibet's Lhunze County, but rescue services managed to minimize the casualties and damage to homes. The rescue services also managed to provide shelter and emergency fodder for 200 head of cattle. By October 13, snow was reported by Chinese authorities to be falling in both Qinghai and Heilongjiang Provinces.

October 15–16

On 15 October 2009, Germany, Austria and Poland were hit by heavy snowstorms. 1 person died after falling in an Tyrolian lake by accident.

27,000 lightning strikes and heavy rainstorms hit parts of Spain in just over 12 hours on the 16th of October.

October 29–30

Between October 29 and 30 a very powerful winter storm battered the west coast of the USA, although it did not affect Southern California. It was very windy in the places that it hit, but the storm only stayed there for two days. The storm left and traveled towards the east coast after that day. The only affect the storm had on Southern California was bringing a cloudy day with very cold temperatures.

October 31

Heavy snowfall hit Russia's Primorsky Territory on October 31, as the cold windstorm moved from the Sea of Okhotsk to the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, bringing heavy snow and rain to the region that meteorologists expected to last another 24 hours. They also warned that temperatures would fall by up to 15 degrees and that weather conditions could make traveling difficult as snowfall in the Vladivostok area had already significantly impeded travel by larger vehicles. The city administration's official Yevgeny Kolpinets told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that the inclement weather had stopped bus traffic in the city, but luckily no energy supply service problems had been reported . Weather forecasters expected more cyclone-generated snow fall over the next few days..

November 3 – 18

Northern hemisphere is highlighted in yellow and is where this article applies to.

On November 3, the Harbin Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, experienced unusually heavy snow. The festival was first started in 1985 and had never before seen such heavy snowfall. Harbin is China's tenth-largest city with a population of about 4,500,000, so planned electricity rationing would hit this usually busy city hard, as would the planned rationing in Beijing. The worst snowstorms in Northeastern China since 1949 claimed 40 lives, destroyed thousands of buildings and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (202,343 ha) of winter crops, according to the Civil Affairs Ministry. The snowfall was the heaviest in the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

On November 10, heavy rain and intermittent snow hit the Cheviot Hills, Pennines, Dee Valley in Wales and The Wash. Light snow fell in the Grampian Mountains and Aberdeenshire . Passing sleet was also recorded in Lincolnshire on the 10th. A flood watch was put on the River Tay and the River Dee. Minor surface flooding had already occurred in parts of Lincolnshire and Cumbria after the previous two days flooding .

The 11th of November, 2009, saw snow and/or rain storms menicing Hungary, Iceland, India's part of the Himalayas (rain and snow), parts of Indonesia (rain only), north western Iran, northern Iraq, Mount Fuji in Japan and in Armenia. Yet more snow storms hit the People's Republic Of China, disrupting traffic across the northeastern provinces, Beijing and Tibet on November the 10th and 11th. Most of Bulgaria's poor drainage systems and second-rate storm drains failed during the day's heavy rain and windstorms. Snow was also present in most of the mountain regions.

Heavy snowfall in China caused school building collapses and the deaths of 38 people on the 18th.

November 11 - December 30

After a rather snowy November 11, Iceland's weather became rather unusual. From November 12 to December 30, Iceland's abnormally warm and dry November weather gave way and December became very snowy with the town of Akureyri receiving 35 cm of snow over the night of December 1–2. Snow fell and blizzards occurred intermittently throughout a windy December.

On December 12, heavy snow hit Dimmuborgir, Iceland.

November 14

A blizzard and about half a foot of snow fell on the 1,040 m high Peak Chekhov, near Yuzhno, Sakhalin Island, on the November 14, 2009.

November 18 – 25

Main article: 2009 Great Britain and Ireland floods

The approach to Calva Bridge, Workington, 20 November 2009.

Many properties were flooded in Ambleside on November 18, leaving the main road impassible for most vehicles.. Over 200 people in Cockermouth were rescued from their homes by the emergency services..

On the Isle of Man, there were brief power cuts on the 18th, in Ballaragh and Laxey but Manx Electricity restored power to all affected properties by the afternoon.

On the 20th, all services on the West Coast Main Line were still temporarily suspended after a landslip between Carlisle and Penrith. The West Coast Main Line was flooded between Carlisle and Carstairs and was closed as a result. Services were reduced between Edinburgh and Glasgow and also Edinburgh and Dunblane..

Calva Bridge, Workington in Cumbria, which was condemned as a result of damage received in the flooding.

In Workington, the collapse of Northside Bridge carrying the A597 road and the condemnation of Calva Bridge carrying the A596 resulted in a 40 miles (64 km) journey from Northside to the town centre. Network Rail are constructed a temporary railway station, Workington North, to help Northside residents get into and out of town . The 170 members of the Royal Engineers from 170 (Infrastructure Support Unit) installed a temporary footbridge upstream of Calva Bridge, which opened as scheduled, on the 5th December 2009.

As a result of the loss of all road and footbridges in Workington on November 19, it was announced that a new railway station, Workington North, would be built on wasteland leased for two years from Allerdale Council. The station was scheduled to open by 28 November with services provided by Northern Rail. Workington North opened on 30 November 2009.

The government pledged £1,000,000 to the reconstruction of the shattered town, but deemed any new (permanent) road or a (temporary) rail bridge unnecessary and only allowed the army engineers to build a temporary foot bridge at state expense to begin with. Northern Rail, Network Rail and a local contractor all helped in the building of Workington North. The Department for Transport announced that it would fund the service until the 31st of December 2009, at a cost of £216,000. All trains between Workington, Workington North, Flimby and Maryport would be free of charge until 31 December 2009.

County Fermanagh was hit by heavy rain on November the 23rd. Many roads were flooded or hit by landslides. The B36 Dernawilt Road between Enniskillen and Killyfole was one of many that were affected by the storm. Both Lough Erne and the Colebrooke River were put on flood alert.

A mini-tornado tore through Maypole Lane in the Derbyshire village of Littleover the next day, November 24. Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service reported moderate damage in the Village on the 24th. A small waterspout was reported off the coast of Aberdeenshire.

25 November saw fierce winds rattling Dublin Airport and parts of the east coast of Ireland, leading to the diversion of ten aircraft—seven aircraft to Shannon Airport and three aircraft to Manchester Airport. Some of the affected aircraft were transatlantic flights from destinations such as Chicago and New York.

November 25–30

On November 25, a cold cyclone tracked into Russia's Primorsky Territory from the Yellow Sea. Weather forecasters correctly predicted snow, gale-force wind and temperatures between 0 to −2°C, with one night's temperature drop reaching −25°С. Over the next week the daytime temperature was predicted to be between 2°С to -10°С, with a nighttime temperature between −24 and −25°C. The wind speed was expected to be between 0 and 11 m/s (40 km/h). Both Ice and avalanche warnings were issued for a week (to December 2) as heavy snow was predicted for both Primorsky Krai and Amur Krai, but significantly less than expected actually occurred over the week and the storm finally cleared up on 30 November, rather than on December 2.

A powerful storm (probably the earlier one from Primorsky Krai) stalled in the Gulf of Alaska in November 25. On the 26th, its wind field produced high tides on the western seaboard. The storm weakened significantly on the 27th and moved towards Southern California, bringing heavy rainfall starting early in the morning and causing strong winds. The storm left Southern California and moved on to batter the east coast during the afternoon of Sunday, November 29, 2009. A heavy and snowy cyclone hit the Aleutian islands on November 30.

November 27

By November 27 heavy rain was moving over the Irish Sea is set to give some heavy rain then turning to snow over parts of the peak district, with altitudes above 1000 feet (300 m), dropping over 2 inches (5.1 cm) of snow in some places. This is the usual snowfall for parts of Scotland, including the West Highlands and the East Highlands.

Network Rail's new Workington Workington North Temporary Station opened 30 November 2009.

In the U.K., Cumbria's Workington North Temporary Station was official opened on 30 November 2009.

December 1 – 2

On December 1 and 2 heavy rain fell in the British Isles, and into the night, the rain band hit the cold air and turned to snow giving about 1 foot (30 cm) on some hilltops and mountains across Scotland.

On 2 December, thousands of acres of Irish farmland remained underwater, floodwaters were still rising in some Galway villages and roads in Clare and Galway were still impassable.. Floods were still in situ across the UK and both bus and train services were disrupted in Essex, Cumbria and Pembrokeshire. The River Severn and Derwent were put on flood watch by the Environment Agency.

December 3 - January 1

Toronto, Canada was hit by both a cold front and two extreme cold weather warnings between December 3 and January 1.. A strong arctic front moved through Alberta from the northwest, bringing from 4 inches to 1 foot (10 cm to 30 cm) of snowfall. Winds gusted to 50 mph (80 km/h), causing whiteout and blizzard conditions across most of Alberta. The southern half of the province got the worst of the storm. The winds blew the snow into massive drifts and snow banks up to 10 feet (3m) in height. Numerous communities in Calgary were completely snowed in for three days, from December 5 to 7. Numerous cars and trucks were abandoned, with many buried up to their roofs in snow.

December 6–14

Main article: December 2009 North American snowstorms

The December 2009 North American snowstorms were a meteorological event in North America that started on December 11. The snowstorms brought record amounts of snow to the Midwest and contributed to deaths of 16 people. The storms affected a number of US states, including Arizona, Wisconsin and New York, as well as Canada. Although the initial storm had virtually subsided by December 11, further snow was expected to fall.

A weak disturbance that started overnight on December 6 stalled over the western United States and intensified rapidly. Heavy downpours began early in the morning of December 7 and continued non-stop until the evening, triggering flash-flood watches. The storm dropped as much as 4.5 in (110 mm) of rain in Cuyamaca, San Diego, causing blackouts in some locations. This storm was followed by a small semi-tropical winter storm which started overnight on December 10 and then stalled over Southern California and intensified, causing heavy downpours. In addition to 4 inches of rain, this storm gave pea-sized-hail and gusty winds before weakening and moving away from Southern California on December 13.

Heavy snow hit Wisconsin, New York, Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland on the 10th and 14th. Heavy rain hit parts of Arizona on the 11th.

December 8–16

Light snow began to fall in the Grampian Mountains on December 8. On the 8th more heavy snow showers followed on the 18th. Heavy overnight snow caused widespread disruption across England in the South East, East Anglia, the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber. East Winds brought further snowfalls in the northern half of the UK.

