The near-freezing temperatures meant that the snow cover lasted for more than two months in some areas. The snow stranded villagers and brought down power lines. Snow drifted to more than 20 feet (6.1 m) deep in places, driven by gale force easterly winds, blocking roads and railways. On 29 and 30 December 1962 a blizzard swept across South West England and Wales. Significant snowfall occurred as the air mass moved south, and parts of Southern England had heavy snow late on 26–27 December. Throughout the Christmas period, the Scandinavian high collapsed, but a new high formed near Iceland, bringing northerly winds. A cold easterly set in on 22 December as an anticyclone formed over Scandinavia, drawing cold continental winds from Russia. A wintry outbreak brought snow to the country on 12–13 December.
The beginning of December was foggy and London suffered its last great smog before clean air legislation and the reduction in the use of coal fires had their full effect. The winter of 1894–1895 was colder than that of 1962–1963 in Scotland North and Scotland East, whilst although instrumental temperature data for Scotland and Northern Ireland do not extend back to 1740 station data from subsequent years suggest that the winters of 1813–18–1879 were almost certainly colder than 1962–1963 over Scotland and Northern Ireland, and that the winter of 1779–1780 may also have been colder over Scotland. The winter of 1962–1963 remains the coldest since at least 1895 in all meteorological districts of the United Kingdom, although in Scotland North the winter of 2009–2010 was equally cold. In the Central England Temperature (CET) record extending back to 1659, only the winters of 1683–16–1740 were colder than 1962–1963.
Temperatures plummeted and lakes and rivers began to freeze over. The winter of 1962–1963, known as the Big Freeze of 1963, was one of the coldest winters (defined as the months of December, January and February) on record in the United Kingdom. Deep snow near Burrow-with-Burrow, Lancashire, England, January 1963