By any standard the winter of 1962-3 was one of the hardest Great Britain has ever had. It has been reckoned that in the Midlands, which didn't have the worst of it, there has been nothing comparable since 1740.
Click to view the whole booklet as PDF about the Long Winter of 1962-63 (a Guardian pamphlet) which was published about the winter of 1962-63 and the impact across the UK.
Even the most conservative estimates for the country as a whole conclude that it was the coldest since 1829-30. It was a winter in which cars were driven across the Thames, pack ice formed a quarter of a mile outside Whltstable Harbour, a family was marooned on a Dartmoor farm for 66 days. It killed at least 49 people. And though its economic effects were not as severe as those of 1946·7, public transport was several times brought to a standstill, and the January power crisis was grave enough to provoke an emergency meeting of the Cabinet. It was a winter to remember. What follows-the day-by-day summary of the chilliest news, the special articles by Guardian reporters and correspondents which appeared in the paper at the time, the illustrations and the statistics is a memorial to the long winter 1962-3.
Photo of cover of The Long Winter 1962-63 Guardian pamphlet