Overnight, five Eurostar trains were stuck in the Channel Tunnel, trapping 2,000 people for 16 hours after electrical failures due to cold temperatures. Many schools in England were closed on the 9th. During the December 2009 European snowfall, four Eurostar trains broke down inside the Channel Tunnel, after leaving France, and one in Kent on 18 December. Although the trains had been winterised, the systems had not coped with the conditions. Over 2,000 passengers were stuck inside failed trains inside the tunnel, and over 75,000 had their services disrupted. All Eurostar services were cancelled from Saturday 19 December to Monday 21 December 2009. An independent review, published on 12 February 2010, was critical of the contingency plans in place for assisting passengers stranded by the delays, calling them "insufficient".

The cold weather began in earnest on December 10, with temperatures in Braemar, Aberdeenshire reaching a low of −4.9°C on the 10th, −7°C on the 11th, and −8.9°C on the 12th. This was the beginning of the "Big Freeze". Between December 11 and 16, cold air from the north and east brought subzero temperatures to many northern parts of the UK and the southern county of Oxfordshire, along with dense fog.

December 14–21

Paris, France, on 17 December

Peterborough, England, on 18 December

A major blizzard killed 11 people in Romania between December 14 and 21.

Wintery showers of rain, sleet, and heavy snow affected East and South-East parts of the United Kingdom. On 18 December, heavy snowfall caused widespread disruption and travel chaos across large parts of Lancashire, South East England, East Anglia, the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber, forcing schools to close early for the upcoming Christmas holiday and cutting power supplies in some areas. The heaviest snowfall in 20 years also caused temperatures to fall as low as −16 °C (3 °F) in the Scottish Highlands.

More heavy snow showers followed on December 18. Heavy overnight snow caused widespread disruption across England in the South East, East Anglia, the East Midlands, Yorkshire, and the Humber. Five Eurostar trains were stuck in the Channel Tunnel after electrical failures due to cold temperatures, trapping 2,000 people for up to 16 hours. Many schools in England were closed on December 18.

Heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures killed at least 290 people across Europe. Temperatures fell to as low as −33 °C (−27 °F) in Germany, suspending and cancelling flights and stranding thousands of Christmas passengers. As many as 40% of flights from Paris's two airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle, were cancelled. Berlin Tegel Airport, Amsterdam's Schipol Airport, and Frankfurt International Airport were forced to close due to ice on the runway.

Heavy snow fell in both the Russian teritorries of Krasnodar Krai and in the Russian Far East on December the 18th. The Far Eastern storm had heavy snow flurries occered across the Sea of Okhotsk, Cape Lopatka, Avacha Bay, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Volcanoes of Kamchatka, which a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Kamchatka Peninsula's Central Range Mountains on December the 18th.

Wrocław, Poland, on 20 December.

On December 20, 3 people froze to death in Steiermark, Austria , while blizzards hit S.W. Norway . December 21 and 22 saw 20 cm of snow fall in Moscow and nearby towns Temperatures of as low as −20°C killed 47 people in Poland on December 20. In northern Italy, some locations recorded the lowest temperature since 1985, with one low reaching −17°C (1.4°F).. Finland, the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands also recorded record low temperatures.

In the United Kingdom, many major motorways, including the M25, M4, M40 and M1, were brought to a standstill due to snow drifts, cold, and ice, leaving many towns gridlocked. The UK's Highways Agency tried to grit the M11 and M1, only to have a gritter van skid off the M11 and into a deep snow drift. Some people were able to travel from London Victoria Station to Ashford International railway station courtesy of a steam train hauled by Tornado. Widespread transport disruption to roads, railways, buses, and airports affected much of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In Zagreb, Croatia, around 50 passengers were injured when a train travelling from Sisak to Zagreb failed to stop due to black ice on the rails and hit a buffer at the city's main railway station. One person suffered life-threatening injuries, while some 40 others required medical attention. A homeless man froze to death in southern Kosovo during a localized snowstorm. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3 people were found dead from hypothermia in Sarajevo and Teslić.

December 16–19

Main article: North American blizzard of 2009

Cars buried by nearly 24 inches (61 cm) of snow in Woodley Park, Washington, D.C., on December 19.

A powerful nor'easter brought blizzard conditions to the northeastern and mid-atlantic United States, as well as Nova Scotia in Canada on the 16th of December. Washington, D.C. received nearly two feet (over 60 cm) of snow, setting a city record for December snowfall. New York City and southern New England were forecast to receive over a foot of snow. The snow covered most of New England, disrupting travel in New York and Pennsylvania as local record low temperatures are recorded as snow falls in Florida on the 17th. Seven people were killed as a result of the storm.

December 20 – 22

On December 20, nearly a foot and a half of snow fell in parts of Buncombe County and around other parts of North Carolina, with the highest amounts seen north and east of Transylvania County. This was the most snow seen in the region since 1996. Two feet of snow was recorded on Mt. Mitchell. National Guard units were mobilized to help stranded drivers and clear roads. Red Cross and National Guard shelters were opened in Buncombe, Madison and McDowell counties to accommodate travellers stranded by miles-long backups on the congested and debris-strewn I-40 and I-26. Hundreds of trees and limbs fell under the weight of the snow, blocking roads and leaving tens of thousands without power or phones. On December 22, blizzard conditions also struck Washington, D.C..

December 21 - January 3

In Mongolia, heavy December snowstorms killed 2,000 cattle and 2 people. The worst was between December 21 and January 3.

December 22

On December 22, a blanket of heavy snow fell upon large parts of Japan and South Korea, causing the deaths of 10 Japanese and 3 South Korean people. Snow was piled up to 184 cm high in parts of Niigata. Up to 650,000 homes and businesses lost electricity, and local trains were also halted by the power outage. In Fukui, two nuclear power plants automatically shut down due to technical problems caused by the unusually heavy snowfalls. South Korea deployed several thousand troops to clear highways and remove snow from the roofs of weak buildings after up to a metre of snow had fallen over the past two weeks. Although the storm certainly affected North Korea as well, no reports are available.

Also on the 22nd, snowstorms hit Leicestershire and Warsaw. At the same time, a Winter storm hit Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and parts of Tannu Tuva, while a Siberian cyclone started up over Yakutia and headed for Khabarovsk Krai.

December 22–28

Main article: 2009 North American Christmas winter storm

The 2009 American Christmas Winter Storm on December 24 over the Southeast United States.

Starting on December 22, a large winter storm began moving across the Great Plains and Midwest. It has claimed 21 lives, canceled hundreds of flights and knocked out power across most of West Virginia. The storm stalled and spun around itself for a few days before continuing northeast. Many parts of the Great Plains experienced heavy snowfall, while places further north such as Chicago and Ottawa received freezing rain. As the snow and rain subsided on the 27th, it left record rainfalls in Texas to the Upper Midwest. The storm dumped 23.9 in (60.7 cm) of snow in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and 18 in (45.7 cm) near Norfolk, Nebraska. In the East, higher temperatures and rains have started melting and washing away last week's record-setting snowfalls, threatening the region with flooding. The National Weather Service also of flooding in parts of the South and Midwest, and winter weather advisories were in effect in sections of Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan through the Sunday. A man drowned after slipping in to the Kennebec River, near Moosehead Lake in Maine.

Over 30 inches (78 cm) of snow fell in South Dakota. Several inches of snow also fell in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Southern Ontario, snowsqualls fed into a cold front behind the main low pressure center of the storm to produce a rapid drop in temperatures on December 28.

December 23 – January 1

December 23 to 26 saw heavy snow hit both Primorsky (Primorye) Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, Sakhalin Oblast and Kamchatka Krai. The weekend saw a migratory cyclone bringing a warm spell and snowstorms reaching Primorsky on the Friday . Heavy snow badly disrupted life in Vladivostok in December as sleet and gale-force wind occurred on Primorsky Krai's south coast. Over two days, temperatures rose from -4°C up to -2°C. On the night of December 26 the strengthening cyclone began drifting to the southern coast of Primorsky and over Sakhalin Krai. Snow also fell in Amur Oblast. President Vladimir Putin visited Vladivostok on the 25th.

Heavy snowfall also began in Saint Petersburg, Russia. By 26 December the city was under 35 cm of snow, creating the most December snowfall seen in the city since 1881.. A snowstorm also occurred in parts of the Barents sea.

On December 30 an emergency warning about the passage of another powerful cyclone was issued to all the territories and population centres along Russia's Pacific Coast. The gales, heavy snowfall, blizzards and a sharp fall in air temperatures hit the Sea of Okhotsk and the surrounding territories of Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Magadan Oblast. The Far Eastern territorial centre of the federal Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defence (E.M.E.R.C.O.M.) warned that the cyclone would produce snow banks, icy conditions on roads, as well as snow bringing down phone and power transmission lines in Primorsky territory. The temperatures reckoned to have fallen near the expected −7°C. The temperature was that which usually occurs in a Siberian cyclone, when it reaches the Russian Far East. Forecasters said there was a strong possibility of heavy snowfall and blizzards along the eastern districts of the Khabarovsk Krai, in parts of the Sakhalin Island and on the southern Kuril Islands December 31 and January 1.

The last week of 2009 saw an Arctic storm bearing down on Sakhalin Island, and local officials told people not to drive their cars outside any city limits and banned the rather dangerous practice of ice fishing, due to the purported death of a Nivkh fisherman, until the storm had passed. Nonetheless, dozens of cars were buried in snow and in one village, rescuers dug out 56 cars, freeing 74 passengers and giving aid to those who were haplessly trapped. People in cars that remained stuck were being provided with both water, bread and fuel via snowmobile. The towns of Korsakov and Poronaysk were worst hit, and parts of the local taiga forests of fir and birch had been entirely up-rooted and buried by the blizzard conditions.

December 25

About 60% of the Italian city of Venice was flooded by a heavy rainstorm on December the 25th.

December 26–30

Glen Coe, Scotland, on 27 December.

Parts of England again suffered repeated power cuts, and Scotland experienced fresh snowfall overnight on 26–27 December with the worst affected area being Perthshire, where between 12 and 18 inches (300–460 mm) fell.

