Summer to Snow in Scotland in UK Storm

By Jim Andrews, Senior Meteorologist

Apr 4, 2012; 9:41 AM ET

Snow has covered the landscape in the northeastern United Kingdom within one week after experiencing summery, record warmth.
This week, snowfall to at least 20 cm (8 inches) blanketed hilly areas of eastern Scotland through northern England, cutting power and disrupting travel on some roads, according to multiple reports.
Aboyne, Scotland, had a 15-cm (6-inch) fall of snow as of Tuesday, Mark Vogan said in his blog. Only one week earlier, Aboyne tipped 23.6 degrees C (74.5 F), breaking the all-time highest March temperature for Scotland.
Even in July, high temperatures above 20 degrees C (68 F) would be the exception this far north.
Aviemore, Scotland, had early week snowfall of about 20 cm, weather data available to AccuWeather.com meteorologists showed. The week before, high temperatures above 20 degrees C were registered here.
Meanwhile, the wintry storm shifted southward over England Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving cold, soaking rain and wet snow, all of it whipped by high winds.
At least 50,000 homes and business were without power after gales and ice downed power lines, the BBC said on Wednesday. Outages were concentrated in Durham, North Yorkshire and North Derbyshire.
The storm covered the hills in snow. Travel on at least one area highway, the A66, was interrupted after a lorry jackknifed, according to a report on the BBC News. The A66 cuts east to west across the Pennines uplands.
Police in Durham said that snow drifts were up to 7 feet deep in places along another highway, the A68, where up to 40 vehicles were stranded, the report said.
Farther south, at least two Peak District passes between Sheffield and Manchester were shut by snow.
An upside to the storm was that it dropped needed rain on some drought-hit areas of eastern England.

Summer to Snow in Scotland in UK Storm