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This day 30yrs ago I'll never forget

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  • 08-01-2012 2:43pm
    #1
    IrishHomer
    Registered Users Posts: 2,938 ✭✭✭


    Pretty sure it's exactly 30yrs ago today :o

    Was watching the FA cup on itv and the sky was a deep grey and bitter cold. The snow from the east was spitting all morning and afternoon and was due to return. To school after the Christmas holidays.

    That Sunday night the east winds piced p and the snow was driving in the winds and was the start of the most bitter winter snow I ever witnessed. Got up for school next morning and a bitter blizzard was happening and all schools were closed travel was impossible. I sat inside looking out at the winds and snow drifing higher and higher and it contained for approximately three more days. It came to a stage where I was fed up looking at snow and wind day after day non stop.

    There was a crack in the bedroom window of our home and the blizzard winds forced six inches of snow to form inside our window and it never even thawed within the bedroom.

    For two weeks the snow lingered on and the hardship was immense. The only milk we could get was from a farmer neighbour and my granny had enough stuff to make bread.

    Just thought d share this story on the 30th anniversary of the blizzard of 1982.


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    #2
    Fittle
    Registered Users Posts: 2,775 ✭✭✭Fittle


    Wow, I can't believe that was 30years ago!!

    My memories of that snow are being off school too. But my mother had just been admitted to hospital on the southside of Dublin (we lived on the northside) and as none of us drove, and public transport was stopped, we couldn't get to visit her for a fortnight. We didn't have a phone then either, but used to knock into our neighbours house every day and queue up at her phone to ring our mother - we used to have to ask her what we'd buy in the shops each day (I've alot of older brothers) although mam couldn't always come to the phone because of her illness.

    It was a very bizarre time for us - although at 13, I was the youngest so it possibly felt a bit stranger for me - my older brothers enjoyed not having her around for a while I think;). Hard to believe that was 30yrs ago OP and thanks for the reminder!


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    #3
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    I remember it too. I was just short of age 12 and the only one in the house still at primary school. Secondary schools weren't due back til the next day and I was sent off to school regardless of the weather. I remember getting on an empty bus! School had opened but within an hour those who had turned up were sent home. We had no phone so I couldn't get in touch with my parents but I remembered my sister had a dentist appointment that day so took myself off to the dentists and waited there (a good 2 hours) til they turned up. I still remember the drive home in the blizzard..... my father nervous and visibility really really poor. what to me looked like 2-3 ft drifts of snow had formed over the course of the morning (could be exaggerated childhood memory :).
    A couple of days later went for a walk on a little back road and walking on top of the snow realised we were actually on top of the hedge!
    I don't think there's ever been snow like that since has there?


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    #4
    davidsr20
    Registered Users Posts: 768 ✭✭✭davidsr20


    I wonder was there the same pattern were getting this year in 1947/1982?


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    #5
    Elmer Blooker
    Registered Users Posts: 6,051 ✭✭✭Elmer Blooker


    Lets get the record straight - it started to snow on Thursday night the 7th and stopped on Saturday morning, roughly 36 hours.
    http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1982


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    #6
    snaps
    Registered Users Posts: 7,138 ✭✭✭snaps


    Elmer Blooker wrote: »
    Lets get the record straight - it started to snow on Thursday night the 7th and stopped on Saturday morning, roughly 36 hours.
    http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1982

    I think thats what has been said, today is only the 8th???


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    #7
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    davidsr20 wrote: »
    I wonder was there the same pattern were getting this year in 1947/1982?

    No.

    The 1982 snow fell on a country that had seen nothing of the sort in 20 odd years and was totally unprepared for it.

    Furthermore the country was in a deep recession and no provision was made for salt or road clearing hear in the cutbacks. Once the blizzard stopped every road to Dublin (and nationwide) promptly froze hard for a week and there was no way to clear them. Salting was almost unheard of in 1982. The country shut down far more comprehensively than it did during the past 2 winters.

    To heap insult on the population very little insulation had been installed in new houses in the previous 20 years and the heating diesel had not been treated with anti freeze and turned to jelly. Much of that newfangled Central Heating shut own and the pipes froze ....nationwide.

    Once the thaw came a huge number of houses were flooded.


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    #8
    muckish
    Registered Users Posts: 610 ✭✭✭muckish


    Have posted these before.....
    From the Sandyford road area, Dublin 16.
    6143284865_4717a9558f_z.jpg

    6143284507_533850eb8b_z.jpg

    6143834772_f07a6d3b95_z.jpg

    I especially remember the large drifts that blocked Sandyford road near the Maxol Garage (and also buried a consignment of new Renault cars that had been delivered to the garage for the new year). And the extra days off school of course.


