The north wind blew, and some of us really did have snow. Last week brought a chill northerly airflow which had travelled directly from the Arctic, and snow showers were seen on three days over the higher slopes of the Scottish highlands. Last week's snow settled on the ground above the 800-metre contour in the Grampians and the Northwest Highlands and several centimetres of fresh snow accumulated on the peaks of the Cairngorms for a time.

June it may be, but wintry showers are by no means uncommon over our northern hills during the first half of the month, occurring in one year in three, on average. Snow on the ground is rarer, but there have been a number of examples in recent years, notably in 1995, 1991 and 1989. Around June 9, 1991, snow and slush lay for a time down to 500 metres and caused considerable problems for people travelling on high-level roads in Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire.

Last week also brought some exceptionally low night-time temperatures, especially during the early hours of Friday and Saturday, and widespread ground frost was reported. Air temperature dropped perilously close to freezing even in southern counties of England on both mornings. Lowest official readings included 0.4C at RAF Benson, near Wallingford, in Oxfordshire on Friday morning, and minus 1.8C at Redhill in Surrey on Saturday morning. It is 12 years since such low temperatures were recorded in southern Britain in June. The all-time UK record for the month is a surprisingly low minus 5.6C at Santon Downham, near Thetford, Norfolk, on June 1 and 3 1962.