Weather stories from the past - do you know any?

[sandy 10]

can you rember the weather being really bad

would love to here your storys for our history group

[algy 11]

It depends what you mean by bad. I can remember a couple of times in the early/mid 1950's going home from school in the dark when it should have been light. It was before Sheffield's clean air policy, and the smoke got trapped under the clouds that were low on the surrounding hills and it was almost pitch dark at 3.30. I can also remember at the end of the 50's walking to school with visibility reduced to about 4 yards by a thick yellow smog.

Then we had the great gale (hurricane) in 1962, when a lot of damage was done to buildings. I remember walking to Firth Park School across Longley Park and to make any progress leaning at 45 degrees into the wind without falling over!

[Caz1 10]

My mum who sadly is no longer with us, used to talk about the great storm..can't remember when it was exactly but she said it was gale force winds so strong that she say people be lifted off the ground!

[desy 10]

I was about 12 in 1962 when the great storm hot the houses were empty down Portland Street which later became Kelvin flats. I had to walk down the centre of the road. This was due to the still high winds in the mornoing and the slates being blown of the roofs of the empty houses. I went to Myers Grove and some of the prefabs were flattened. Of a school that was abot 300+ only. Only about 20 kids turned up, we stayed there for safety until it was safe to return home.

[Fareast 10]

The big Storm :-- As far as I remember , 4 people were killed in the storm and the damage to property was so widespread that the government declared a State of Emergency. That seems pretty dramatic but I think it just meant that it gave the government powers to get the mess cleared up quickly.

We were lucky that we lived in a fairly sheltered spot , just off Sharrowvale Road at the time but even so , there was damage------I remember Hickmott Road being littered with bricks and debris.

About the worst affected area was the East Bank road area of the Arbourthorne. There were some prefabs there that just got , "picked up" , and hurled about.

I remember the Smogs of Sheffield too----there was a particularly bad one in Dec.1962. I remember it because I was hitch-hiking from London to Sheffield at the time and it was a nightmare.

When people moan about pollution today , I don't think they've any conception of what Sheffield was like , pre-1960. The pollution we've got today is Social pollution-----even worse in my opinion.

[Shiesh 13]

I know it wasn't caused by weather but still a great story rarely discussed The Sheffield Flood

 

[jmdee 10]

The great gale of '62. I remember the evening before the sky turned a very unusual pink colour. During the night the storm hit hard, many houses damaged, and some demolished. Just about all the Tv aerials were blown down, I subcontracted to Wigfall's to help put them back up again. My pal and I were re-erecting 10 a day, six days a week, along with many other crews. This schedule lasted for 6 weeks.

[docmel 10]

Here is an earlier thread about the Sheffiled Gales:

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9475

[oopspardon 10]

My dad slept right through the gale in 1962 whilst everyone else watched chimney pots, roof slates and whole prefabs fly past their windows (allegedly).

[Timbuck 10]

Winter 1947 the snow was so deep in concord park that only the top 12 inches of the park swings could be seen..The sun had caused the top of the snow to form a crust strong enough for a 7 year old (Me) to walk on top of the snow and sit down on top of the swings.

[brooksy 10]

jan 1987 saw the lowest day time temp ever recorded, the temp on the 7th till the 10th never got above minus 6 deg c and on one day stayed at minus 8. altho 1963 and 1947 were longer and more severe 87 day time temp may never be beaten.

[djelibeybi 10]

I vividly recall storms here in Sheffield being alot more dramatic than the ones in Hampshire. I assume it's because of the topography.

 

On more than occasion in the 1970's, I remember sitting in the living room on Lowedges estate just after midday, and all of a sudden, it'd start getting dark. It would get so dark that we couldn't see across the room and we had to put the lights on.

 

It was an almighty thunderstorm, with very heavy cloudbursts of rain and hail which turned the streets and pavements into fast flowing rivers, and back gardens into lakes. It felt each time that the storm passed directly over head, with the crashes of thunder coinciding with the lightning and so loud that you couldn't hear what the person sat next to you was saying. The windows would actually buzz with the volume, and the floorboards would vibrate.

 

Those storms were terrifying, and I've never experienced any as extreme (except the "hurricane" of 1987 in Hampshire, but that was wind, not what I'd class as a storm per se).

 

Approximately the summer of 2004, I witnessed a funnel cloud forming as it passed over Dronfield from Holmesfield direction. I don't believed it touched down (which would have caused horrific damage), but it was both fascinating and chilling to watch.