The Algarve was covered in snow 60 years ago

The month of February has been, over the last few decades, fertile in singular events. On February 15, […]

The month of February has been, over the last few decades, fertile in singular events. On February 15, 1941, the country was hit by a violent cyclone and, in 1969, on February 28, it was shaken by the largest earthquake recorded in the 2th century in mainland Portugal. Barely fifteen years earlier, on February 1954, XNUMX, another prodigy happened – a great snowfall covered the country from north to south.

Despite being extremely cold, not only in Portugal, as in the rest of Europe, nothing predicted the unusual event. The Algarve, used to mild temperatures, despaired of the cold that had invaded them and, despite the harbingers of spring with the arrival of the swallows, they lived through days of a glacial winter that culminated in the fall of a heavy snow.

Snow covered fig tree in the Algarve

Unusual but not unprecedented phenomenon in the south of the country, it replaced the peculiar Algarve snow for a few hours – the almond blossom.

Due to its uniqueness, the snowfall was registered in the memory of all who witnessed it and was widely disseminated by periodicals of the time, such as “Diário de Notícias” (DN), “O Século” and “A Voz”. 60 years later, it is through these newspapers that we will revisit the region for those unique days.

Neve in Portimão, next to Casa Inglesa

On February 1st, DN registered the snowfall in Aljezur and Odiáxere, causing great perplexity among the population. Also in Portimão, some flakes were seen on January 31st, but it was on February 2nd that the snow reached its peak, there and throughout the region: “This afternoon [February 2nd] from 16 to 19 hours, it fell with greater intensity, so that the whole city was covered in white. On the streets the snow reached between 10 and 20 centimeters in height. There is no memory among the elderly people of the land of anything similar to what has now been witnessed and the subject is commented as a strange phenomenon in these parts.” The temperature dropped a lot, reaching, in Portimão, according to “A Voz”, 1°C.

Snow in Portimão, next to Casa Inglesa

In Bensafrim, it snowed for over an hour, changing the landscape: “The roofs, the paths and the fields took on an enchanting appearance, with their immaculate whiteness, a spectacle never seen in these places. The layer of snow reached a few centimeters thick and was fun for the petizada”.

Further north, in Aljezur, it fell “under a glacial cold”, together with light rain. In Odeceixe, the phenomenon lasted for three hours, reaching the snow, in some places, more than 8 centimeters thick, leaving the fields “completely white”, in an unprecedented vision.

Also in Lagos it snowed in abundance, constituting a "wonderful spectacle never seen in this city." The same happened in Porches, while in the neighboring Armação de Pêra, only in the almond trees the snow was not surprising: “With a sky of uniform shade of lead and absence of wind, snow fell in the morning over this locality. The roofs and fields were completely white and the spectacle, for the first time observed here, vividly impressed the population”.

Snow at Silves Castle

About Alcantarilha, it was published: “The cold has been very intense. In the morning there was a snowfall, which admired many people, because, in fact, there is no memory of such a large amount of snow. The very light flakes looked like the petals of almond blossoms”. At the Tunis railway junction, the village “woke up under a thick blanket of snow. There is no memory of such a snowfall in the Algarve.”

In old Silves, “snow fell over this city and surroundings throughout the afternoon of yesterday, providing a show of rare beauty”. Also in Algoz there was a similar phenomenon: “No one remembers such a low temperature, nor so much snow”, as reported by “A Voz”, also referring: “Today, due to the heavy snowfall that fell during the night, the fields, roofs, groves and streets were covered with a great layer of snow, whose appearance was enchanting, as in some points the white layer reached 40 centimeters in height. The entire population flocked to the highest places, witnessing such a beautiful aspect that it was preserved, until the sun broke everything”.

The same happened in São Bartolomeu de Messines: “It snowed so intensely yesterday that after a little more than two hours the snow reached in some points, more than 30 cm thick. It was enchanting to see the great expanses of alvinitentes”.

 

A span of snow in the district capital

snow in Faro

In the district capital, Faro, a news item dated on the 3rd said: “During part of yesterday and last night, heavy snow fell on this city, a fact that has been registered here for the first time and aroused the most lively curiosity, as most of the population had never seen it. snow. This one reached in some points more than a handbreadth in height and was preserved for most of the day today, which was very cold”.