In Italy, December 30 saw hundreds of homes in Tuscany evacuated because of flooding and Spain's rescue services were on yellow danger alert after flash floods destroyed roads and landslides swept railways away. Transport Links between Almeria, Granada, Málaga and Sevilla were severed. Drought-blighted Andalusia has had its fifth day of rain, and Portugal was on orange flood alert. Authorities said the rain had destroyed millions of Euros worth of agricultural produce. The harbours were closed and the Madeira archipelago islands were also under threat of both flooding and gale force winds, as 110 km/h whipped up six metre high waves.

December 28 - January 3

At least two of the Russian Far East storms stacked up over the Gulf of Alaska during December 28. Various weather forecasts suggested that one would spread valley rain and mountain snow across Northern California and drop up to half an inch of rain across the northern Sacramento Valley over the next few days. The National Weather Service issued a Winter Weather Advisory warning for the Mount Shasta area, where forecasters expected 1 to 3 inches of snow in town and up to 10 inches above 5,000 feet. The second cold front, and its related storm, would bring more rain and high country snow to the north state by New Years Eve or New Years Day.

The blizzards began New Year's Eve lasted until January 3. It was at its worst on December 31, when an avalanche derailed a diesel locomotive fitted with a railway snowplough off its railway tracks. The storm continued through the 1st of January, when three workers sent to repair the damage were swept away by the howling blizzard that was ripping through Sakhalin Island according to the RIA Novosti news service. One worker was found alive and rescue teams retrieved the body of a second Sunday morning. Things got desperate enough that 140 soldiers were ordered to help dig the train out from beneath 350,000 cubic feet of snow. A local man, Andrei Sukhonosov, trying to return home to the city of Tamari was on the buried train .

Authorities and rescue services in Sakhalin Oblast were put on alert and warned of a high risk of avalanches on the island's numerous hills and mountains. Another avalanche warning was in effect on the 2nd, for Sakhalin Island, due to hazardous levels of snowfall during yet another Siberian snow cyclone and blizzard, emergency officials said. The authorities in Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krai were also put on alert, just in case things got ant worse. The last two Russian Far Eastern storms dissipated in the Gulf of Alaska on January the 5 and 6th respectively.

December 29–31

Following the deadly 2009 North American Christmas winter storm, a medium-sized nor'easter formed in Texas and brought moderate snow to the western portion of the state on December 29. In anticipation of the event Texas Governor Rick Perry activated his resources ahead of the winter storm. It then moved through the Southeast and brought heavy rain and freezing rain to higher altitudes. Some snow was reported in Clayton, Georgia but did not accumulate. It then moved quickly up the East Coast, bringing freezing rain and sleet to the Mid-Atlantic and moderate to heavy snow to the Tri-State Area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut). 5 inches (12.7 cm) at the most was reported in White Plains 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) in Hartford. It then brought about 2 inches (5 cm) to Boston and southeastern New England. Overnight January 1, it strengthened explosively over water and looped back around to create a blizzard in northern New England. Up to 19 inches (48 cm) was on the ground in Lubec, Maine by Sunday, and on Saturday it moved to southern New England. 13 inches (33 cm) fell in Lexington, Massachusetts making that the most fallen in southern New England in the season. Boston received 9 inches (23 cm). The storm moved into the Labrador Sea by Sunday afternoon, leaving behind a pattern where multiple storms within the broader low undergo cyclogenesis to track north of Newfoundland.

Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) issued warnings about conditions on Scottish mountains on December 30. However, three people died in three large avalanches. Two climbers were killed as a result of an avalanche on Ben Nevis, while a man was airlifted from Liathach, a mountain in Torridon, after getting into trouble, and died in hospital..

Continued icy weather in Scotland on New Year's Eve led to the cancellation of Hogmanay celebrations in Inverness amid concerns over public safety. New Year celebrations in other parts of Scotland went ahead as planned. North-east Scotland experienced fresh snowfall during the afternoon and evening of 31 December. For a second time that week Inverness Airport was closed forcing several hundred passengers to make alternative arrangements. In Batley, West Yorkshire 2,500 gallons of water leaked into the local gas network, leaving 400 homes in Dewsbury and Batley without gas during sub-zero temperatures. The final homes were reconnected on 7 January.

2010

Dec 31 – Jan 3

December 31 to January 5 saw heavy flooding in southern Spain and heavy snow in northern Spain.

A major snow-related weather warning was put out in Alaska on 30 December . The expected snowstorm was probably part of the same weather system that hit the Russian Far East from December 30 to January 5.

Between January 1 and 2, 2010, 50- and 70-year record low temperatures and snowfall hit northern China and Korea starting 1 January. Blizzards also hit Mongolia's Dundgobi province.

Heavy record-breaking snow also fell in Moscow in early January 2010. and light snow briefly fell in Greece and Turkey.

On January the 2nd, a weather front carried in northerly wind brought heavy snow to the northwest of England. Wythenshawe near Manchester Airport had 5 inches (130 mm) of snow. This affected road transport on 2 January, particularly in the Greater Manchester area with conditions on the M60, M602 and M66 reported to be poor, while Snake Pass, which links Manchester with Sheffield was closed.

As a snowstorm entered Scotland, a number of roads across the country were closed including three junctions of the M9 while the motorway was shut in both directions at the Newbridge Roundabout in Edinburgh during the evening because of heavy snow, and did not open again until the following day. Problems were also reported on the A96 and the A939. Rail services between Inverness and Central Scotland were also affected by poor weather.

Possibly more than 200 people have died in northern India, mostly in Uttar Pradesh after a cold snap and accidents in heavy fog around 2 and 3 January..

4 January

Heavy snow fell in northern China and grounded hundreds of flights on the 4th. It and forced Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang and Monetary Authority Chief Executive Officer Norman Chan to cancel a trip to Beijing. Beijing was hit by a blizzard starting the evening of the 2nd, with 70–80% of flights cancelled out of Beijing Capital International Airport on January the 4th.. Close to 20 cm of snow fell in the north of the city, and close to 25 cm in Seoul. Schools across the area were closed, and Premier Wen asked local governments to ensure safe transportation, continued food supplies, and continued agricultural production. Continued snowstorms were forecast for the city of Beijing and the province of Inner Mongolia. It was also predicted on January 7 for snow to reach the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei on January 9 according to China National Radio. One person was killed in Xinjiang Autonomous Region as a result of the storm.. Emergency servaces handed out extra cattle fodder in Tibet.

Japan's Hokkaido island was hit by heavier snowfall, causing heavy travel disruption and some airport closures.

By January 4 about 30 people, including 28 children and an elderly man, died from cold-related causes in the last 11 days across Bangladesh as snow and a cold wave swept over the north and centre of the nation. Freezing fog also occurred on the 4th in Punjab, India. Some parts of Bangladesh were the hardest hit with temperatures plummeting as low as 6°C according to meteorologist Sanaul Haque, who predicted the cold wave may continue for another day.

The New Brunswick villages of Upper Cape and Port Elgin were devastated as a massive hurricane-strength blizzard hit Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island on January the 4th, causing massive blackouts in its wake.

Light snow briefly fell in the Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine and further snow was reported in Niigata, Japan.

In its monthly summary, Met Eireann, Ireland's weather service, said December was the coldest month for 28 years for most of the country and the coldest of any month since February 1986 at a few stations.

In Scotland, Fife Council became the first local authority to confirm that its supply of grit was exhausted on the 4th of January, after it received less than it had ordered from suppliers. Government Ministers denied there was a shortage of grit and salt and insisted there were "very substantial" supplies for Scotland's roads.

In its monthly summary, Met Eireann, Ireland's weather service, said December was the coldest month for 28 years for most of the country and the coldest of any month since February 1986 at a few stations.

On January the 4th saw four villages in Sakhalin loose power as a result of a storm. The 2,000 strong town of Tamari was worst hit. Blizzard struck Sakhalin island, a narrow island in the stormy Sea of Okhotsk, off the coast of Siberia and just 25 miles north of Japan‘s snowy Hokkaido island.

On the 4th, many motorways in Shandong were closed and 19 flights cancelled in the Yantai International Airport. Eventually the No. 1820 train, carrying more than 800 passengers, started off at after being stranded for 12 hours.

January 4 saw Seoul's heaviest snowfall since 1937 according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The blizzard dumped 25.8 centimetres (10.2 in) of snow on the town .

Avalanches and heavy snow hit the Russian's Sakhalin Island, which was smothered by a snow cyclone and blizzard, the Island's emergency officials said.

Civil authorities were put on a major alert in the snow-torn province of Shandong on January 4 as more snow fell in both Shandong and Beijing. Travel wasaffected as the snowstorm paralyzed Beijing on January 4, 2010 .

5 January

January the 5th in northeastern China saw a smooth flow of traffic, with no gridlock or serious traffic accidents being reported after the snowstorm that caused traffic chaos on the 4th, according to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. The city's bus and subway train services were up and running according as plan. During the peak hours on Monday morning, the Beijing Subway Operating Company dispatched 20 additional trains to ease the heavy passenger flow. The bus of all routes started off on time that morning, according to the Beijing Public Transport Holdings. Inner Mongolia was still in a critical situation as teams batteled to clear severe rural snow drifts.

4–8 inches (10–20 centimeters) of snow fell in Beijing on the 5th, in the largest snowfall since 1951.

The 2,000 weather modification offices in China, which are responsible for bombing the skies with silver iodide to induce rain or snow were put in to use. Schools in Beijing and Tianjin closed and because the cities' traffic was in chaos. The capital received the harshest Siberian winds in decades. Temperatures for the 5th were forecast to plunge to −16°C, a 40-year record low, after a daytime maximum of −8°C. The head of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, Guo Hu, linked the blizzard-like conditions of the first week of January to unusual atmospheric patterns caused by global warming.

Heavy snow started to fall in Seoul, South Korea and it was reported that a leading North Korean Communist party official had frozen to death, in his home, situated in the country's Sepo kun (or county).

During the traffic peak hours of Monday morning, the Beijing Subway Operating Company dispatched 20 additional subway trains to ease the heavy passenger flow. City workers were deployed to clean the snow in the city's main roads with about 15,710 tonnes of snow-dissolving agent, Beijing Environmental Sanitation Group Co., Ltd. official Zhang Zhiqiang said. On the 4th, many motorways in Shandong were closed and 19 flights were cancelled at Yantai International Airport.

In Inner Mongolia, 13 trains were delayed that Monday in Hohhot, the regional capital, according to the Hohhot railway authorities.

Manchester, England, on 5 January.

