https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...e-1947-winter/

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. [Retd meteorologist/programmer]
Web-site: http://www.scarlet-jade.com/
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear,
or an idiot from any direction! [Irish proverb]

On Friday, 24 February 2017 14:00:56 UTC, Graham P Davis wrote:
https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...e-1947-winter/

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. [Retd meteorologist/programmer]
Web-site: http://www.scarlet-jade.com/
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear,
or an idiot from any direction! [Irish proverb]

Reading Gunter Grass 'The Tin Drum' and seeing reference to that post-war winter in Poland. Interesting.

On Friday, 24 February 2017 14:00:56 UTC, Graham P Davis wrote:
https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...e-1947-winter/

I dare say that it has escaped all on here that the time lapse between the severe blizzard conditions matches that of the results of the Czar Bomb and the 1962/3 blizzards

Modesty forbids that I claim to be unique. (But I am.)

You can claim they cause SSWs if you like, I won't argue.

In message , Graham P Davis
writes
https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...d-community-fa
rming-and-the-1947-winter/


Thanks. Some interesting recollections there.
--
John Hall
"One can certainly imagine the myriad of uses
for a hand-held iguana maker"
Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher!)

On 24/02/2017 14:00, Graham P Davis wrote:
https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...e-1947-winter/



I wonder what the effect would have been had that winter occurred three
or four years earlier.

In message , Adam Lea
writes
On 24/02/2017 14:00, Graham P Davis wrote:

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...nd-community-f
arming-and-the-1947-winter/



I wonder what the effect would have been had that winter occurred three
or four years earlier.

I imagine it could have been devastating. Even in peace-time, the
effects were very bad. The winters of 1940, 1941 and 1942 were cold, but
fortunately not in that league. (I believe that at least one of those
three winters was also exceptionally severe on the Russian front, even
by that region's standards, and thus did the Allies a big favour in
hampering the German invasion of Russia.)
--
John Hall
"One can certainly imagine the myriad of uses
for a hand-held iguana maker"
Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher!)

John Hall wrote:

In message , Adam Lea
writes
On 24/02/2017 14:00, Graham P Davis wrote:

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...nd-community-f
arming-and-the-1947-winter/



I wonder what the effect would have been had that winter occurred three or
four years earlier.

I imagine it could have been devastating. Even in peace-time, the effects
were very bad. The winters of 1940, 1941 and 1942 were cold, but fortunately
not in that league. (I believe that at least one of those three winters was
also exceptionally severe on the Russian front, even by that region's
standards, and thus did the Allies a big favour in hampering the German
invasion of Russia.)

I have a vague memory of walking through 'canyons' in the snow in 1947 in
Largs, North Ayrshire. Anecdotal evidence is that a blizzard in 1940 in Largs
was more severe than anything in 1947.

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.
http://peakdistrictweather.org
@TideswellWeathr

On 24/02/17 14:00, Graham P Davis wrote:
https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...e-1947-winter/


There's also a few snippets on the winter here in the Met Office's tweet:
https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/835444255095058432


--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. [Retd meteorologist/programmer]
Web-site: http://www.scarlet-jade.com/
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear,
or an idiot from any direction! [Irish proverb]

On 25/02/2017 19:32, John Hall wrote:
In message , Adam Lea
writes
On 24/02/2017 14:00, Graham P Davis wrote:

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...nd-community-f
arming-and-the-1947-winter/



I wonder what the effect would have been had that winter occurred
three or four years earlier.

I imagine it could have been devastating. Even in peace-time, the
effects were very bad. The winters of 1940, 1941 and 1942 were cold, but
fortunately not in that league. (I believe that at least one of those
three winters was also exceptionally severe on the Russian front, even
by that region's standards, and thus did the Allies a big favour in
hampering the German invasion of Russia.)

Yes, I believe that when Hitler was invading Russia (possibly trying to
capture Moscow) he gambled on a mild winter. What he got was one of the
earliest and coldest Russian winters on record. His soldiers and
machinery were totally inadequate to cope with the extreme cold. The
second world war turned, by a dictator from the sky.

On 25/02/2017 19:52, Norman Lynagh wrote:
John Hall wrote:

In message , Adam Lea
writes
On 24/02/2017 14:00, Graham P Davis wrote:

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2017/0...nd-community-f
arming-and-the-1947-winter/



I wonder what the effect would have been had that winter occurred three or
four years earlier.

I imagine it could have been devastating. Even in peace-time, the effects
were very bad. The winters of 1940, 1941 and 1942 were cold, but fortunately
not in that league. (I believe that at least one of those three winters was
also exceptionally severe on the Russian front, even by that region's
standards, and thus did the Allies a big favour in hampering the German
invasion of Russia.)

I have a vague memory of walking through 'canyons' in the snow in 1947 in
Largs, North Ayrshire. Anecdotal evidence is that a blizzard in 1940 in Largs
was more severe than anything in 1947.


But how widespread was the blizzard in Largs? One factor which made the
effects of winter 1947 so bad is that it affected a large percentage of
the population. The freezing cold spell in January 1987 brought
temperatures down to levels comparable with winter 1962/63, and with
more snow, (below -20C so I've heard, and up to 30 inches of snow in the
North Downs), but its effects were localised in the SE.