A week of wild weather
FROM floods to flurries, from a washout to a whiteover, Ashbourne has seen a week of wild weather that began with a day-long deluge and ended in a weekend of snow.
Storm Christoph made its presence felt on Wednesday, and its arrival followed a few days of persistent rain, which led to several rivers and brooks in the area bursting their banks.
Bakewell bore the brunt of the Derbyshire flooding that followed but, while most of Ashbourne remained unscathed, some householders were not so fortunate.
Flood alerts were issued for the River Dove and some of the worst scenes were in Doveridge and Sudbury.
Across the county, by dawn on Thursday, there were 12 flood warnings across the district – from Grindleford in the north to Sudbury in the south. The A515 was closed on Thursday morning after the Dove flowed over the road at Sudbury and the fields to the south of Doveridge were completely submerged.
Upstream at Dovedale the flood water engulfed the pathways that surround the stepping stones - which themselves were completely underwater during the height of the deluge.
Other areas around Ashbourne, including the village of Hartington, were also severely affected.
The storm passed and the rain eased off by Thursday, but river levels were still high on Friday.
And then, on Saturday morning, we woke up to a sprinkling of snow, with more to come throughout the day.
It left a reasonable covering but, by the evening, it was largely gone.
It turned out to be just a started for Sunday’s main course.
At around lunch time some light flurries started appearing and these soon turned into heavy snow, which fell until the early evening.
It left several inches lying on all areas and made for very difficult conditions on the roads.
Most routes north of the town were closed, and police also closed the A515 south of Ashbourne as the snow kept coming.
Even the gritted A50 was closed for a stretch at one point.
A freezing night followed and the snow and ice had set by Monday morning, prompting a series of school closures, including Queen Elizabeths Grammar School.
Sunshine arrived through Monday morning and started to melt away some of the snow, ahead of a milder spell edging its way in through Tuesday – and doing away with much of the rest.