Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom

, Emanuel Shinwell The effects of the cold winter were exacerbated by problems in the energy sector which caused coal supplies to become low. The coal and electricity industries had been recently nationalised by Clement Attlee's government and placed under the control of the Minister of Fuel and Power, Manny Shinwell. Shinwell oversaw efforts to increase production, but there were concerns that the coal supply was inadequate. At the start of the winter the coal stockpiles contained enough coal to last for just four weeks, compared to the usual supplies of ten to twelve weeks which existed before the war. However, Shinwell allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security by over-optimistic productivity reports from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). These reports failed to translate into real production as the government feared to take on the NUM, whose members' absentee rates were 2.5 times those of the pre-war period. The risk of a coal shortage caused the public to buy electric fires to ensure a source of heat for their homes. This, in turn, put a greater strain on the supply of electricity – the monthly demand increase caused by electric fires in 1946 was roughly the same as the annual increase in generating capacity. Shinwell was warned in mid-October that a coal shortage was possible, but gambled on a mild winter to keep consumption low so that he would not have to risk a confrontation with the miners. == Timeline ==

January The winter began with two periods of cold weather in December 1946 and January 1947, but the coldest period did not begin until 21 January 1947. The main cause of the cold weather was an anticyclone which sat over Scandinavia from 20 January. This high-pressure area blocked the progression of depressions across the Atlantic Ocean and forced them to the south of the United Kingdom, resulting in strong easterly winds which brought snow to eastern and south-eastern England before progressing across the entire country. This cold spell continued and by 30 January the Isles of Scilly were under of snow and the overnight temperature at Writtle, Essex, was . Throughout January the highest recorded temperature in England and Wales was and the minimum was . February The easterly winds continued into February, which developed into one of the coldest months on record. At Kew Observatory there was no recorded temperature above for the month and only twice was the overnight temperature above . No sunshine at all was recorded at Kew for twenty days from 2 February, In contrast, West Scotland was near-record dry and unusually sunny, though still extremely cold. On 20 February the ferry service across the English Channel between Dover and Ostend was suspended due to pack ice off the Belgian coast. In some places snow fell on 26 days out of 28 in the month and a temperature of was recorded at Woburn, Bedfordshire, on 25 February. Several hundred villages were cut off. Ice floes were also seen off the coast of East Anglia, causing a hazard to shipping. Although so many people were made redundant there was little unrest and no major public disorders. On 15 March a deepening depression moved in from the Atlantic, bringing heavy rain and gales. Two days later, in the lower tidal reaches of the river, the peak of the flood combined with a high spring tide to flood villages and 2,000 properties in Gainsborough. River levels dropped when the floodbank at Morton breached, resulting in the flooding of some of farmland in the Trent valley. The flooding subsided in the west of the country by 20 March but rivers in the east were still rising and the Wharfe, Derwent, Aire and Ouse all burst their banks in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Selby was also badly affected with 70 per cent of houses being flooded. More than 100,000 properties were affected by the flooding and the Army worked to prevent the spread of the floodwater, particularly at pumping plants and power stations. Royal Engineers on national service handed out milk to families with babies and the Australian Red Cross assisted in Gloucester. The people of Canada sent food parcels to villages in Suffolk and the Premier of Ontario, George A. Drew, offered to help distribute them personally. The flooding lasted for about a week, with some waters taking an additional ten days to subside. == Legacy ==

The winter had a lasting effect on Britain's industry; by February 1947 it was already estimated that that year's industrial output would be down by 10 per cent. The winter had political ramifications and caused the public to lose faith in a Labour government who could not maintain food and electricity supplies. Shinwell never publicly admitted that the crisis had resulted from low coal supplies, instead blaming the climate, the railway system, or capitalism generally. But the public blamed the long-time Labour activist, and Shinwell was forced to resign in October. Shinwell's resignation did not absolve the party: Labour lost a large number of seats to the Conservative Party in the following election (but retained a slim majority). The effects of the winter came at a time of heavy government spending with 15 per cent of the GDP being spent on the armed forces and large expenditure on the new National Health Service and post-war reconstruction. The winter as a whole was less cold than the winter of 1963 but more snow was recorded. == Outside the United Kingdom ==

The winter affected many other European countries. Similar cold periods and snowfalls were seen in much of Central Europe and the southern Baltic region. De Bilt, near Amsterdam in the Netherlands, experienced its worst winter since 1790. Because of the anticyclone to the north of the United Kingdom, several incoming Atlantic depressions which would otherwise have hit Britain tracked south to the Mediterranean region, resulting in Portugal, Spain, and Southern France having more rain than usual while remaining relatively warm. For example, the February rainfall at Gibraltar was , three times the average. As a result, France experienced both the extreme cold in the north and much rain in the south. The winter caused 150 deaths from the cold and lack of food in Berlin, which was still recovering from its devastation during the final stages of the Second World War. It caused schools in the Netherlands to be closed, led to a mob attack on a goods train carrying coal in Copenhagen, and caused the closure of businesses and the restriction of domestic gas supplies in Ireland. ==See also==