40th anniversary of the great snows of Jan 1982

I remember going back for day 1 of school after Christmas and then thinking as I left the childminders that it was super cold and grey and maybe it would snow. Next day we woke to a small drift against the door and it just kept falling from the sky. I thought it was so beautiful and was scared it would stop but it just kept coming and the wind blowing. The next morning we had a massive drift against the front door! There were 8 foot drifts. We were housebound! The electricity went for a week! We didn’t care. After the first few pairs of mittens and gloves were soaked through and put in front of the fire to dry we moved onto wool socks!! It provided me with the biggest and best bank of childhood memories! Nothing quite like it since! And sure now I spend every year hoping the weather will recreate it for my kids who are now both adults and have never had the privilege to experience such massive snowfalls. Maybe someday we will get a freak snowfall like that again! I just hope I am not too old to enjoy it!

Never saw the same amount of snow at my home near Limerick since January 1982. I remember that there was a deep drift at the front road gate.

Great archive VHS recording of the snow from my home place

We had drifts at home in Dun Laoghaire that I've never seen since, I was a small child and where the drift gathered at the garden wall it was at my head. It was extraordinary for a low lying coastal location.

I don't remember this but heard tell of it over the years. The link M.T provides says it didn't reach some parts of the west coast, where I was at the time, so now finally I know why!

Great photo shared to Irish Weather Online by Claire Brazil of the snow drifts in 1982 in Tallaght.

This quite special weather event is top of the pile for me when it comes to my favourite and indeed most memorable weather experience during my lifetime.

I was a child growing up in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin at the time and as some of the other posters have alluded to, it was the height of some of the snowdrifts that still stick out vividly in my mind. I remember the easterly gale funnelled and drove the snow down between two rows of houses in our estate and it piled the snow up as far as the top of our front door as our line of houses were in the firing line. Quite amazing really to still think about it. I remember my mother setting off to work on foot and us all watching her set off into the elements as we were off school. She thankfully returned only a couple of hours later as work was cancelled early but I still have a memory of her figure defying the blizzard as she crossed the green in front of our house like Scott of the Antartic as she returned to a hero's reception at home.

I remember after a couple of days, the bush telegraph had it in the village that a bread van was stuck out on the Naas dual carriageway near where the the Poitín Still pub is and it could not get into our village. Both my brother and I were commanded to get supplies and armed with a sled that my father made and that would have taken a few dozen huskies to pull, we went off in search of provisions and returned with 5 sliced pans that were literally bought out of the back of a lorry.

Many cars were abandoned along the dual carriageway in towards town and I remember hearing stories of locals who had to walk for a few hours in the snow to get home after leaving their cars stuck in the snow.

Living next to Casement Aerodrome, we were well use to the Air Corps coming and going overhead, but I do recall their alouette helicopters coming and going virtually non stop that week.

Finally, as a child, I recall asking my late father, where all this snow had come from. He explained in great detail this wonderful scenario of the mild air coming in from the Atlantic and it meeting the cold air from the east and the battleground happening above us. My 10 year old mind was mesmerised by this and at that very moment a weather enthusiast was born!

I was the same age as yourself during those events. January 87 i was in first year too. Like you i thought getting a few days off school was the normal every winter due to snow then the winters of the late 80s happened which a a bit of a rude awakening lol.

Winter 88/89 ,I remember starting my mock inter cert in late feb which coincideded with brief cold snap with bit of snow about that was pretty much melted by lunchtime.

5:30pm on the Friday, I left O'Connell St driving home to Clondalkin. I think it had started to snow early in the afternoon, and so was a couple of inches deep on the road already. Had Mrs N, and a work colleague in the car. He lived out the back of Tallaght somewhere, so I said I'd drop him home. By the time we reached Naas Road Longmile Rd junction, the conditions were treacherous. A lifetime later, I turned onto the Belgard Road which was a couple of feet thick by then. Got as far as the Belgard Inn, and Tallaght man had to accept that we could travel no further. He headed off into the blizzard and vanished from view in less than a minute. Turned the car round and headed back over to Clondalkin. Eventually reached the small estate where we lived. Because there was no traffic going into it, the snow was about 3 feet deep. When I could drive no farther, I managed to pull my car over to the left leaving room for better drivers😎 to try to negotiate their way in. Walked the last 75 m or so, and turned towards my house. My house was slightly elevated from the road, and the snow reached the window sill. As I walked towards my front door, I tripped over the capping stone of the gate pillar.

We had enough food in the fridge, but no coal. Word arrived next day that there was a coal lorry outside a house in a neighbouring estate about a mile away. Found a plank and some rope and MrsN and I set off. It was a lovely clear day, bitterly cold and beautiful to look at. We eventually found the coal lorry and got one of the last bags off it. As far as I can remember, the guy didn't try to gouge us on the price, so a decent skin. Balanced the bag on the plank, Mrs N holding it upright and me manfully dragging the rope. After about three quarters of the way home we discovered that the harder and more strenuous job was keeping the bag on the plank. Feeling very guilty, I changed places with her. I still feel bad now, remembering it.

The link in that first post is a mad coincidence.

We were 13 at the time and when the snow hit went down to the very field in that picture at the back of Rathfarnham church with the slope heading down to the river. A school friend of mine was heading down the hill on a tray or something with a cigarette in his hand and ended up on the 6 o'clock news.

He'd a bit of explaining to do to his dad who was the local doctor...