UK weather: A look back at snowfall in recent decades following Met Office warning

The weather has taken a big turn in recent days and brought a cold snap that has led to warnings for snow and ice across large parts of the UK. The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning as snowfall is expected to cause hazardous conditions and disruption - due to begin on November 28

From 5pm this evening, a yellow warning is in place from across the North of Scotland and the North East from Edinburgh down to Scarborough. These snow showers could then spread to the south-east of the UK by the end of the week.

In some areas of Scotland, temperatures could dip to as low as -8C - and as usual at this time of year, we're often left wondering when we last saw heavy snow, and how it could compare to recent snowstorms. NationalWorld takes a look back.

1991 - winter of 1990-91

The winter of 1990 and 1991 saw two significant spells of snowfall in December and January. Many parts of the country wouldn’t see snow as bad as this again until 2009. During this winter, we saw eight inches of snow in the Midlands in early December 1990, with two-feet high drifts in Derbyshire.

In early January there was a foot of the white stuff in Northern Scotland and by mid-February there was general snowfall, with Bingley in Yorkshire seeing a massive 20 inches.

2008 - October snowfall

A spell of snow also hit the country in October of 2008. It was the first time there had been snowfall in October in decades and the first in London since the 1930s. It also marked the first time since 1887 that snow had settled on the ground prior to November in Surrey.

A number of flights were diverted - Luton Airport was particularly affected - and several football matches set to be played on the evening of October 28 in England and Wales were also abandoned or postponed due to the weather.

2009 - freezing winter of 2009/2010

Part of a wider spell of severe weather in Europe, the UK saw heavy snowfall in December. It even resulted in a White Christmas as snow continued to fall from 16 December through to Christmas Day.

Parts of the UK enjoyed a White Christmas for the first time since 2004 as snow fell in parts of Scotland, parts of northern and central England and north Wales. January 2010 was also deemed the coldest January since 1987 in the UK.

2012 - deadly European cold wave

A deadly spell of cold weather struck Europe between January and February in 2012. It caused heavy snow in the UK and temperatures as cold as -18C. The Balkans was the worst affected region on the continent.

2013 - Spring cold wave

You would normally expect the weather to start to get warmer in March and April, but in 2013 the country saw unusually cold weather. Extensive spells of heavy snow were seen at the start and end of March across the UK.

2018 - Beast from the East

A sudden stratospheric warming event brought snow chaos to the British Isles in February 2018. Winter Storm Emma, as it was named by Met Office, brought 20 inches of snow in places and saw temperatures of -12C in places.

It wasn’t just February 2018 which saw terrible snowfall, an amber weather warning was issued as heavy snowfall was met by strong winds. The Six Nations was among sporting events cancelled.