Travelled from Southampton to Haslemere and back by train today - out
via Havant, back via Woking. The trip seemed to confirm my thoughts
that this is the snowiest spell in this part of the country since 1987
- it seems to beat last February, when a similar amount of snow fell
on the Monday but had thawed to a much greater extent by the Saturday.

A decent snow cover (2 inches?) was present right from Netley (east of
Southampton) eastwards, with lots of snow as near as Fareham. Even
urban Portsmouth had a decent cover - if this snow band had been just
5 miles further west, I'd have got a good cover here!

Very thick snow, close to a foot at a guess, from the downs above
Petersfield north to Haslemere. Almost all roads impassable without a
four-wheel-drive I would guess in Haslemere, and out in the country,
drifts of around 2 feet. Definitely the thickest snow I've seen in
England since 1987. At Fernhurst, south of Haslemere, someone had
built an igloo in the snow!

Blackdown, near Haslemere at a little under 300m/1000ft, had quite a
savage air, almost like a wilderness with thick snow and icy NE winds.
I can imagine it could really be quite dangerous up there at night at
the moment if you didn't know where you were going.

Back via Woking, most places round to Winchester had similar amounts
to Fareham.

So definitely the "best" snowy spell since 1987 round here - as I said
Feb 09 seemed to dump as much snow but it thawed faster with the temps
in the days following the snow around 3-4C, and ISTR a spell of rain
later in the week too, so by the time I visited the snow-affected area
the snow was still there, with a full cover, but a bit soggy.

Nick

On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 12:27:48 -0800 (PST), Nick
wrote:

Travelled from Southampton to Haslemere and back by train today - out
via Havant, back via Woking. The trip seemed to confirm my thoughts
that this is the snowiest spell in this part of the country since 1987
- it seems to beat last February, when a similar amount of snow fell
on the Monday but had thawed to a much greater extent by the Saturday.

A decent snow cover (2 inches?) was present right from Netley (east of
Southampton) eastwards, with lots of snow as near as Fareham. Even
urban Portsmouth had a decent cover - if this snow band had been just
5 miles further west, I'd have got a good cover here!

So definitely the "best" snowy spell since 1987 round here - as I said
Feb 09 seemed to dump as much snow but it thawed faster with the temps
in the days following the snow around 3-4C, and ISTR a spell of rain
later in the week too, so by the time I visited the snow-affected area
the snow was still there, with a full cover, but a bit soggy.

Nick, I've been living in this part of Fareham for 22 years now, I was
up North for the 1987 winter (and 'hurricane"!!!). This is the
snowiest and coldest week of weather here by far, in that time.

For example, here is what I wrote in my log during last February's
snowy spell (with no Ice Days):

2Feb 100% snow cover at 9 am, depth 0.75 inch. 1.75 inches at Lee-o-S
3Feb 100% snow cover again at 9 am - new snow depth 0.5 inches.
4Feb snow is all gone by afternoon. Rain late.

Whereas this week, so far:

5Jan SS 5pm, 10cm depth by midnight.

6Jan ss am. 12cm depth. All local roads and A27 snow covered. 14cm
depth Lee-on-Solent. 9cm on the beach - snow to the water line.

7Jan 100% snow cover 11cm depth. All local roads hard packed snow. Ice
Day.

8Jan 100% snow cover 10cm depth. All local roads hard packed snow. 9cm
depth Tesco Bursledon. Ice Day.

9Jan 100% snow cover 10cm depth. All local roads hard packed snow. Ice
Day.

Note the 9cm level depth at Bursledon 3 days after the snowfall.

Nothing comes close to this in the last 22 years, for the area between
Fareham and the Solent. The locals including me can hardly believe
what we are seeing. Remarkable is the word, oh yes.

--
Dave
Fareham (W)