Winter arrived with a vengeance at the weekend, with several inches of snow falling in some parts of the Westcountry while others experienced a pummelling from hailstones and thundering showers.
The freakish weather was caused by an area of low pressure moving slowly east on Saturday night and Sunday morning, followed by another depression heading in from Ireland. In its wake, the weather system left up to three inches of snow perched picturesquely on still-blooming shrubs in some parts of Somerset and Dorset.
There was also snow on Dartmoor, just north of Tavistock and in other parts of West Devon.Greg Dewhurst, a forecaster at the Met Office, said some parts of the region had suffered nearly an inch of rain as bands of heavy showers swept through. Meanwhile, the Environment Agency issued dozens of flood warnings and alerts, mainly around the Devon and Somerset border, over the weekend.
The worst of the wintry weather occurred around North East Somerset, where planners said they had been caught out as no snow was forecast. Kelvin Packer from the district council there said two teams had been sent out to clear and grit the roads.
"Unfortunately the snow came down immediately off the back of a band of rain and with everything being so wet it's just sat on the roads as slush."
Areas of North Dorset, including Sherborne, were affected and there was snowfall at Axminster and near Okehampton.
Mr Dewhurst said there was some brighter weather on the horizon this week.
"The picture will slowly improve," he said. "Showers will ease today, giving much brighter weather, although it will still be chilly with temperatures struggling to get into double figures."
