Watch slideshow of South Tyneside winter pictures from yesteryear

Yet it is unlikely that any snowy blizzards landing over the coming months will match the depths seen in this collection of postcard snaps.

We are indebted once again to the family of late South Shields photographer Freddie Mudditt for sifting through his vast archive to share these images with our readers.

They were all taken in the town between 1950 and 1963 while he was still a police officer.

The scenes of crime photographer eventually left the force in 1966 to set up his freelance business in Newcastle under the business name Fietscher Fotos before later moving it to his home town’s Albemarle Street.

Among the famous names he caught on camera during visits to South Tyneside included Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, rock star Jimi Hendrix and South Shields author Dame Catherine Cookson.

He also took countless pictures for the Shields Gazette before becoming South Tyneside Council’s official photographer for around a decade until his sudden death at the age of 58 after collapsing in his darkroom at home in October 1985.

As our collection shows today, he was at ease too taking pictures of his own family while capturing South Shields exposed to the elements.

Daughter Julia Northam, 58, a post office clerk who now lives in Billingham, is now collating her father’s handiwork into one collection and has kindly allowed the Gazette to publish hundreds of his pictures throughout 2017.

She is hoping readers who have a picture taken by her father will add to the total by contacting her by her Fietscher Fotos of South Shields & surrounding areas Facebook page.