Chronicle archives

I always get excited this time of the year, when the temperatures start falling and the weather experts predict snow levels dropping to Mt. Diablo or the Oakland hills. Then I figure there’s a chance — a small chance, at least — that we might experience a once-in-a-generation weather anomoly: Snowfall in San Francisco.

As part of my plan to spend more time checking out the Chronicle archives, I’m going to research as much Bay Area history as I can this year. Feel free to send requests. If I get stuck, I’ll seek help from our skilled librarian, Bill Van Niekerken.

First question: What years did it snow in San Francisco?

Our archives show record of snow falling in significant amounts — enough to make a snowball — on the following dates:

December 1882

Feb. 5, 1887

Feb. 28, 1951

Jan. 21, 1962

Feb. 6, 1976

Enjoy the photos, which I’ve included below. All were found in folders in the spooky basement archives of the Chronicle building. I’ve credited the photos to the best of my ability — some were faded/torn/written in squiggly early 20th Century handwriting.

If this post is popular, I’ll share some more photos I found showing snow in other parts of the Bay Area …

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*** 1882 ***

Chronicle archives/No photo credit listed

This photo was taken a full 24 years before the 1906 Earthquake, which destroyed much of the city but apparently didn’t harm whatever archive it was stored in. I scoured the back of the photo and couldn’t find a credit to a photographer or a collection. Those black L-shaped lines are crop marks created by a former Chronicle photo editor or page designer. Based on the info on the back, the photo ran in the Chronicle in 1950 and 1962.

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*** 1887 ***

From the collection of John Carpenter/Chronicle archives

Freiermuth photo/Chronicle archives

Courtesy Edward Brown & Lorio/Chronicle archives

The top photo was taken on Shotwell Street between 22nd and 24th. I’m betting those houses look almost exactly the same now, with a few more cars parked in front. (More than two decades would pass between the time this photo was taken and the first Model T rolled into the city.)

The second photo was taken at the intersection of Oak and Pierce Streets. That looks like Twin Peaks Buena Vista Park in the distance, although it’s hard to recognize with no one sitting on the hill smoking dope. (Thanks for correcting me in the comments!)

The third photo was taken outside the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The credit was very hard to read, but it looks like “Courtesy Edward Brown and Lorio.”

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*** 1951 ***

Duke Downey/Chronicle archives

Gordon Peters/Chronicle archives

Based on the clips, the 1951 snowstorm was the heaviest of the 20th century in San Francisco.

The photo with the mother and son had this poetic caption, clipped from a 60-year-old Chronicle and pasted to the back: “Evelyn Ludwig took her 3-year-old son, Paul, out on a grassy hill to play in the snow, but it was too strange to suit him and his tears joined the falling snowdrops.” Beautiful! I think they ripped that off for “Blade Runner” …

The other two photos are of some children sledding in the Sunset District, and snow at Laguna Honda hospital. More Chronicle caption excellence: “The snow made a fairy castle of the Laguna Honda home, etching trees and shrubs with sugar frosting white.”

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*** 1962 ***

Mike Chapman/Special to the Chronicle

UPI photos

Chronicle archives

Aero Photographers/Special to the Chronicle

Associated Press

The skiing guy, taken by an amateur photographer, may be my favorite of all these photos. I just love the fact that this dude thought to run home, grab his skis and fly down the hill behind UC Medical Center. I guess that’s the kind of thing people started doing when JFK took office …

I’ve included the front and the back of the sledding photo, which was taken in the Sunset District. The note says the 1962 snow was two inches deep in some places.

The aerial photo over San Francisco Airport is amazing to me, but not just because of the snow. I had never seen the airport before the spiral Escher painting of a parking garage was installed.

The caption on the snowball fight in front of the car (shot in Visitation Valley) suggests that the 1962 snowstorm included three days of flurries.

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*** 1976 ***

Clem Albers/Chronicle

This photo was taken at Lawton and 14th Avenue in the Sunset District. It snowed for only one day in 1976, but more than an inch fell. I was 5 years old and living in Burlingame at the time. I vaguely remember making snowballs with my 8-year-old sister, but mine were probably much smaller than these.

Here are a couple more photos from the 1976 snowstorm, which I posted last year. Included is a famous one near Twin Peaks.

Please share your San Francisco snowstorm memories in the comments …

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder of this parenting blog, which admittedly sometimes has nothing to do with parenting. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peterhartlaub. Your questions answered on VYou at www.vyou.com/peterhartlaub.