Weather

People waking up in the Plymouth area on the morning of Friday 6 February could have been forgiven for saying "snow, what snow?"

But at the other end of the county, in the north and east, people were waking up to several inches of snow outside their front doors.

And for some, they didn't even manage to get home the night before. Hundreds of people spent the night stuck in their cars on the A38 and A380 at Haldon Hill, as the snow came down harder and faster than the salt and grit could cope with.

Traffic stuck on Haldon Hill

So was this a case of just pot luck? Not entirely, according to BBC Radio Devon weatherman Alan Crowle.

"The temperatures in Plymouth weren't that much different to the east of the county," said Alan. "But Plymouth was just on the edge of the precipitation.

"The prolonged persistent falls quickly turned to snow in the east and the north of the county then edged westwards to affect the A30 and on to Okehampton and the upper reaches of the Tamar."

Some parts of Devon had 10-15cm (four to six inches) of snow overnight on 5-6 February, and there was up to 30cm (12 inches) on higher ground.

After so many relatively mild winters, it came as a shock to the system to receive so much snow in such a short space of time.

But Alan says the general weather picture of very cold continental air meeting milder air in the South West is similar to previous snow situations.

Ottery St Mary Churchyard (Emma Grainger)

"This latest snow has been caused by a depression over the English Channel meeting the cold air which was already over here from Europe.

"When you put moisture into the cold air, then you get snow."

So what can we expect for the weekend? Well, the bad news for the county's youngsters is that they'd better make the most of the snow now.

Alan says: "Saturday will be cold and frosty but mainly dry, but with the odd wintry shower."

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