50 years ago I was living in the "foothills" of Dartmoor about 600' (180m asl) between Exeter and Crediton

February 1969 is not often mentioned here being just a few years later than the historic winter of 1962-3 but was a cold and snowy month with a CET of 1.0C

The weather of 19-20 Feb 1969 was very different to what we are seeing on this "Golden Jubilee" 50 years later, with high pressure over Russia and a Channel Low in the SW approaches - the classic set-up for a snow event in the SW which is what happened overnight.

This was a short lived event - all over after 2 or 3 days when the temperature bounced back to 12C resulting in serious flooding in Mid Devom

Long enough though for me to fail to make it to Exeter for 2 days and allow me time to wander around with my camera !

clickables

 

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The winter of 1968-69 was a very strange one, if I'm honest. A cold run-up to Christmas gave way to a mild January before things turned bitterly cold in early February. The winter then continued into spring, with March being one of the coldest of the 20th century with a CET of just 3.3.

The snowfall of 19-20 February, the Christmas Day snowfall and an ice storm in mid-March are the main standouts of that winter, for sure.

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50 years ago I was living in the "foothills" of Dartmoor about 600' (180m asl) between Exeter and Crediton

February 1969 is not often mentioned here being just a few years later than the historic winter of 1962-3 but was a cold and snowy month with a CET of 1.0C

The weather of 19-20 Feb 1969 was very different to what we are seeing on this "Golden Jubilee" 50 years later, with high pressure over Russia and a Channel Low in the SW approaches - the classic set-up for a snow event in the SW which is what happened overnight.

This was a short lived event - all over after 2 or 3 days when the temperature bounced back to 12C resulting in serious flooding in Mid Devom

Long enough though for me to fail to make it to Exeter for 2 days and allow me time to wander around with my camera !

clickables

 

Well before my time that!! 

Looks like that of storm Emma that came off Portugal and pushed across the bay of Biscay into southern England! (1st March 2018).

How thick was the snow?

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Well before my time that!! 

Looks like that of storm Emma that came off Portugal and pushed across the bay of Biscay into southern England! (1st March 2018).

How thick was the snow?

There was a lot of drifting with drifts feet deep but my guess from recollection would be a level depth of about 30cm

With drifts and sculptures like this

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 Excellent pics

The ice storm in that March brought down the Emley Moor TV transmitter from the sheer weight of glaze. In Yorkshire we lost ITV for quite a while!

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Great pics.

Just before my time also. I cannot be certain but I suspect that that system brought snow to my area too. As well as being similar to the Storm Emma snowfall last year, the 1969 set up seems reminiscent of the "South West Blizzard" which arrived 9 years later almost to the day. That storm also brought heavy snow to my area also - it's one of my earliest memories of snow - I was 5 years old at the time. 

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The winter of 1968-69 was a very strange one, if I'm honest. A cold run-up to Christmas gave way to a mild January before things turned bitterly cold in early February. The winter then continued into spring, with March being one of the coldest of the 20th century with a CET of just 3.3.

The snowfall of 19-20 February, the Christmas Day snowfall and an ice storm in mid-March are the main standouts of that winter, for sure.

Remember waking up to snow, morning of Friday 14th February, and it being very dark. (Permanent British Summer Time in those days). The previous weekend also very snowy. Was living in Manchester at the time. Can't remember the snow on the 19-20th though.

Most people alive in the UK today were probably nonexistent in 1969. Even my mum would only barely be able to remember anything from then, being 4 years old.

Still, it’s always nice to get a firsthand account of increasingly distant weather events.

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yes remember 1969 lived in the birmingham area was 10 years old remember several heavy snowfalls infact the 4 years i lived there from march 68 to jan 72 had numerous snow events especially up to and including christmas 1970

At the time we lived at Hutton-le-Hole south of the moors and there were several days with basically snow on and off all the time.
It was well over a foot deep and being quite small at primary school it was too deep for child-size wellies and school was closed until after half-term.
It seemed to disappear fairly quickly but there were several more snowfalls through March.

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50 years ago I was living in the "foothills" of Dartmoor about 600' (180m asl) between Exeter and Crediton

February 1969 is not often mentioned here being just a few years later than the historic winter of 1962-3 but was a cold and snowy month with a CET of 1.0C

The weather of 19-20 Feb 1969 was very different to what we are seeing on this "Golden Jubilee" 50 years later, with high pressure over Russia and a Channel Low in the SW approaches - the classic set-up for a snow event in the SW which is what happened overnight.

This was a short lived event - all over after 2 or 3 days when the temperature bounced back to 12C resulting in serious flooding in Mid Devom

Long enough though for me to fail to make it to Exeter for 2 days and allow me time to wander around with my camera !

clickables

 

It's deja vu time! And nothing wrong with that! I (just) remember it, lanes filled with drifting snow here - we're several hundred ft higher.

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February 69 was a very interesting month. In Bristol we had around 15 cm with drifts up to around 2 feet from that event. We had light snow showers on Wed 19th and through the day on the 20th before the heavy snow set in on the evening of the 20th. I seem to remember the thaw setting in on the Saturday so yes it was a quick demise. We also had a 'thundersnow' event from a polar low on the Sunday aftermoon of the 2cnd. Another notable polar low gave a very dry snowfall to many areas on the evening of the 7th. I remember seeing a newspaper picture of the blizzard swirling around a bus in central London and eddying like sand across the road.

Great pics.

Just before my time also. I cannot be certain but I suspect that that system brought snow to my area too. As well as being similar to the Storm Emma snowfall last year, the 1969 set up seems reminiscent of the "South West Blizzard" which arrived 9 years later almost to the day. That storm also brought heavy snow to my area also - it's one of my earliest memories of snow - I was 5 years old at the time. 

Before my time also but records show that the nearest reporting station to me got down to -17.5c that month, and which still remains Ireland's coldest Feb temp to date. 

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It was a cold February in my home area in Highland Perthshire with snow cover but for us the heaviest and most disruptive snow came in the second week of March. For about three days (12th to 14th) there was constant snow on a strong SouthEasterly causing drifting and many road closures. Unfortunately in those days up there schools never closed and anyone that could walk in had to attend.

 

 

Great pics 

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50 years ago I was living in the "foothills" of Dartmoor about 600' (180m asl) between Exeter and Crediton

February 1969 is not often mentioned here being just a few years later than the historic winter of 1962-3 but was a cold and snowy month with a CET of 1.0C

The weather of 19-20 Feb 1969 was very different to what we are seeing on this "Golden Jubilee" 50 years later, with high pressure over Russia and a Channel Low in the SW approaches - the classic set-up for a snow event in the SW which is what happened overnight.

This was a short lived event - all over after 2 or 3 days when the temperature bounced back to 12C resulting in serious flooding in Mid Devom

Long enough though for me to fail to make it to Exeter for 2 days and allow me time to wander around with my camera !

clickables

 

Can you remember exactly where that would be? I can't quite read the other names on the signpost, apart from Exeter and Crediton. Possibly Shobrooke?

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^^

I lived near there in Feb 1969 and Google Map View shows it as:

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^^

I lived near there in Feb 1969 and Google Map View shows it as:

Good memory! Interesting to compare the view nowadays. Some of those lanes round there are like tunnels through the trees.

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^^

I lived near there in Feb 1969 and Google Map View shows it as:

 

I can't see anything?

 

 

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