Poland’s 1979 “winter of the century” in photographs

Poland has this week been blanketed in snow, to the delight of children (and some adults) enjoying the final days of the national winter holidays. Temperatures are forecast to plunge as low as -25C in some parts of the country this weekend.

Such extreme conditions and extensive snowfall have been rare in recent years, but many Poles remember winters when weeks of deep snow and sub-zero temperatures seemed to be the norm.

Although several years lay claim to the title of “winter of the century”, the one of 1978/79 is remembered as a particularly tough and snowy one.

The extreme cold and snowdrifts paralysed much of the country for weeks on end, starting around New Year’s Day, when the coast bore the brunt of a storm coming in from Scandinavia and was buried under half a metre of snow, leading the Gdańsk provincial governor to declare a state of natural disaster.

Tanks were brought in to clear passages through the snow as communications problems led to energy shortages, public transport was suspended or operated at a bare minimum, and schools remained closed.

Suwałki, in north-eastern Poland, recorded a depth of 84 centimetres (33 inches) of snow in mid-February. Warsaw was not far behind it, with 70 cm (27.5 inches) two weeks previously, when the below photographs by Grażyna Rutowska were taken in the Wierzbno neighbourhood of the capital and the nearby rural district of Stare Babice.

Queue outside a grocery shop on Malczewskiego Street, Warsaw

Snowed-under Fiat 126p cars

Jelcz buses and a Fiat 125p taxi at a bus stop

A bus stop on Malczewskiego Street

Residents clear the pavement on Juliot-Curie Street, Warsaw

Bulldozer clearing the snow, with Stare Babice in the background

All images: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe/Grażyna Rutkowska

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.