Readers photos from the winters of the 1980s - Part 1 Introduction The last really severe winter of the 20th Century occurred in 1978/79, however, the 1980s brought a number of very cold and wintry spells with snow falling widely across the UK at times. With high pressure building to the north of the UK blocking the usual flow of weather fronts from the Atlantic the cold spells often persisted for a week or longer with snow lying on the ground throughout. Photo provided by Mark Shepley January 1982 January 1982 brought bitterly cold weather to the UK for a time and followed the coldest December of the 20th century. February 1985 The winter of 1985 brought a good deal of very cold and wintry weather to the UK, although it is often best remembered as the winter when& long range weather forecasting legend Bill Foggit spotted a mole running around in the snow and called a break in the wintry conditions before other conventional forecasters. February 1985 February 1985 February 1985 April 26th 1981 A truly amazing cold spell at the end of April 1981 brought heavy snow to much of the UK. The snow settled and the cold spell lasted for several days.