It Was Just Winter Weather In 1950!
January 20, 2024
By Paul Homewood
Some people seem to be surprised that we get wintry weather in, well, winter!
Let’s take a random lookback at what January weather looked like in the 1950s, starting with 1950 itself:
So January 1950 had everything! Temperatures as high as 61F and a low as 7F, rain, gales and plenty of snow.
All part of a typical British winter!
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Ishan’t it what we may be getting shortly? I hold my breath …. with a guid Dram. SLÀINTE MHATH
A bheil stoirmean agus t-uisge ann?
Are there storms and rain ….. No_oh, not yet but Temps were climbing but falling again as win d picks up ave 19mph from sw.
What about the winter of 1947-1948. The snow then at great depth stymied the country for weeks or maybe longer. Snow and iced up lakes were common in the 40s to 50s as I enjoyed sledging on the South Downs. That is no more so the climate has changed but quite usual.
I fear that the quality of Paul’s efforts as above are being squandered on we, mere mortals.
Time has come for a new site called ” Some People Know That”.
The detailed fruits of the research by Paul and those whom he invites for other records should be collated when circumstances dictate and the Met Office’s sensations can be predicted.
“Some People Know That” to be sent to 3 at the BBC + Rowlatt, 2 at the Met Office, the commercial TV stations particularly GB News and the editors of more widely read publications including the daily red tops, the heavies, The Economist, The New Statesman ,The Spectator and …and … .
Wider circulation to the public is not necessary if the media as above is doing its job. In the current appetite for reality since the post sub- postmasters debacle this display of public awareness of Met Office partiality might get some traction.
OT but check the Telegraph article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/20/climate-change-wind-farms-royal-society-green-energy/
According to a relative (aged 90ish), the winters of 1947 and 1963 are in a different league to anything since about 1940 (in the UK)
I’ll go for that, Micky.
There is no doubt about 1947. Snowdrifts over some of the moorland roads in Northumberland were so deep it was almost possible to reach the telephone cables. (Somewhere I possibly still have the photographic evidence.)
One aunt who taught in the nearest town was snowed out and couldn’t get home for a week. My other aunt was district nurse at the time and had to rely on farmers and anyone else with transport that could handle the conditions.
In 1963 the perspective was different. I drove from the Midlands to Northumberland for my grandfather’s funeral and did not enjoy the experience! At least the main roads were reasonably clear for most of the way and cars were better capable of handling the conditions.
In 1947 I was two years old and I can remember sitting in the window watching huge snow flakes coming down. The winter of 62-63, we had two feet of snow in Sussex on Boxing day. I went out to pick some sprouts early in the morning as it started snowing. I put a 2ft folding rule into the ground and by just after midday, it had been covered!
Just watching a programme about the floods in London in January 1928.
Well that’s a surprise, Climate Change is going to make events like that more common in our rapidly warming world
Hmm….can’t decide whether that comment is being sarcastic or not. Perhaps the writer could clarify?
London is built mainly on a flood plain, therefore flooding is a possibility and has been a possibility for millenia.
It was interesting, heavy snow at Christmas followed by a rapid thaw meant flood water coming down the Thames met a storm surge coming up the Thames in the early hours of the morning. Surprisingly as the working class lived in Victorian buildings and in basements less than 30 died . Many Riverside businesses were swept away and many made homeless.
All pretty factual with a few personal family stories. 19th century floods, embankments built on embankments, flood plain.
But the last 10 minutes then brought up the 2021 German floods, in both cases people were unaware of the problems. But now in a rapidly warming climate we can expect more and heavier rain events, rising sealevels Thames barrier not effectiveafter 2050. And so on and so on.