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 Satellite view showing Europe, including Great Britain and Ireland partially covered in snow under the lines of the strong cold wave on 27 February 2018 | |
| Type | Winter storm,anticyclonic storm,polar vortex |
|---|---|
| Formed | 22 February 2018[1] |
| Dissipated | 5 March 2018[2] |
| Highest winds |
|
| Highest pressure | 1056 hPa (31.2 inHg) |
| Lowest temperature | −14.2 °C (6.4 °F)Faversham, Kent[3] |
| Maximum snowfall or ice accretion | 57 cm (22 in),Gloucestershire, England |
| Fatalities | 95 total;[4] 17 in UK[citation needed] |
| Damage | £1.2 billion (2018)[4] |
| Areas affected | Great Britain andIreland; much of continentalEurope |
Anticyclone Hartmut (dubbed theBeast from the East (Irish:An Torathar ón Oirthear)[5][6][7]) was a storm that began on 22 February 2018, and brought acold wave to Great Britain and Ireland. Anticyclone Hartmut also brought widespread unusually low temperatures and heavy snowfall to large areas.[8] The cold wave combined withStorm Emma, part of the2017–18 European windstorm season, which made landfall in southwest England and the south of Ireland on 2 March.
In contrast to usual winter storms, Hartmut was not formed as a normallow pressure area along thejetstream. The initial event was anArctic outbreak (caused by a disorderedpolar vortex) intoCentral Europe, transporting not only cold air fromSiberia to Europe but also – due to thelake effect – sending heavy snowfall intoGreat Britain andIreland.
This weather situation repeated itself on the weekend of 17 and 18 March, but was less severe than on the previous occasion, due to the onset of spring. This briefer cold snap was given the name "Mini Beast from the East".
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The Hartmut cold spell was caused by a large arctic airmass with anticyclonic structure, stretching from theRussian Far East to the British Isles and covering large parts of Asia and almost all of Europe. The anticyclone, centred on Scandinavia,[9] was the dominant high pressure area in the weather system and represented its European part.North Asia was covered by other anticyclones that belonged to that giant arctic airmass. The anticyclone brought cold easterly winds into Europe and the British Isles, leading to snowfall and sub-zero temperatures, as a result of freezing air fromSiberia.[10][11] Ireland was predicted to experience its worst winter for at least 30 years.[12][13] In the United Kingdom theMet Office issued ared snow warning, meaning a potential risk to life.[14]
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The anticyclone was such an intense high pressure system that it evolved into ananticyclonic storm, and was named Hartmut. A gust of 187 km/h (116 mph) was registered in theØvre Dividal National Park in Norway, relatively near to the anticyclonic centre.[15] Other hurricane-force gusts delivered by Hartmut were registered across Europe, particularly overScandinavia and the British Isles. Such hurricane-force anticyclonic storms are not extremely rare, but occur less often than cyclonic storms of similar intensity.
Sixteen weather-related deaths included that of a seven-year-old girl on Thursday 1 March inLooe,Cornwall, when she was hit by a car that slid on ice into a bungalow. On Wednesday 28 February, Stephen Cavanagh, 60, died after trying to save his dog from a lake inWelling,South East London. Also on Wednesday, a 46-year-old man died in a crash and a 75-year-old woman was found dead underneath her car inFarsley. A carer fromGlasgow died on her way to work and a 52-year-old homeless man was found dead freezing inside his tent. On Tuesday 27 February, four people died in two separate weather-related crashes. A 20-year-old also died after slipping and falling whilst crossing a bridge inHaddington,East Lothian. This followed the death of a man trying to help another driver in the snowy conditions inBergh Apton,Norfolk, who suffered a heart attack. A 70-year-old also died after being rescued from icy cliffs inTorquay.
| Country | Fatalities | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | 27[16][17][18][19] | |
| UK | 17[20][18][21][22] | Due to mixed effects of Storm Emma and the cold wave. |
| Slovakia | 7[18][23] | |
| France | 7[16][17][18][19] | |
| Czech Republic | 6[24] | |
| Romania | 6[25][26][16][23][17][19] | |
| Lithuania | 5[17] | |
| Spain | 3[17] | |
| Serbia | 3[23][24][17][27] | |
| Slovenia | 3[23][24][17][27] | |
| Italy | 3[17] | |
| Sweden | 1[28][15] | |
| The Netherlands | 1[17] | |
| Germany | 1[17] | |
| Denmark | 1[24][17] | |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | 1[23][27] | |
| Croatia | 1[23][27] | |
| Albania | 1[23][17][29] | |
| Bulgaria | 1[23] | |
| Total | 95 |
Storm Emma brought chaos with heavy snow and strong winds to the South of Ireland, South West England and Southern Wales on 2–3 March 2018 with up to 50 cm (20 in) of snow in some elevated areas.[30] High winds brought disruption to other parts of Great Britain and Ireland. It also brought rail disruption as several trains became stranded, full of passengers, for up to 14 hours.[31] Daytime temperatures were also very suppressed, some places not rising above −12 °C (10 °F).[3]
Following a brief spell of warmer weather, a fresh cold snap nicknamed the "Mini Beast from the East" was forecast to bring another covering of snow on the weekend of 17 and 18 March. However, due to the onset of spring, and ahigher sun position, it was forecast that the effect would be less severe than on the previous occasion, for the ground was warmer than before, and thus the snow would melt more quickly.[32][33]
Snow showers began to affect parts of Britain and Ireland on 17 March, with north-east England, the North Midlands, and parts of southern England experiencing the heaviest snowfall. The snow was accompanied by strong winds, forecast to be as high as 110 km/h (70 mph), and the Met Office issued an amber weather warning effective from the afternoon of 17 March.[34] Snow showers continued to affect parts of the UK and Ireland on 18 March, with south-west England the most severely affected. The adverse weather conditions forced the cancellation of some sporting events, including theReading Half Marathon, while Ireland's rugby union team, who had won the2018 Six Nations Championship, cancelled their homecoming "due to heavy snowfall" with no new date confirmed.[35]
...Freezing air from Siberia...
There have been many worse winters in the past, but not in the last 30 years. Met Éireann have a good compendium of historical events available at www.met.ie. ... Peter Thorne is Professor in Physical Geography (Climate Change) at NUI Maynooth and Director of the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Unit group (Icarus)
Evelyn Cusack from Met Éireann says the winds coming from Siberia will mean it's exceptionally cold, and said it's been more than 30 years since we've seen this kind of weather: "I'm not saying that it's going to be as bad, maybe it'll be worse."
