your comments
Nicola Jennings - Aberporth
I remember it well, we were cut off in the village for ten days. The bread was delivered by lifeboat and the milk delivered to the main road and my dad had to go up there to pick it up with my sledge. My parents ran the village shop at the time. We were walking in the massive snow drifts which were the hight of the hedges. I will probably never see snow like that again.
Sun Feb 15 19:33:37 2009
Mark Caswell, New Tredegar
I was 6 when it happened and dont really remember much of the actual snowfall. I do remember the aftermath a little. I can remember my father and the other men running ( or should i say trudging ) errands for people who found it almost impossible to leave their homes. I also remember the Army or T.A.'s digging out routes for farmers and other inaccessible places. The one thing that will always remain in the memory of my mother was an incident involving me. My mother came upstairs to check on me, only to find i was nowhere to be found. This obviously drove my mother frantic because there w! as drifting to the bedroom windows. She made my older brothers run up and down the streets and also to my nans 6 doors away. My nan had arrived to find that in my mothers panic she failed to realise that the window in the bedroom was slightly ajar...
Wed Feb 11 10:00:57 2009
Mark Caswell, New Tredegar
I had infact, climbed out of the window to the snow which was a liitle below the window sill and continued to play behind a drift which was about 3 times the size of me. On reflection my mother had every right to panic because i could have sunk into the drifts, but as a fearless 6 year old i was totally oblivios to this. Perhaps my saving grace was the fact i was a liitle smaller than most 6 year olds so i was a little lighter on the surface of the snow. That little i remember will always be with me and remain precious as memories should be.
Wed Feb 11 10:00:45 2009
Newport
I remember the snow starting to fall in large flakes ,What amazed me was the fact it fell vertically with no wind and in minutes the whole area was covered .The next morning I got up opened my front door only to be met with a wall of snow .When the snow finally stopped I dressed my three year old son and when I stood him on the snow he dropped into the snow so that only his little eye were visible looking back at me I could,nt help but laugh
Sun Feb 8 17:11:33 2009
Maria Williams from Newport
I was 15 and had recently got a part time Saturday job at our local supermarket Wildings and Kent, being conscientious as ever I donned my winter woolies, strippy leg warmers included and attempted to walk. The snow literally came to the top of my legs and after a good hour where I'd covered less than a few hundred yards gave up and went home, frozen to the bone!!
Thu Feb 5 12:07:01 2009
Sarah - Cotswolds
My dad and I were staying in Tywyn and the snow started midafternoon. By the following morning, you could climb out of the house from the bedroom window because of the depth of the snow that had been driven up against the house, and then walk up onto the neighbour's roof ! It's the only time that I built a snowcastle on the beach with my bucket and spade.
Tue Feb 3 16:04:09 2009
Kath Cartwright, Newbridge gwent
I remember the snow of 1982 very well,i was due to start my new job at bt cwmcarn.I walked to west end at 6am to meet my friends who were also starting. We knew we had to make the effort, unlike the youngnsters of today. there was a deep silence along the way.
Tue Feb 3 15:59:03 2009
Nigel Arnold, from Sussex
I was living in Swansea as a 16 year old in January 1982. I remember the whole episode vividly. I went to the cinema that afternoon with my girlfriend and when we came out at about 6pm the snow had started. There were blizzard conditions with the snowflakes quite small and powdery. We caught the bus home from town to Killay and by the time we arrived drifts were already forming. I took one of the dogs out again when I got home and walked for miles and just watched everything becoming white. Everything was so silent as by then there was no traffic - all I could hear was the wind and the ! whoosh of snow being swept into drifts, much like sand on a deserted, windswept beach. I stayed awake all night that Thursday night, looking out of the window at the drifts building in our front garden, praying that it wouldn't stop. And it didn't. Bigger flakes fell all day Friday and the snow didn't finally stop until lunchtime on Saturday, by which time I'd fallen through a 20ft snow drift on one of my walks. Then came the JCB clearing our road leaving mountains of snow either side so as you walked down the road you couldn't see the houses on either side. The biting easterly wind continued for some time afterwards - at least a week - and in that time the snow didn't melt so start of school was%! 20delayed. Then it eventually melted, gone but%2! 0never, ever forgotten.
Thu Dec 4 15:47:40 2008
Newport
I remember the 1982 snow. I had my son who was 8 months old, and i was six months pregnant for my daughter. I loved it i thought it was great fun. There did seem to be a real community spirit. The heating breaking down was not good though, we spent 3 weeks huddled up to a gas cooker.
Thu Jan 3 12:01:38 2008
Kathy Phillips, Gloucester
My son John was born in Barnstaple, North Devon on January 5th 1982. I was in a dilivery room with a window and can remember watching the snow falling thick and fast. We had to stay in hospital for 7 days and then left before the staff wanted us to. Our pipes had frozen so we stayed with my Mum in a one bedroom flat for two weeks. John slept in chest of drawers. The drawer was kept open when he was in there.