The Met Office issued weather warnings for every region in the UK except the Northern Isles. An extreme weather warning was issued for southern areas for overnight snowfall which could bring accumulations from 25 to 40 centimetres (9.8 to 15.7 in). BBC Weather and the Met Office also warned that temperatures in the Highlands of Scotland could drop to −20 °C (−4 °F) later in the week. The Met Office also confirmed that the UK is experiencing the longest prolonged cold spell since December 1981. The Harrogate district endured over six inches and had been a regular feature on BBC News broadcasts.

A local record of 48 centimetres (19 in) of snow was lying in Aviemore and 3 to 4 feet (0.91 to 1.22 m) of snow was recorded within the Cairngorms National Park. Most parts of Scotland had further snowfalls during the night of 4/5 January.

Due to shortage of road grit conventionally made from rock salt, road grit was being made by or for road-gritters from cooking-type salt mixed with builders' sand; and the public bought up large amounts of cooking salt and table salt from food shops to put on their paths and drives. The Government was reported to have reallocated reserve supplies of road salt and grit from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and sent it to Cumbria and Fife due to the higher priority of even lower salt and grit reserves, along with the greater snow clearance work, according to Radio Oxford.

January 6 – 9

Snow and fog occurred in Germany from January 3 to January 10. The Finnish railways and Helsinki airport are disrupted by further snowfall and record low temperatures for the Helsinki region.

On January 6, Harrow closed 58 schools and 73 flights were cancelled at Heathrow as 3 cm of snow fell at Heathrow Airport.

Continued snowstorms were forecast for the city of Beijing and the province of Inner Mongolia. Electricity rationing started on January 7 . Snow had started falling in Gangsu province by January 7. It also was projected on January 7 to have reached the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei on January 9 according to China National Radio.

The Chinese government said that China faced its worst ice risk in 30 years . By the night of January 8–9, the major snowstorms predicted on January 7 for the provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui, had arrived and the emergency services were put on alert.

Continued snowstorms were forecast for the city of Beijing and the province of Inner Mongolia. Snow reached the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei on January 9. One person was killed in Xinjiang Autonomous Region as a result of the storm.

Port of Hamburg, Germany, on 6 January

The synoptic situation in northern Europe settled to a steady northeast wind which brought snow showers and belts of snow.

The British Army had to help stranded motorists in southern areas. The Met Office confirmed that 40 centimetres (16 in) of snow fell in some parts of southern England.

A "severe" warning issued by the Met Office was in place for every region in the UK. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said Scotland was experiencing its worst winter since 1963.

Further deaths in Wales, Shetland and Aberdeenshire were recorded. Roads in the southeast were left with long traffic jams and abandoned cars. 8,000 schools were closed.

In Eastern Parts, there were accumulations of 40 cm to 50 cm in places. In Kent, six inches of snow fell in four hours in the early evening.

By 7 January 2010, 22 people had died in the UK because of the freezing conditions.

Heavy snow blocked many roads in the Irish Republic. Dublin Airport closed on Wednesday 6 January and again on Friday 9 January. Cork Airport closed on Sunday 10 January at 6:30 pm and didn not re-open until 12:30 pm on Monday 11 January. Dublin Bus canceled all services for a time. Knock Airport was also closed.. A new Irish record low temperature of −9 °C (16 °F) was also recorded in Dublin, Ireland. Temperatures in County Limerick dropped to −11.1 °C (12.0 °F). Varying amounts of snow fell across Ireland on the 7th and 8th and road salt reserves began to run low.

The snow fell heavily in some places of Spain including Prades (Tarragona, southern Catalonia) which received 120 cm of snow after a storm lasting over 30 hours. The BBC News reported heavy snowfall as far south as Granada, in Spain.

25 Nepalese people, mostly children, died as a blizzard swept over most of Nepal on January 7. Snowstorms probably also occurred in mountainous Bhutan and Sikkim, but no reports were forthcoming.

In Norway, temperatures hit −42°C on the 7th in the central village of Folldala as snow fell across Scandinavia and −42.4 °C (−44.3 °F) at Tynset. on the 8th as Kuusamo in Finland, the lowest registered temperature was −37.1 °C (−34.8 °F).. Heavy blizzards and snow storms raged across Germany, Scandinavia and the northwestern parts of European Russia.

In Poland, more snow hit the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and nine people died across the country in a 48-hour period, bringing the total weather-related deaths to 139 since the start of November, a police spokesman said. Most of the victims were vagrants, whose tragic lifestyle left them prone to the cold.

Switzerland's 24.5-kilometre (15.3-mile) Gotthard Road Tunnel reopened to trucks on the 8th, following heavy snowfalls over the previous 2 days.

A heavy and snowy cyclone hit the Aleutian islands on January 7 and 8. Snow accompanied a cold wave moving south through North America on January 8, and Mexico City received snowfall accumulations. In the mountainous regions, temperatures dropped to −10°C, killing nine people. The snow continued to fall on the 10th. Bitter weather may have wiped out some Alaskan reindeer as temperatures and snow depths exceeded those of the extraordinarily harsh winter of 1963 to 1964.

January the 7th saw the snow and ice continuing to affect the snow-tormented counties of Oxfordshire, Banburyshire, Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire. Because of the dangerous conditions concerning the build-up of snow and black ice, Banbury Museum, the Cherwell District Council customer service centre and Cherwell District Council tourist information centre were closed. Many Banburyshire and Oxfordshire locations had between 1 and 2 ft of unmelted snow by then . Cherwell District Council workers began using a mixture of table salt and sand instead of their diminishing road grit and rock salt supplies.

Record overnight temperature lows of −22.3 °C (−8.1 °F) were recorded in Altnaharra, Caithnessshire, in the Scottish Highlands on the 7th. as another area of low pressure over the North Sea started bringing further fronts of snow over the east of Great Britain on 7 January, accompanied with cold, easterly winds. The snow continued in to the 9th and the UK almost ran out of road salt, rock salt, table salt and road grit supplies due to the heavy demand from various agencies and local government bodies.

By 7 January 2010 twenty-two people had officially died in the UK because of the freezing conditions. The Department of Health wildly over-estimated that the cold weather could cause up to 40,000 excess deaths in the UK if it continued much longer . 122 people had already died in Poland, most of them reportedly homeless and 11 had died in Romania. Bosnian deaths luckily stood at only 4, with both Kosovo and Austria only losing 1 each.

The heavy snowfall across the British Isles between January 6 to 9, resulted in large-scale traffic disruption, closed airports, many canceled trains and hundreds of school closures. A polar low developing in the English Channel brought fronts of snow over southern England before moving south and dissipating. Two middle-aged men died after falling into a frozen lake in Leicester, in the English Midlands. 27 major companies in Britain were ordered to halt using gas on the 9th in order to maintain supplies amid unprecedented levels of demand and major companies had their gas turned off on the 8th, in the first such move since 2003, although there was no immediate danger for households of supplies running out. The Automobile Association, a motor vehicle breakdown service, said they had dealt with about 340,000 breakdowns since December 17, including a local government snow plough that had overturned after it had hit black ice near Huddersfield. A representative from Oxfordshire also confessed to the local media that they had a snowplough breakdown earlier in the day. Several thousand UK schools remained closed and several of the weekend's English Premier League football matches were cancelled.

Ice on River Severn at Shrewsbury, England on 8 January.

Worsley, Greater Manchester, England, on the 8th of January.

Overnight temperatures of −22.3 °C (−8.1 °F) were recorded in Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands.. Heavy snow fell in the North of England throughout the day giving significant accumulations. A high of –7.7°C was recorded at Tulloch Bridge.

Heavy snow fell in Denmark on the 8th. By the evening of January 8, the Rügen Islands off the northeast coast of Germany was covered, on average, in 30 centimetres of snow while the capital Berlin was carpeted with snow and ice. Autoclub Europa warned that chaotic traffic conditions could potentially leave large parts of Germany completely paralysed as the country prepared for further freezing conditions as forecasters warned that temperatures would drop below −20 degrees Celsius (−4 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight. German officials had also acknowledged a shortage of grit and fear that high winds and drifting snow had closed may German autoroutes and roads, along with parts of Frankfurt airport . As shortages in road salt and grit were already being feared, while the authorities recommended that people consider stocking up with a few days' worth of food and water. The A5 autoroute leading from Baden-Württemberg into France was closed on Friday afternoon, leading to a queue of hundreds of lorries building up. The road was opened again on Saturday morning, enabling careful drivers to proceed with their journeys. Snow was also proving to be a major problem in Saxony and the Rhineland. The country's nature protection group N.A.B.U. has recommended that people put out food for birds since the cold and snowy weather had ruined their usual feeding patterns.

A snow-covered Denmark on 8 January.

Meanwhile, some light snow also fell in Kosovo, Udmurtia and Ryazan Oblast, but heavier snow fell in many parts of Ukraine. Temperatures fell as low as −30°C and −29°C in parts of Ukraine and similar temperatures occurred in neighbouring parts of Russia. Heavy show would hit Moscow on the 9th.

A husky dog race took place in Thetford on the 8th.

On Saturday, the 9th of January, Banbury officer PC Paul Froggatt urged people not to try walking on the frozen Oxford Canal by the Castle Quay Shopping Centre in Banbury or in Oxford city. Thames Valley Police had also logged cases of people falling through the ice in Milton Keynes, Bracknell and Aylesbury. One man even tried to drive his car down a part of the frozen canal in Oxford and nearly died after it fell through the ice, while another man died on Teesside as he tried to rescue some puppies that were stranded on melting ice on the River Tees. Oxford city council also warned of the dangers of playing on the frozen canal and/or frozen lakes.

A new wave of heavy snow was first reported in central and northern of France on the 9th, with the both the Cotentin Peninsula and Paris being the worst-affected parts of France. The French government said all non-essential travel should be avoided in these localities. Significant snowfalls caused major delays to train services, blocked roads and some 15,000 people in areas around city of Arles experienced power cuts power lines collapsed under the weight 30 centimetres of snow. Airlines cancelled a quarter of flights on Paris's main Charles de Gaulle airport. Road salt and grit supplies were running low in some districts due to their unexpectedly heavy use.

January 10 – 18

Snow hit the Czech Republic on January 10.

