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50 YEARS AGO - THE 1963 BIG FREEZE


carinthian

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Posted
  • Location: Carlisle, Cumbria
  • Weather Preferences: Atlantic storms, severe gales, blowing snow and frost :)
  • Location: Carlisle, Cumbria

All I was thinking whilst watching it was how much I'd love something of that magnitude to happen again! Be interesting to see how modern Britain would cope, obviously without all the fatalities but I'm afraid they would be inevitable.

I've had a quick run through the synoptic chart archive for Jan & Feb '63 and they are astounding and beautiful! Some of them aren't unlike the epic charts we've seen crop up in the model outputs over the last 3 weeks or so, the difference is they never even got close, maybe one winter! :)

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

I thoroughly enjoyed that. Here it is on iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...The_Big_Freeze/

thanks for that-it will be handy to dip back in there when the snow bug gets any of us

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

too young to remember the coldest for me was jan 23 to march 3rd 1986 i lived at 340m and worked at 360metre it was cold but according to met office historic data for bradford(our nearest station)january 1940 was colder and feb 47 coldest also lists coldest daytime highs of anywhere in the uk since 1908!!!!! feb 1947

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Posted
  • Location: Camborne
  • Location: Camborne

thanks for that-it will be handy to dip back in there when the snow bug gets any of us

Not a problem for me John, I've had the vaccination. I wouldn't wish another winter like that on my worst enemy. Wait, perhaps I'm being a tad hasty........................

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

too young to remember the coldest for me was jan 23 to march 3rd 1986 i lived at 340m and worked at 360metre it was cold but according to met office historic data for bradford(our nearest station)january 1940 was colder and feb 47 coldest also lists coldest daytime highs of anywhere in the uk since 1908!!!!! feb 1947

I was about 8 in Feb 1947 and as well as the snow, often well up the northern wall with drifts up the street, it faced east-west and way over the garden railings and hedges. I do remember it never seemed to get light, not a lot of sun. The impression of dark was also made more so by frequent and sometimes lengthy blackouts. Candles and the coal fire in just the kitchen then a candle or torch to bed. The smell of toast usually covered in lard-cheap and tasted lovely with plenty of salt on it!

The doctor today would have a fit seeing that kind of diet today. Oh eggs and milk from the farm about half a mile down the road.

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

all the old farmers say 1947 was worse would have been an experience,an old farmer near said the road wasnt clear to traffic till april 4th and when a ministry of agriculture man came to visit they said they got stuck in snow on the yorks /lancs border at 1400ft on june 3rd.for me 86 the coldest and 79 for snow nothing comes remotely close since

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Posted
  • Location: Gloucestershire [prev. Bucks and Devon]
  • Weather Preferences: Snow deprived so anything white.
  • Location: Gloucestershire [prev. Bucks and Devon]

I was about 8 in Feb 1947 and as well as the snow, often well up the northern wall with drifts up the street, it faced east-west and way over the garden railings and hedges. I do remember it never seemed to get light, not a lot of sun. The impression of dark was also made more so by frequent and sometimes lengthy blackouts. Candles and the coal fire in just the kitchen then a candle or torch to bed. The smell of toast usually covered in lard-cheap and tasted lovely with plenty of salt on it!

The doctor today would have a fit seeing that kind of diet today. Oh eggs and milk from the farm about half a mile down the road.

My grandad had me eating that when i was about ten but haven't tried it for a while. Dripping on toast too.

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

My grandad had me eating that when i was about ten but haven't tried it for a while. Dripping on toast too.

I suppose it may have been dripping as I used to try and scrape out the bottom where the best part was!

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Posted
  • Location: Gloucestershire [prev. Bucks and Devon]
  • Weather Preferences: Snow deprived so anything white.
  • Location: Gloucestershire [prev. Bucks and Devon]

I suppose it may have been dripping as I used to try and scrape out the bottom where the best part was!

I had one which he used to call salt toast and then the dripping from the meat too. My memory's a bit sketchy though as I was only a child when I used to spend the holidays with him. It's made me want some now.

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Posted
  • Location: ANYWHERE BUT HERE
  • Weather Preferences: ALL WEATHER, NOT THE PETTY POLITICS OF MODS IN THIS SITE
  • Location: ANYWHERE BUT HERE

As promised: some Winter 1987 photos of South East Essex.

1 meter of level snow fell..... I had to walk out for miles to get one rare train from central Southend to London where I couldnt return for five days due to no transport. I stayed in a hotel until I could get back and the area became unblocked again. Shame because the snow had reduced over the week and became compressed so it doesnt show the enormity of the event a week earlier. these photos taken one week after the snow had fallen and it had been blown around by the wind a few days after the storm. Poor photos, but a thunder snow storm over the island of sheppey seen from essex. Council digging through fifteen feet of snow on the main arterial dual carriageway. The very top of the buldozer bucket as the council tried for days to dig towards us. The boats frozen in the North Sea which was frozen a mile out off shore. My car six days after the 1 meter of snow and i started to dig it out.

Sorry for poor images, i have a really cr-p scanner. but if you open the files and expand the images you will get better detail.

