PeteB

Very interesting. I was 14 in 1963 so I remember that Winter well and can recall the problems that we had living out in a very rural location. Some of those problems would certainly not have changed, others would be worse or not so bad. I remember my Dad fixing burst after burst in our old draughty unheated house. This would probably be less of a problem in todays well heated and insulated homes with frost guards on boilers, etc. Another thing that sticks in my mind was the state of the roads, obviously I was too young to drive then but I remember the huge tunnel like walls my dad drove through just to get to the shops, gritting just didn't do the trick back then, the roads were rutted to like nothing I've ever seen since. I'm not sure how this would pan out today, for sure there's a lot more traffic but equipment has improved drastically since 63. We now have a few snow blowers and loads of ploughs compared to a handful back in the day. Of course, a really major blizzard could leave them all stuck in the depot...the main thing that would concern me is people will ignore the warnings (they always do), and get overwhelmed by a blizzard, 4WD is useless if you get stuck in a queue on a snowbound motorway. Foods supplies were for our family O.K back then but only 10 miles away they had to make helicopter drops, these days I'd expect panic buying and shortages of certain food, not good. Travel and sport were badly disrupted and I'd expect most Airports and railways to suffer badly. Back in 63, railways were usually cleared by Steam Engines which could slam through huge drifts at a fair speed (there's some great videos on YouTube), diesels just don't have the weight to do this without disintegrating so they would need plenty of snowblowers. Then there's the question of School closures. In 63 my school never closed despite the fact that was deep lying snow from December 26th through to March 10th or so. In todays world with the way kids are wrapped in cotton wool and with the compensation culture imported from the U.S it would mean a lot of kids having a couple of months off. There's probably a lot more things I haven't considered but I'll leave it there for now. Coping with a 1,000 year event would be VERY challenging, it's possible that we'd have to ask for outside help but another countrywide 47/63 style winter wouldn't be that bad. There were always periods of recovery even though it stayed below freezing most of the time. Pete

Sorry. but I seem to be a couple of years late! I remember March 1965 very well and I'm surprised that the event of the 4th seems to be almost forgotten. I've lived in my current location for 49 years and for me I would rate this Blizzard as number 3 in the all time list of snowstorms around here. Only the Blizzards of December 1962 an February 1963 were more severe. It just came out of nowhere in what was an unexceptional winter. From memory, we had a minor snowfall a few days before and this had mainly melted, just a few isolated patches remained mainly on roofs and trees. On the night of the 3rd there must have been a sharp frost because what remained had frozen solid. I remember that during the early afternoon an easterly wind picked up, dressed in school uniform I don't think I've experienced a colder more penetrating wind. The few pockets of remaining snow had started to blow off the school roofs, snaking across the floor. The main event started as I was walking home, must have been about 4.30 and within minutes a major blizzard was underway. It was still going full blast when I went to bed at 11 or so. The next morning dawned grey and cold with 4 foot drifts but within a few hours the sun was out and the snow melted incredibly rapidly. As already noted within a few days temps were in the 60's but there was still snow up on The Horseshoe Pass until the middle of the month. I had to wait another 16 years to see my next real blizzard! Pete

Yeah, I remember the 13th December almost like yesterday. I was working a 3-11 shift and before going to work went out for a walk over the fields. After a few minutes I noticed that the wind was kicking up some of the snow that had been around for a few days. Got home about midday, and a few minutes later noticed the first few flakes coming down. Within 15 minutes it was obvious that I wouldn't be going to work, the snow intensified and was drifting like crazy. It carried on like that till about 10 in the evening by which time the drifts were 4 feet in places. Managed to get to work the next day to be greeted by 3 feet drifts on The Wirral, almost unknown in that part of the world. That was the 4th true blizzard I've seen around here, the 5th and so far final one was about a month later! The cold was something else too, I recorded -18 several times on a shielded and calibrated thermometer, in '63 on a crude max/min thermometer the coldest I saw was -15 a couple of times. Pete

I've been to Georgetown a few times. When I was there in June 2006 they'd had a massive snowfall a few months earlier, from memory just over 40 inches in a day!!. At the visitor centre they had a load of photos on display and they also had a marker board showing the depth. Georgetown gets an average of 90 inches a year, I guess you would think that's not surprising considering its around 8,500 elevation but it also gets 250 days of blue skies a year too! Pete

Well, I had to laugh when I watched ITV news and saw the massive hype, "worst winter for a hundred years". Let's see, we've had a massive 2" of snow so far and the coldest I've seen was last night -5.7. By this stage of the winter in 63' we had 15 foot snowdrifts and temps of -15 and in 82' , 4 foot drifts and I recorded -20 twice and it was -18 and below on six occasions. Day time temperatures in 63 and 82 were below the minimum nightime temp I've recorded so far this winter. I've seen a lot of winters and this one looks just pretty average to me certainly not in the top 20 of the ones I've seen. If we get some -10's and below I'll start getting interested but its just a complete non event in these parts. Pete

Nothing here in sunny NE Wales...as usual. Pete

Of course it's not over yet, but for the area I live in its been nothing special...certainly not in the top 10 that I've lived through. I've recorded -19 here in the past (1981) , I think -7 has been the best this winter and I had at least double the amount of snow on the ground here in 2007. This is usually a good area for dumpings of snow, people who talk about the lack of snow in 63 obviously didn't visit North Wales, we were inundated and the record snowfall for the U.K was set in 1947 about 25 miles away. On the plus side, it may be a sign that we're starting a new spell of colder and snowier winters and with a new Solar Minimum just around the corner, this could be the prelude to some really cold winters. Pete

Heavy shower passing through here right now!! Pete

-1.5C here in the extreme North East Corner of Wales with almost clear skies. A long nervous wait for the rest of the night I think. Pete

Still coming down here but easing slightly, up to 12cms now. Temp holding steady at 0.2C. Pete

8 cms in the last 4 hours and still hammering down here. There's going to be chaos in the morning if this keeps going!! Pete

After a day of frustration, just the odd shower, it's now snowing fairly heavily. Wind is picking up a bit but not strong enough to cause any drifting right now. Temp reached a max of 0.6C but its now down to -0.3C. Looking good Pete

Not much to report here in North East Wales, A few flurries and that's it. Just checked outside and there's 90% cloud cover but it looks pretty thin to me.Temp has dropped to -2.0C..... Pete

Max Temp today 1.1C. Cloud coverage about 70% but its pretty thin stuff as the moon is only slightly dimmed. Temp has started to fall away quickly, down from -2.8C at 1900 to -5.0C at 2130. Pete

Coldest night of the Winter so far, -6.2C. Got up to 0.9C, now dropping rapidly -0.4C at 1500. Pete

Sunny all day here. Max temp 0.4C, falling away to -0.2C at 1500hrs. Pete

Maximum here today 0.8C, currently -0.1C Pete

Well, overnight on the 14th/15th April 1998 we had 37cms here. In 50 years I've only seen 4 or 5 heavier falls and it all fell in about 8 hours. In 1963 there were patches of snow to be found until the end of April and no snow fell after the first week of March. Pete

Starting to see some beefy snow showers here. Temps dropping quickly, down to 2.8 degrees. Pete