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Weather : past adverse weather in Birmingham

thanks pedro i enjoyed reading that...would think the ice must have been so very thick to hold so many people..the soho referred to would have been soho pool i would imagine..the weather then a bit like today..cold and frosty

lyn
 
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There was a big freeze-up at the start of 1940...

38 Barges full of your coal are at the bottom of the canal...75% shortage may last till Easter.

One reason why Birmingham is getting barely a quarter of the coal it needs is that 38 barges, each with 30 tons capacity, are lying fully laden at the bottom of the canal...


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That still makes me shiver Pedrocut, the boy in your picture could well have been me on many occasions, long long queues and coal rationed to a quarter hundredweight.
Our nearest coal yard was near Kingstanding baths off Danesbury Crescent but we also at times, when they had no coal used to walk all the way to Nechells gas works to get coke.
 
hi tim...it was most likely the winter of 47 although i remember 63 was very bad as well..great for us kids though:)

lyn
 
Just returned after walking my dog for over an hour down by the river Cole, cold, sleet and a sharp wind, frozen stiff !!! The ducks and Herons looked happy enough though. Even saw some rabbits who disappeared when they saw my dog. Roll on Summer. Eric
 
I remember Mom telling me about the winter of '47. She was expecting me and said that the snow drifts were taller than she was. People had to cut ways through the drifts to walk along the footpaths.
 
Winter of 62/63 was probably the first time many experienced Diesel fuel waxing as previous cold spells were before Diesel fuelled vehicles became popular and petrol doesn't wax.
Problem solved a few years later when winter grade diesel was introduced which raised the cold plugging point and prevented waxing.
The time we spent during this winter bypassing fuel filters and keeping vehicles running was extremely long and arduous.
 
About adverse weather, I recall being on the 13a bus heading back to Yardley Wood after work, 1958, first year at work, the fog was so thick that the bus only got as far as Camp Hill and had to stop, visibility was pretty well zero. Ended up having to walk home, must be 5 or 6 miles!! Anyone else remember that? As for Winter 1963, married with one child, living in one bedroom flat in Moseley, no running water for 3 months, stand pipe set up outside!! Even further back, 1947, remember going with my Mom to Shirley station through the snow to get coal, had to use my pram, I was 3 at the time. What a climate eh?
 
Welcome Barester. And of course it STILL takes us all by surprise today! Hope the pram was given a good wash after collecting the coal. Enjoy the Forum. Viv.
 
Ah! but that was before the 1947 snowstorm, which I had to walk, over almost armpit high, at times, to school. Few snowploughs out and what there were were usually on the major roads. :D
 
I
Radiorails said:
Ah! but that was before the 1947 snowstorm, which I had to walk, over almost armpit high, at times, to school. Few snowploughs out and what there were were usually on the major roads. :D
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I have just noticed that regardless of the depth of snow we all still went to school. Aged 10 in 1947 with a 7 year old sister we walked from the Oscott pub on Chester Road to Green Lanes school and at times the snow was higher than we were, there was a path had been cut on the pavement very narrow but usable. Very little transport of course, no parents accompanying us because they were also struggling to get to work. Nowadays two snowflakes, the schools close, public transport ceases....when did the hardy souls of the forties and fifties (short on coal and food still severely rationed) become the wimps and wussess of the 21st century? Also I have noticed that while the poor little over protected darlings of today travel by car to school regardless of social status, whether we were state or private, grammar or secondary the only way to school was under our own steam, bus, bicycle or shankses pony, not fond parents dropping us off at the school gates and there were no free bus passes as far as I know, but can anyone correct me on that?

Bob
 
Anyone heard of this before? A lady I know was in the garden some weeks ago when a whirlwind lifted her off her feet and threw her to the ground. This wasn't in some isolated spot but at the top of Wylde Green Road. The only time I've seen a whirlwind was when we were camping in Broadway. Quite frightening seeing it coming across the fields.
 
Lady Penelope said:
Anyone heard of this before? A lady I know was in the garden some weeks ago when a whirlwind lifted her off her feet and threw her to the ground. This wasn't in some isolated spot but at the top of Wylde Green Road. The only time I've seen a whirlwind was when we were camping in Broadway. Quite frightening seeing it coming across the fields.
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I always thought there was enough camping on Broadway without the need for you to go over there and add to it all those actors and actresses and as for the danger from yellow cabs, to keep it on theme they have terrible winters there as well

Bob
 
And how do you know I'm not a retired thespian, Bob? To tell the truth I think I'm more in line for one of Joni Mitchell's big yellow taxis actually.
Going back to topic - I remember a winter at the beginning of the 80's when it was so frosty and still I could hear someone talking in the middle of the night. It was so clear that I thought they were in the house and they were actually outside in a car. I've never like extreme weather conditions since I'v been old enough to know what havoc they can cause.
 
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Depends what you call adverse weather. Snowed here in Spain in January this year, first time for they reckon 97 years. They set up a photographic exhibition in the local town as the locals had never seen it before.
 
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