The Blizzard of February 1933

Sponge Bob

This is the great lost Irish storm. It dumped a huge amount of snow in Late February 1933 and most especially in Leinster. I think the full story will be found in fragments here and there by more than I.

This description was written a few days later in North Meath.

http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/weather/stories/bigsnow.htm

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Shannon Scheme Wires were broken down, all communication with the provinces was cut off both by road, rail and wire and there were several pathetic S.O.S’s
Well we slept but on Saturday morning what a sight met our eyes when we ventured forth. I should say here that I was up and out at 8 o’clock and after a preliminary survey I armed myself with a shovel and started to excavate passages from the various doors and sheds etc.
The road from our house to Peter Gaynor’s was pretty clear, there being only about two feet of snow on it, but from the pump right across the road to Nulty’s garden, there was a hill of snow seven feet high at least. I could not look across it. This hill continued up to John Lynch’s shed, here there was a valley and beyond that again the snow was eight feet deep almost to Brennan’s Cottage. The surface of the snow was not level, but in places took on the most fanciful shapes like curling waves or the curved backs of old fashioned furniture. [/FONT]

It appears to have been a one off....bit like the 1981 event for most of us.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/1933/06/27/00028.asp#N6

(Telephone Service) Commercial accounts for the last financial year 1932-33 will not be available for some months but, so far as can be judged from the figures to hand, we believe that the final accounts will again show the Department to be self-supporting, although the great snowstorm in February last dislocated much of our revenue-earning plant and put us to considerable extra cost in repairing the extensive damage done.

It also affected Wales and much of England



http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/48422200

HEAVY SNOW IN V ENGLAND
Blizzard In South
Wales
LONDON ALSO



'LONDON, February 24.
Large areas of England are snow- bound, and the blizzard in South Wales today was the worst ex- perienced for some, years. London and the southern counties were also swept by a blizzard this afternoon.


The severe winter is causing great inconvenience in Yorkshire' and other northern counties, many roads being impassable. Deep snowdrifts blocked some of the main roads from the west of England and-elsewhere, isolating small villages. '


Telephonic communication with' South Wales and with Ireland is inter- rupted, and prolonged delays haye occurred on some main line rail services, particularly between London and the West. Some local services also have boen suspended.

The Blizzard appears to have occured from the 23rd to the 26th of February in England but for one day only/largely here.

Other than February it was an unremarkable winter and was followed by a very warm summer in parts.

derekon

Thanks for that Sponge Bob - I take back what I said about you earlier being a mild ramper, you appear to have a keen interest in all things snowy/cold too!

Never knew about the 1933 blizzard - I suppose we learn something new everyday!

D

Sponge Bob

You will be even more delighted to learn of the last remaining severe snow year in the 20th century... that was 1917. It bucketed down snow on the 1st of April that year. I don't really have enough to start a thread on it yet.

I don't have enough data/links yet....save to say that many of the most dismal epic snow events in modern Irish history have occured between the 1st of February and the 1st of April.

derekon

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You will be even more delighted to learn of the last remaining severe snow year in the 20th century... that was 1917. It bucketed down snow on the 1st of April that year. I don't really have enough to start a thread on it yet.

I don't have enough data/links yet....save to say that many of the most dismal epic snow events in modern Irish history have occured between the 1st of February and the 1st of April.

LOL, brings my hopes up of a dismal, sorry epic, snow event this winter

D

Lumi

Here's a link to some newspaper clippings & Pathe Newsreel on the Big Snow of Feb 1933 from a post I put together a few months back

No harm to keep it all together

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=74280621&postcount=29

derekon

Lumi wrote: »

Here's a link to some newspaper clippings & Pathe Newsreel on the Big Snow of Feb 1933 from a post I put together a few months back

No harm to keep it all together

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=74280621&postcount=29

Thank you Lumi - the video of O'Connell St in the snow in 1933 was particularly interesting. A lot of the buildings have not changed 79 years on

D