Heavy Snows
Heavy Snows
From the chronicles:
December 1601. The snow was so deep that it was up to one’s chest, and it was impossible to walk on land. It was easier to get around on the Danube’s ice.
Sopron, 1708. An unusually high quantity of snow fell on 20 December; it was possible to step out into the street through the window, and one could easily step onto the city’s walls.
The greatest precipitation was recorded in the winter of 1947. In that year, the abundance of winter precipitation was also manifest in enduring and intensive snowfall and a substantial snow cover. In January 1947, snowfall was frequent and intense throughout the month, February experienced heavy snows, and snow fell even in early March. As a result of the snows, a considerable – usually 20 to 30 cm thick – layer of snow shrouded the country in late January. The already significant snow cover was added to considerably in February, reaching 40-60 cm in Transdanubia. The blanket of snow remained until around 20 March that year. That winter was not only notorious for its precipitation and heavy snows; it was also unseasonably cold. This resulted in the Danube completely freezing over for 30 days (until 11 March), with the ice sheet having been so thick at Budapest that, in February, people would cross from Pest to Buda on foot.
Recent years also experienced incredibly heavy snows, when life stopped for a few days in a large part of the country (including Budapest), traffic was paralysed, and certain communities were isolated for days. For example, in 1987, it began to snow on 11 January, continuing up to the 15th or 16th. As a result of the intense snowfall, a blanket of snow of considerable depth accumulated throughout the country (some meteorological stations reported snow as deep as 50-70 cm). The snows were accompanied by strong gusts of wind, creating snow-drifts reaching depths of approximately one and a half meters in places. It was also bitterly cold at the time; for example, on 13 January, night-time air temperatures dropped to as low as -23 to -28 degrees in many places. As a result of the cold weather, the deep snow remained not only through January, but as late as l 1 February.
It began to snow on 12 November 1993, blanketing a substantial part of the country in as much as 20-30 cm of snow in just a few days. Snow flurries were reported for eight days, and the land was covered in a contiguous blanket of snow for twelve days. The second wave of snow arrived between 20 and 22 November, causing the existing blanket in Transdanubia to grow to as deep as 50-60 cm in places by late November. It also snowed for 4 to 7 days in December 1993 primarily in the western part of the country though the contiguous snow cover still lasted for a further 12 to 21 days.
Deepest snow cover ever recorded:
Deepest measured snow cover: 151 cm in Kőszeg on 19 February 1947. In February of that year, the number of days with substantial snow cover reached 28 (fifteen snow days were recorded in March). Deepest snow cover occurring in the period from 1931 to 1960: the depth of the snow in Nagykanizsa reached as much as 122 cm in February, while the maximum depth in Sárbogárd reached 100 cm also in February. A snow blanket 82 cm deep was recorded from the vicinity of Bakonybél in February.
