Big Freeze: How the universe could end in a cold and dark state

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In the run-up to the Christmas of 1962, a harsh winter descended on the UK. While the sight of snow may have pleased some initially, gradually, as the sub-zero temperatures set-in and stayed, enthusiasm waned. The nation was soon in the grips of one of its coldest ever winters, quickly dubbed the Big Freeze. While Britain hasn’t experienced such prolonged temperatures since, one expert has suggested that they could soon return. 

Between December 1962 and March the following year, Britain endured a period of intensely low temperatures and horrendous weather conditions, a period which was later dubbed the Big Freeze.

Since records began in 1659, only two winters on record had been colder. The Central England Temperature calculated that only the winters of 1683/84 and 1739/40 had been colder than in 1962/63.

Temperatures in the country dropped to as low as -20C, with snow drifts reaching 20 foot. Rivers and lakes froze, and Britain was brought to a standstill.

Sixty years on, the lasting impact of events from the Big Freeze are still discussed, with concerns over global warming sparking questions about whether a similar winter could hit Britain again.  

Dr Stephen Burt, an expert in meteorology at the University of Reading, was pressed on whether it could happen during a talk, titled The Bitter Winter of 1962/63 in the British Isles, in 2013.

He noted that while the meteorological conditions that led to the Big Freeze were “rare”, it wasn’t “out of the question” for similar spells of weather to return.

He said: “The normally easterly flow from the continent brought very cold air that had been sitting in a big anticyclone, essentially getting colder and colder due to radiation cooling.

“That flow moved over to the British Isles. The atmosphere stayed more or less the same for a couple of months, which is quite unusual.”

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The harsh weather remained for so long because the normal “mild westerly winds of the Atlantic not making any progress”, meaning there was no circulation for the cold winds to move away.

When pressed on whether climate change may have influenced events six decades ago, he said it was “producing different extremes, so it may be that weather is getting more extreme”.

Bleakly, Dr Burt concluded that regardless of “whether it is in five years or five hundred years, it is not out of the question that we could end up with another winter as cold as the one in 1963”.

Among the hardest hit during the horror period was sport, which saw its calendars ripped apart as a result. Postponement of fixtures in football and rugby became the norm, with some being canceled more than 10 times.

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This included the FA Cup, which in 1963 had penciled in its third round of fixtures to be played from January 5. While some matches were eventually played, the games were not completely concluded until March 11 — a whopping 66 days later.

According to the BBC, in total, there were 261 postponements, with 16 ties called off at least 10 times. This figure was even higher north of the border in Scotland, where a Scottish Cup match between Airdrie and Stranraer was attempted to be played 33 times. On attempt 34 the former won 3-0.

Though it was bad news for many sports fan, one aspect of footballing life that was transformed forever was the invention of the Pools Panel, which provided results for postponed games — something which remains in place to this day.

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