THE BLIZZARD OF 1947 In 1946 the months of November and December were very mild, but by the middle of January, the weather had changed, and most of England and Wales woke up to find the country covered in snow. Over 6" fell over parts of Wales and South West England and towards the end of the month over 18 degrees of frost was recorded in Cardiff. Around Barry, Cardiff, and the Vale, the ground was covered in hard packed snow that had turned into ice, making it difficult for public and private transport to move. Later in the same month another fall of snow added to the misery of the local populace. The cold weather lasted from the middle of January until the end of February, with only short breaks when the sun broke through the clouds, melting the snow. When the temperature dropping below freezing once more, in the evening, conditions were made even more hazardous, with ruts in the snow made by the relatively few vehicles, freezing. The snow and ice that formed did not start to melt until the beginning of March. In some parts of Barry there were drifts of hard packed snow over 6 feet deep. The weather forecast for March was that the thaw would continue, and that public transport would soon be back to normal. The evening of the 4th March and the morning of the 5th saw the worst blizzard for over 60 years hit the area, with drifts of over 20 feet being recorded, and in some cases drifts up to the tops of upstairs windows were reported. The council, with its limited resources and outdated equipment (men with shovels), tried to clear the roads, but failed. The American Army, which was still stationed at Sully Camp, and who wanted to visit and enjoy the night life of Cardiff, used bulldozers, caterpillar tractors, and other equipment and cleared the roads from Sully to the Merrie Harrier. In doing so they also demolished the hump-backed bridge on the Sully Moors Road that had crossed the Cadoxton River and had been a bottleneck for years. This they quickly replaced with a Bailey Bridge. It was not until the 7th and 8th March that a skeleton train service from Barry to Cardiff was restored. During this period "Wartime Spirit" took over the town, with people helping one another with their difficulties. Youngsters with home-made sledges, sometimes with tin baths fixed on top, formed a procession from various parts of Barry to the gasworks (now the Civic Offices). Two sacks of coke could be bought for 2/6d, and this was dropped into the bath and towed home. Sometimes a small additional amount was bought and sold in the neighbourhood by these young entrepreneurs. Coal (which was rationed) was obtained from the Syndicate Sidings at the back of Thompson Street. On production of a note with the purchasers name and address, two bags of coal could be bought. Other excursions to local farms for milk, and bakehouses for bread, helped swell the youngsters' coffers for a visit to the local cinema. The second week in March the thaw set in, and on March 12th, down came the rain, which did not stop until most of the snow disappeared, but caused flooding over most of England and Wales. It turned out to be the wettest March for over 50 years. Coal, which was needed for power stations, froze in the wagons. At Barry Docks, one of the ports that supplied Battersea Power Station, when wagons of coal were hoisted to be tipped, the coal was found to be frozen into one solid mass. Dock workers climbed into the wagons at great risk, and broke up the frozen mass of coal into smaller lumps, to enable it to be tipped. Sheep and cattle that normally grazed were unable to do so and were dying of hunger, and strangely in some cases, thirst. As soon as the farmers broke the ice on their drinking troughs or ponds, and before the animals could drink, it re-froze. Sheep that were buried in snowdrifts and unable to move, were easy prey for foxes that dug their way down to them. Although snowed in for over a week, Barry got off fairly lightly compared with communities in the Valleys, which had power cuts, shortages of food, and although living near to the coal mines, sometimes shortage of fuel. This was because drifts of snow, which were reported to be over 20 feet deep and hundreds of yards long, stopped the transport of coal. The Valley communities were unable to travel freely until the end of March. © T. CLEMETT 1999
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