First snow of the season!

Westerly winds bring milder weather and rain from the west but as it comes up against the cold air it turns to snow. Ground above about 150m had a good couple of hours of persistant snow which was pretty unexpected. There were a couple of inches around this area in places like Consett.

Not expecting anything in Stanley I drove up to the moors towards Stanhope where its about 500m asl. On the way it started snowing quite heavy and by the time I got up there the snow was already settling everywhere including on the roads making it very slippery. I got close to Stanhope and then turned back. By this time the roads were very dangerous, I was sliding from side to side even on a straight road at about 15mph, pretty scary. Got back to Stanley to find a good inch there too so I didn't really have to head to the moors.

Heres some photos I took up there.

It did get deeper after those were taken, that was just on my way. Coming back I just wanted out of there so I didn't take any more.

Mark.