Kentish Express Ashford & District
WHITE WINTERS
Normally by April, you’re looking at the proverbial rain showers as spring sparks into life. Not so in 1849. A huge snowstorm blew in on April 19 and left the south of England under a blanket of snow.
In Westerham, coaches, then the main form of transport, were buried in monstrous snow drifts while many towns and villages were cut off as telegraph lines collapsed under the weight of the snow. as the snow melted there was widespread flooding too. There was little respite in
April either - it was the wettest month in 80 years. thaw began in early March.
While heavy snow tended not to be confined to Kent, 1987 saw the county bear the brunt of relentless snow which fell during January to make it the worst winter in the county since that of 1962-63.
A remarkable 50cm of snow fell in East Malling while Sheppey saw the addition of strong winds result in snow drifts more than six metres deep. Reliant then only on the Kingsferry Bridge, the island became almost completely cut off as temperatures dropped as low as -18C. Gurkhas were called in to help and supplies dropped in by air. The Isle of Grain was cut off for 12 days.
Many roads became impassable across the county and where exposed fields allowed the winds to whip snow into drifts, motorists found themselves driving along corridors of thick, banked snow.
To the surprise of no-one, trains ground to a halt.
Parts of the North Down saw 30inches of the white stuff.
It seems if the weather front comes in from the east then you can expect ‘winter whiteout’ headlines to follow.
So was the case in 2010 when the county saw heavy snow arrive earlier than normal. On December 1 heavy snow fell causing the predictable havoc to transport networks. The M25 saw 400 lorries stranded overnight. Gillingham had to cancel a league match after a foot of snow fell on its Priestfield pitch. The west of the county was particularly badly hit with many roads grinding to a halt. More than 100 schools were forced to shut their doors.
Further heavy snow fell the week before Christmas, forcing Eurostar services to be cancelled.
Ah, the Beast from the East we all remember it well. The year 2018 was a bit of a fine vintage for those who dream of snowy winters and scorching summers.
With cold air blowing in from Siberia, which knows a thing or two about chilly weather, it hit the county at the end of February and held us in its icy grasp for several weeks into March.
Hundreds of schools shut and even the Chatham Ski Centre was forced to close its doors as the real stuff coated its slopes.
Many parts of the county, including Canterbury, also experienced the relatively rare weather phenomenon of freezing rain - which upon contact with surfaces immediately turned to ice. It resulted in dozens of car crashes and left many having difficulty simply getting into their vehicles as they became encased in an icy cocoon.
As the final snow melted at the end of March, just two months later one of the hottest and longest summers on record took its place. Swings and roundabouts, I think the phrase is.