Your most memorable snow event?

snowstorm445

Meteorological winter will soon be upon us, and although it would be arrogant to assume that every single member of this forum enjoys snowy weather, its fair to say that a substantial amount of us certainly do.

I'm unsure if there is a thread on this already, but given the time of year (and similar themed threads regarding warm summers and thunderstorms), I think it would be fun to reminisce on our favourite historical snow events.

I have no doubt many boards users will remember the bitter winters of the eighties and early nineties (1981-82, 1985-86, 1987, 1990-1), or perhaps even the big one of 1962-63, which when compared to recent winters were extremely snowy for this part of the world. But being born in the 90s, at the start of a decade long "snow drought" which saw fairly mild/average winters, my memories are far more limited.

Aside from the obviously bitterly cold spells in 2009/10 and late 2010, two events stand out in my mind, late December 2000 and early January 2008.

I was very young in 2000, but in the week after Christmas, a northerly brought heavy snow to parts of Ireland and Great Britain. My memory of the event was quite hazy and the event seems to have been fairly brief, but I can remember us driving through fierce blizzard in the middle of the night, as the countryside around quickly turned white. The following morning, the entire countryside was blanketed in deep snow. Just as significant, especially with recent winters in mind, was that this took place just outside Cork (the snow shield wasn't active that night apparently ).

My memory of the second event is far more detailed. Many of you will probably be slightly baffled by the date in question; 2007-2008 was after all quite a zonal, mild winter overall. However, a brief easterly blast brought a localised snow event to the Ulster and North Leinster overnight on January 3rd-4th. Living in Drogheda at the time, I was right in the firing line of the event. Although it had snowed intermittently throughout the day, weather forecasts only mentioned brief flurries overnight, nothing significant. How wrong they were. The snow began to fall in the late afternoon, and didn't stop falling until about 2 or 3 the next morning. It was amazing; by midnight there was definitely more than half a foot of snow on the ground, and there was even a bit of thundersnow to finish it off. My family and I had to get up early the next morning to head to the airport, by which time the snow had stopped, but it was amazing to see (the roads, of course, were treacherous). What was even weirder was that it was very localised; Dublin Airport, half an hour away, was snowless.

The snow, apparently, was gone by the end of the 4th as the mild air returned. Obviously these events would pale in comparison to recent winters (where snow lay on the ground for much longer), but given the mild, generally snowless winters during which these events took place, they certainly stand out in my mind.

Feel free to share your own snowy memories.

snowstorm445

Charts from the periods in question.

Late December 2000:



January 3rd-4th 2008:

maquiladora

Most memorable would probably be 2010 because of how recent it was and how long the snow stayed before melting.

I don't really remember anything as significant as that then until way back in 1987. I remember jumping into a big drift of snow as a wee lad.

For me though, a snow "event" would be 1947 or 1917. We haven't had one of those for a very long time.

shedweller

I have vivid memories of opening the front door of my parents house and seeing the print of the door in the snow up to the doorknob! It was a drift and not truly that depth but the image is there all the same. "The final countdown" was in the charts at the time too. Mid 80's i think.
I remember going for a wander up the lane from the house at night once and the snow was consistently about a foot deep with drifts going up over the ditches by the road so we actually were able to walk over the ditches with only the highest parts of the bushes sticking out about a foot or two. It was a clear night with a more or less full moon so the countryside looked spectacular! I remember the snow crystals sparkling like countless diamonds in the moonlight and the sound of them blowing along the surface in the wind is a sound i'll treasure forever.

