Blizzard of March 14-15(approx) 1979.

[Rollo]

The North-East of England is no stranger to snowfall in March but the above period was exceptional. We start on Friday morning on what was a dull cold morning with lightish rain and sleet falling on a Northerly wind,this changed when I arrived in central Newcastle to moderate wet snow despite the drop in altitude,The snow continued to fall throughout the day leaving a permanent but slushy cover-I checked back home to see how much had accumulated and was surprised to be told that althoug it was snowing there were no accumulations at all.

On leaving work the snow was still falling, road conditions at first were fine,climbing slightly up the cental motorway the snow got heavier and cetainly more powdery and this was-as I thought of a drop in temperature,arriving home the ground was just turning white and with the wind increasing from the ENE was sticking to many objects,I was asked to get a guest back to Gosforth (5miles back towards town ) but was told that she had already had a taxi coming as she was alarmed at the rate the

snow was falling,my car parked outside the front of the house soon disappeared under a heavy cover of snow as the snow started falling in earnest with the temperature hovering around -1c,this I found almost unbelievible for the time of year . The snow fell heavily all night and by the following morning there was a drift up my drive and over the top of the garage and into the back garden.

The snow did become lighter during daylight hours and with the temperature struggling to +1c surfaces like the main road started to melt slowly-we were however cut off both to are North and our South,as evening approached the snow became heavier and started to accumulate again although the wind had abated slightly. We still remained isolated by the snow but thoughout the day it gradually got lighter and finally died out at about 4-30 in the afternoon when a hard frost set in as the clouds dissipated. The next couple of days saw a slow but gradual thaw but unusually on the Wednesday after an early frost and the thaw continuing it clouded over in the afternoon and on a westerly wind we had about 3 hours of powder snow

giving a further 3 inches.

A very memorable spell and if TWS reads this perhaps he can remember the full synoptics of the period and report them.

[Alex95]

My parents remember that one, they got stuck in Durham. 50cm apparently fell in Newcastle, which would be exceptional in mid winter never mind March!

[mike Meehan]

It does remind of the time when my son was born on 05.03.1970 - At the time we were living in Hemel Hempstead and had arranged for a home birth - the snow had started the previous day and quickly accumulated to some 15 cms - as far as my wife was concerned there were signs that things were starting to happen, so during the afternoon I made my way to the phone box (we couldn't afford the luxury of home telephones in those days) so I could let the midwife know in good time, concerned that the depth of the snow would affect travel.

It continued snowing and by the next moring our son Richard had made his debut into the world and I took our daughter Emma into the garden to make an igloo for her; by that time the snow depth was some 20 cms.

Unfortunately it did not last too long after that, melting during the next few days - fortunately Richard outlasted this by a long way and now has his own family.

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-app/reports?LANG=en&MENU=Extra&FILE=extra_pe&DAY=20100320

Edited October 21, 2012 by mike Meehan

[PeteB]

We got hammered with snow in mid March 1979 but I don't remember the exact date, but can confirm it was a Friday. I can say it certainly wasn't a blizzard here as there was no drifting at all, just steady, heavy snow for over 24 hours. This was the deepest snow I've ever seen here from a single fall (apart from true blizzards), I would estimate 20-24" of even lying snow.

Pete

[hillbilly]

we had already dug our lane out 3 times this winter level wall to wall then this came and filled in again.our lane was a third of a mile long and it was all shovel work.in january it took the council 2 weeks to clear the roads to the bottom of our lane.we lived at 340 metre have yet to see snow that remotely resembles this winter.drifts lay under the walls well into spring ,not sure whenmust have been into may wish i had made a note at the time.i know they were snowball fighting at cat and fiddle in early june gives an idea.

[Airedalejoe]

One of the few times I've seen snow drifting here, one of the other times was this winter!

I was at school and remember the rain slowly changing to snow through the friday and everywhere was soaked. The temperature continued to fall and the snow lay and the slush started to freeze.

By Saturday morning there was more than a foot of snow but it hadn't drifted yet and from memory not a lot more fell during the day. On Saturday evening it started snowing again and by Sunday morning the whole village was cut off by huge drifts. Sure my parents will have the old cinefilm of us walking against the drifts which were an incredible sight for here. Don't know the depth but the most snow I've ever seen here, cars half buried and drifted over, can't wait for it to be reapeated!

[Love Snow]

Could we have some of this please