Scan5.pdf

Scan6.pdf

Scan7.pdf

Scan.pdf

Scan1.pdf

Scan3.pdf

Edited by Village
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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

Impressive depths for sure. 1987 is the year I travelled from Anglesey into London on the train. By the time we got about 50 miles north of London the wind had blown snow through a partly open window into about 8 inches of snow in the carriage! I was at a meeting overlooking Waterloo and we all commented on the lack of trains, by afternoon none. I had to sleep overnight at a friends house close to Reading and we had to walk the last 4-5 miles.

Trains north started to run again later the next morning-I forget the date.

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Posted
  • Location: Napton on the Hill Warwickshire 500ft
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and heatwave
  • Location: Napton on the Hill Warwickshire 500ft

Love the programme had assumed it was someone 'now' reviewing that period. However refreshing to see it was obvioulsy broadcast at the time. No blame game re Global warming SSW or anything (ok Hawaii) . People just 'got on with it'. I think we still do now , I have seen more locals shoveling snow putting down salt/grit on paths then I would a few years ago. Nowdays of course we have far more ways to moan !. My top 5 winters Jan 79,Dec 81,Feb 86, Jan 87,Dec10 although Jan 09 must come close.

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Posted
  • Location: Cerne Valley Dorest
  • Weather Preferences: Anything but foggy damp weather
  • Location: Cerne Valley Dorest

My Fathers Black Ford Popular just did not like the cold, Every morning was starting handle job,

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

My Fathers Black Ford Popular just did not like the cold, Every morning was starting handle job,

I saw that some of the cars that were buried had to have the engine bay shovelled out first!

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Posted
  • Location: Rickmansworth
  • Location: Rickmansworth

I have just watched the documentary, how did the north east of england fare??? My parents would have been teenagers in 63, but tbh I don't remember either of them mentioning it?

I was born in 81 and the stories of only a coal fire in one room to keep you warm and thick ice inside the windows was my reality until my teens. I remember lots of snow in my childhood, but nothing major like described in the documentary.

I grew up in Middlesbrough and I reckon my parents certainly would hve mentioned it if it was very extreme.

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

was very good ,just disappointed they didnt say much about 1979 of which i do remember

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I saw the documentary about 1963- I thought it was very interesting and gave a pretty balanced-looking account of that winter.

They wouldn't do a programme like that nowadays- were we to have a similar winter nowadays, I could imagine a similar attempt at such a documentary being more sensationalist and dumbed down, and focusing almost exclusively on the negative impacts of the weather. The old documentary covered a range of both positive and negative impacts, while not disguising the issue that the negative impacts became increasingly serious for many as the winter wore on. The freezing over of electricity and water supplies was something that we were warned about late on in the late November/December 2010 cold spell, which didn't go on for long enough to trigger those problems, whereas the 1963 spell clearly did over wide areas of the country.

Surprisingly, my grandparents have never really discussed 1963 in much detail. I'm told that near the Tyne and Wear coast there were some temporary thaws at times due to the winds off the comparatively warm North Sea, which may have helped get things moving but also may have created slush/ice issues, while inland (e.g. at Durham University) snow lay continuously from late December through to early March.

Having watched the documentary, while it's pretty much a given that I would enjoy the early part of a winter like that, I remain unsure about the mid to latter part of it. It would take a lot to get me to become fed up of snow completely, but I could certainly see myself hoping for temporary thaws.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: Eccles, Greater manchester.
  • Location: Eccles, Greater manchester.

I was wondering how manchester was affected during this notable winter.I rarely hear much apart from the extent of the frozen earth and some low temperatures.I suspect low level Manchester was not hit as hard in terms of snow as is often the case during cold spells.If any one has any recollections or knowledge about how manchester fared during this winter i would be greatly interested to hear.I would also like to say thank you for some of the great and interesting memories posted in this thread.

Edited by greybing
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Posted
  • Location: Ponteland
  • Location: Ponteland

I saw the documentary about 1963- I thought it was very interesting and gave a pretty balanced-looking account of that winter.

They wouldn't do a programme like that nowadays- were we to have a similar winter nowadays, I could imagine a similar attempt at such a documentary being more sensationalist and dumbed down, and focusing almost exclusively on the negative impacts of the weather. The old documentary covered a range of both positive and negative impacts, while not disguising the issue that the negative impacts became increasingly serious for many as the winter wore on. The freezing over of electricity and water supplies was something that we were warned about late on in the late November/December 2010 cold spell, which didn't go on for long enough to trigger those problems, whereas the 1963 spell clearly did over wide areas of the country.

Surprisingly, my grandparents have never really discussed 1963 in much detail. I'm told that near the Tyne and Wear coast there were some temporary thaws at times due to the winds off the comparatively warm North Sea, which may have helped get things moving but also may have created slush/ice issues, while inland (e.g. at Durham University) snow lay continuously from late December through to early March.

Having watched the documentary, while it's pretty much a given that I would enjoy the early part of a winter like that, I remain unsure about the mid to latter part of it. It would take a lot to get me to become fed up of snow completely, but I could certainly see myself hoping for temporary thaws.

I was living just out of the centre of Newcastle TWS and we also had some thaws although there was always some snow on the ground,however just up the road in Gosforth the town moor was continually snow covered from December 27th to early March. I recall clearly driving on the road past the North end of the moor in February and with a gale force South Easterly but no falling snow how the quickly the road became virtually impassibe as the snow piled up from the moor.
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