"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
John Hall wrote in message ...
:In article ,
: Paul S writes:
:last time we had any snow worth writing home about here was about 10
years
:ago now. Still also have fond memories of the winter of 78 - 79
:
:How about February, 1978 as well? I believe that was pretty good in
:Bournemouth.


Yes it was. I lived in Bournemouth at that time - 30 cm snow fell during
the night of Saturday 18th to Sunday 19th February 1978 in the great SW
blizzard. Even the beach had a covering of snow.

Colin Youngs
Brussels

...and I was there. Driving a minibus with the Sixth Form trying to get to
the Youth Hostel at Swanage. Had left the frozen wastes of Essex ('fine
crisp walking weather down here' the Warden had told us). No sign any snow
until Ringwood and then it got deeper and deeper until we reached the
Bournemouth/Poole area. The area around Poole Harbour had deep snow down to
sea level with numerous tropical trees (are they Palm Trees-don't get many
of those in Epping) snapped as a result of the (earlier) strong winds and
weight of wet snow. Got as far as Wareham (where light snow was still
falling) only to find the road to Swanage blocked by deep snow drifts. Went
back to the Sandbanks Ferry which clanked across to us. Told that we could
cross if we wished but that road to Swanage was also blocked by
snowdrifts.Gave up at this point and came back. A sequel to this many years
later. Went on a tour of one the Purbeck Quarries and recalled with one of
the guides the fact that after the Feb '78 snows the local constabulary
closed the roads to all but essential traffic whilst the drifts were
cleared. The quarry workers were on piece-rates at that time so this didn't
go down well at all.
The heavy snow and strong winds were forecast to spread eastwards but in the
event the milder conditions spread quickly east. Sounds familiar :-)

--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk