Parts of northern England had a summer surprise today – a taste of winter.
It was already a chilly day before heavy rain falling across the Cumbrian fells and the north Pennines helped to lower the temperature sufficiently for the rain to turn to sleet, and then to wet snow.
While roads stayed largely clear, snow did settle on the hillsides, notably around Upper Teesdale and Weardale at elevations of about 600m and above.
Snow is obviously rare in June but there have been a few occurrences.
It is possible that snow was observed on the high parts of the Sussex Downs on June 12 1791 – not only late in the year but also notably far south, and at no great altitude.
The most significant June snowfall, however, certainly in memory, was that of June 2 1975, when sleet and snow showers fell in many parts of the country.
Snow settled on hills just south of Birmingham, and was observed further east and south, notably in Cambridge and London but also at Colchester, where it interrupted the county cricket match between Essex and Kent.
More famously, the match between Derbyshire and Lancashire at Buxton was called off. Even given Buxton’s altitude, it was remarkable that 2.5cm (1in) of snow managed to settle on the outfield.
On the same day, some higher parts of Scotland had up to 15cm (6in) of fresh snow.
There were sleet showers at Manston in eastern Kent, at Hassocks in Sussex and at Totton and Portsmouth in Hampshire. This was probably southern Britain’s latest snowfall since 1888.
More recently, on June 7 1985, a sleet shower fell on Birmingham airport, and in the evening there was snow at Eskdalemuir in Dumfriesshire, in the southern uplands, but no widespread wintry conditions.