The Late April 1950 Snow Event.

[Weather-history]

A wet snowstorm hit an area south of the Thames on the night of 25th/26th April 1950 bringing travel chaos and communication disruptions especially with regards to telegraph wires, where the wet snow clung to the wires and the weight causing them to snap. The weight of the snow also broke many branches of trees.

26th April 1950, Tudor House, Camberley, Surrey.

The snowstorm was a gusty one, here are the highest gusts recorded during the storm

Manston: 34mph

Croydon: 32mph

Calshot: 61mph

Boscombe Down: 49mph

Some low minima occurred further north on the 25th

-6.1C at Newton Rigg

-5.6C at Eskdalemuir

..and on the 26th

-3.9C at Elmdon, Wittering

The snow in the south did not last too long in the late April sunshine.

From the Times of 27th April 1950

[Methuselah]

Thanks Mr D. Please no repeat this year! :lol:

[Grimsby Snow Lover]

Wow, that was amazing. Imagine if it were to happen now, I think even more chaos would occur than did during 1950. Some how though I can't see it happeneing this year, perhaps next year?

[Thundery wintry showers]

Imagine the despair (yes, despair) that would arise on N-W if that kind of event came off. I can just imagine myself getting excited, people replying, "It's late April now! Move on, move on, move on!" and me replying, "How can I 'move on' from something that's happening out of the window right now?"

While we do get spring snowfalls these days, it seems that we certainly don't get as many of those of the April 1950 calibre as used to be the case. I doubt we'd get anything like that amount of snow if similar synoptics were to be repeated next year- though I'd certainly still expect some wintry showers about.