During the Early hours of January 10, light snow showers spread across parts of Central England and Wales. The Maximum temperature was −13.5 °C (7.7 °F) in Altnaharra and low of −18.4 °C (−1.1 °F) was recorded at Kinbrace. On the 11th rain, sleet and snow travelled northwards throughout the early hours. Allenheads in England had fears over a potential 15 ft (4.6 m) snowdrift. A low of −21.0 °C (−5.8 °F) was recorded in Altnaharra in Highland Region.

More than 300 flights were cancelled in the 10th and 11th at Germany's Frankfurt Airport. All three runways were cleared and being used by the 12th despite of light snow falls that day.

Alton, England, on 10 January.

The snowstorms and blizzards of the 11th brought widespread travel chaos to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. Airports, Motorways and railways were closed en masse due to heavy snow and ice. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Liechtenstein, the Czech Republic and Slovakia also reported some snowfall.

The Banbury Guardian and Oxford Mail released videos and photos of the Oxford and Banbury 'idiots' on the 11th as part of a 'name and shame' campaign against the apparently suicidal people walking on the frozen cana .

On January 10, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa cancelled a trip to Washington to monitor L.A.'s response to the Southern California rainstorms. Villaraigosa had been scheduled to address the U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting at the nation's capital on Wednesday and was going speak about the success of the city's summer jobs program for at-risk youth.

Freezing rain storms battered parts of Sichuan, Yunnan and Hubei, killing dozens of people.

On January 10, 1 person died and 5,435 were evacuated after a snowstorm in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on January 10 according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. A total of 261,800 people in 12 counties or cities were affected by the blizzards.

On the 11th of January intense snowstorms hit a still beleaguered Europe. Many cars and a lorry were are stuck in drifting snow near the northern German town of Soehlen. The German transport ministry warned people to ravel on essential journey only .

Coal supplies ran low at power plants as the death toll rose to two in the strong snowstorm in the Altai and temperatures fell to -40°C on January 12.

On the 12th, heavy snow caused hundreds of accidents, halted flights, and downed power lines in Poland; more than 160 people were trapped overnight on a frozen stretch of German roadway. Hundreds of road accidents were also reported in Germany over the weekend, especially along the Baltic Coast, where two men were killed in a car they were driving when it hit a tree in Nordvorpommern after skidding in the treacherous conditions. Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein were also badly hit by snowy and freezing conditions.

Snow in Stafford, England, on January the 12th.

Both the National Beef Association and National Farmers' Union Scotland have asked for the Scottish Government to help rebuild steadings, which in some cases are not covered by insurance on January the 12th. Heavy snowfall continued for a second day in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Rutland .

A further 5 to 10 cm of snow fell across the U.K. during the midday of January the 12th, including Stafford in Staffordshire. Many schools were once again closed across England and Wales. There were many road accidents and closures, the M25 motorway was down to one lane between Leatherhead and Reigate whilst roads stretching right across southern Great Britain were untreated causing havoc for commuters. Gatwick and Birmingham airports were closed and many flights were delayed at Heathrow.

During 13 January the weather system continued north affecting much of Northern England before reaching Scotland..

Eight of Oxfordshire's 33,000-volt electricity substations, which were situated in Kennington, Kidlington, Wheatley, Wantage, Deddington, Eynsham, Berinsfield and Cholsey, near Wallingford failed apparently due to an electrical overload, causing several local blackouts; later saboteurs were officially blamed in the damage, and not an overload or mechanical faliure as initially thought, according to Oxford Mail. The only way into the Wye Valley on the 13th, was by snow plough, tractor or quad bike Teachers and parents helped dig out Prince's Risborough High School as about 6 inches of snow falls across Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, according to Bicester Advertiser and The Bucks Herald Newspaper. Peter Cornal of Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and Principal Jonathan Johnson of Aylesbury Vale Academy both warned people not to skate on Watermead Lake in Buckinghamshire.

A picture of a Banbury road's pot-holes during 2010. The Banbury Cake and the Banbury Review newspapers did an exposé on the weather-induced potholes during the second week of January 2010.

On 14 January, southerly to south-easterly winds brought bands of snow to northern parts of Britain. An inch of snow fell in Glasgow with further accumulations in areas outside the other towns and cities. Travel was disrupted somewhat.

About 440 Welsh schools were either fully or partially closed on Thursday the 14th.

The English snowfall began to ease on the 14th and the British government ordered an inquiry into the road salt and grit shortage scandal crisis, travel disruption and the poor handling of the disaster by various British companies and agencies.

As the thaw took hold in the U.K. and France, rain began to fall across the U.K. An 11-year-old girl named Naeemah Achha slid up on a patch of ice outside St. Michael from St. John Primary School in Swallow Drive in Blackburn, Lancashire on the 14th and died later in Royal Manchester Children's Hospital the next day . Head teacher Kay Cant described her as an intelligent, vivacious, kind and popular girl. Blackburn with Darwen Council's leader Michael Lee described her death as a very shocking incident.

It was revealed on the 14th that all of the British county councils, London boroughs and unitary authorities were advised by the government to have six days supplies of road salt in 2009. Up to 30 councils rejected last year's offer of thousands of tonnes of de-icing salt at a reduced price, to use on the roads this winter according to the BBC. The British Salt Director David Stephen made an offer out of the firm's 60,000 tonnes stockpile at Middlewich, Cheshire, in April, 2009, but virtually no one to take up the offer. Evidence suggests that only a few took up the Government's advice. The Highways Agency had 13 days worth of road salt, while Glasgow, Kirklees, Derbyshire, Derby City, Buckinghamshire, Cherwell District and the London Borough of Harrow took up the offer and raised their stock piles to 7 days worth. Unfortunately the Cherwell Borough, Bicester Parish, Oxfordshire, Slough borough, Harrow, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Fife, Brighton and Hove unitary authority, Liverpool city, Pembrokeshire, Lancashire, Belfast city and Perth and Kinross councils nearly to ran out.

There were also road closures in Ceredigion including the A4120 at Ponterwyd, and the A4086 at Nant Peris in Gwynedd had been shut down due to hazardous driving conditions. All of Caerphilly's 90 schools and Rhondda Cynon Taf's (RTC) 130 schools either were fully or partially shut except to pupils sitting their. To Wales' Education Minister Leighton Andrews, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and the WJEC exam board helped organise the Welsh GCSEs and A-level exam locations. A Merthyr Tydfil exam was held in a local sports centre's hockey arena according to the BBC.

As the snow cleared from the United States, the British Isles and Europe, rain began to fall in place on the 14th and the snow also began to relent in both China, Korea and Japan on the 15th. Light snow was reported in Latvia on the 14th and 15th.

On the 15th, Greater Manchester Police said seven people had been injured when 10 cars crashed on the A627(M) in Oldham. Met Office severe weather warnings covered Wales and western parts of England and Scotland and snow was forecast for the Pennines and Scottish and Welsh hills. The Environment Agency has warned about flooding in some areas of England and Wales. BBC weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas warned of localised flooding in western parts of the UK caused by melting snow, rain and gale-force winds.

Later on, the Environment Agency warned that heavy rain and snow melting in slightly warmer temperatures meant that there was a risk of some localised flooding from drains, especially in Wales and parts of England, but homes were unlikely to be affected as 15 flood watches were put in place. They warned that flood warnings for possible isolated river flooding in these areas, as heavy rain moves in from the south west on Friday evening. The Met Office and said heavy rain would move in from the west accompanied by strong to gale force winds on Saturday. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had five flood watches under way. Thames Valley Police warned motorists about surface flooding and aquaplaning on Oxfordshire's roads.

The 15th brought rain and thawing to much of southwest England and a pocket around Greater Manchester. In the city of Manchester rain on frozen ground had overnight caused glazed frost which had largely (but not completely) gone by morning, and at midday the clouds were running fast from the south; the January snowfall was melting fast, but the pre-Christmas snowfall, which where trodden had half thawed to slush and then frozen hard to solid ice overnight, was slower to melt. In Scotland the thaw melted fresh snow. Flood warnings were issued.

Snow fell in parts of southern Scotland and Yorkshire on the 16th. The Cairngorm Ski Centre was closed as an army of diggers was trying to clear its car park after further snowfalls. The river Derwent was put under a flood watch in places on the 16th.

On January 17, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was given more than 850 tons of grain, edible oil and other daily supplies, 4,950 tons of coal and 900 tons of emergency cattle fodder..

On January 17, both melting snow, heavy rain and frozen ground have caused flooding in much of England, Scotland and Wales. The Environment Agency issued a total of 23 flood warnings were issued in England, one in force for Scotland and two in Wales. In Scotland a landslide led to the temporally closure of the A76 in Dumfries and Galloway, while a section of the M74 was shut temporally shut due to flooding.

The Banbury Cake and The Banbury Review newspapers did an exposé on the weather induced potholes during the second week of January 2010.

Many properties in Maesteg, Bridgend, Ebbw Vale and Monmouth were also flooded. Mid and West Wales Fire service sent extra appliances to the Carmarthen Bay holiday village at Kidwelly, where the flooding was described as 'major to severe'. The River Wye, River Dee (Welsh: Afon Dyfrdwy) in the lower Dee Valley), River Cherwell (at Banbury) and River Severn were all in full flood.

Severn Trent Water, which provides water to central England and parts of Wales, said it had drafted in extra staff as ruptured and frozen pipes began to thaw. Many pipes had ruptured in the Welsh Marches and a sewerage pipe had become blocked in outer Birmingham. The company's senior operations manager, Fraser Pithie, said the firm had been called out to more than 470 burst and ruptured pipes since the 10th and their call centre staff had taken more than 10,000 calls.

January 18 – 26

On January the 18th a series of rainstorms bore down on Southern California and spread eastward on the 20th, piling more snow across the Great Plains and even as far as parts of both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 200 homes were evacuated as floods hit parts of California as up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in the first of the storms. Rescue and flood prevention services soon got everything under control, but one man was killed when a tree fell onto his house. Two horses also died after being hit by lighting in a Santa Barbara field. Rare tornado warnings were enforced in parts of Southern California, including southern Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim, and a flash flood watch covered Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Jim Rouiller, the senior energy meteorologist at Planalytics Inc., said in that the storms were the worst series of storms since 1998. He expected that evening's storm to bring from 4 to 12 inches of rain, severe mudslides, a few tornadoes and heavy mountain snow ranging from 6 to 15 feet across the Sierra range. A heavy rain storm also hit Santee, California on January the 19th

Heavy rain fell in Oxfordshire and King's Sutton, causing some flooding. The River Cherwell nearly flooded Banbury and in parts of Oxford. Light snow fell in the Pennines the 19th.

