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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
David Prince

How Wales looked four years ago when the Beast From The East brought heavy snow

It's four years since the country was brought to a standstill due to the Beast From The East and Storm Emma.

A Met Office yellow weather warning for snow was upgraded to a red warning on St David's Day 2018 and what followed was the coldest conditions for at least five years as the Beast From The East swept in bringing heavy snow and blizzards.

Around the same time, we had Storm Emma, which caused flooding.

Read more: These are the stunning pictures from Pen y Fan as snow falls in parts of Wales

After the red weather warning, the snow really hit hard on St David's Day 2018, with roads closing and public transport grinding to a halt.

Snow settles on the A48 into Cardiff on March 1, 2018 as blizzards hit parts of the UK (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)
Trains were still running at Deganwy Station in North Wales as the snow started to fall (Mirrorpix)
The Heads of the Valleys road near Ebbw Vale (Mirrorpix)

Many assumed the warnings would come and go and that people were panicking for no reason but parts of Wales were particularly badly hit and schools were closed and people were unable to get to work, although those who didn't have too far to commute braved the journey by foot.

North Road leading into Cardiff city centre (Richard Swingler/Media Wales)
Cardiff city centre - people walking in the main road to get to work (Richard Swingler/Media Wales)

While places further west like Neath and Swansea escaped the worst of the bad weather, everywhere from Cardiff in the south to Llandudo in the north was covered in snow.

Heavy snow falls over Cardiff - Aneurin Bevan statue, Queen Street (Richard Swingler/Media Wales)
The River Taff begins to freeze over. (Richard Swingler/Media Wales)
Snow on Llandudno's North Shore (Mirrorpix)

With the roads closed, train services suspended and schools shut, people looked to enjoy their 'snow day' - even the animals.

People enjoy a walk in Bute Park, Cardiff (Richard Swingler/Media Wales)
Horses are covered in snow on the hills surrounding Merthyr Tydfil (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)
Canadian Geese near Ebbw Vale where temperatures fell to -10 overnight (Mirrorpix)

Supermarket shelves were stripped bare by shoppers. Even waterfalls froze solid and ice floated down the River Taff in Cardiff.

The scenes across the land mirrored each other with cars covered in snow and roads covered in snow.

Brecon during the freezing spell (Mirrorpix)
Snow on West Shore and Great Orme in Llandudno (Mirrorpix)
How Pontypridd looked (Katie Gupwell/WalesOnline)

After three days of chaos, the great thaw began and it took several days longer for services to resume and the country to return to normal.

Cardiff city centre after The Beast from the East and Storm Emma passed (Richard Swingler/Media Wales)
Caerphilly Castle moat beginning to thaw (Richard Swingler)

The first week of March was the coldest start to that month on record.

And then a 'mini' Beast from the East came to Wales some two weeks later, bringing bitterly cold winds from continental Europe and more snow.

Cars sit covered in snow in Merthyr Tydfil after overnight snow from the 'mini' Beast From The East (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)
A crashed car on the outskirts of Cardiff (Mark Lewis/WalesOnline)

It wasn't the last we would see of the extreme weather conditions that year as what followed was an unusually dry spring and even a heatwave in the summer.

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