At the time, people began to think it would never end - the most severe UK winter in living memory and the worst on record since 1740.
When snow began falling on Boxing Day, 1962, folk on Tyneside - and elsewhere - could not have imagined it would still be lying at the beginning of March the following year and they would be forced to live through months of near-Arctic conditions. The freak weather conditions, brought about by cold air arriving from central Russia, saw temperatures plummet so low in some locations that even the sea, rivers and lakes froze over.
For week after shivery week, the people of Britain struggled through treacherous streets deep with ice and snow to get to work and school, and were battered by bitter gale force winds. Blizzards caused snowdrifts up to 20 feet deep. And as the winter storm raged, infrastructure was badly affected.
