The Great Snow of 1982.....

mikedublin

Anyone else have fond memories of this. In early January 1982, there was a massive snowstorm, that lasted 3 days. I think it began on a Thursday night and was still going strong on Friday and by mid afternoon it was a complete blizzard which went on right the way through the saturday. By the sunday when the clouds finally moved off, there were these big snowdrifts everywhere - up to 3 or 4 feet ! But it was the most perfect snow and a crystal clear blue sky. I remember Michael O'Leary (not THAT michael O'Leary - the other one that used to be the Tainiste in Garret Fitzgeralds government) on the RTE news on the sunday announcing that all the schools would remain closed for an extra week because of the snow Happy days !

kelle

I remember it so well! It took 2 weeks to thaw out, and we were off school for that length of time. We had such great fun traipsing through the fields which had drifts about 3ft high. We live down a lane and could not drive on it, we had to wait a few days before our uncle could travel to our place with his digger! There was a 25th anniversary thread about this on Boards and one of the posters posted this YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afss7QL4wAc

gipi

Oh yes, I remember it!

I was working in Dublin city centre at the time. Due to go to work on the Saturday, but there was no way I was going to be able to get there because the buses weren't running, so had to phone in. We had no phone at home, so I geared up for a walk in the snow to the nearest phone box (about 5-10 mins away). Fred, our jack russell decided he'd like to come walkies too so out we traipsed.

Anyhoo, Fred started to walk and sank down a bit in the snow. So he jumped out of that hole and created another when he landed - after 4 or 5 of these he was getting deeper and deeper into the snow, and was tiring himself out! Not to mention getting cold! Eventually I had to take my scarf off, pick him up, wrap him in the scarf and carry him to and from the phone box!!

He stayed at the fire for the rest of the day and only went out when absolutely necessary!

I remember the buses (when they did resume service) could only come within a mile of my home for over a week after that weekend due to residual snow and ice on the roads!

baalthor

I remember it well, I was 12 at the time.

We live in the country and my parents had gone shopping in our local town.

On the way home they drove through the blizzard but the car couldn't make it over a really steep hill so my mother had to walk 1/2 a mile home through the snow. I remember her coming in the front door - she wasn't impressed with the experience !
Think my dad stayed with the car until someone came along with a tractor.

Later that evening my uncle arrived and made a meal by boiling lamb chops in a saucepan - wouldn't recommend it !

paddyland

There was no bread to be had in the shops, because all the stuuupid people went out and bought armfuls of it that they couldn't possibly eat! More bread was thrown out by these idiots while other families of kids had none. I remember my mother making bread using more water than milk. It was okay though.

As usual, the stupid Irish sheep mentality, gluttony, I'm all right Jack.

rednik

I was in the army at the time and was stuck in Collins Bks. We were sent out to Finglas to clear the pathways and when we arrived the Corpo were working away but as soon as they saw us arrive well I guess they took the rest of the day off.:)

Sigma Force

Remember a heck of a lot of snow must of been 1982 because don't think we had anything like it after that. Was about 5 at the time and we build massive snowmen or perhaps it was that I was just little. There was tons of snow and we were living beside Wicklow beach remember my bros rolling a huge snowball bigger than myself. Was great, happy days.

kelle

This is a link to a previous post from Boards, showing a photo of a river frozen over in 1963 - it's amazing to believe it got so cold a river could freeze over like that!

lord lucan

I remember it well,i would have been 7 and a half and it was the best craic a kid could have. Our estate was virtually unpassable,my da' had to shovel the drive clear just to go to work,how he ever made it in is beyond me! Great craic though,especially as snow is so rare now. Think i'd view another blizzard like that differently now as an adult,trying to travel/get to work would be a pain,oh the joys of being a nipper and no school due to snow!:)

pebbles21

Ah yes remember it well ! thats when i found out that your pee turns green in snow:D

Dudess

I was only three and a half but I remember it bizarrely clearly for such a small child. It started at Christmas didn't it? I remember it caused a power cut - possibly Christmas day itself - resulting in my dad standing on, and breaking, one of my new toys. :mad:
I then got a really severe ear infection and was in agony (I associate that ear infection with older kids playing in the snow). So no, my memories of it aren't too great...