The same happened in Estoi, where the thermometer registered 0º C. Also in São Brás de Alportel, temperatures dropped significantly, the thermometer marked at 14 pm, on the 2nd, “two degrees below zero, which dropped to four, at 19 pm, temperatures only 23 years ago they registered”, reported “A Voz”. The snow fell in São Brás uninterruptedly for 10 hours, reaching “30 centimeters high in the streets and, in some places, 1 meter”.

In turn, in Olhão, it snowed profusely during the afternoon, until around 21 pm, reaching the white mantle 15 cm in height. On Eng. Duarte Pacheco street, the doors were actually boarded up. The following morning, “the village appeared wrapped in an immense white blanket of snow and ice, giving the people from Olhao the opportunity to witness an unprecedented spectacle. During the day, the population dumped the accumulated snow on the roofs of the houses onto the street, which gave rise to thick blocks that, despite the sun, otherwise melt. In the surroundings, the almond blossoms mingling with the snowflakes offered a grandiose spectacle”.

Snow on the Avenida da República in Olhão

In Fuzeta, the newspapers of the time wrote, “there is no memory of such a dazzling spectacle as that which took place in this town, whose streets and terraces were covered with snow”. In fact, along the sea and all along the coast, hundreds of boats and the beaches themselves were covered with snow.

In Tavira, it snowed profusely between 18 pm and 23 pm, accumulating about 40 cm in the Largo dos Mártires da República. As for the fields, said the DN, "all the trees look like almond trees in bloom."

In the parish of Cachopo, the snow reached about 60 centimeters, also falling heavily in Santa Catarina. The Tavira firefighters were even called to this last location to clear the roofs and balconies, as it was feared that they would collapse.

 

Beautiful show, but with losses

snow in silves

In fact, the entire idyllic and enchanting scenery caused by the snowfall was also accompanied by huge losses, which the press did not fail to mention: “in the Algarve, where the rarity of the spectacle of the whiteness of the snow lent greater importance to the snowfall (…), the Another face of the medal is, however, the desolation of farmers in the presence of devastated cultures. Many broken trees, lost almond harvests, incalculable damages in sowing are the sad balance of this show”, recalled DN.

“O Século” listed them in Silves: “the demountable theater of the Rafael de Oliveira company, which is installed in Largo da Senhora dos Mártires, collapsed under the weight of snow and the volunteer firefighters could do nothing. One of the firefighters was dragged by the collapse, falling into the audience. In the Falacho site, a large eucalyptus fell under the weight of the snow, and the same happened with olive trees and carob trees in other places. Primary schools were blocked by snow, making access for students and teachers difficult. On the roads there were traffic accidents, and on the São Pedro hillside some vehicles turned into the ditches, for having skidded in the snow (…). The bus lines to Armação de Pêra were interrupted for four hours and the factories of the cork industry did not function as a result of the intense cold that was felt. The recent sowings that have not yet germinated will not suffer damage from the snow, but the peas and broad beans were burned, which entails a great loss for the region”.

Snow in downtown Faro

These damages were repeated throughout the Algarve. In Estoi, the favais were hidden under half a meter of snow, which also happened in Armação, Guia, etc. There were also roofs that collapsed, as in Moncarapacho or Olhão, broken poles and wires, whether for electricity or telephones and with them interrupted their services.

Em Faro, for example, informed the DN, “the supply of electricity to the city was interrupted throughout last night and part of the day, and from 16 pm yesterday to 11 am today the telephone connections with Lisbon and the rest of the parents".

The same happened in Olhão, where even the canning workers had to be rescued, bringing work to a standstill. The roads became impassable, with cars and buses blocked.

Snow seen from the bridge over the Ribeira de Marim

In Tavira, careers were suspended, while in Alcoutim only the career from Vila Real de Santo António to Martinlongo took place, albeit under difficult conditions.

Rail connections were also affected, with delayed trains running. There were countless falls in the streets and with them many broken arms and legs. The cold of those days still killed many birds and the swallows that had arrived the day before, devastated by the cold, entered the houses in search of refuge.

However, despite all these setbacks and losses, the snowfall was marked in the memory of all those who witnessed it, for the surprise and spectacularity it created, causing enchantment and admiration to this day.

The EN125, near Olhão, covered with snow

If in the last 60 years, several times, small snowflakes have toasted the region, until today a snowfall of the same size as that which occurred in February 1954 has never been repeated.

 

Author Aurélio Nuno Cabrita is an environmental engineer and researcher of Local and Regional History

 

 

 

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