The Christmas blizzards of 1927

By Christmas Day, a low pressure had moved into the English Channel of around 987mb and this then engaged the colder air to the north and east. Initially, the precipitation that fell was rain but as the low pulled down even colder air from above, the rain turned readily to snow and by midnight, many southern and southeastern counties had a snow cover. Conditions the next day were very bad with heavy snowfalls and a gale force NE'ly wind bringing blizzard conditions and severe drifting. Villages were cut off by drifts up to 6-7 metres (20 feet) and food supplies had to be air-dropped. Transport was virtually paralysed with train services seriously delayed or cancelled. Even in central London, depths of snow were approaching 25cm (10") . By the 27th, high pressure had built across northern parts and the south became drier but with a bitingly cold easterly wind. The snow cover was to last until the New Year but then came another weather problem that was to have deadly consequences.

After the Christmas Blizzard came a thaw with southerly winds flowing across the UK at the New Year. With all the melt water, the Thames was a lot higher than normal. On the 6th, a  depression tracked across the UK bringing severe gales to the south of the low and a lot of wind damage. Later that night in combination with a high tide, the swollen Thames burst its banks. There was serious flooding in the City, Southwark, Westminster, Putney and Hammersmith. The vaults of the Palace of Westminster was flooded as was the normally dry moat of the Tower of London. The Tate Gallery was badly affected with several valuable paintings damaged. The human cost was worse with 14 people dying, mostly drowning in their basements and hundreds more, homeless. The authorities took heed of this event and following the flooding, the Thames embankment was raised a metre higher.

Some information from this article is republished with the kind permission from 'UK Weatherworld'.