argylesock says… Yes, it’s bad. Here in Yorkshire I’ve seen snow drifting on the wind, this year, for the first time in my 45-year life. As for the ‘Big One’ of 1946, a baby born into that near here (in a farmhouse without electricity) got pneumonia and the vicar heroically rode over the snow on horseback to say the Last Rites. The baby never grew big but here she is beside me now. Anyway, thank you for telling the story of the snow. I fear for our farmers.
I apologise up front for the title of this post, but it aptly describes the impact of this snowy spring on Britain’s hill farms. The point of this post is to show the severity of this weather event. As the South East of Britain escaped the worst of the snow, it is really the lack of Spring-like temperatures that have made the news, but for many areas in the northwest this has been comparable to the notorious Winters of 1947 and 1962/63, and the effect on livestock, particularly sheep in-lamb, has been devastating.
It all started late on Thursday 21st March when a band of rain moved diagonally across Ireland from the Southwest, turning to sleet and snow as it hit the cold air over Britain.
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Science on the Land 