Hemeltoday received an email today from one of the group: "Following the recent press regarding the snow mystery I think it is about time we owned up to the events. The gentlemen was correct in saying that we were snowboarders.

"We are a group of Hemel Hempstead based snowboarders in our early 20's and 30's who considering the lack of local freestyle facilities (jumps, rails etc) have been forced to become more creative to keep ourselves challenged and amused.

"We call ourselves the Hemel Jib Posse and have been working hard over the last few years to promote the Hemel snowboard scene."

The emailer, James, says there was a great snowboarding scene at the Hemel Ski Centre a few years ago.

He adds: " Sadly due to a number of reasons that slope cannot offer any freestyle facilities anymore. We are fully behind to new snow slope plans for the ski centre and look forward to it being fully agreed in the near future.

"The snow was gathered from a local snow centre in the back of a van so we good easily place it on the ground. I would like to state that the snowboarding took place very early in the morning and so did not inconvenience anyone. We also made sure that we did not damage the handrail or the local area and cleared everything away apart from the snow. Yes it was real snow, although chemically created. So it did not impact the environment at all."

For those interested in learing more, James advises: "If people wanted to take part the best bet is for them to first learn to snowboard at somewhere like Hemel Ski Centre, where a lot of us teach and see how they get on. If they feel jumps and rails are something they really enjoy them they can learn more at Milton Keynes snowdome who permanently have them on the slope."


The story earlier:

Colin Trevillion emailed Hemeltoday on Wednesday with this message:
"Re your article on the mysterious snow on Adeyfield Road, I too saw this on Sunday evening and could not understand it either. Having driven past and noticed it I came back with my 9 year old son Ross and we got out to check it and yes it was real snow.
"I drive past there regularly and could not understand how if it was there since just after christmas I had not noticed it before. I don't think that a lot of sun gets to that area as it's shielded by trees but find it hard to believe it has been there for 3 weeks. I'm afraid though that on Tuesday evening I think it has all gone."

Original report from Monday:

A woman out for a walk spotted snow lying on the ground in Adeyfield on Sunday.
It hasn't snowed in the area since just after Christmas and temperatures have been well above freezing, so where did the snow come from?
Kathleen Quinlan emailed us these photos today and asked: "I have just returned home from a walk and noticed with amazement some snow lying on a path in the field next to Primrose Engineering in Adeyfield Road opposite the Midland Hotel. How it got there I don't know. Any ideas?"
She adds that is was defenitely real snow and wonders if perhaps a film company were shooting in the area.
Can anyone help solve the mystery?
Is this spot a real frost hollow that can last for over two weeks? Is it the coldest spot in Hemel?