The big freeze of 1947 when the sun wasn’t seen for 18 long days
Storm Darcy… it’s nothing compared to the Sunderland big freeze of 1947.
We are looking back on the years when Sunderland was hammered by blizzards. Yesterday we spotlighted the terrible winter of 1963 but that was nothing compared to the Arctic storms which hit Wearside in 1947.
Philip Curtis, of the Sunderland Antiquarian Society, looksattheyearwhenthecity’s council staff wore overcoats – to cope with the weather inside the Town Hall.
It all began quietly enough the week before.
After a slight fall, the headlines said: "Snow – but it could beworse."Soon,itwasworse.It was an awful lot worse.
Sunderland’s problems began on January 24 when the Town Hall ran out of coal to heat the building and staff had to wear overcoats.
The serious snow arrived twodayslaterwhenaninchfell and the temperatures plummeted. Days later, there was anotherthreeinchesandmany homeswerewithoutfuelasthe coal shortage grew ever worse.
Electricity cuts began that week and homes were deprived of cooking facilities and hotwater.Moresnowfollowed and five inches fell on January 29 and 30.
Overhead tram wires were broken, and trains were delayed;localindustrywasaffected as well – collieries missed their output targets as huge numbers of workers were ill with flu.
Threedayslater,conditions were so bad, shipping became paralysed and all roads were snowbound. Overhead telephone wires were torn from their pylons, trains were almost at a complete standstill in the fierce blizzards and shops in the town were usually in darkness through electricity cuts.
The storms, that arrived just before dawn on February 4, were so bad, they washed up huge amounts of sea coal at Roker. By 10am, the shore was covered with beachcombers collecting coal while the snow lashed down. People were even sledging down the slopes to the beach while others battled their way back up with their sledges laden with sacks of coal.
Shipyards were badly hit. Half the men in some yards were sent home and many firms registered high levels of sickness.
Even greyhound racing was affected. Only four dogs got out of their traps in some races at one meeting. The rest werestuckinsidetheirtrapsin the freezing conditions. Races were declared void.
By the next day, snowdrifts were 10 feet deep.
Within days, Sunderland
broke its record for its longest continuous February frost. The sun had not been seen for 18 consecutive days and as if to hammer home the point, six inches of snow fell that night.
Thereseemednoendtothe
bitterweatherandonFebruary 26, a fierce blizzard saw every colliery and all local transport come to a complete standstill. During February, six inches of snow fell.
Once February ended,
hopes raised that the weather would relent. It was a false dawn.
Shipshadstruggledagainst the weather and it was no surprisewhenacollier,theRegfos, ran aground in a snowstorm.
It was not until March 17 thatchangecame.TheSunderland Echo proclaimed “Freeze Up Time Is Over.”
The winter of 1947, or Black February as it was known, was over but not forgotten.