page_title: 2018–19 European winter
section_title: December
hierarchical_section_title: 2018–19 European winter / Monthly Timeline / December
caption_attribution_description: English: Ice accretion on a road sign in Sheffield, England following heavy freezing rain from Storm Deirdre on 15 December 2018. Freezing rain is rare in the United Kingdom; as Deirdre was moving northwards over the country, the storm collided with colder air moving down from Scandinavia, causing a huge ice storm which brought record levels of freezing rain across northern England and Scotland.
context_page_description: The 2018–19 European winter occurred from late 2018 to early 2019. Notable events included the early snows in Spain and intense flooding in Italy, in cities such as Venice, the intense snow storms which affected central Europe in January, the snow storms in Greece over the New Year period, as well as the end of February. As well as severe winter weather, there was also exceptional warmth across western Europe in the last week of February. Parts of France had their warmest February day on record, with temperatures up to 28.1 °C at Eus on the 27th. Many places in the United Kingdom also broke temperature records, including the national record in Kew Gardens, at 21.2 °C on the 26th. Unlike previous winters, a developing El Niño was expected to influence weather patterns across Europe, although the affect is not fully known.
  Officially, winter 2018–19 began in the Northern Hemisphere on the winter solstice, which in 2018 occurred on 21 December 2018, and ended at the March equinox, which in 2019 occurred on 20 March 2019. Based on the meteorological definition, the first day of winter is 1 December and the last day 28 February.
context_section_description: The lack of snow that prevailed throughout Scandinavia in November continued into December. However, snow finally fell on the 12th, with places such as Rovaniemi reporting up to 21 cm (8.3 in).
  Storm Deirdre affected the United Kingdom on the 15th and brought a rare spell of freezing rain to many areas. It also brought heavy snow and rain to places, with some areas of Scotland receiving up to 50 cm (20 in).
caption: Ice accretion on a road sign left behind by heavy freezing rain from Storm Deirdre in Sheffield
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