Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom

The winter began with two periods of cold weather in December 1946 and January 1947, but the coldest period did not begin until 21 January 1947. The main cause of the cold weather was an anticyclone which sat over Scandinavia from 20 January. This high-pressure area blocked the progression of depressions across the Atlantic Ocean and forced them to the south of the United Kingdom, resulting in strong easterly winds which brought snow to eastern and south-eastern England before progressing across the entire country. This cold spell continued and by 30 January the Isles of Scilly were under 7 inches (0.18 m) of snow and the overnight temperature at Writtle, Essex, was −20 °C (−4 °F). Throughout January the highest recorded temperature in England and Wales was 14 °C (57 °F) and the minimum was −21 °C (−6 °F).[6]

Low pressure over the UK on 3 February

The easterly winds continued into February, which developed into one of the coldest months on record. At Kew Observatory there was no recorded temperature above 5 °C (41 °F) for the month and only twice was the overnight temperature above 0 °C (32 °F). No sunshine at all was recorded at Kew for twenty days from 2 February,[6] whilst across England and Wales the month was the second-dullest February since records began in 1929, with only 30.8 hours of sunshine or 1.1 per day.[7] In contrast, West Scotland was near-record dry and unusually sunny,[8] though still extremely cold. On 20 February the ferry service across the English Channel between Dover and Ostend was suspended due to pack ice off the Belgian coast.[9] In some places snow fell on 26 days out of 28 in the month and a temperature of −21 °C (−6 °F) was recorded at Woburn, Bedfordshire, on 25 February.[6] As a result, railways were badly affected by drifts of light powdery snow and three hundred main roads were made unusable.[6][10] Several hundred villages were cut off.[11] Ice floes were also seen off the coast of East Anglia, causing a hazard to shipping.[10]

This cold weather exacerbated the fuel problem. Stockpiles of coal at the pits and depots froze solid and could not be moved.[10] The snow also trapped 750,000 railway wagons of coal and made roads unusable, further hampering transport.[5] A force of 100,000 British and Polish troops and German prisoners of war were put to work clearing snow from the railways by hand,[5] while desperate attempts were made to get fuel to power stations by coal-carrying ships which risked storms, fog and ice to reach their destinations.[9] Despite such expedients, lack of fuel forced many power stations to shut down or reduce their output.[10] The Royal Navy launched Operation Blackcurrant, which used diesel generators aboard submarines to provide supplementary power to coastal towns and dockyards.

Shinwell acted to reduce consumption of coal by cutting the electricity supply to industry completely and reducing the domestic supply to 19 hours per day across the country.[5][9] In consequence factories across the country were forced to shut and up to four million people claimed unemployment benefits.[10][12] Although so many people were made redundant there was little unrest and no major public disorders.[5] Television services were suspended completely, radio broadcasts were reduced, some magazines were ordered to stop being published, and newspapers were cut in size to four pages or one sheet.[5][9] Food rations, still in use from the Second World War, were cut to levels lower than in the war years.[9] These measures made little difference to the rate of coal consumption but served to reduce public morale.[9]

Despite Shinwell's actions the fuel supply remained insufficient and blackouts occurred across large swathes of the country, forcing even the staff at Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and London's Central Electricity Board to work by candlelight.[5][12] A trade meeting with representatives from Russia and Iceland was also held without light or heating; one of the items discussed was the purchase of coal from Britain.[5] The public was reduced to queuing at gasworks to collect coke for use as fuel.[11] Supplies of aspirin also ran low as it was then a product of coal-tar, thousands of chickens in poultry farms died of the cold, and public transport services were cut to save fuel. Shinwell became increasingly unpopular with the general public and received a bomb threat, after which a four-man police guard was stationed at his house in Tooting.[5] Despite this, he remained very popular with the miners, which made the government wary of dismissing him in case it caused industrial action. By 27 February sea conditions had improved and more than 100 coal ships had managed to unload their cargoes at the power stations, easing the fuel crisis.[5]

During this period there was a fear that, despite the rationing, food supplies could run out owing to the effects of the cold on vegetables, livestock and delivery vehicles. In response, the government started a largely unsuccessful campaign to popularise Snoek, an inexpensive South African variety of fish; the public found the fish unpalatable and its stocks were eventually used as cat food.[9] Many winter root vegetables could not be harvested as they were frozen into the ground, and in some areas pneumatic drills were used to excavate them.[9] Frost destroyed 70,000 long tons (71,000 t) of potatoes and, as a result, potatoes were rationed for the first time.[9]

Milder air moving over the UK on 10 March

On 4–5 March came heavy snow which left drifts across much of the country with some lying 7 metres (23 ft) deep in the Scottish Highlands.[6] On 5 March one of the worst British blizzards of the 20th century occurred.[9] Food supplies were again affected by the snow-bound roads and in some places the police requested permission to break into delivery lorries stranded by the snow.[9]

On 10 March milder air of 7–10 °C (45–50 °F) began to move north across the country from the south-west, rapidly thawing the snow lying on low ground.[6] However, after such a long frost the ground stayed frozen. The frozen ground caused much surface run off which resulted in widespread flooding. Further heavy snowfalls occurred as the milder air pushed northwards. On 14 March the deepest ever recorded depth of snow lying in an inhabited location of the UK was measured at Forest-in-Teesdale in County Durham at 83 inches (210 cm).[13] On 15 March a deepening depression moved in from the Atlantic, bringing heavy rain and gales.[6] It was the start of the wettest March for 300 years.[12] By 16 March winds reached 50 knots (90 km/h) with 90-knot (170 km/h) gusts, causing breaches in dykes in East Anglia that resulted in the flooding of 100 square miles (260 km²) of land,[6][9] and blowing many trees down. The rivers Thames and Lea flooded in London, causing the Windsor borough engineer Geoffrey Baker to remark: "We could only cope if we had a spare Thames, or two."[11]

A bulldozer towing a sledge delivers bread to the snowbound village of Llanwddyn, Montgomeryshire, on 15 March 1947.

Flooding from the River Trent in West Bridgford near Nottingham

On 17–18 March the River Trent overtopped its banks in Nottingham. Large parts of the city and surrounding areas were flooded, in which 9,000 properties and nearly a hundred industrial premises were affected – some to first-floor height. The suburbs of West Bridgford and Beeston suffered particularly badly, as did nearby Long Eaton in Derbyshire, which suffered extensive flooding.[6][14][15] Two days later, in the lower tidal reaches of the river, the peak of the flood combined with a high spring tide to flood villages and 2,000 properties in Gainsborough. River levels dropped when the floodbank at Morton breached, resulting in the flooding of some 77 square miles (200 km²) of farmland in the Trent valley.[16] The flooding subsided in the west of the country by 20 March but rivers in the east were still rising and the Wharfe, Derwent, Aire and Ouse all burst their banks in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[6] Selby was also badly affected with 70 per cent of houses being flooded. More than 100,000 properties were affected by the flooding and the Army worked to prevent the spread of the floodwater, particularly at pumping plants and power stations.[6][11] Royal Engineers on national service handed out milk to families with babies and the Australian Red Cross assisted in Gloucester. The people of Canada sent food parcels to villages in Suffolk and the Premier of Ontario, George A. Drew, offered to help distribute them personally.[11] The flooding lasted for about a week, with some waters taking an additional ten days to subside.[11]