It may be part of climate change that is bringing an earlier spring but it also seems to be producing a colder winter. Previously, for many years snow in Whitehaven has literally been thin on the ground. This is due to the warm salt laiden air from the sea. The harbour has started to freeze more often since the introduction of lock gates as the fresh water running in from Pow Beck fills the basin. However, for the last two years we have had quite extensive snow.
Whitehaven didn't get the huge layer of snow that covered most of Britain but, on 6th January 2010, there was a good enough fall of snow to turn everything into a winter wonderland. So here is a gallery of many familiar views with that added magic.
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| St. James Church | Whitehaven Castle | Steel Fish | Capstan Boy | St. Nicholas Gardens | Town Centre |
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| Church Street | Harbour front | Brassed off Monkey | John Paul Jones | Frozen Harbour | Harbour Wall |
To download a free windows screensaver of the 2006 photos click here and choose to Save in your Windows folder. The file is over 600k so will take a few minutes to download on a slow connection.
Twelve months later the scenes were repeated with a heavier fall of snow that started at the end of November and continued through much of December.
Below is a video slideshow of a few shots taken around the town and harbour at the end of the 2010.
Note this video uses Flash rather than HTML 5 as youtube's viewer at the time of writing is still at beta stage. If you want to see the video in HD or on a different viewer go to www.youtube.com and search for Whitehaven Snow.