On the 20th of January, heavy rainstorms wreaked havoc in Haifa, as snow covered Mount Hermon in Israel.

Both Wakehurst Place, near Ardingly, West Sussex and Bedgebury Pinetum, near Lamberhurst in Kent, have also been damaged. Iain Parkinson, Wakehurst's woodland and conservation manager who has worked on the estate for 23 years, said it was the worst storm he had ever seen in the park.

California State water officials warned on January the 21st that one week of heavy rain and snow was not enough to end the drought, which is entering its fourth year by 2010. According to measurements on the Thursday, the average water content of state's mountain ranges' snowpacks, considered the state's biggest de facto 'reservoir', was at 107% percent of normal capacity. As the fourth and potentially most powerful of the week's storms slammed in to California, officials predicted as much as four feet (1.2 metres) of snow would fall in Northern California.

A new snow storm came over the Peter the Great Gulf, near Vladivostok on January the 21st. The Onland Mountains and Sikhote-Alin Mountains were buried in snow as the weather system swept through Primorsky and Khabarovsk Krais, Russia. Lake Khanka froze over and was then covered in snow. The ice on the lake was reported to be several inches thick and the snow was spreading into China's Heilongjiang province.

21 January witnessed the final day of some Banbury schools remaining shut after 2 weeks general closure, in which most remained shut throughout the fortnight. The video of people skating and walking on the Oxford Canal was shown on regional TV again, along with a nationwide online version. Heavy rain fell in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire as light snow fell in the Pennines on the 22nd.

The snowstorm that began on Friday night, the 22nd was also hiting parts of Bulgaria, where a man suffering from a heart attack died in the country's northeastern region of Silistra, when the ambulance he was being carried on was road that was blocked by several snow drifts. Power, gas and water cuts occurred in Istanbul. In Turkey's western region, near the Greek and Bulgarian borders, villages were cut off and all the major roads were blocked by heavy snow. A bus overturned in Istanbul, injuring 10 people; Bulgarian authorities urged people to avoid travel due to heavy snowfall. Dozens of stranded cars and trucks were abandoned due to heavy snow in eastern Bulgaria and a train was trapped near the border with Romania. Some snow was also reported in neighboring parts of Romania.

Freshly fallen snow blanketed the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains on the morning after the fourth storm of the week dissipated on January 23, 2010 northwest of Wrightwood, California. Snow was reported in many parts of California. Severe rain fell in parts of Los Angeles on the 24th. 500 people were evacuated from a small village in La Cruz County in Arizona due to a flash flood.

A total of 4 people died on the 24th and 25th as snowstorms hit Turkey. The frozen body of 78-year-old Mehmet Aksit was found outside the small town of Akkisla in central Kayseri province after relatives reported him missing. On the 24th, Nuri Turhan, an 81-year-old Korean War veteran's corpse was found in a mountainous region of Turkey's Aydin province, where he had gotten lost walking the day before and a 75-year-old man died of hypothermia in the northwestern Turkish province of Tekirdag. The 4th person was found dead in a fierce snowstorm that caused power outages in Turkey and traffic chaos in neighbouring Bulgaria on the 25th.

Turkish climatologists working for Istanbul's Natural Disaster Coordination Committee told Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News that snowfall was predicted to continue until Monday evening and reach about 35 centimetres (14 inches) in parts of Istanbul.

It was revealed that at least 22 people had died due to low temperatures in Romania in the last five days by January 25.

In late 2009 and early 2010 a series of massive snow and ice storms that swept the Dakotas caused a number of Indian Reservations to lose power, heat, and running water for an extended period of time. The storms were most severe in both the Ziebach and Dewey counties, South Dakota. The heavy snow, ice storms and low temperatures of January the 26th led to Interstate 90 being closed from Chamberlain to the Minnesota border. At nightfall on Monday the 25th, Interstate 29 was closed from Sioux Falls to the North Dakota border.

Power company officials estimated that about 7,600 customers in South Dakota and 100 in North Dakota did not have power on Monday. Some phone systems have also experienced brief telecommunications outages. Kristi Truman, director of the North Dakota Office of Emergency Management was concerned about failing water and power supplies.

Power outages began with a storm in December knocking down around 5,000 power poles, and has been accelerated by an ice storm on January 22 knocking down another 3,000 power lines on the reservation. Among the tribes of South Dakota said to be suffering from the multiple storms are the Cheyenne River Sioux, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Flandreau-Santee Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

"There's been winters this bad before, but not with rain so bad it freezes the power lines and snaps the poles", said Joseph Brings Plenty, the 38-year old chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe. The worst day was on the 28th, when a Native American froze to death in his home after running out of fuel.

The reservations were further buffeted by the First North American blizzard of 2010, which further depleted foodstocks and exacerbated the power problems.

January 28 – 31

On January the 28th floods tore through the River Dnieper's and Prypiat River's floodplains. Climatologists from the Ukrainian Hydro-meteorological Centre warned that the 2010 spring flood could be most severe in the past 10 years and that snow packs in some regions are more than usual. They also told the Ukrainian news agency UKRINFORM that February would bring more snow. Weather forecasters said that the abnormal winter in Ukraine has seen severe snowfalls being replaced with long-lasting frosts and temperatures as low as −30°C and the predicted flooding was an inevitability, both along the Prypiat River in the Volyn Oblast and in Ternopil Oblast and the River Dnieper in Kiev as the snow layer is twice as high than in recent years.

A stiff frost, temperatures of −2°C to −3°C and a light mist occurred in Oxfordshire and western Northamptonshire, during the night as a cold front crossed the U.K. Several cars crashed due to skidding on black ice.

On January 28, blizzards and severe sub-zero temperatures that have killed more than a million livestock in Mongolia would force thousands of herders to migrate to shantytowns near the capital city of Ulan Bator. Extreme winter weather that began in December and followed a hard summer drought that prevented farmers from stockpiling food for their livestock. Dangerously heavy snow and temperatures as low as -40°C have affected 19 of Mongolia's 21 provinces, with more than 14,000 Mongolian and Chinese Red Cross volunteers across the region scrambling to deliver emergency food aid to impoverished herders who have lost nearly all their cattle.

The extreme weather had killed more than one million livestock, the herders' main source of income, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on the 29th. The bad weather has also reduced food security, intensified poverty and increased domestic rural-urban migration for many families. Central Dundgobi Province is one of those in the grip of a 'dzud' event (that is to say a 'major natural disaster'). A local herder named Javzmaa Batbold, a herder in Adaatsag County, Dundgobi province said that 120 of his 500 cattle had died so far. His ger (a traditional Mongolian felt and wood dwelling) was completely covered in snow, and only when the door's side cleared off did it reveal a dwelling lay underneath. The weather became rather extreme as 80 percent of Mongolia's territory was covered by snow, with depths of 20 to 90 centimetres.

The State Emergency Commission issued an appeal to Mongolia's people to launch a campaign to offer aid to herders and called for the international community to donate food, medicines and equipment as well as funds to help herders. Most cattle in Adaatsag county of Dundgovi Province (Central Gobi), Mongolia died of hypothermia on the 30th. Fuel supplies were also running low.

Snowstorms hit the east coast of America and the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the 30th and 31st.

Heavy snow fell in the German Rhineland on the 30th and 31st. Travel chaos was widespread as the snow spread into Hungary and the rest of Germany.

A nor'easter dumped tons of snow over much of central and eastern parts of the United States. The nor'easter unleashed heavy snow over the Central United States, and left some places with over 15 inches or (39 cm) of snow. It then moved eastward and made a sly turn up the coast of America, and left some places with over 12 inches of snow on Saturday, January 30, 2010. Rain and floods also hit Southern California. 6 inches of rain and temperatures of 15°C were recorded at Long Beach and L.A. on the 31st.

February 1 – 8

On February 1, the Chinese government aid arrived in Mongolia and included 10 million Yuan's (1.46 million U.S. dollars') worth of food, portable power generators and quilts. Mr. Enkhbold Miyegombo, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia and head of the State Emergency Commission, said the aid given showed an embodiment of brotherhood between China and Mongolia, and Chinese Ambassador Yu Hongyao said he was confident that Mongolians would overcome the disaster in time. It was said to be the worst snow storms in both Mongolia and Inner Mongolia in at least 30 years. The Red Cross Society of China has also announced a donation of 30,000 dollars for Mongolia, and Kazakhstan sent several hundred tonnes of food aid to the country. Mongolia formally requested aid from the United Nations on the 2nd, after the extreme cold is calculated to have killed about 3% of the nation's 44,000,000 head of cattle thus far.

Main article: First North American blizzard of 2010

North American blizzard of 2010, imaged by NOAA GOES 12 on February 6, 2010 at 0531 UTC.

On February 1, utility crews were working overtime to get power back to the 14,000 residents of Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. The wind chill factor averaged about -25º and there was about 1 foot of snow on the ground on average.

A powerful Alberta clipper-type storm came from the north and headed towards an area of moist air left over from the previous day's thunderstorm over the Midwest on the 1st of February and was merging over central North America. It was estimated that it could potentially drop up to 6 inches on the Canadian Prairies and North Dakota initially and eventually add 2 more inches as it hung around over night.

February 1 saw the earlier Californian storm track its way through northern Mexico and New Mexico. It would shortly hit the east coast and cause chaos in the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland areas by the February 6.

A cyclone and heavy rain-induced floods hit the Canary islands on February 1 and 2. An unusual event dropped 82 mm of rain and flooded out 27,000 homes over a 24-hour period. Some mobile phones become inoperable due to storm-related interference and power supplies were cut overnight in some places. The average February rainfall is only 36 millimetres.

Power outages in both the Dakotas now covered only 100 rural electric customers and minimal numbers in Bismarck, North Dakota by February the 5th.

The second big snowstorm of the winter hammered the Washington, D.C. area on February 5. The El Niño phenomenon was blamed for the unusually high sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that moved east, thus pulling rainfall along with it. Normally, El Niño brings increased rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific, leading to drier than normal conditions over northern Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The storm created historic snowfall totals in the Middle Atlantic states, rivaling the Knickerbocker Storm of 1922, as well as extensive flooding and landslides in Mexico. The blizzard stretched from Mexico and New Mexico to New Jersey, killing forty-one people in Mexico, New Mexico, Maryland, Virginia and other places along its track.

