Dated 17 January 1881, this wintry watercolour records the severe blizzard that hit Wales that day. An account of it was published in the London Evening Standard two days later:

‘All along the North Wales coast the sea was lashed into torrents by the wind, while the snow in whirling eddies was piled in deep wreaths, rendering the roads impassable ... In consequence of the heavy gale, the snow had drifted from the Welsh mountains and blocked the Holyhead Railway ... A large gang of men who are kept by the Company in the station yards at Conway, with other assistance, were put on the work of clearing the line. About 100 yards were blocked up completely. The wind was blowing with terrific force, blinding the men with snow from the mountains, and almost as fast as the line was cleared the snow again blocked it up. The men were at first confined to the task of clearing the snow from one line, but so serious was the block and so useless apparently the task of fighting the storm that it was not until eight o'clock this morning that the first train was got through. In the meantime the block had become serious, and the passengers were subject all night to the fury of the gale in an exposed situation, and suffered very much’ (19 January 1881).

Hall lived in Menai Bridge on Anglesey, not far from Penmaenmawr on the north Wales coast where this was painted. He exhibited his watercolours of the nearby coasts and mountains throughout his career, during which he served as secretary to the Dudley Gallery in London.