Over the last few months Georgina and I have been working closely with staff at the Department of Manuscripts, University of Nottingham, to curate a public exhibition for the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts, on the University campus. It opens today.

Last night we held a private view that was opened by BBC meteorologist Helen Willetts, an alumna of the University of Nottingham. We’d like to thank Helen for her fantastic opening speech and for giving all of those present an insight into the life of a weather forecaster, forecasting particularly important when it comes to warnings of extreme meteorological events. It’s also been fantastic to be able to share the exhibition with BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Derby, BBC online and Central Weather over the last few days – thank you for visiting and talking to us!

The exhibition features key events in Nottinghamshire’s weather history: floods, droughts, storms, extremes of temperature and other strange atmospheric happenings (some well-known, others long-forgotten). Archival sources reveal how extreme weather affected daily life in the city of Nottingham and the wider county, the impact it had on different groups in society, their responses to it and which events entered the public memory. The display also explores the contributions of Nottinghamshire people to the extreme weather archive and to the wider development of the science of meteorology. The exhibition materials not only illustrate the diversity of documentary records available for extreme weather history in the UK, but also serve to demonstrate the changing nature of weather recording and weather records over time.

As well as documents from the University collection, the exhibition includes a selection of photographs from the Nottingham Post archive, now held by the Local Studies Library. We also have copies of material from the Derbyshire Record Office (a fantastic handbill documenting a tornado of 1811) and Picture the Past, and an original manuscript notebook kindly lent by the National Meteorological Library and Archive. We’d like to thank all those people that have loaned material or given us permission to use images.

Visitors also have the opportunity to search TEMPEST – the online database of extreme weather events that is one of the main outputs from our broader project. Most of the items on display in the exhibition can be found in the database, alongside hundreds of others from around the UK. We are also encouraging those that visit to share their memories of extreme weather with us via a map on the gallery wall.

Highlights

In this post we’d like to share a few of our own highlights from the exhibition.

The University of Nottingham and the History of Weather

It is especially pleasing to have been able to include a number of items with strong connections to the University; photos and receipts relating to Highfields Lido, very popular during hot summers in the city, and which occupied the site of the exhibition from 1925 until 1980, closing after a run of disappointing summers; photos of students skating on Highfields Lake and bathing in Kegworth canal; a fabulous photograph of the release of a weather observation balloon during the meeting of the British Association held at the University in 1937; items relating to Arnold Tinn, inspired by Professor H.H. Swinnerton of the Geography Department to begin a record of the weather and later described by KC Edwards in the same Department as the city’s ‘most distinguished local meteorologist’; recording sheets from the Geography Department’s own weather station; and published and manuscript material produced by Edward Joseph Lowe (affectionately known as the big snowflake because of his snowy white beard), a founder member of the British (later Royal) Meteorological Society who began his weather recording at his family home in Highfield House (now home to the Centre for Advanced Studies), and a pioneering figure in the history of meteorological extremes.

Extreme Weather and Nottingham’s People

The diaries of William Parsons are a long time favourite, and a source we have featured in previous blog posts: https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/weatherextremes/2014/11/18/foaming-rivers-of-snow-and-sovereigns-lost-sampling-william-parsons-diaries/ In the exhibition we have been able to include Parson’s account of learning to skate on the frozen River Trent during the severe winter of 1838. Staff at Manuscripts and Special Collections have recently begun to digitise Parson’s diaries so that more people can enjoy them, and some of the new material is available on a touchscreen just outside the gallery space. More information on the transcription project and William Parsons here: https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscripts/2016/03/07/32001/

A ‘chatterbox’ phone in the gallery space invites visitors to listen to Mrs Fitzgerald’s account of the flood of November 1852, a narrative rich in information relating to the impacts of the flood on the small village of Fledborough and its residents, and the community’s response to the event.

Correspondence from a number of different estate collections is particularly valuable in exploring the impacts of extreme weather on agriculture, horticulture, building works and the knock on effects on physical, mental and economic wellbeing. Visitors will recognise many of the places featured, including Wollaton Park and Sherwood Forest.

There are also some fantastic visual sources documenting extreme weather in the city; a small photograph album that captures people skating, walking and cycling over a frozen River Trent in 1895; and other photos that capture the local effects of the flooding that struck much of the country in 1947 and 1960.

We have also been able to draw upon material from the Mellish Meteorological Library and the H.R. Potter collection both held by the University – Henry Mellish and Harold Potter being key figures in meteorology and in historical hydrology respectively.

