History of British Winters

[Lal]

Something I spotted today while making attempts to do some amateur weather forecasting was a web page about the weather, in particular winter weather, from 1616 onwards.

I thought maybe some folks on here would enjoy looking up whether their ancestors were born (or died) during a harsh winter?

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=other;type=winthist;sess=

[alpinecottage]

That's an interesting website, thanks, Lal.

Makes you grateful for central heating, doesn't it?

[Rishile]

Thanks for posting that.  A very interesting site.

And we complain when we get a flurry of snow and it brings the country to a halt.

Rishile

[Bilge]

I am a bit of a weather geek. Loved the link thanks for sharing!

[clayton bradley]

That was a great link. Very interesting. Two brothers in my tree (not direct ancestors) had been born Catholic, but both became Anglican and had their children baptized Anglican. Suddenly in 1816 they dragged all their younger children to the Catholic chapel and had them rebaptized. I can only suppose they thought the volcanic eruption and weather changes presaged the end of the world. They both gave up bothering with church when they realized it wasn't the end of the world, thanks, claytonbradley

[Rabbit B]

Hi Lal

Brilliant site, most interesting, did anyone else see the programme that linked weather patterns to volcanic activity?


Rabbit B 

[Lal]

That sounds an interesting programme - was it on one of the channels with an online catch-up facility?

I've been reading a lot lately about Katla which the vulcanologists think is due to erupt, and learnt about Laki, which erupted in 1783 and resulted in many deaths across Europe - possibly millions, as it affected the atmosphere so badly. This wasn't a big eruption but the gases were deadly and blown straight into Europe - in the UK the sun turned 'blood red' and thousands of agricultural workers died. They even link it to the French Revolution in 1789. I hasten to add it's not due to erupt now!

I've not yet found any deaths in that year in my tree, but I wonder if anyone has any unusual numbers of them happening around then?

[Rabbit B]

Hi Lal,

It was fascinating, they compared the eather patterns via the ice core samples from the Arctic near the North Pole, with the petrified tree ring growth rings on trees found in the Irish bogs.

They said that all they needed was a good volcanic eruption to prove the theory, well we had one/two,  then got a couple of bad winters.  Not sure if they took that as proof though.

Rabbit B