:pac:

IvyTheTerrible

I don't remember it, I was only just 2. But My parents do, they moved house in the middle of it, the roads were treacherous and my dad was driving the removal van. And the heating the the new house didn't work!

Aparently the coldest temperature of that century was recorded in Kilkenny during that cold snap...-19 degrees!!

Jip

It was great craic in Tallaght, our road was just one big drift so all the kids just made long tunnels in them, and houses at a certain angle had drifts up to the first floor windows. I was in bed and my dad called me down, he said look out the door and opened it, all that could be seen was a wall of white, the drift had come up over the height over the door so he had to dig us out. Luckily it was only a drift so once he got out a few feet it wasn't too bad. I do remember the air corp airlifting milk and bread to Dunnes in Kilnamanagh and my dad taking hours to make his way there and back.

diverdriver

I remember very well. Woke up on friday morning to find that my motorcycle had disappeared in a snowdrift and that was after barging through the snowdrift against the back door. Considered this an excellent excuse not to go to work. So rang in, it turned out most people, the car drivers had got in OK. The roads were passable at that stage. The boss didn't seem happy with my excuse. But as it turned out I was lucky.

The snow carried on all day and night with strong winds. gipi's story of her dog reminded me of what happened why I and my youngers sister went out for a walk that night in the blizzard. It was only to the playing fields at the back of the house. We walked out just fine but began to get tired like because like the dog Fred we were sinking in at every step. As we headed back, we both found the energy draining from us, each step became a nightmare. We could actually see house but could only stagger a few feet and rest. All you wanted to do was lie down and fall asleep. It would have been really ironic to freeze to death in sight of the house. It was a bit of a salutory lesson, snow can be a killer.

Meanwhile in work which was on the Naas road just past where Citywest is now. Everybody who turned up for work was trapped there because the road in was blockded by a snowdrift at least 7 feet high. I have a picture of it with a roadsign poking out of the snow. The Naas road got blocked. There were no snowploughs back then. So people began to stream into the factory. It was like a disaster movie. A pregnant woman arrived in labour, an ambulance came but got stuck. One of the ambulance men was apparently nearly hysterical. Eventually the next morning an army Panhard Armoured Personnel carrier rescued her and the ambulance crew. During the night workers from the plant went out tied together to try and rescue stranded people from cars on the Naas Road. Some wouldn't leave their cars because they were suspicious of the lads. But the canteen turned into a refugee centre and even the radio advised people to make their way there. In a way I'm sorry I didn't make it in as it sounded like a great adventure. Eventually everyone was rescued late on saturday but no one got their cars out at that stage.

A lot of people had food dropped to them by the Air Corps. Someone who live in St Margarets near Dublin airport told they were trapped in the village for days.

As soon as the snow stopped the sky clear and it froze solid for at least a couple of weeks. The Naas road had two furrows to drive on and it was rough and bumpy. I used to get lifts to and from work. One guy realised that if he stopped by my house he would get stuck so he asked me to jump from the moving car. Which I did straight into snodrift. Great fun.

I took some great pictures at the time. I must dig them out.

chakotha

It was great. We built a sled and used to bomb down the steep hill next to where we lived for those few days.

hamlet1

That was agreat time!A crowd of us went to Roundwood from Bray,the roads must have been cleared at that stage but there was still loads of snow.We spent ages messing in the snow and then had chicken and chips in a basket in the Roundwood Inn.Is it still there?

Jip

Nah, it melted about 27 years ago unfortunately.

ekerr

I was born on the 5th Jan 1982. Every year when my birthday comes around my mam & dad always remember the snow blizzard of '82. My mam being stuck in hospital and my dad not being able to get down to her.

