Here is the original snow depth map (published in 1881) that was constructed from reports given by observers on the Great Blizzard of 18th/19th January 1881.

The white shading are for depths of 12 inches and greater
The vertical shading are for depths of between 6 and 12 inches
The horizontal shading are for depths of 6 inches and less.

Reports from around the counties
London/Middlesex: Snow started falling around 9am on the 18th and lasted until about midday on the 19th. It was accompanied by a violent gale. General depth of 9 inches and 3 feet drifts.
Surrey: About 9 inches generally.
Kent: 3 to 4 inches along coast, 4-6 inches inland, 7 inches nearer London. 14 feet drifts on the Isle of Thanet.
Sussex: 7-8 inches to the north. 24 inches at Worthing, 18 inches at Brighton, 12 inches at St Leonard's, 9 to 12 inches at Littlehampton.
Isle of Wight and south Hampshire: A staggering 34 inches in two falls at Newport on Isle of Wight. St Lawrence with 22 inches, Osborne and Ventnor with 18 inches and 24 inches at Ryde. Many roads were filled with snow up to halfway on lamp-posts. 12 feet drifts at Cowes. A hall collapsed at Portsmouth due to weight of snow.
Berkshire: Ranging from 9 inches to east up to 15 inches in west.
Hertfordshire: 6 to 9 inches.
Buckinghamshire: About 7 inches in general
Oxfordshire: 12 to 13 inches. 13 feet drifts in places.
Northamptonshire: 6 inches generally but in the SW of county it was 12 inches.
Huntindgonshire: 5 inches to NE to 8 inches in south.
Bedfordshire: 7 inches, 10 feet drifts
Cambridgeshire: About 7 inches.
Essex: 6 inches along coast, 9 inches to west.
Suffolk: 2-3 inches along the coast up to 7 inches in west.
Norfolk: 9 inches generally
Wiltshire: 6 inches at Calne, 36 inches at Warminster. 12 feet drifts.
Dorset: 12-14 inches inland, 18 to 20 inches along coast.
Devonshire: 12 to 14 inches generally, 3 feet over Dartmoor. 15 feet drifts.
Cornwall: 12 inches in far east, 7 inches generally
Somerset: 12 to 13 inches in the south and east, 8 to 10 inches in west and north.
Gloucestershire: 9 to 10 inches in south, 6 to 7 inches in north. 7 to 10 feet drifts.
Herefordshire: 10 to 11 inches in south, 6 inches in the north.
Shropshire: 3 inches in the north, 5 inches in the south.
Staffordshire: 1 to 4 inches
Worcestershire: 5 to 6 inches.
Warwickshire: 4 inches in north, 7 to 8 inches over central parts, 12 inches in SE of county
Leicestershire: 6 inches and 6 feet drifts.
Lincolnshire: 6 to 7 inches
South Wales: About 6 inches with 9 inches around Monmouthshire.
Radnorshire: 15 inches
Denbighshire: 6 inches


From the Wirral to just north of Flamborough Head  northwards, no snow fell from this storm although there was a deep cover of snow over a wide area. For instance, parts of  the Lancashire plain had a general cover of 6 inches.

Specific reports
Andover: 12 inches
Basingstoke: 4 inches
Barnstaple: 36 inches
Dorchester: 36 inches
Exeter: 12 inches
Fareham: 30 inches
Guildford: 8 inches
Havant: 36 inches
Lidford: 15 inches
Okehampton: 36 inches
Plymouth: 18 inches
Portsmouth: 30 inches
Ringwood: 36 inches
Salisbury: 9 inches
Southampton: 12 inches
Tottenham: 8 inches

That's nothing, we had 2cm the other week!

Thanks for posting this, but  haven't you got the horizontal and vertical shading back to front?

shading makes sense to me, looks right ie vertical closest to white = likely that depths were approaching the upper end of things as opposed to the lower end 6 and below.

Here's the Times article from the 20th of January 1881 of the Great Blizzard.

The Times Editorial

I suppose that having happened once, it could happen again  .... sigh ...

That was some storm there, my part of the world saw quite a bit of snow.

Same again please

How did the snow come about? was it with a front coming in from the West again cold air? or a channel low?

Gooner:

How did the snow come about? was it with a front coming in from the West again cold air? or a channel low?

Good points. I have heard about this one before - Kevin can correct me or enlarge on this.

But from what I have heard this snowfall was in a class of its own caused by a channel low. Mind you this was no ordinary one. This was a channel low with a full closed circulation. That is very rare and there were shed loads of cold air to the north of it.

January 1881 was  a very severe month with a CET of -1.5C. Compare that with our last sub zero January CET which was  -0.4C for January 1979.

I wondered if you would ever do a post on this! There are various photos on the island, in buildings, pubs, halls, of this snowfall. In Newport there are photos of people stood in chest high snow with the drifts against the buildings at least double this height!

Also in Shanklin there are photos of drifts on the beach up to 10ft against the houses and cliffs.

