The 24th November 2010 marked the begging of a winter of snow showers that didn't stop until the 14th of March: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_2010%E2%80%9311_in_the_British_Isles

I was about 11 years old and remember it feeling like winter was gonna last forever! Almost 4 months of perpetual snow on the ground and with some of the lowest temperatures ever recorded. Anyone got any memories or interesting stories from that time?

by Rossage99

24 comments

  1. Ooooh I was in uni! That was a weird time, lol weird time.

    What I remember is everyone swapping stories about how LONG they had been walking to get places.

    And being on the bus home to East Kilbride, asking the driver if he would make it up the kill, and receiving the answer ‘I hope so!’

  3. I remember having to walk to work through it all. It was brutal.

  4. I was in college at the time, pretty sure it got cancelled for a month straight if i recall. Strange how only 10/15 years ago classes from home were non existent, the thought of doing classes over the internet would’ve got you funny looks back then, you just got the time off.

    I was also learning to drive at the time, didn’t end up passing until May ’11 thanks to the never ending winter.

  5. Minus 18 was the lowest temperature I saw during that spell.

  6. cars sliding out of control down broughton street, no busses, our van getting stuck in a drift for 3hrs. fun times.

  7. I was working at the time and the company told us that if we lived within 5 miles of the office, we were expected to turn up for work

    I lived 4.7 miles away and buses stopped running their full routes in Edinburgh, so I had to walk 1 mile up a big hill to get home

    At that time, no one really had the clothing and footwear for such weather, so the best I had was a pair of DMs and woollen coat, which became so heavy with all the snow, it became harder and harder to trudge up the hill

    I remember there was no traffic at all om the hill and it was snowing so heavy. People were just walking up the road, as it had been cleared and gritted a few hours earlier, unlike the pavements (although it had another few inches built up on it again). I couldn’t see anyone else in the distance cause of the snow, figures would just emerge out of the snowy fog. It really felt like a zombie apocalypse film.

    On the plus side, down jackets & coats really took off and were much better equipped for staying warm in snow storm conditions

  8. If that were to happen now with today’s energy prices, a LOT of people with go into a lot of debt, rapidly.

  10. I was in third year. Three of my prelims were cancelled in December because of it. That was a great December.

  11. Council plowed all the snow on our road onto the corner of the street. Right at the end of my neighbours drive. He was blocked in for days, absolutely seething.

  12. I remember you couldn’t buy wellies anywhere, they were all sold out. My mum found a pair and posted them to me.

    I was talking to her about it recently, but she didn’t remember the great welly shortage of 2010.

  13. I will always remember this winter because I fell in love with someone during it and especially over the Christmas period. And with the snow and stuff it was just magical.

    I was 19/20 and remember thinking that all the movies were true, I finally understood what they were on about.

    God I was really lucky to experience that. I was also deeply closeted and this basically forced me to come out as gay but I didn’t care cause I was getting to fall in love and it was the best thing ever.

    We’re not together anymore and actually it ended pretty badly but that’s life. And looking back I only think fondly, especially that winter.

  14. Car was trapped in the street, got shoved out by the neighbours. Came home that night ended up driving around for 45 minutes until I found an unoccupied hole in the snow to park in. Next day car was snowed in. Walked the mile to the town on the main road to get the bus(es) to work. Came out, first bus fine, second bus I was there for 30 minutes as two buses went past without enough space for me to get on. Finally, bus arrives, I’m at the front of the queue, space for 1. Muttering from the bus driver because there was an old woman in the queue behind me but at this point I couldn’t watch another opportunity sail past. Bus was a horrific sweaty mess, then trudge over the hill back home. Got my car dug out after a couple of days. Then it was mostly nervousness that I would come home and find someone had parked in my hole in the snow…

  15. Had a 19 hour delay on the flight back from Spain that year.

  16. Burst pipes in my house, my water tank the lot. Never forget it

  17. Aye it was great.

    Give me cold, snow and ice over cold-ish, rain and mud any day. Winters lately have been crap, only a few weeks of it being properly frozen.

  18. Was this the creation of the phrase “Beast From The East” which the tabloids always use now every time there’s a hint of a snowflake?

  19. I’d just got a new job in the countryside and got 10 days off during the winter

  20. I’d just got back from living in Australia.. the snow was a delight

  21. I was in highschool it was prelims and the hot water went off had to boil the kettle every day to wash for a while.

    The icicles that came off my guttering were the size of swords 😂

  22. I was 16 and had just left school a few months beforehand, wasn’t working and can remember spending the last few months of that year mostly sitting in playing Assassin’s Creed 2 all day, glorious. There was a particular day I can remember quite vividly where we had thunder snow and nearly 30cm fell in Perth in one night, I’ve never seen anything like it since.

  23. I did my driving lessons on ice! It certainly ramped my confidence up.

  24. Remember, we got sent home from school 2 or 3 times (one time the headteacher just met us at the gates and told us to beat it; the other they kept us in the school till lunchtime despite there being no heating and no power)

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