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    #9
    Skerries
    Registered Users Posts: 12,321 ✭✭✭✭Skerries


    the snowmen were ginormous though
    Untitled Image




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    #10
    TheMutations
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭TheMutations


    I remember this event very well, with mixed feelings, as a seven year old living in Glanmire Co. Cork. We got a tiny amount of snow, barely enough for a snowball. Yet two miles away in every direction were plastered in the stuff. It seemed as if Glanmire was the only part of Ireland not to get any snow.

    Our Dad took pity on us and drove us up to Watergrasshill and Mitchelstown on a sightseeing tour of what could have been. Some of the neighbours went one better and filled a few bags of coal with snow, and brought them back to Glanmire to build a snowman. It was so cold that the snowman didn't melt for a week, but looked odd standing in a green front garden.

    On the bright side we got a week off school because the government ordered all schools to be sit due to the weather. :)


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    #11
    Victor Meldrew
    Registered Users Posts: 768 ✭✭✭Victor Meldrew


    We were stuck in Bagnalstown in a house with no central heating for the duration. Sharing a bead with siblings for warmrmth under eiderdowns that weighed more than the earth...

    We drove back to Dublin once it stopped snowing and the roads were passable with the citroen on "High" for the bits that were not that clear.

    I can remember us all being VERY quiet in the back of the car..

    The drifts are what I remember and have not seen since in this country save for mountains.

    I was only 8, but I was able to be covered by a drift, which was fun.


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    #12
    Wild Bill
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,129 ✭✭✭Wild Bill


    Enderman wrote: »
    Just another few weeks lads and ladies...


    This was posted today on the "Snow addiction" thread! Great bit of film!

    It's also on the "January 1982" thread!

    We appear to have two great snow of 1982 threads going http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054920482&page=6


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    #13
    KDII
    Registered Users Posts: 202 ✭✭KDII


    My parents met the first day of that storm.


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    #14
    up for anything
    Registered Users Posts: 5,776 ✭✭✭up for anything


    I have no remembrance of snow that year. I was working and living in Waterford at the time. Was the Waterford snow shield up that I don't remember it?


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    #15
    squonk
    Registered Users Posts: 8,603 ✭✭✭squonk


    I was 7 when that snow happened. My parents had some neighbours visiting and when they arrived there wasn't any snow but a few hours later they found the place covered when they were leaving. My mam came into my room to wake me up and show me the snow!

    I remember also waking up the next morning and I think it was the first proper snow I'd seen. I remember the kitchen being extra bright with the light reflected from the snow outside. I still love that light that you get with snow. The snow was deep enough and it's the only time I can remember drifts. I've never seen them since. I don't think we got a huge amount of snow, maybe a few inches. I do remember it being very overcast for a few days but I don't remember seeing any more snow falling after the first night. Perhaps it did.

    I remember also my mam taking us out for a walk over towards the local village. I remember the road being like a block of ice. I hadn't seen that until Christmas 2009/10 again. After a while the cloud lifted and I remember it being bright and cold then. The snow stuck around a good while because we had a chance to make a sleigh and go skating down a steep hill across the road in a field for days afterwards. The snow was so deep that you couldn't feel the ground underneath. After a few days though I remember noticing that I was starting to feel bumps and stones underneath me as I was skating down the hill on a fertilizer bag. That was the beginning of the thaw. Nedt day I woke up and there was just a small patch of snow next to our shed. It was a great period though and I don't remember anything like it since.

    Also, I remember seeing on the news that some RTE transmitter technicians were caught up in 3Rock and couldn't make it down or something like that. I think that was in 1982.


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    #16
    DOCARCH
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 17,752 Mod ✭✭✭✭DOCARCH


    According to the map attached to this http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/weather-events/Jan1982_snow.pdf suprisingly little snow fell during the 1982 event.

    The max (level) snow depth recorded was 26cm at Dublin Airport. By comparision I recorded 33cm of (level) snow here last December.

    Drifting of the snow is what made the 1982 event memorable. What you tended to find, in the countryside anyway, is that you had very little snow depth in the middle of fields but then huge snow drifts around any obstacle such as hedges, ditches, etc. In the city (where I lived) all the boudary walls in our estate were covered in drifts (4 or 5ft high) but in the centre of the road, the snow might only have been a couple of inches deep.


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    #17
    Bishop_Donal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 615 ✭✭✭Bishop_Donal


    DOCARCH wrote: »
    According to the map attached to this http://www.met.ie/climate-ireland/weather-events/Jan1982_snow.pdf suprisingly little snow fell during the 1982 event.

