Snow babies and 10ft drifts - memories of the big snow of 1982
- Published
A BBC Archive picture shows efforts at the time to clear the snow
"The snow drifts were so high that they covered our front door - people had to climb through windows to get out of the house".
That is how Margrete Doyle (nee Dinsmore) from Mayobridge in County Down describes the day she was born during the "big snow" of January 1982.
"I became known as the Snow Baby after my mum had to be rescued from our home to give birth to me at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry," she says.
The police and a tractor owned by family friend was used to get her parents out of the house.
Newborn Margrete Doyle came to be known as the Snow Baby
"My mum, Noreen, made it to the hospital and I was born within an hour - and her story made it into the local papers."
The snow and strong winds arrived from the continent causing havoc from 8 January 1982.
Huge drifts of snow were reported along the east coast with communities cut off as a result.
Today the weather system would have received a name like 2018's Beast from the east.
A County Down Outlook newspaper clipping on the efforts made to get baby Margrete Dinsmore safely into the world
"Snow drifts from fields surrounded our bungalow in Templepatrick in County Antrim - some were 10ft (3m) high and my dad's measuring tape wasn't long enough to measure some of the peaks" said Jenny Paterson who was seven at the time.
"The police got stuck in the snow on Lylehill Road and the Army came to dig them out but they got stuck too.
"A helicopter came from Aldergrove to airlift them out and they just left their vehicles behind because they were stuck.
"Our electricity was out and my grandad had to drag a gas cannister 400 yards over the snow to our house so that we would have gas to cook our dinner," she added.
There was enough snow to build an igloo, as this picture from BBC Archive shows
There were also reports of fires with back boilers exploding in homes because water in the boiler had frozen.
"The weather is unprecedented and I cannot recall back boilers freezing and then exploding when fires had been lit in my experience," Coal Advisory manager Douglas Barrett told the BBC in 1982.
"So as soon as this started happening we issued a notice yesterday advising people, and indeed warning them, that if they have not had a fire for some time then do not light a fire without first checking that there is no ice in the back boiler."
Coal Advisory manager Douglas Barrett told the BBC in 1982 that the weather was "unprecedented"
The snow made headlines right across Ireland with reports that tens of thousands of homes were without power.
The Irish Times reported bread riots broke out in Howth in County Dublin when loaves became available at a local bakery., external
Some bakeries in Belfast also struggled to have stock delivered, according to Tracy McCann from the Monagh Road in the west of the city.
"Food deliveries couldn't get in. The delivery drivers for McErleans bakery had to park a good distance away and carry the goods to the store" she told BBC News NI.
"I remember tractors being brought in to clear roads and paths so that people could get out of their homes.
"We put plastic bags over our trousers to keep them dry because the snow was so deep - we even used several pairs of socks as gloves to keep our hands warm."
Fields and gardens were blanketed with snow
The snow followed what was then the coldest December in record in 1981.
"The snow fell for around 36 hours non-stop," according to John Wylie from the Met Office.
"Depths of snow reached around 20cm in places, but when you add on the depths of the drifts we were talking about drifts of many feet deep.
"That caused paralysis to a number of villages and towns in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as well."
Aidan McHugh, from Drumquin in County Tyrone, remembers getting a measuring stick out to see how deep the snow was
What was misery for some was fun for others however with many making the most out of a wintry situation.
"I remember the excitement of going to school and playing in the snow," recalls Aidan McHugh from Drumquin, County Tyrone.
"School wasn't closed back then - you walked two miles in the snow to get there and two miles back home.
"We used school measuring sticks to check how deep the snow was. It was deeper is some spots because of drifting.
"Dad made torches in case the electricity went out and he made sleds for us to go out to play on. It was brilliant, we loved the sense of adventure."