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Notable Snowfalls in Stoke-On-Trent since 1968
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8th January 1968 saw a fierce blizzard cut off villages with huge drifts, many roads blocked as the evening rush hour was turned into absolute chaos. The snow continued into the 9th before dying away, leaving a very cold and frosty night to follow.
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5th and 6th February 1968 produced between 14 and 17 inches of snow, after persistant sleet for the first part of the 5th, the snow thickened during the evening of the 5th and continued for much of the 6th.
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On December 24th 1968, light rain started to fall around 14.00 hours which quickly turned to sleet, then at about 16.00 hours to snow which soon settled with about 4 inches by midnight, the snow continued well into the 25th. It was a magical Christmas, as I was quite young and it just remains so fresh in my mind.
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February 1969 was a very snowy month, one I have never seen bettered. There were at least five falls of between 4 and 6 inches, including the 20th which produced an easterly gale causing severe drifting.
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1970 was the snowiest winter I can remember only being equalled by 1979. The snow started in November with 3 inches in three hours on the 17th, and was bettered by the 28th which produced 4inches in three hours. December 1969 produced 8 inches on the 17th and 10 inches on the 19th, it then turned mild until a very cold spell with more snow on the 27th, this continued until the 8th January 1970, when the weather turned mild again. February was again cold and snowy with regular falls, including blizzards on the 12th and 17th. Despite all this the best was reserved for March 1970 with snow falling on the first 13 days including the blizzard in the early hours of the 4th, which produced drifts between four and six feet deep. There was more snow at the end of the month with some heavy falls in April 1970, with 3 inches on the 8th.
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How do you follow that lot, easy, you don't.
Snowfalls seemed sparse in the years to follow, until...........13th January 1977, when a blizzard almost as bad as 1968 caused abandoned vehicles, blocked roads and isolated villages to be cut off, however unlike 1968, the weather turned milder with sleet on the 14th.
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When youv'e been through years like '68, '69 and '70, you think all winters are going to be cold with at least one or two major snowfalls, so it was quite a shock to live through eight years with only one major snowfall, but 1979 brought back all those memories of what real snow was like.
This winter started in November '78, and continued until May '79.
The really bitterley cold weather started on December 30th with east winds snow and persistant frost.
After a sunny but freezing day on 1st January, the snow set in at about 17.00 hours, with 10 inches
by midnight. On the 2nd, after a bright start a heavy but localised fall dumped another six to eight inches on the area. There were further light falls until the 19th, when a blizzard struck causing more chaos on the roads, the snow continued into the 20th before dying out by midday. There were more falls until the end of the month, some giving up to 3 inches.
February though still very cold didn't see a lot of heavy snow until the 14th and 15th, when siberian winds combined with heavy snow turned the area into a white hell, with many areas cut off and drifts up to 15 feet deep. Freezing rain on the 19th made conditions impossible with North Staffs hospital reporting nearly 250 people with broken limbs. The weather turned milder for the first time in nearly eight weeks, but by the 16th March heavy snow and north east winds were back with up to 6 inches, and drifts of 4 feet deep, again many places cut off with more snow falling during the month. April and May.also saw snow falling mostly in the form of showers.
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