Gooner:

How did the snow come about? was it with a front coming in from the West again cold air? or a channel low?

A Channel low

Mr_Data:

Gooner:

How did the snow come about? was it with a front coming in from the West again cold air? or a channel low?

A Channel low

Just look at the position of that and 985 as well. A snowmakers dream that was.

The severity of the frosts were remarkable probably second to February 1895 in intensity and length. The CET for the period of 8th to 27th was -4.4C

Minima
13th: -18.9C at Cardigan
14th: -20C at Corwen, -19.4C at Corwen, -18C at Achonachie, Alston, Ketton and Lauder
16th: -24.4C at Blackadder. -23.3C at Stobo, -22.2C at Kelso and Corwen, -18.3C at Blackpool, -17.8C at Chester
17th: -30C at Blackadder, -26.7C at Kelso, -26.1C at Stobo, -23.3C at Melrose
18th: -26.1C at Stobo
20th: -19.4C at Cheltenham
21st: -23.3C at Haydon Bridge
24th: -23.3C at Blackadder
25th: -21.7C at Bury St Edmunds
26th: -26.7C at Blackadder

Other low minima.

Canden Square: -11.2C (17th)
Hitchin: -15C (20th)
Banbury: -15C (20th)
Norwich: -17.2C (26th)
Barnastaple: -14.4C (22nd)
Bodmin: -13.3C (26th)
Manchester: -12.2C (17th, 26th)
Skipton: -18.9C (25th)
Llandudno: -9.7C (26th)
Braemar: -20C (17th)
Aberdeen: -15.6C (17th)
Cork: -13.3C (15th)
Waterford: -12C (17th)
Galway: -10.6C (17th)
Londonderry: -10C (22nd)
Omagh: -19.4C (23rd)

At Orleton, the maximum never got above -7.0C on the 25th. Rivers in the area had frozen over by the 15th.
Boston: 15 days the mean temp was -6.1C, 6.5 inches thick  ice on river. 
Haverfordwest: River Cleddan frozen over.  A maximum of -7.8C on the 20th.
Killaloe: Large part of Lough Derg frozen over.

An aurora was widely seen over the UK on the 31st.

A fantastic event, thats is some LP . How rare event is this?

Hmmm,

It was a Nil event in Cumbria, if it happened now I would be raging mad with NIMBY frustration

Andy

Andy Woodcock:

Hmmm,

It was a Nil event in Cumbria, if it happened now I would be raging mad with NIMBY frustration

Andy

LOL

Just looking at the Snow distribution map, there is an odd little area that quite a bit lees than other parts of the South? any reason? is it a sheltered spot?

Also the heavier falls are spread in a strange way? any particular reason?

glenogle:

shading makes sense to me, looks right ie vertical closest to white = likely that depths were approaching the upper end of things as opposed to the lower end 6 and below.

He obviously edited the post after I wrote that, as he had it the other way round!

As for that area in the south, I don't know - it's basically centred around my house. We normally do OK for snow here, there is plenty of highish ground around here.

Hungry Tiger:

Mind you this was no ordinary one. This was a channel low with a full closed circulation

 Hi There, If I may ask, what makes it rare? and what does "full closed circulation" mean?

Cheers

Captaincroc:

Hungry Tiger:

Mind you this was no ordinary one. This was a channel low with a full closed circulation

 

 Hi There, If I may ask, what makes it rare? and what does "full closed circulation" mean?

 

Cheers

I'll explain.

A low pressure system which moves the whole way along the English Channel is quite a rare event. In winter it often means snow when it does happen.

In a cold winter/ cold spell it means a substantial snowfall. In a very cold month in winter it means without doubt a very heavy snowfall.

In very rare occasions and I mean rare occasions the low pressure system is deep enough to form full closed isobars and not be a wave feature as is all too often the case. This one in 1881 had at least 2 isobars on its own entity fully closed and not slack waves, on a 5 bar chart (Ie charts marked at 5 isobar intervals).

As well as this, this system moved the whole length of the English Channel. As well as all this it moved through in the midst of one of the coldest spells in recorded history as Kevin Bradshaw showed with the temperatures that were recorded.

So in this truly amazing snowfall event we had the following.

1. A Channel Low which moved the whole length of the Channel - and not cut across as they all too often do.

2. A full closed ciruclation low pressure.

3. An impressive and intense cold spell in which the snow was able to fall. January 1881 was a very severe month with a CET of -1.5C. If that had happened in the 20th century only January 1963 and February 1947 was colder.

So therefore we had not just one factor which led to a snowfall in a class of its own - but 3 factors.

It was not only a once in a lifetime event, but an historic event, to get all 3 factors for snow occuring like this to those who love a snowfall event - this was like winning the national lottery two weeks in succession.

It was just truly amazing. I often wonder what sort of temperatures were recorded in southern counties when this event took place. -5C or lower and I would never be suprised if that was the case.

Thankyou very much for your explaination, was very clear and totally understood.