Snow Limit

Having experienced the great Tidmoor Snow Slide of 1994, where a flash storm of heavy ice caused the death of fourteen dogs in the Devonshire area alone, this may be the worst conditions experienced in Britain for twenty years but, as you well know, it is far from the pits. Search back into the deep recesses of human memory and you’ll no doubt remember the sad demise of Percy Cartwright, the seminal botanical researcher who was frozen into his car and forced to eat the leaves of a nearby peace lily, and whose lectures, many have argued, were never the same again. Here are a few examples of similar snow stories that will help to put the current climate into perspective.

The Penrith Pile Up - When over 40 schools were closed in 1972, Cumbrian schoolchildren utilised the 14 inches of overnight snow fall by creating the world’s largest snowman. Over 50ft in height, the snowman was created as part of a school science project using authentic building methods used by the Ancient Egyptians when constructing the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The world record attempt was cut short when the head of the snowman, considered to have been too top heavy due to a design fault, toppled onto the hard shoulder of the M6 causing icy debris to close the slip road west from Keswick.

The Cincinnati Snowball - This now infamous cocktail of vermouth, ice, lime and soda water was created in memory of the late shot-putter Cleveland Spencer - a hero in his home state of Ohio - who during the Great Freeze of 1977 rescued two small children from the site of an horrific car crash by shattering both the windscreen and passenger seats with two separate snowballs. Spencer’s skills did not go unnoticed and the athlete went on to represent his city in the cross county shot-put trials, only to lose out on points to a Cardinal from Kentucky.

Salisbury Snow Angel - When retired pensioner Mavis Merriweather found herself frozen into her own kitchen during the great winter of 1942, it was local postman Clifton Potter who first raised the alarm. Potter was dubbed the ‘Salisbury Snow Angel’ after his heroic efforts during the height of the German bombing campaign over areas of the West Country where he single handedly rescued over 30 elderly ladies from their homes using a series of homemade winches and a sleigh made entirely from recycled jiffy bags.