Then a big loader eventually reached us and turned the road into a giant luge track. My dad of course was hell bent on getting to work and had already cleared the 200 metre lane with only a shovel. I was 9 or 10 and it was above my knee the whole way so it was a herculean effort!
Once he was gone to work we got some large fertiliser bags and filled them with hay and tied them off. We lived on top of a large hill so the prospect of high speed downhill fun had us giddy as hell. Man the speed was something else when we had a track cut out and i remember making ramps to launch ourselves! There was a really steep bit near the bottom and dad helpfully cut in a load of steps so we could more easily climb the steep bit. Legend!
Home then for soup and sandwiches and maybe a half our in front of the rayburn that never shut down. A bit of he-man on the telly if it was on and back out into the snow. I got fairly handy at freeing up frozen pipes too for the cattle in the shed and also using the frozen top layer of water from a bucket as a frisbee!
There was a large snow episode in the early to mid 90's too but i was dating a girl from the local town so, like my dad ten years earlier, i was hell bent on getting somewhere too! I got real good at managing an mtb through deep snow and learned to keep going up and down through the gears to keep them clear. We revisited the fertiliser bag toboggans too but the joy of youth wasnt there as much so we gave into the cold a lot sooner!
I developed a deep love for snow as it takes me back to my childhood. I genuinely get giddy at the prospect of having to go out in the car in the stuff!! I love the having to prepare with shovels and windscreen covers and salt etc.
Damn onions....

Liamario

shedweller wrote: »

I have vivid memories of opening the front door of my parents house and seeing the print of the door in the snow up to the doorknob! It was a drift and not truly that depth but the image is there all the same. "The final countdown" was in the charts at the time too. Mid 80's i think.
I remember going for a wander up the lane from the house at night once and the snow was consistently about a foot deep with drifts going up over the ditches by the road so we actually were able to walk over the ditches with only the highest parts of the bushes sticking out about a foot or two. It was a clear night with a more or less full moon so the countryside looked spectacular! I remember the snow crystals sparkling like countless diamonds in the moonlight and the sound of them blowing along the surface in the wind is a sound i'll treasure forever.

Then a big loader eventually reached us and turned the road into a giant luge track. My dad of course was hell bent on getting to work and had already cleared the 200 metre lane with only a shovel. I was 9 or 10 and it was above my knee the whole way so it was a herculean effort!
Once he was gone to work we got some large fertiliser bags and filled them with hay and tied them off. We lived on top of a large hill so the prospect of high speed downhill fun had us giddy as hell. Man the speed was something else when we had a track cut out and i remember making ramps to launch ourselves! There was a really steep bit near the bottom and dad helpfully cut in a load of steps so we could more easily climb the steep bit. Legend!
Home then for soup and sandwiches and maybe a half our in front of the rayburn that never shut down. A bit of he-man on the telly if it was on and back out into the snow. I got fairly handy at freeing up frozen pipes too for the cattle in the shed and also using the frozen top layer of water from a bucket as a frisbee!
There was a large snow episode in the early to mid 90's too but i was dating a girl from the local town so, like my dad ten years earlier, i was hell bent on getting somewhere too! I got real good at managing an mtb through deep snow and learned to keep going up and down through the gears to keep them clear. We revisited the fertiliser bag toboggans too but the joy of youth wasnt there as much so we gave into the cold a lot sooner!
I developed a deep love for snow as it takes me back to my childhood. I genuinely get giddy at the prospect of having to go out in the car in the stuff!! I love the having to prepare with shovels and windscreen covers and salt etc.
Damn onions....

Thank you for posting that *sniff*

nacho libre

Without doubt it had to be December 16th 2010. i remember MT saying how quickly the temperature would drop in the evening, boy did it ever. Rain very quickly turned to snow, and despite the ground being wet the snow began to stick readily. From 6pm onwards till about 10pm the next night it snowed near continuously, in the form of heavy showers or more prolonged spells of snow. I pulled an all nighter to watch the snow fall, report on it, watch the radar( it was amazing to see that the shower train normally reserved for scotland and places like cavan, was hitting us directly instead) walk in it, and to measure how much was accumulating at various periods.... By 10 pm on the 17th, over a foot of snow had accumulated. This was the most snow i'd ever seen in my life in Ireland, so i was feeling ecstatic. I would dearly love to experience something like that again!

Lucreto

nacho libre wrote: »

Without doubt it had to be December 16th 2010. i remember MT saying how quickly the temperature would drop in the evening, boy did it ever. Rain very quickly turned to snow, and despite the ground being wet the snow began to stick readily. From 6pm onwards till about 10pm the next night it snowed near continuously, in the form of heavy showers or more prolonged spells of snow. I pulled an all nighter to watch the snow fall, report on it, watch the radar( it was amazing to see that the shower train normally reserved for scotland and places like cavan, was hitting us directly instead) walk in it, and to measure how much was accumulating at various periods.... By 10 pm on the 17th, over a foot of snow had accumulated. This was the most snow i'd ever seen in my life in Ireland, so i was feeling ecstatic. I would dearly love to experience something like that again!

