The cold spell began on the 19^th after a weak frontal system moving south had cleared the UK and introduced a northerly flow and a polar air mass that was cold enough to support snow in heavy showers that fed into eastern coastal districts throughout the afternoon. The northerly flow continued on the 20^th with further sleet and snow showers chiefly though not exclusively across coastal parts exposed to the north wind.

19th February- the start of the cold spell: (charts of SLP, 500mb, 700mb, 850mb weather) http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive//ra2/2005/Rrea2005021912.gif

Late on the 20^th a frontal wave formed and moved into NW Scotland and N Ireland bringing mostly rain at first, though turning increasingly to snow early on the 21^st as the cold air undercut the precipitation. Several centimetres fell across the high ground of N Ireland and eastern parts of Ireland during the day. Meanwhile across Scotland, England and Wales the flow veered east of north feeding heavy coastal showers inland and producing some quite atrocious conditions for the Northeast (8cm lying snow reported at Fylingdales). The cold spell claimed its first victim overnight on the 20^th when a man died after a sledging accident in Northumberland.

The E’ly flow strengthened on the 22^nd gusting at times to 30kn, with troughs embedded in the flow, driving the snow showers across the majority of the country throughout the day (excluding sheltered Western parts of England, Wales and Scotland) and during the night too across coastal parts – any snow lying over low ground was temporary but due to the intensity of the showers, conditions deteriorated rapidly, causing problems on the M90 in Fife.

The most severe part of the cold spell started on the 23^rd as snow showers merged across the north east of England. An occluded front was forecast to move west across the UK on the 24^th bringing a spell of general snow to the north and east of England with the potential for several inches accumulation even to low levels. An area of light to moderate precipitation did move across southern counties during the day bringing a period of sleet and drizzle here but it was further north across the east and north midlands along with northeast England and southern Scotland that saw the heaviest and most prolonged period of snowfall with heavy snow falling for much of the day. Accompanied by gale force east to northeast winds the conditions were atrocious for much of the day, not just exclusively across the North York Moors and Pennines, which were worst hit. The snow drifted in the wind too and by the end of the day falls of 15cm were widespread mainly across higher land and a total of 52cm was reported at Boltshope Park (434m in County Durham) with drifts of up to 6m reported! Many rescue operations took place during the 23^rd/24^th as the blizzards took hold and caught many people out. An RAC Patrol man had to be rescued by a mountain rescue team from RAF Leeming when his van became stuck in a remote part of the North York moors. The conditions were described as the worst in living memory with 70 mph winds and driving heavy snow. The wind whipped up drifts of snow to a depth of several metres very quickly. Three policemen were rescued after being called out to attend a stranded car, only to become stranded themselves in the snow.

Maxima across Northern England that day were low, oner of the lowest being -1C at Boltshope Park, 0C at Buxton, Derbyshire.

The cold spell intensifies, charts of the weather on the 23rd February: http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive//ra2/2005/Rrea2005022312.gif

Conditions didn’t improve very much however the next day, as the stalled occluded front over Northern England continued to bring further periods of snow, though at lower levels the precipitation turned lighter and to rain, as slightly less cold air moved south across the region. Meanwhile across southern England the 25^th dawned very cold and wintry for some as a very cold plunge of air was drawn east and initiated a train of showers through the Thames estuary. Snow fell for several hours during the early morning and rush hour period across south Essex, north and central London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire – giving accumulations of several centimetres and bringing travel chaos to the minor routes of the regions worst affected, though the shower train decayed during by mid morning allowing the lying snow to thaw and conditions to slowly improve.