Winter of 2010–2011 in Great Britain and Ireland

Winter of 2010 and November

Snow falling in Sheffield; 1 December 2010
Formed	24 November 2010
Lowest temperature	−21.3 °C (−6.3 °F) (2 December 2010, Altnaharra, Scotland)
Maximum snowfall or ice accretion	30 inches (76 cm) (level snow on ground, 1 December 2010, Sheffield, Peak District and higher ground of Gloucestershire) Total: 5 feet (1.5 m) (settled on ground) in Sheffield, Peak District, and Scottish Highlands
Areas affected	Britain and Ireland

The winter of 2010–2011 was a weather event that brought heavy snowfalls, record low temperatures, travel chaos and school disruption to the islands of Britain and Ireland. It included the UK's coldest December since Met Office records began in 1910, with a mean temperature of -1 °C, breaking the previous record of 0.1 °C in December 1981. Also it was the second-coldest December in the narrower Central England Temperature (CET) record series which began in 1659, falling 0.1 °C short of the all-time record set in 1890.

The winter of 2010 in England saw the earliest widespread winter snowfall since 1993 with snow falling as early as 24 November across Northumberland and North Yorkshire. A maximum snow depth of 30 inches (76 cm) was recorded on 1 December in the Peak District, Sheffield, the Cotswold Hills and the Forest of Dean. In this event Scotland and Northern England were most severely affected. On 9 December temperatures recovered across much of the UK, causing a partial thaw.

Later, on Thursday 16 December a cold front reintroduced a cold, arctic airstream. This cold spell brought further snow and ice chaos back to the British Isles with Southern England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland (excluding the westerly coastal regions) and Northern Ireland bearing the brunt of the wintry conditions. This led to severe disruption to the road and rail network with several airports being closed including London Heathrow Airport for a time. Several local temperature records were broken including a new record low for Northern Ireland of -18.7 °C recorded at Castlederg on 23 December 2010.