Wed Jan 2 09:35:56 2008
Liz Watkins from Melbourne Australia
November 1982 was the year our son was born in Worcester, we had to leave him in the hospital for a few weeks and had to drive in 10 foot snow drifts to visit him each day, it was a year I will never forget! He is 26 this year, and I still remember the weather of that year as if it were yesterday.
Sat May 12 10:41:12 2007
Neil,South Wales
I remember it very well , I was 23 and just back from honeymoon . As newlyweds we were snowed in our basement flat for about 3 days , cue much ribald joking.When we finally got out I remember sitting on my briefcase and toboganning down a steep hill to get to work.I had just graduated but was left in charge of the local office for about a week as no one else could get in - happy times indeed.
Tue Apr 3 15:17:26 2007
Leila from Penarth
I remember the snow in 1982. I had to go too my 21st birthday in a lovely dress, with my wellies on! We had a massive snow fight after the party. Great fun. People were getting around on skis.
Fri Feb 9 10:31:44 2007
Simon Davies from Mountain Ash
I can remember the snow of 1982 as if it was yesterday.I was 8 years of age living in tonypandy at the time.we hadnt long moved into our house in eleanor street.my family were doing a lot of work to the house and we had no central heating.it started to snow one thursday afternoon and by the friday there was about 2 foot of lying snow.and 6 inches in our passage at the front of the house.it snowed all day friday in which time the snow had accumilated to about five foot in depth.at the side of our house was a big hill and that was were my fondest memory lies.my dad and our nextdoor neighbour built a tabogan run from top to bottom,i thought it was the best thing in the world,especially when my dad came a cropper.i can remember the army delivering food to the street as no cars could get through.the snow lasted about 3 weeks.the memories will last forever.
Wed Jan 3 09:54:47 2007
Gareth Cooksey, Tonypandy
In 1982 I was eight and remember my mother saying it was going to snow. It was Thursday evening when it started to snow. My friends and I were sledging down a big hill at the side of my house and the snow kept coming. We roamed around surrounding streets and could not believe the drifts up to my knees. The drifts in the street were about 3 feet. We were diving of garages like skydivers and landing in the drifts.My mates and I dug igloo out of a drift. It snowed all Friday night and extra drifts with the blizzards had created an amazing scene when I woke up. I remember shouting to the nei! ghbours across the road who came over to dig us out. They left an arch of snow over our doorway. All the cars on one side of the street were completely lost five to six feet on one side of the street. all the neighbours helped dig each other out, even grumpy neighbours became pleasant with the air of excitement. there was this spirit and camaraderie I had never seen. The snow stayed down for ages but I remember the sad day when the sun came out and started to melt and then the rain came and polished it off. Since that time I get more excited than kids when it snows.
Mon Dec 4 08:31:49 2006
alun aberystwyth
i remember my dad lost his car in the snow
on min y ddol
Sun Mar 12 21:05:29 2006
Jon Tyson from Baltimore
I was living in Llanon with my young family during the big snow.It was unheard of for the snow to settle so near the coast but I remember Tom Pwll from Llanrhystyd saying the snow of `47 had people using the tops of telegraph poles as road markers. The snow of 82 was very light and fluffy but continued throughout the night and was driven by high winds and the drifts were very high. The A487 through to Aberystwyth was blocked for 10 days but our local village shop had enough reserves to keep all Llanonians supplied with the basics. I went with my 2 young sons on the first bus into Aber and there was a single track cut through the snow and going through Blaenplwyf the drifts were higher than the top of the double-decker bus.
Mon Mar 6 15:04:16 2006
Haydn John Angove from Newport
I will never forget January 1982, I was in the sixth form at school, and I can remember the lunch time weather forecast on the Thurday, it was michael fish who presented that forecast and stated that there would be a covering of snow for many southern parts of the country during Thursday evening into Friday morning. When I arrived home that Evening I heard the forecast again and it was for the worse, but southern counties boardering the english channel coasts would see the heaviest snowfall.
