Winter charts from the great cold snowy spells, we have become familiar with eg  January 1987, February 1991. So here's a few selection of lesser well known ones 

12th February 1870

Early January 1893

Early January 1894

22nd January 1897, how's that for a NEly 

23rd January 1907: monster high brings frigid air

29th December 1908: battleground scenario, the remarkable thing about this set-up is the temperature contrast between the airmasses

25th January 1910

2nd February 1912: a cold spell during a very mild winter overall

20th January 1945: How this for a NWly

Early February 1954

Nice. :)

That 1908 one is insane, can only imagine how much snow fell on that. More like a newfoundland chart than a UK one.

Here are some reports 

Morriston: Snow 7.25 inches deep (26th-28th)
Alford: Snowstorm blocked the railway for 3 days (26th-28th)
Gloucester: Snow fell almost continuously (26th-29th)
Porth: Snow from 4 to 6 inches deep, with drifts up to 3 to 4ft deep in country
Whithorn: Almost continuous snow
Dolaucothy: Snow over 6 inches deep. (27th)
Torquay: Snow commenced to fall about 3.30pm on 27th and continued at intervals to 2.30pm on the 29th. 6 to 18 inches deep snow depending on elevation.
Knotty Ash: 6 inches of snow
Forfar: Great snowstorm, the average depth was 27 inches
Ystrad Mynarch: 6 inches of snow (29th)
Kirkby Lonsdale: Severe snowstorm during the night from ESE. There were drifts from 3 to 8ft deep on account of the severe gale and hard frost.
Bodnant Hall: Blizzard.
Girvan: On 28th, 4 inches of snow fell and on 29th, 5 inches.
Camden Square: 3 inches deep snow (29th)
Abinger Hall: 8 inches of snow (29th)
Maidstone: 7 inches of snow
Horsham: 8 inches of snow
Bournemouth: 6.5 inches of snow
Southampton: 7 inches of snow
Poole: 7 inches of snow
Wincanton: 6 inches of snow
St Andrews: Roads impassable and trains blocked by snow.

The 29th was a very cold day.
Burghill Court: 22F (max)
Ranmoor: 20F (max)
Camden Square: 23.7F (max)
Wallington: 23.8F (max)
Stratfieldsaye Gardens: 22F (max)
Stow-on-the-Wold: 21.0F (max)

Low minima recorded
Camden Square: 14.4F (30th)
Tenterden: 14.0F (30th)
Pitsford: 6.2F (30th)
Ross-on-Wye: 17.6F (30th)
Southport: 15.9F (30th)
Hull: 12.0F (30th)
Edinburgh: 18.7F (29th)
Liphook: -1F (30th)
Raunds: 3F (30th)
Buxton: 4F (30th)
Epsom: 4F (30th)
Bawtry: 5F (30th)

Locally it is still notorious for a prolonged spell of falling and drifting snow, there is even a dialect poem and folky song about it.

Plenty of re-loads during that winter, this is just one example:

On Trevor Harley's exceelent website he says: "A very cold snowy end to the month. The maximum in the Midlands was only -5C on the 29th; the temperature then fell to -18C the following night, with -18.3C at Liphook (Hants.) - the coldest night of the year."

The 20th December, 1938 is a goody. It was more notable because until then the winters of the 1930s had been predominantly mild.

December 1908 was the weather event of the century here and it came from nowhere as the winter had been exceptionally mild up to that point.

Aberdeen City Centre:

January 1897 was another severe one with accounts of cottages being buried but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any pictures. Sad that so many of the extreme weather events of the 19th Century went uncaptured whereas now with all the digital cameras the weather couldn't be blander and there's never anything worth photographing.

Amazing photos Richard.

You can see in Kevin’s chart above why you did so well - a screaming SE’ly, a weather front, and bitterly, bitterly cold uppers. 

Those photos are often mistakenly identified as Mosley Street, in Manchester City Centre. I very much doubt that the city has EVER (and I mean ever) received as much snow as that, I don’t think the geography allows it. 

Great read 

A good reminder that things can and do change no matter what’s gone before - and at short notice too....