Looking back at all the times it snowed in Bucks ahead of Christmas

While snow is not yet predicted for Buckinghamshire this week, temperatures have plunged and we have seen the county blanketed ahead of Christmas in years gone by – so there is always hope.

Schools were closed and roads congested on December 17, 2009, when heavy snow hit High Wycombe and the surrounding areas.

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At the time, the council warned the south and east of the county had been worst affected by the snowfall, which was about 8cm deep.

The year also saw the worst snowfall in the county for 18 years.

But people took advantage, with many schoolchildren having fun at The Rye and residents saying it made “everything a bit exciting”.

Heavy snowfall hit the area again in December 2010, when several inches of snow in the county forced the Met Office to issue a red weather warning – the most severe warning the weather service issues.

It caused chaos, with traffic gridlocked along London Road and Amersham Hill in High Wycombe closed to vehicles travelling uphill.

The M40 was also at a standstill and there were long queues on the A404 between Handy Cross and Maidenhead after lorries jack-knifed on both stretches of road.

Some shops in High Wycombe were closed on the last shopping weekend before Christmas as staff were unable to get into work.

But many people made the most of it, with children spotted sledding in Marlow.

And 2017 was the last year we saw snow in south Bucks, with High Wycombe seeing the third highest level of snowfall in the UK.

The town saw 17cm (6.6 inches) of snow on December 10, 2017, with trains cancelled and drivers leaving their cars stranded on the M40.