I had a maths lesson that evening and the snow started at around 9.00pm and with easterly gales with temperaturs well below freeezing the snow was powder snow and it drifted in the strong easterly winds, within and hour the blizzard became fierce. The late weather forecast stated that the snow would clear by lunchtime on the friday. How wrong a forecast that was in fact the blizzard continued throughout the day and conditions became very severe , Newport where I live became cut off, the snow was getting worse and continued for the rest of the day and evening, by then where I live you could not see any cars in the street because the snow was so deep. Outside my parents home there was at 2 feet deep during friday evening with drifts well in access of that. The snow continued to fall throughout the night and when I woke up on the saturday morning I could not belive my eyes, drift in access of 15 feet covering the houses, cars were completly buried there must have been at least 3 to 4 feet of level snow. The snow eventually stoped at around 2.00pm on the Saturday.Main roads were cut off shopping was non existent the town of Newport looked like the Swiss Alps rather than a mild coastal town. Newport was cut off for many days everything came to a complete standstill. This was by far the worst snow fall that I have ever seen in Newport, Newport has never seen snow like it and 24 years on Newport has never seen snow like that since. I will never forget the Blizzard of January 1982 it snowed from 9.00 pm on the Thurday Evening and never stopped until 2.00 pm on the Saturday afternoon. Temperatures remained well below freezing for another 3 weeks so the snow never thawed, thankfully it never snowed again during the next 3 weeks. The snow fall was a classic weather situation, bitterly cold easterly winds which kept the day time temperatures at -3 to -6 and an atlantic depression that moved in the South West of England and has the mild air hit the bitterly cold air it produced heavy snow. I will never forget the snows of 1982 I doubt very much whether I will every see such snowfall in Newport again.
Thu Jan 12 21:53:46 2006
Jan Phillips, Blaina
I was a young woman at that time and was working in Control Data, Brynmawr. I had to walk 6 miles to work and back. I had a small family and lived with my mother. I walked 4 miles to get food for my family and I helped a neighbour to carry a big bag of potatoes for 4 miles, as well as my own shopping I had to miss work that night as a result of a shoulder injury. I was happy to have helped her despite my injury.
Tue Nov 29 22:06:06 2005
Nick, Swansea
I was 8 years old at the time and how unprepared we were for the snow. All the men had to walk through the snow to the local dairy to collect milk and bread as the milk floats could not get out. I remember the snow being right up to the window sills of our house. The school was closed for a week and we had so much fun playing in the snow and sledging down the hills in Swansea.
Sat Oct 22 03:43:45 2005
Liberte Harries now in Manchester
I was a staff nurse on night duty in North Road hospital in Aber when the snow arrived. As the hospital is at the top of a hill, we could see from about 3am that it was going to present a real problem for the day staff to arrive! That would never do! So two of us went outside and dug a path through the snow from the front door to the steep path leading up from the pavement with trays - they were the only implement big enough for us make any impact! I lived in Llanbadarn at the time in Church Street, opposite the church on the road as it curved around the church, about 1-1 1/2 miles from the hopsital. I walked to work with a huge sheepskin coat, boots and a blanket wrapped aound me! Some of my colleagues walked up on top of hedges to get to work. My walk took me over an hour. A friend of mine lived in New Quay and was on duty that night and she couldn't get home for 10 days. Eventually she was taken home by the lifeboat. Who says nothing happens in small rural areas!
Wed Jul 27 09:48:01 2005
Jan Williams Brightlingsea
I was living in Borth when the great snows arrived and to our amazement the wind blew the snow right up to our frount door so it was impossible to get out of the front door and the life boat men had to come and dig us out! Trains were cancelled for two days so I got an extra 2 days holiday from my teaching job in Essex.
Wed Jul 20 16:39:03 2005
James, London
I was living in Llandre when the big snow hit and was working at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth. I think I got the first and last bus of the day into work but decided it was time to try to get home at lunch time. The roads by then were blocked and I had to walk up Penglais Hill and down towards the Bow Street Flat. At Ty Coch I remember passing an abandoned snow plough and being in a complete 'white out' as the blizzard took hold. I found refuge in an abandoned Crosville bus on the 'Flats' before continuing on through Bow Street, digging out the phone in the phone box to ring home to say I was on my way.
At the turn at Rhydypenau the drifts must have been over 15 feet high.
It had taken me about three hours to get home to a welcome Whiskey Mac.
Thu Mar 10 17:00:44 2005
Angela from Chepstow
I seem to recall it started snowing on Wednesday evening and the thought that if it continued we may not have to go to school. I looked out before I went to bed and didn't think it was particulary bad.
Thursday morning we woke up to a view nromally reserved for the Arctic. The snow had drifted up our front door to a height of 3 ft. As we opened the door the snow fell in.
At the time I was living in Dinas Terrace, and my parents Stan and Caroline are still there to this day. The view was amazing, with the whole of Aberystwyth blanketed it snow. The harbour actually froze over which was unheard of.
Penglais and Southgate were 6 ft deep in places, and if I remember rightly, the RAF were flying in supplies, and one lady had to be airlifted out of Llanbadarn to have a baby, as she couldn't get to hospital.
I have never seen anything like it to this day, not in this country anyway.
And the best thing of all ............. No school for ages, well at 14 years old it was music to our ears.
Mon Feb 28 09:55:14 2005
Do you remember the big snows of 1982? How did it affect your area? Add your memories here or if you've got any pictures to add to our selection, please email them to wales.mid@bbc.co.uk.