That was amazing to watch happen. I was watching the snow slowly melt under the rain and it was like 4C. Then the change as the temperature dropped to -2C within 2 or 3 hours and it snowed and snowed. I would love to experience that again.

Harps

Definitely the same day for me as well, 30cm of snow in a little over 12 hours of non stop heavy showers followed by the coldest and most surreal week I've ever experienced in Ireland, I seem to remember the two of us competing for the deepest snow all evening :pac:

Not too often we'll ever see scenes like this again..

shedweller

My kids had some craic with those icicles. Used flashlights to turn them into lightsabers!

Calibos

Work in retail and all our customers were saying how the 2010 snow was the most snow Bray had ever had. I'd say No, that 1987 was better and I'd be asked how I could possibly know that given my age. I'd explain how I was gifted with exceptional genes and was in fact born in 1974 not 84 as they surmised and was a young teenager for the 87 snow and not a 3 year old.

"Ah!! but I've lifted in Bray for 50 years", they'd say, "and I've never seen snow lying on the beach like 2010. 2010 definitely had the most snow!!". I'd then remember the retail maxim that the customer is always right and shut my mouth and would choose not to burst their bubble with the explanation that before the flood protection works on the seafront deposited 2 groynes and a million tonnes of shingle on the beach, the tides would wash up against the promenade walls nearly the full length of the promenade. ie all snow washed away every day. We hadn't had snow in Bray since the acres upon acres of shingle was placed along the prom in the early 2000's. 2009 and 2010 was the first snow in Bray after the promenade flood protection works. ie. the first time there was acres and acres of shingle that the tide doesn't wash over.

Hence, the first time in anyones lifetime where they saw snow 'lying on the beach' for days on end and not because 2009/2010 was "the most snow in Bray in anyones lifetime".

xXxkorixXx

It would honestly be amazing to see it again..
But we probably won't 😢😢😢😢

Calibos

nacho libre wrote: »

Without doubt it had to be December 16th 2010. i remember MT saying how quickly the temperature would drop in the evening, boy did it ever. Rain very quickly turned to snow, and despite the ground being wet the snow began to stick readily. From 6pm onwards till about 10pm the next night it snowed near continuously, in the form of heavy showers or more prolonged spells of snow. I pulled an all nighter to watch the snow fall, report on it, watch the radar( it was amazing to see that the shower train normally reserved for scotland and places like cavan, was hitting us directly instead) walk in it, and to measure how much was accumulating at various periods.... By 10 pm on the 17th, over a foot of snow had accumulated. This was the most snow i'd ever seen in my life in Ireland, so i was feeling ecstatic. I would dearly love to experience something like that again!

Yeah, I remember Dec 16 2010 very well. I think I posted this for the first time that day.



I did get very jealous of the reports of 12 inches elsewhere that month after Bray shot its load early on the 26th November and never got the amounts Dublin County got thereafter. However, I did get my main wish fulfilled which was for it to last till Christmas Day which it did by the skin of its teeth (Thaw/Rain on Stephens Day) and to be able to take a photo with both Snow and Christmas Trees and Lights in the SAME PHOTO!!. That hasn't happened often in this country!

hfallada

December 2010 was unreal. The fact you would go to St.Stephens green and seeing full grow men walking on the lakes without going through them because the ice was so thick. Or seeing people doing wheelies on the frozen canals was so cool.

delw

I remember 82 queuing for bread with my mam in fairview,i remember 87 for some epic snowball fights ,the thunder snow of 09 was the first time to experience it me so have some great memories,fingers crossed for more

RobertKK

December 2010 obviously.

Read reports of drifts over 50ft during 1947 which is memorable for those old enough, I'm far too young, heard stories of cattle eating thatch off a roof.

There was this snow event in the early 1990's in January, we were at school and the rain turned into snow, the flakes were huge and the school had to close so we could get home, got home most of the way, ended up with the father bringing the tractor to get us home.
About 6 inches fell and then it froze so had over a week off school.

