Well it's the 45th anniversary this week of the infamous February 1979 blizzards. Thought I would add my recollections of the event, and although it is 45 years ago now, a lot of that week's weather is still etched into my mind. I was 12 years old at the time, and up until this event I had long had a bit of an interest in the weather, but this weather event I think made me into a full blown weather enthusiast for life, and is when I actually started a weather diary, which I've kept on an almost continuous basis since then.
So the Sunday 11th Feb was basically a cold, dry day with a W-NW wind, but by the following day, Monday 12th, the wind had switched 180 degrees into the East, and snow started to fall, coming from a depression that was edging in from the southwest. The snow was relentless during the day, and reached about 5 inches deep by the end of the day. I remember that we were sent home from school at lunchtime, and not because of the snow, but because the heating had failed! I then remember Bill Giles doing the BBC evening forecast for the next day, and showing snow symbols plastered over most of the UK, so I thought, wow, yet more snow tomorrow!
So on waking up the next morning (Tuesday 12th) I was eagerly anticipating us to be buried in snow, and therefore a likely day off school! Opened the curtains, and to my disgust, the previous day's snow cover was being washed away by pouring rains which set in for most of the day. Schools were open. I think we were unlucky because I reckon that the milder air had only just crept to the north of us, and there was still a snowstorm ongoing across Yorkshire and North Wales. In fact the rain did turn back to snow during the evening, although it didn't settle at that point.
On Wednesday 13th, the cold air had returned with a vengeance, this time it was brutally cold air being blown by a strong N-NE wind, it was well below freezing-point all day. Such a contrast with the previous day, the day started with intense snow squalls blowing dry snow into deeper and deeper drifts. Such was the strength of the wind that hardly any snow lay on open ground, but I remember at school that day, finding a snowdrift that was already at least a foot deep. The morning period especially was dominated by very frequent heavy snow showers, these moving through so quickly that the sun would come out for a few minutes, before the next snow squall was already incoming. As the snow fell, the flakes were just gliding across open ground - I had never seen anything like this before! The wind chill this day must've been incredibly low. Later in the day, it became dry and sunny, before the real fun and games was to begin. I think it was Ian McCaskill doing the forecast that evening, and he was showing snow moving into much of England for Thursday. I looked out the window at around 8pm, and there was already a covering of snow from the new snowfall.
So on Thursday 14th, I woke up, expecting perhaps an inch or two on the ground and snow falling. Opened the curtains, and wow! A winter wonderland. I had never seen this much snow in my life before, and venturing outside, the deep snow came almost to the top of my Wellington Boots. Level snow was at least 7 inches, drifts at least double that, if not triple that. School was cancelled that day, and the day after. Conditions would've been much more severe out in the local countryside, compared to in town. Many places were cut off for a time. Although snow fell right through that day, and also carried on into Friday, the temperature was gradually rising, and a slow thaw was evident. The snow turned to drizzle at the weekend, and by the 23rd, most of the snow had disappeared.
Since that event, I've seen 4 snow events that surpassed this one in terms of severity, but I still have a great fondness of this one, perhaps because it was unique in the way that it played out, and was the first properly severe wintry spell of my lifetime.
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.