Blizzerthj8

Hello.. Was just researching this for a Big Snow 1982 Fan Page we're involved in settting up on Facebook, and thought you might be interested in posting your stories or photos there. Check it out anyway: You could win a stove for your house...[URL="ttp://www.facebook.com/tos.php?api_key=9aaadc859a1c4c4ea7ef625c9b0c82ab&next=%3Ftoolbarid%3D867b3bb9-a66f-7423-08a1-4383b844a926&v=1.0&canvas#/pages/The-Big-Snow-January-1982/229933821825?ref=ts"]http://www.facebook.com/tos.php?api_key=9aaadc859a1c4c4ea7ef625c9b0c82ab&next=%3Ftoolbarid%3D867b3bb9-a66f-7423-08a1-4383b844a926&v=1.0&canvas#/pages/The-Big-Snow-January-1982/229933821825?ref=ts[/URL]

Thanks!

Ash.J.Williams

a kids dream.....massive 20ft snow drifts, great for tunnelling....and the army landing helicopters on our GAA field to pick up livestock feed and provisions for the mountain folk!!! Will never forget that ****!

youcancallmeal

I know a few people born around October '82. It all makes sense now

pork99

Jip wrote: »

Nah, it melted about 27 years ago unfortunately.

It's just come back again!

But it was worse in 82 as far as I can remember. There were huge snow drifts - I can recall opening the front door to find myself behind a four foot high snow-bank.

kelle

Blizzerthj8 wrote: »

Hello.. Was just researching this for a Big Snow 1982 Fan Page we're involved in settting up on Facebook, and thought you might be interested in posting your stories or photos there. Check it out anyway: You could win a stove for your house...[URL="ttp://www.facebook.com/tos.php?api_key=9aaadc859a1c4c4ea7ef625c9b0c82ab&next=%3Ftoolbarid%3D867b3bb9-a66f-7423-08a1-4383b844a926&v=1.0&canvas#/pages/The-Big-Snow-January-1982/229933821825?ref=ts"]http://www.facebook.com/tos.php?api_key=9aaadc859a1c4c4ea7ef625c9b0c82ab&next=%3Ftoolbarid%3D867b3bb9-a66f-7423-08a1-4383b844a926&v=1.0&canvas#/pages/The-Big-Snow-January-1982/229933821825?ref=ts[/URL]

Thanks!

I can't get that page up, Blizzer - is it still running?

BluesBerry

I was very young at the time but I remember my mother talking about it my dad and 4 other men from the estate got a door and tied ropes to it at trudged through the snow to get supplies for families they were gone hours they brought back coal and groceries piled high on the make shift sleigh and pulled it back (heave ho) , and they build an igloo I can vividly remember sitting inside it eating sweets and getting coca cola:D (I have a picture somewhere ill try and hunt it out

Slideshowbob

Back then did the snow come quicker and deeper - so it was accepted that all was at a standing still?

Also we are getting rubbish 2cm etc in Dublin at a time so makes it treatcherous.

If there was a good 6 inches it would make for better grip when walking and softer landings when falling

kelle

I remember a light snowfall a few days beforehand, and the snow patches remained on the ground without melting, just like now. Then the following Friday night, big thick flakes fell and started covering the patches and the ground. When I awoke the following morning at 8am I couldn't believe what was outside - the lane we live on was filled with snow up to the height of the hedges either side (about 5ft tall!). The surrounding field or road were not as deep, but the drifts had sent lots of snow into the lane. There was such excitement, I got all my brothers up and we spent the whole day playing in it. And we had 2 weeks off school!
Poor parents were not as amused - Dad had awful trouble milking the cows, and the house had no central heating. We were housebound for 2 days before my uncle arrived with his JCB and dug out the lane.

Different circumstances now, but the way they're talking about it in the weather forecast- I hope we don't have the same scenario again. I live on the same lane, but I am on-call for work tomorrow so I'm hoping I'll be able to drive up this lane, and then the 9 miles to work. And my husband's workplace may have to close down for a while (without pay!) so we are worried. But my children are loving every minute of it!

lord lucan

Just think,in 20 years time people well be posting in ATR about the Great Snow of 2010!!:):)

Run_to_da_hills

Photo depicts a C201 Class in during that period in "Super Train" colours.