Some places across Eastern West Virginia, Maryland, Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Delaware were buried in between 2 and 3 feet (0.61 and 0.91 m) of snow , causing air, rail, and Interstate highway travel to come to a halt. On February 6, authorities said about 4 inches of snow fell in Hollywood Hills and 3.2 inches in Santa Barbara.

In Rockville, Maryland, cars were buried under more than 20 inches (51 cm) of snow by 8:45 am EST on February 6

The snow storms of February 6 and 7 left record levels of snow in many cities. Approximately 2 ft (60 cm) of snow had fallen by midday on Saturday. The mayor of Washington, D.C., and the governors of Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency as the storm hit both Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Amtrak canceled several trains between New York and Washington, D.C., and also between Washington, D.C. and some southern destinations. The storm arrived less than two months after a December storm dumped more than 16 inches (41 cm) of snow in Washington, D.C.. Many Power outages were also reported in the city.

February 7 saw yet more major power outages in the Washington, D.C. region. At least 420,000 homes were under a blackout as the snow felled trees and cut power lines. Some 300,000 homes were without electricity in Maryland and neighboring Virginia, while Washington, D.C. was reporting an initial figure of 100,000 power outages for that day. Emergency workers struggled to restore power as 2 ft (61 cm) of snow and a record snowfall 3 ft of (91 cm) fell on Maryland. Transport was badly disrupted from West Virginia to southern New Jersey. Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland have declared a short term state of emergency, allowing them to activate the National Guard in order to help cope with the storm's onslaught.

A father and daughter of McKeesport were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning after improperly using a domestic petrol generator after a power outage. On the February 7 two children drowned trying to cross the swollen Chapulin River in the central state of Guanajuato, and other child deaths occurred in Angangueo, Zitácuaro, and Ocampo. In total, twenty-eight deaths in the states of Michoacán, Mexico State, and the Distrito Federal (Mexico City) in Mexico have been attributed to the storm on February 6 and 7.

A series of avalanches caused by a storm in eastern Afghanistan killed 172 people on February 8 and 9.

February 9 – 19

Main article: Second North American blizzard of 2010

The weather conditions as of February 7, 2010 at 4:00 pm CST.

A powerful Alberta clipper from western Canada and moist air from a line of thunderstorms over the mid-western United States merged over the central US on the 7th. In some places this dropped 6 inches (15 cm) over the Central and Eastern United States, much of it over areas already hit by the previous blizzard. 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) was expected to fall on Washington, D.C., and up to 1–2 feet (0.30–0.61 m) of snow was forecast from New York City northward into New England. Several inches of snow fell in both Washington, D.C. and New York City on the night of February 10 and 11.

On February 8, there was nearly 45 centimetres (18 in) of snow recorded at Reagan National Airport, and nearby Dulles International Airport recorded a local record of 80 centimetres (31 in). The storms were dubbed "Snowmageddon", by US president Barack Obama, after an SUV in his motorcade carrying journalists was damaged by a snapped limb, injuring one person. An area all the way from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, across the BosWash corridor and south down to Virginia, was under at least 60 centimetres (24 in) of snow. Parts of Northern Maryland had 90 centimetres (35 in). The storm killed three people.

Snow began to fall throughout Oxfordshire, North London, and Bavaria on the February 8 and February 10. Heavy winds and snow flurries also hit parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, in Turkey, and Amur Krai, on February 9. 1 person suffered moderate injuries after slipping on ice in one of the rural northern districts of Amur Krai. On February 10 a deep cyclone formed over the Adriatic Sea bringing heavy snowfall over large parts of Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and lesser parts of Romania. Severe weather warnings have been issued in these countries. In Western Bulgaria it snowed non-stop for more than 48 hours, with up to a metre of snow accumulation in Kyustendil.

The American government was closed by the, in some places 3 ft deep, snowfall in Washington, D.C. on the 10th.

On the 11th, about least 10 cm (4 in) of snow fell in some areas and strong winds have caused drifting in places across Kent and East Sussex. Snow also fell in Sheffield, Berkshire, Brighton and the Grampian Mountains. Dover's coastguard helped dig out a stranded ambulance in the town. Kent County Council said all primary routes and secondary routes where possible had been gritted on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the snow showers. Kent Fire and Rescue Service said it was helping some motorists stuck in snow drifts in parts of the county including Margate, Dover and Lydd. Chief Inspector Simon Black, of Kent Police, said that all main routs were passable, but some were down to a single snow-free lane and BBC Radio Kent said that drivers should make essential journeys. Also 4 of its 4x4 vehicles were helping to transfer staff and patients to and from hospitals in Eastbourne and Hastings, in East Sussex. The exit slip road off the M20, at junction 11a, closed because of the snow. A Dover lad was moderately burnt after spilling paraffin he was trying to put in to a portable domestic generator unit that day.

Following a storm in the southeast United States on February 12–13, snow was on the ground simultaneously in all 50 U.S. states, an event believed never to have occurred previously. Snow was confirmed in 49 states by February 13, and small patches of remnant snow on the north face of Mauna Kea in Hawai'i were confirmed soon after. A record depth of 12.5 inches of snow fell within 24 hours in the Dallas-Fort Worth urban metro on the 13th. The result of the massive snowstorm led to whole school districts being shut down and over 200,000 buildings were left without power, and forced to use fire and candles to light and heat their homes. A 1 ft tall wind-induced wave swept 3 people off of various southern Californian beaches on the 14th, slightly injuring one. Light snow fell in both parts of Hampshire and Fife, and heavily in the mountainous regions of Sakhalin Island on the 15th.

Moderate amounts of snow fell in Gwent and Northamptonshire on the 16th. Weather forecasters warned of more snow predicted across South East Wales and parts of Central England. Moderate snow fall was reported in both Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, the Malvern Hills, Pembrokeshire, Bristol, Aberdeenshire and Greater London on the 17 and 18 February. The various London Authorities warned of growing travel chaos in London on the 18th.

Over two inches of snow had fallen in part of Gwent, Pembrokeshire and Gloucestershire on the 18th. The roadways in in the Gloucestershire town of Dursley had been quickly covered in snow that as a cold weather front moved over the west of the county of Gloucestershire, Chief Inspector Steve Porter, of Gloucestershire Constabulary told motorists to take care and warned that many roads including the B4221 at Gorsley and the A4136 at Longhope had had major accidents. Most of the roads would be closed due to heavy snow for the next few days. Moderate amounts of snow also fell in part of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire on the 19th.

February 20 – 22

Heavy snowfall during the night in Pant Glas, Gwynedd on the 20th.

Heavy snowfall occered in Pant Glas, Gwynedd between the 18th and 20th.

Heavy snow in Ireland forced the cancellation of the National Hurling League (NHL) hurling match between Kilkenny and Tipperary at Semple Stadium in Thurles on February 20. A horse racing meeting in Naas was abandoned due to heavy snow the following day.

Main article: 2010 Madeira floods and mudslides

About 42 people were reported dead and about 68 to 100 injured as rain-induced floods and mudslides hit the Portuguese island of Madeira on the 20th, local authorities said. The floodwaters tore down buildings, overturned cars and knocked down trees. The local civil protection service declared that it was "overwhelmed" by emergency calls, according to a duty police officer in an interview with a journalist from the Reuters news agency. According to Portuguese media, the storms were the deadliest on the east Atlantic island since prior to October 1993, when 8 people died and 19 were injured.

The Portuguese military sent specialist rescue teams to the island of Madeira on the 21st, when it was estimated that least 38 people were known to have died in the most extreme rainstorms in 17 years as tonnes of mud and stones brought down the slopes of the island, flooding the streets of the regional capital, Funchal, and other towns. All utilities were knocked out across large swathes of the island. Ribeira Brava was also badly flooded on the 21st . Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who was in Madeira, ordered an immediate rescue and aid mission for the island. Portuguese President Cavaco Silva expressed his condolences in a televised statement.

A Portuguese Navy supply ship, with a helicopter, food and medical equipment was sent to the islands that lie about 900 km/560miles from the Portuguese mainland. The Island is very popular with foreign tourists. Officials from the Portuguese Department of Emergencies said that emergency teams, 56 military rescuers, search dogs and 36 firefighters were being sent to the island straight away .

The Island's authorities and the local civil protection board told CNN that 1 British tourist was missing. 10 British music students from a religious school in the Channel Islands were found alive in Funchal along with an Irish tourist as the city is thrown in to meteorological chaos. Local authorities informed the AFP news agency that 70 people were hospitalized.

On the 22nd, 102 to 120 were confirmed injured and 42 were confirmed dead in Madeira. 2 British tourists were among the dead.

Light snow fell in Oxfordshire overnight on the 20th and 21st, causing minor traffic disruption. Manchester Airport was heavily disrupted late on the 20th, closed at 07.10am on the 21st, but opened later that morning after much heavy work clearing the snow off of the runways. Flights were still disrupted by midday.

A Eurostar train, with between 700, 740 and 800 passengers on-board, broke down in Kent due to the extremely cold weather and heavy snow in the United Kingdom.

The Paris-to-London service eventually left Gare du Nord railway station in Paris two hours late at about 8.15pm UK time after an unattended bag caused a security alert. Everything was going according to plan, until they were two minutes away from Ashford at 10.15 pm, when the train suddenly stopped, the lights flicked briefly and all power failed, leaving the victims in complete darkness at around 10.45 pm. Passengers reported that the lighting was flickering on and off in a "very spooky manner" throughout the journey, until the Eurostar suddenly stopped, and the lights finally went out completely. It then became stiflingly hot inside the train as the ventilation system shut down due to the power outage on-board the stricken Eurostar train. The chaos grew when most of the toilets stopped working and the staff struggled to find emergency lighting switches. Eventually the train manager walked through all the train carriages, using his emergency torch, announcing that another train and a bus were being sent to rescue them. Passengers carrying luggage then had to clamber down ladders on to the tracks and then back up on to the rescue train that arrived alongside the failed one. The rescue train arrived at St Pancras just after 2.30am on the 22nd, more than four-and-a-half hours later than the scheduled arrival time and the bus also took a few to Ashford, where they took local trains to London. Eurostar technical spokesman, Mr. Bram Smets, said it has stopped in what he described as a "major technical problem". Eurostar has launched a probe into the breakdown which left passengers stranded for 4 hours.