Events Programme

Details of the exhibition, and the supporting public programme of events can be found on the Lakeside website: http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/exhibitions/event/3356/weather-extremes-making-and-breaking-records-in-nottinghamshire.html

The first event is a talk by Georgina and myself on the 12 January 2017. It’s free to attend but booking via the Lakeside box office is recommended. We’ll be reflecting on our experiences of working on the exhibition as well as looking at a number of the events and items featured in more detail.

The exhibition itself is open until 26 March 2017. We do hope that our readers will be able to visit and would love to hear your thoughts on the materials and the weather events we’ve showcased.

Finally we’d like to use this opportunity to acknowledge our huge thanks to all staff at Manuscripts and Special Collections, especially Kathryn Summerwill who has expertly guided us through the process of putting together the exhibition. We are really proud of it and especially pleased that it provides the opportunity to share our research with colleagues, family, friends and the wider public.

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Guest post by Siobhan Maderson.

Modern life appears to be dominated by time. Our phones beep incessant reminders, urging us on to our next appointment. But we are fundamentally biological organisms, ruled by elemental systems.

The ancient Greeks recognised the difference between these two distinct patterns. Chronos describes the time of the clock, while Kairos is the time of circadian rhythms, and blossom coming into flower. The subtleties between, and within, these categories, can be challenging to distinguish in a world of FitBits and Big Data. Exploring local histories of weather patterns, and flowering patterns, helps us see and understand how weather impacts individuals, and communities – both human, and other species.

International Bee Research Association (IBRA)

I spent much of the summer in the National Library of Wales, researching the archives of the International Bee Research Association (IBRA). This extraordinary, international collection holds books, journals, memoirs, diaries, scientific reports and more – all relating to bees. While much of the archives consist of entomological research, and work on the natural history of bees, I am currently studying the environmental knowledge of beekeepers, as part of an ESRC-funded PhD. Beekeepers engage in a unique practice: practicing animal husbandry on a species which transcends the common binary distinction of wild vs tamed. Many forms of agricultural husbandry can be highly controlled: stock can be brought in, feed can be measured and controlled. Bees, on the other hand, manage to be subject to many human interventions, while remaining fundamentally wild. This results in beekeepers being highly engaged with, and astute observers of, the environmental conditions in areas where they keep their bees. Such engagement and observation led me to investigate the IBRA archives for beekeepers’ recollections of land use changes, flowering patterns, weather histories, and other factors that impact bees, and honey production. Beekeepers often keep extensive personal diaries relating to their bees. Local beekeeping associations also collate records of factors impacting their members. Within the IBRA collections are several histories of local beekeeping associations, and memoirs of long-term beekeepers. These records hold fascinating data of weather patterns on national, regional, and occasionally highly localised patterns.

Alice Allen with bee hives and skeps, West Bradley, Somerset, c. 1920s. Photo courtesy of David Charles.

Postcard detailing bee restocking scheme of 1920s. Image courtesy of David Charles.

Weather and Bees

The impact of the weather on bees, beekeepers, and surrounding forage, is important. Bees play a key role in biodiversity, and in food security. While other pollinators play an equally important role, honey bees are the pollinators humans most frequently, intensely engage with. Our history, and our cupboards, reflect this ancient engagement. As such, we can rely on beekeepers to provide a snapshot of the world around us. Much of the current research on pollinator decline is focused on biological investigations into bees’ responses to pesticides, and diseases. While this is important, there are other, systemic environmental influences that are central to bees– and are often documented in beekeepers’ memoirs, and local association records. Examining these can provide us with unique insights into local weather patterns, and their influence on the plants which bees rely on for forage and honey production in particular areas.

The IBRA collections contain memoirs of men who kept bees in the same place for sixty years. As such, these documents provide a unique phenological and historical window into particular locales. Records of particular crops, and contents of hedgerows, are detailed, as these are central to bees’ health and behaviour. A brief period of cold and rain in May or June can mean the difference between a bumper honey crop, or one’s bees barely surviving the season.

Such specificity is often lost when weather and climate patterns are discussed. A good balance of rainfall, coupled with appropriate temperatures, are key for a good honey crop. While some years were noted as being sunny, warm and pleasant, they were sometimes too dry, leading to a poor nectar flow. No nectar means no honey. Beekeepers’ records specify the seasonal fluctuations that often get lost in annual overviews. While we are growing increasingly accustomed to reports of a year being ‘the wettest/driest/hottest on record’ – beekeepers note exactly when the weather turned hot, cold, wet or windy. The dates make all the difference to the bees. The interplay of seasonal changes, and its impact on bees’ forage, are documented in these records.