Villain

2010 for many reasons including recording -17.7c at my station in Tullow, epic snowfall and perma frost that saw ice on the river Slaney on xmas day.

Actually I uploaded a few hundred photos to flickr from 2010 recently you can view them at https://www.flickr.com/photos/76245283@N06/sets/72157648804507897/

TwoCats

December 2010 was magnificent. We couldn't leave the estate for 2 weeks because the entrance was too steep and it was like an icerink. The Gardai had the roads in and out of the village closed. A local farmer brought his tractor in with bags of coal to sell and the green was densely populated with snowmen : )

2004 comes second for me, not because there was much snow, but because there was a tiny powdering on christmas eve and christmas day - our first christmas in our first house. It was like magic.

force eleven

Feb 78 - think it was 9th or 10th. I was in Limerick then and I remember the east wind whipped in a big fall of snow (for us) probably about 3'' or 4'' max but the drifts up against the wall were a little deeper. We made snow shoes out of Swingball bats. Good times.

Rega

2010 for me. My now-wife and I had moved into our new house earlier that year. A lovely house on top of a hill out in the countryside. No cover on any side. The snow came down and covered the road in front of the house. We were stuck there for 15 days. I knew things were bad when we didn't even see tractors tackle the road. Thankfully we'd a freezer full of food and a tank full of oil. We walked the dog every day through the snow. He loved it. Things got hairy when we lost our WIFI and Sky for a few hours but we battled on bravely. We came down after 15 days when the roads were safe. Straight into our pre-marriage course. I said to the organiser that if we didn't kill each other during the previous two weeks we'd be able to face anything!

Gonzo

1982 will always stand out for me although I was very young at the time. The snow of 2010 was great but was only a mere dusting compared to 1982.

During that epic snow event the things I remember the most is being blocked off for 2 to 3 weeks, we had to rally together to get a friendly neighbour to clear the road with his JCB so that we could all walk to the shops that were running very low on essentials such as milk and bread. Powercuts were a regular feature as where high winds whipping snow drifts up to 6 feet high and beyond. My best memory was walking on ice packed snow drifts with cars submerged under the drifts which were standed in the middle of our road.

The snows of 1987, 1991 and 2010 earn an honorable mention!.

The 1980s in general trounced the 90s and beyond for exciting weather, We had the epic 1982 snowfall, the great thunderstorm of 1985, Hurricane Charlie and a few baking hot heatwaves all within that one decade!

Lumi

We rarely get decent snowfall in Galway city, and 2010 was memorable not so much for the quantity of snow but for the ice, freezing fogs, and magical hoar frosts which coated every surface with long fronds of ice crystals - it really was a winter wonderland in the build-up to Christmas that year.

The polar low in Dec 2000 however produced snow in proper snowman-building quantities, and thats the snow event that stands out for me. Huge flakes started falling early that afternoon, and heavy showers continued through the night. I can remember standing outside watching it fall, and the sky had that wonderful orange 'snow glow'.
Good times
There's a good account of the event here 'The Emerald Isle turns white:
Snow and very low surface temperatures over Ireland during Christmas 2000' though the stats are a little out of date now. Click on the link bottom right to download full PDF

Danno

Lumi wrote: »

There's a good account of the event here 'The Emerald Isle turns white:
Snow and very low surface temperatures over Ireland during Christmas 2000' though the stats are a little out of date now

403 Forbidden.

Lumi

Danno wrote: »

403 Forbidden.

Try the updated link

spoonerhead

Im still young so 2010 was my first major event. Where I am in Crumlin D12 was perfectly in line with the streamers that where floating in off the Irish sea. Where I am had over a foot of snow but a mile away had half that. It really opened up my mind to snow watching and the fine lines that are involved.

The excitement on boards before and during where amazing. The amount of F1 charts that where being put up day by day was such a good time! The only downside was that most the country was getting nothing when I was absolutely rolling in it. Only bad thing was the rest of the country didn't get what I was so lucky to get.

