The January snow when it started snowing and didn't stop for 36 hours
There were queues in the streets for bread and milk when serious and widespread snow fell in Wales
The heavy snow started to fall on January 7, 1982. Before too long, there were lengthy queues on city streets for bread and milk, soldiers were drafted in to dig families out of their homes and helicopters scrambled to transport food to remote farms.
For those of us who have been following the wildly varying weather forecasts in the first fortnight of 2024, there have been times when it sounded like Wales could be looking at something similar this January, 42 years later. Despite the technology and detail available to weather forecasters these days, predicting snowfall is notoriously difficult. And while it seems very likely parts of Wales will see snow this week (you can see where here), it won't be anything like the January snow of 1982.
These pictures show how much snow fell on Wales early that month, when it snowed solidly for 36 hours, leaving entire front doors submerged, cars buried and livestock decimated. The snow was 60cm deep, though drifts reportedly reached up to six metres high thanks to the dry, fine snow which was easily blown about.
Pedestrians walked among jack-knifed lorries and traffic jams on the M4, waterfalls were frozen solid and the Australian rugby union team was snowed into their hotel in Porthcawl , accessible only by boat. One enterprising father even moved his entire family out of their home and into an igloo he built in his back garden.
The scene at Pleasant View, in Bedlinog, between Pontypridd and Merthyr, where the snow drifted high over the front of the houses. Standing in a 'tunnel' dug through the snow so that he could reach his front door is Henry John Briggs, with his grandchildren
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In the centre of Treharris, near Merthyr, piles of snow confront people out to shop
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The RAF rescue a Mr and Mrs Norris from Marloes, Pembrokeshire who were both airlifted to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest suffering from hypothermia — it's actually the winter of 1947 which still holds the record for the coldest February ever. Snow fell again and again for three months, wreaking havoc on the roads and railway lines where turbo jet engines were used to try and blast away drifts. And in 1963 up to 10ft of snow fell at Storey Arms, above Brecon. At Penarth, even the sea froze.
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People in Cardiff fight their way through snow to get to work outside Cardiff Castle
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Members of the 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Wales clear snow at Ogmore-by-Sea
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A souvenir edition of the Western Mail shows a jack-knifed lorry and other stranded traffic. The page says: 'For a few days at least, it seemed society had been thrust back into the ice age. But the snow also melted people's hearts turning total strangers into good neighbours and casual acquaintances into life-savers'
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A queue quickly formed in the middle of the road when a Land Rover arrived with a cargo of bread in Cardiff's Clifton Street
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