Most long-term beekeepers note their own particular phenological event that heralds the beginning of the beekeeping season. Today, many beekeepers comfortably assert that one should never consider opening up the hives until the flowering currant burst their buds. Depending on where you are in the UK, this will generally happen sometime between March and April. Beekeepers may also move their bees to other sites, or apiaries, to take advantage of different crops. Changing weather patterns may lead to a particular crop no longer being ecologically, or economically viable. Beekeepers often write of weather and crop fluctuations over the course of many years. Such record allow us to fill in the many gaps in our understanding about what we can expect from our changing climate, and how we might – or might not – best adapt to it.

The county beekeeping association records are fascinating in their own right, but also allow us to understand regional variations in impact of weather patterns. While certain years, such as the infamous winter of 1947, were uniformly challenging for everyone from sheep farmers to beekeepers across the UK, close examination and comparison of records find variations in the impact on bees in different parts of the country – and, at times, even within a county.

For beekeepers in Essex, the winter of 1953 was notable for its floods. However, few hives were lost. Thousands of humans died as a result of these infamous North Sea floods, but the hives survived. Meanwhile, in Somerset, the same season was very bad. Perhaps these southwest beekeepers were paying for their rich bounty of 1947, where they recouped one of the best honey yields in years. This same year saw their Essex brethren battling through mud. For those beekeepers who did not lose their hives in the severe cold of 1946-7, many were rewarded in the following summer with high yields.

Geographically specific records

The Cumberland Beekeepers Association (CBA) history provides a wealth of insight into the microclimates and distinct local conditions impacting bees in this corner of North West England. The CBA included branches in Carlisle, Cockermouth, Keswick, Penrith, Whitehaven, and Workington. Their history, published in 1970, paints a picture of tenacious beekeepers coping with highly varied circumstances within the county. We see glimpses of deep detail. For those beekeepers who took their charges to the heather, 1929 was a disappointing year. In nearby Northumberland, by comparison, the heather yield was very good. 1939 was a good year for honey in the region, but predominantly from an early spring nectar flow, or from autumn heather. This suggests that the summer was comparatively poor. In 1966, the year was generally seen as poor overall, but better than some preceding years. The southwest of the county had better honey crops, but further inland, especially around Carlisle and Penrith, crops were poor. For those Carlisle beekeepers who stuck it out, they were rewarded the following year with above average honey crops. Unfortunately, if you were in Penrith, it was another bad year. Many tried to recoup their losses by taking their bees up to the moors, where the prized, distinctive heather honey is sourced. Like all bee forage, heather requires particular climatic conditions, at a particular time, if is to flourish and provide sufficient fodder to generate a valuable honey crop. Some years, like 1968, saw all the conditions falling into place fortuitously. The following year, 1969, was a very changeable year: ‘For those who had strong colonies in spring, there was a good crop of honey from sycamore and fruit blossom. Spring feeding seemed to have paid off. Two wet weeks in early July spoiled what was looking to be a very good year. Heather honey was available for those who went early to moors, but dried up completely later, – a great disappointment considering the wonderful weather” (Dodd, 1970). Here we see the importance of localised, specific weather patterns. Although the weather is described as ‘wonderful’, it clearly wasn’t right for heather.

Such specific detail on local climate conditions, and their effect on crops, are important to engage with when addressing climate’s impact on society, and agriculture. These links are easy to overlook at a time when we are increasingly disengaged with agriculture and the land. While the general public may recall a year as being glorious if the sun shines during the school holidays, and halcyon days at the beach carry on for those six weeks, the importance of particular levels of rain, temperature and sunshine at particular points in the year are crucial for many animal and plant species reproductive cycles. Weather is more than a conversation topic, or a wardrobe driver. It is the foundation for the food on our plates. Beekeepers’ records provide a unique insight into this, on a local scale. As the Cumberland Beekeepers Association say: ‘now, the environment, too has changed. … So while one source of nectar tended to disappear, another became available. … But one thing has not changed: our changeable weather, which has been, and is likely to be the principal single factor in production of honey. ‘

Siobhan Maderson

References

• Charles, David, 2005: Somerset beekeepers and beekeeping associations: a history 1875 – 2005
• Dodd, William, 1970. Cumberland Beekeepers’ Association; A history compiled from official records
• Essex Beekeepers Association, 1980: One hundred years of honey: Essex Beekeepers Association, 1880-1980: recording the centenary of the Essex Beekeepers Association
• South Tipperary Beekeepers’ Association, 1995: South Tipperary Beekeepers’ Association golden jubilee, 1945-1995

The post Guest post: A hive of weather data: exploring the International Bee Research Association’s collection appeared first on Weather Extremes.