February 23–28

Heavy snow fell in Oxfordshire, the English Midlands and Merseyside on the 23rd and heavy snow fell in the Scottish Highlands on the 24th.

Main article: Third North American blizzard of 2010

A major winter storm started plowing its way through upstate New York, southern Vermont and Berkshire County, Massachusetts on the 23rd. Colonie, New York saw a total of 17 inches of snow. Hancock, Massachusetts had seen 9.5 inches, with the forecast total at 10-15 inches, and Stamford, Vermont had seen 9 inches.

Salem County, New Jersey was hit by heavy snow fall on the 24th, and 4 to 12 inches of snow were predicted to fall the next day by weather forecasters. Just under 1,000,000 were left without electricity in New England, Pennsylvania and New York.

On February 23, snow fell in Southeast Texas. Snow accumulated in counties north of Houston such as Conroe, Texas, which received 2 inches of snow. Huntsville, Texas had seen about 2 to 3 inches as well as College Station. Only a trace of snowfall fell in Houston, Texas.

A winter storm warning was issued for counties north of Houston, while Houston had a winter weather advisory.

The extreme winter storm spun around the Northeast by the 25th. Oneonta, New York had seen 44.5 in (113 cm) of snow from this storm. New York City had seen 20.9 in (53 cm), and Philadelphia had seen 11.5 in (29 cm) of snow. Washington, DC and Baltimore had remained under light rain. Boston has seen 4.5 in (11 cm) of rain from this storm, and 9.2 in (23 cm) was reported in Belfast, Maine. Major flooding prevailed along coastal New England. The Shawsheen River at Wilmington, Massachusetts was at 8 feet above its banks, and the Merrimack River at Amesbury, Massachusetts was at 20 feet above banks. On Friday morning and night, most of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine were without power. Sustained winds of up to 65 mph pounded the Cape Ann area of eastern Massachusetts. Wind gusts of up to 95 mph were reported in Gloucester, Massachusetts and Rockport, Massachusetts. Millions of trees were felled in the wind from Providence to Bangor. Boston received 52 mph sustained winds and 74 mph gusts. Between February 25 and 26 flood warnings covered most of Rhode island, the Pawtuxet River valley, Boston and Norfolk County in eastern Massachusetts.

Main article: Xynthia (storm)

51 were killed, 59 injured and 12 are missing in France, 6 killed in Germany, 3 killed and 2 severely injured in Spain, 1 killed in Portugal, 1 in Belgium, 1 in the Netherlands and 1 in England as heavy rainstorms hit the Bay of Biscay and central France on the 27th. Winds of up to 140 km/h (87 mph) caused chaos the storm moved from Portugal up through the Bay of Biscay, while a maximum gust of 228 km/h (142 mph) in Spain and 241 km/h (150 mph) in France were recorded. Both Belgium and Denmark were hit by heavy rainstorms overnight as the windstorm moved further northeast. The storm system moved across the Massif Central into the Brittany peninsula, and areas of France bordering Belgium and Germany are on alert for heavy rain and high winds. An Italian was also injured when a hurricane-force wind capsized his yacht off the coast of Portugal. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his condolences to relatives of victims, and said that he would visit the stricken area on Monday. The French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France would formally declare the storm a natural disaster, freeing up funds to help communities rebuild themselves. Rail services were severely affected in northern Spain and a number of trains in western France were delayed because of flooded tracks in southern and western France. British Airways canceled several flights and Air France said 100 of its flights had been cancelled from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Wind speeds hit 175 km/h at the top of the Eiffel Tower, French radio reported on the 28th. The French meteorological service said that shortly after 1700 local time (1600 GMT) the storm passed into Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and there also were reports of high winds in the Swiss Alps on March the 1st. Spain's Canary Islands, particularly La Palma, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, were also hit by the storm, although there was no great damage. The French Departments of Vendee and Charente-Maritime were in ruins and over 1 million homes lost electricity supplies. Television, Radios and Mobile Phone service were also disrupted in some places.

Widespread snowfall across Scotland brought extreme distruption. 61 cm of snow was recorded in Aviemore as hundreds of people were stranded in cars in Dunblane. Schools and transport services were distrupted. Two people died in Glencoe in an avalanche. Temperatures reached -19.2°C in Braemar. Some people in Perthshire were stranded in their cars for 17 hours. 45,000 homes in Scotland were left without power. 30 schools were closed on the 25th.

March 1–5

AirTran Airways cancelled several flights out of Atlanta Airport due to bad weather on March 1 and 2.

On March the 1st, the Environment Agency issued 169 flood warnings in over East Anglia, Yorkshire, Wrexham, Tyne and Wear, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Kent and West Sussex. The Thames Flood Barrier closed twice in less than 24 hours to protect London from a combined high tide and tidal surge in the Thames estuary, where it had been predicted that the water would rise by another 50 cm. Andy Batchelor, Tidal Area Flood Risk Manager, said that the Thames Barrier would close yet again should we need to protect the 1.25 million people living and working in London's floodplain.

The Ewaso Nyiro River river in Kenya burst its banks and flooded a safari park's guest house on the 3rd, killing nine people.

Several dozen ships, some with nearly one thousand passengers were stranded in rapidly-forming sea ice due to cold weather and strong winds in the Gulf of Bothnia, between Sweden and Finland and near the Baltic Sea. Some of the ships were freed by icebreakers on March 5.

March 8–10

On March 8, Catalonia saw its heaviest snowfall in 25 years; up to 50 centimetres fell in Barcelona. Over 200,000 residents of North-Eastern Spain were left without power, and up to 500 passengers were evacuated from a train travelling to Southern France, which also was experiencing blizzard conditions, with many schools closing. Nimes and Perpignan were the worst-hit.

A state of emergency was declared in Northern Spain, on the 10th of March, due to the unseasonal blizzards. Forty roads in France were closed with snow reportedly 3 ft deep in some areas. Italy also experienced the effects of the artic blast; there was traffic chaos in Siena, Assisi and Pisa, with snowstorms stretching as far south as Rome. On the sunshine island of Majorca, havoc ensued with 6 major roads closing, due to unseasonal snowfall.

March 11

Heavy rain and rapid snow-melt contributed to the failure of the Kyzyl-Agash dam in Kazakhstan on March 11, killing more than 40 people.

March 12–16

The American military officials closed Misawa Air Base on the 10th of March as a blizzard swept across northern Japan, dumping a record-setting 20 inches of snow on the base by mid-afternoon. A cyclone with snowstorms approached Kamchatka coast from the Sea of Okhotsk on the 13th and preceded to move inland by the 15th, after which the storms died out in Eastern and Central Kamchatka with no casualties. The Ust-Bolsheretsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yelizovo districts of Kamchatka were badly hit by the high wind and snowfall.

Main article: Fourth North American winter storm of 2010

The fourth major winter storm to strike the East coast of the United States caused widespread flooding, severe beach erosion, and tree and structural damage from Virginia to Maine. The storm killed at least nine people, and left over 1 million without electricity. After the storm, severe to record flooding occurred at the Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and along the upper tributaries of the Mississippi River.

BBC Weather reports that areas of Portugal and Spain have witnessed the heaviest recorded levels of precipitation since the Second World War.

March 28 - 31

The U.K. is expecting one last shot at winter a huge snow storm is expected to drive up from the South West with rain turning to snow Midlands northwards. The UK MetOffice has issued severe weather warnings for the following regions: Northern Ireland, North West England, Wales, Yorkshire & Humber, West Midlands, SW Scotland, Lothian & Borders, East Midlands and North East England. Temperatures are expected to go sub zero once again. Snow is forecasted from Cardiff, Wales northwards. The warnings come a day after top British metrologists from outside the UK MetOffice predicted the UK's hottest summer on record for 2010.

Snow fell in Scotland on the 30th of March stranding drivers on a motorway leaving them to dig out their cars, the MetOffice released weather alerts for only Scotland and Northern Ireland as the south wasn't as cold as forecasted however heavy snow is falling on higher ground in England and Wales, however temperatures in the South West of the UK fell dramatically around lunch time of the 30th of march and snow is falling in some areas in South Wales and South West England.

The Met Office updated its warnings on March 30, the following areas of the UK are in severe weather warnings; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Met Office has also issued extreme weather warnings of Severe Blizzards, Severe Drifting Snow & Very Heavy Snowfall in Western Northern Ireland and North East Scotland where 40–50 cm of snow is now forecasted to fall with drifts over 5 feet tall.

On March the 31st, 48,000 Northern Irish, 24,000 Scottish and 150 Irish homes are with out power as heavy snow falls in both Northern Ireland, parts of Staffordshire, and Scotland’s Southern Uplands. About 300 people are feed by rescue services when 120 vehicles ventured out during a blizzard in County Londonderry,s Glenshane Pass . Sadly, 17 year old Natasha Paton, from Cleghorn in southern Lanarkshire dies as the coach she was in skids and crashes in the snow on the A73 road, outside Wiston, also in southern Lanarkshire. She was om a trip to visit Alton Towers, Staffordshire on a trip from Biggar in Lanarkshire, that was organised by Lanark Grammar School The UK MetOffice has issued severe weather warnings for the next day in the following regions:Northern Ireland, Northern England, Wales and Scotland .

The storm follows the coldest winter in decades to hit the UK and this is the second most severe storm to hit the UK this year, the most severe was the January 6th snowfall in Southern England and South Wales, despite lower snow depth of 40cm the south is less preperd and has a higher population density than Northern Ireland and Scotland so caused more chaos and damage to the UK economy.

April 1-2

On March the 31st, the UK MetOffice has issued severe weather warnings for the April 1st day in the following regions:Northern Ireland, Northent England, Wales and Scotland. Heavy rain fell in Banbury and moderate snow fell in Scotland on the 2nd.

See also

• Winter storm
• Winter storms of 2008–2009
• Winter of 2009–2010 in Europe
• East Asian snowstorms of late 2009
• Winter of 1946–1947 in the United Kingdom

• Winter of 1962–1963 in the United Kingdom
• February 2009 Great Britain and Ireland snowfall
• Winter of 1990–1991 in Western Europe
• Cyclogenesis
• Jet stream

• Arctic oscillation
• North Atlantic oscillation
• Pacific-North American teleconnection pattern
• El Niño-Southern Oscillation
• Gulf Stream
• European windstorm