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.