Wunderground.com-3/27/13, Christopher C. Burt
A snowdrift buries a country pub in Cheshire County, England following last weekend’s blizzard. Photo by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Daily Mail newspaper.
Portions of southwest Scotland, northwest England and Northern Ireland experienced their heaviest snowfall in 30 years last weekend (March 23-24) followed by bitterly cold weather making this the coldest March since 1962 according to the U.K. Met Office. Meanwhile, in stark contrast, Bangkok, Thailand has registered its hottest temperature on record.
A cold easterly airflow combined with a strong Atlantic low pressure system produced true blizzard conditions last weekend over much of the U.K. and higher elevations of northern Ireland. Wind gusts of 50-60 mph piled 12” of snowfall into towering 10-15’ drifts that trapped hundreds of motorists and buried livestock. Unconfirmed reports mentioned drifts up to 24’ on the Isle of Arran, Scotland and Cumbria, England according to a report filed by weather blogger Mark Vogan. As of Tuesday (March 26th) up to 10,000 sheep and lambs were feared still buried in snowdrifts and likely to have perished.
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