There was so many snow days for me. We had a total of 21 days of lying snow between November and December. I remember having snow on the 27th of November, 29th aswell, then a magic December on the 2nd, 5th, 17th, 18th, 21st and 23rd ( can't believe I remembered that). I've so many memories but the best day for me wad the 21st. I remember going to school and it started to snow. It was my last day before the Christmas holidays and I remember it snowed for another 8 hours that day. It was such a good day with massive white flakes falling. That night my family had a pre-christmas party and I remember that walk with my my mam to my aunt's house. By the time we got to her house there was nearly an inch of snow on her umbrella!

cherryghost

Wasn't there snow on Valentines Day about 15 years ago? I vaguely have a memory of having a card and some creme eggs (bloody hell) ready for my crush in school that day but it was closed because of the snowfall. I ended up scoffing the eggs, and put snow inside the wrappers instead and gave them to my mum.

Strangegravy

force eleven wrote: »

Feb 78 - think it was 9th or 10th. I was in Limerick then and I remember the east wind whipped in a big fall of snow (for us) probably about 3'' or 4'' max but the drifts up against the wall were a little deeper. We made snow shoes out of Swingball bats. Good times.

I was born on the 17th of February that year. My Mom said they were worried with the snow driving in and out to hospital from Shannon to Limerick.

Shiraz 4.99

I'm in my 40's now so 1982 is as memorable to me as 2010.
What made 1982 stand out more is that all the snow fell in a 36 hour period & the depth of the drifts was astonishing.
I remember opening our wicket gate & the drift being higher than my head.
What they don't tell you about 1982 is that lying snow turns powdery after a couple of days so is no good for snowballs or snowmen & we had that for 2 weeks, useless, good for nothing snow.
At least 2010 kept getting topped up for the fun factor.

maquiladora

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

I'm in my 40's now so 1982 is as memorable to me as 2010.
What made 1982 stand out more is that all the snow fell in a 36 hour period & the depth of the drifts was astonishing.
I remember opening our wicket gate & the drift being higher than my head.
What they don't tell you about 1982 is that lying snow turns powdery after a couple of days so is no good for snowballs or snowmen & we had that for 2 weeks, useless, good for nothing snow.
At least 2010 kept getting topped up for the fun factor.

Still holds the record for snow depth at Dublin Airport since 1961. 25cm. Though due to strong easterly winds there were drifts of +150cm in places.

shedweller

maquiladora wrote: »

Still holds the record for snow depth at Dublin Airport since 1961. 25cm. Though due to strong easterly winds there were drifts of +150cm in places.

You could add another half metre to that where i was! Not everywhere in fairness but there was this one part of the road that cut into the hill a bit and had high ditches either side and i walked over the tops of the ditches between twigs! Our field adjoining the road had the other downwind side of the drift and it extended about 20 metres down the field from the ditch. The gas thing was that wherever there was a gate there was little or no snow on the ground! Bone dry.
And the sound of boots in the snow......crump crump crump!! :):)

Oneiric 3

1984, though only wee, I recall one night with a savage blizzard that lasted the whole night. Quite scary.

Late Dec 2000. Started cold, dry and frosty, but out of nowhere heavy snow began to fall with a huge amount falling in a just a few hours. Some amazing claps of thunder either that same night or the next one (possible both) Magical weather.


2010, did well for snow, but it did not fall very often. Remember one night in particular when out the country the moonlight and the snow and the trees. Just indescribably beautiful.

Pretzill

I think 2010 has to win it for the lowest temperatures I have ever experienced. I live on a hill and was snowed in for 3 weeks with no running water and had to boil snow on christmas day! Locally it did dip as low as minus 20 and didn't raise above -10 during the day - but snow wise it was enough to put me off the white stuff! It was just a bigish snowfall that stuck for ages.

I have fonder memories I think 2000 - (may be 2001 Jan) where we got a good fall of proper crunchy snow - I remember looking out the kitchen window and seeing a fox walking at the back door - it was all very beautiful looking - lasted about a week on the hill.

And then just on Christmas Day 2002 - walking out in the morning with the dogs and the place all white - only lasted the day it was a little magical.


I also remember 81/82 and sometime late in the 80's too.

But that one day of well timed snowfall in 2002 could not be beaten - a winter wonderland without all the hassle that can come with a prolonged spell!