    The max (level) snow depth recorded was 26cm at Dublin Airport. By comparision I recorded 33cm of (level) snow here last December.

    Drifting of the snow is what made the 1982 event memorable. What you tended to find, in the countryside anyway, is that you had very little snow depth in the middle of fields but then huge snow drifts around any obstacle such as hedges, ditches, etc. In the city (where I lived) all the boudary walls in our estate were covered in drifts (4 or 5ft high) but in the centre of the road, the snow might only have been a couple of inches deep.

    I'd say they didn't have the machines to measure it at the time.

    I take your point re:drifts, but by jeez my memory is that the general level of snow was closer to 26 inches rather than 26cm.

    We won't argue over it. We'll just pay homage!!


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    #18
    DOCARCH
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 17,752 Mod ✭✭✭✭DOCARCH


    Bishop_Donal wrote: »
    I'd say they didn't have the machines to measure it at the time.

    As far as I can remember we had rulers in 1982.......although, I could be mistaken? :D


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    #19
    hotwhiskey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 592 ✭✭✭hotwhiskey


    OK 1inch = 2.54cm

    26 x (1 in / 2.54) = 10.2in give or take a flake:p

    40mph winds + 10.2inches = drifts 1 1/2 Metres and in feet
    4.92125984 feet.


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    #20
    Victor Meldrew
    Registered Users Posts: 768 ✭✭✭Victor Meldrew


    Bishop_Donal wrote: »
    I'd say they didn't have the machines to measure it at the time.

    I take your point re:drifts, but by jeez my memory is that the general level of snow was closer to 26 inches rather than 26cm.

    We won't argue over it. We'll just pay homage!!

    When we finally made it back to Dublin, there was ~ 10 inches on the mother's car. not much more anyway.


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    #21
    Bishop_Donal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 615 ✭✭✭Bishop_Donal


    I was living in an elevated location at the time. Probably just got a bit more than most of ye!!!!:D:D

    BTW, I'd settle for 10 inches and drifting this year anyway.


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    #22
    Wild Bill
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,129 ✭✭✭Wild Bill


    DOCARCH wrote: »
    The max (level) snow depth recorded was 26cm at Dublin Airport. By comparision I recorded 33cm of (level) snow here last December.

    Yep - I remember both last year (obviously) and '82.

    Big difference was the '82 fall was a blizzard. The wind caused drifting everywhere. From memory, a foot of snow is about right for coastal areas.

    Last December was extraordinary; very little wind/drifting bit on two occasions, Nov 27 - Dec 3 and Dec 17 -23 (roughly) there were accumulations of 28cm (a foot) and 26 cm (nearly a foot :D) respectively.

    But no drifting. The pictures and memories of '82 are dominated by those windows covered in blown snow; nothing like that last year.


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    #23
    RadioRetro
    Registered Users Posts: 2,090 ✭✭✭RadioRetro


    I drove out of town to stay with my parents in a nearby village as I was to drive my late dad to the airport next morning so he could catch a flight to work in a faraway land. When we woke up all was white around us and the drifts along our road to the main road were ENORMOUS. Dad rang work HQ in Britain to explain and they said, "Yeah, we know, it's on the BBC. Take another week of holidays". He was delighted. I wasn't, I was stuck there for a week! Went stir crazy.


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    #24
    Super-Rush
    Registered Users Posts: 19,473 ✭✭✭✭Super-Rush


    I was only 8 months old at the time, but from what i was told, we had to have food airlifted into us as we were trapped for almost two weeks.


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    #25
    ardmacha
    Registered Users Posts: 7,476 ✭✭✭ardmacha


    As far as I can remember we had rulers in 1982.......although, I could be mistaken?

    Only wooden ones, they froze in the low temperatures. :pac:

    Last December was extraordinary; very little wind/drifting bit on two occasions, Nov 27 - Dec 3 and Dec 17 -23 (roughly) there were accumulations of 28cm (a foot) and 26 cm (nearly a foot ) respectively.

    Last December was a sequence of showers and accumulations built up over several days. 1982 was a band of snow that laid down pretty much all of the snow in a 16 hour period. As I recall it didn't snow much in Dublin after Friday afternoon, although there was a few flakes. There was hardly any snow after that, just low temperatures for a week, so it stayed put and drifted further.


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    #26
    Wild Bill
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,129 ✭✭✭Wild Bill


    ardmacha wrote: »
    As I recall it didn't snow much in Dublin after Friday afternoon, although there was a few flakes. There was hardly any snow after that, just low temperatures for a week, so it stayed put and drifted further.

    That, per my elephantine memory, is correct! :D


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