On Tuesday 14 June 2016 a public talk titled ‘Extreme Weather on the Edge of the World: School log books and Hebridean Life’ was given at the new Lews Castle Museum and Archive, Stornoway (http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/extreme-weather-on-the-edge-of-the-world-school-log-books-and-hebridean-life-tickets-25228396814?aff=ebrowse). Forty one people attended the event, which outlined on-going research being conducted by the project team comprised of Drs. Simon Naylor, Neil Macdonald and James Bowen who have made several research visits to the Western Isles to extract data concerning extreme weather from school log books. The event was advertised in Hebevents which featured an article by Eilidh Whiteford in which James Bowen outlined the potential that school log books provide as a source for weather history (http://www.hebevents.com/wp-content/uploads/EVENTS124.pdf page 12) commenting:

“There are over 170 log books for schools throughout the Western Isles and they provide unique insight into the occurrence extreme weather and the everyday character of Hebridean life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For instance, extreme weather affected the traditional industries of crofting and fishing, hampering the economic development of the region and had implications for the health and well-being of the population, often coinciding with outbreaks of disease, illness and pandemics. Children routinely missed school because the weather was too bad for them to reach it, or because their clothing was insufficient for them to cope with heavy rain, wind or snow; hence periods of storminess, snow, high winds, heavy rainfall and droughts were frequently remarked upon in the log books. Also recorded were wider aspects of community life such as agricultural activities, for instance spring work, the summer pasturing of livestock, harvest work and the lifting of potatoes; the gathering of shellfish; the loss of fishermen, boats and ships; outbreaks of diseases like cholera, measles, scarlatina, small pox and typhus; the poor state of living conditions and the lack of adequate shoes and clothing for school children. North-west Scotland is very different to the other case study regions being explored by the project for various reasons. It has been chosen for investigation as it has been identified as being at risk of flooding and storm events.”

After an initial introduction to the UK wide project, there followed an interesting talk exploring a series of weather related themes illustrated with examples of entries from school log books consulted on previous visits. Following the talk there was a lively question and answer session which not only considered the wider history of the Western Isles and particularly the significance of weather on everyday life, but also the parallels with contemporary issues relating to the impact of extreme weather events. The research team also took the opportunity to distribute postcards amongst the audience which asked them to record their personal memory of extreme weather, where it took place and when their story happened. A further public talk at the request of Museum Nan Eilean, Sgoil Lionacliet on the Island of Benbecula is provisionally planned for Friday 9 September 2016. Whilst in Stornoway information from additional log books was consulted and this will be analysed, adding to the sample already processed which will in time form the basis of an article.

The project team would like to thank all of those who attended and, in particular, Seonaid McDonald (Archivist) and Angus Murray (Museums Officer) who helped with the organisation of the event. Photographs taken at the event can be found below.

The audience attending the public engagement event at the new Lews Castle Museum, Stornoway.

Dr. Neil Macdonald addressing the audience, outlining his intention to complement the Stornoway instrumental series (1857-) with qualitative descriptions extracted from school log books.

Dr. Simon Naylor describing the geography of the Western Isles to the audience.

The audience attending the public engagement event at the new Lews Castle Museum, Stornoway.

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Last week I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Royal Meteorological Society regional event in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The theme of Saturday’s meeting was ‘1816 – the year without a summer’. The programme was put together by Dennis Wheeler (University of Sunderland).

I wrote about the extreme weather of 1816 as experienced in the UK when I presented a paper at a conference at the University of Bern, Switzerland in April last year. That event was timed to coincide with 200 years since the eruption of Tambora, Indonesia in April 1815, whilst the Whitby meeting marked 200 years since the summer or ‘non-summer’ of the following year, famous for having been pretty cold, wet and generally miserable in the UK, and much worse in parts of Europe and North America. It should be noted (as it was during the Whitby meeting) that the term was really penned to describe the North American summer of 1816.

Whitby

Whitby Museum

It was my first visit to Whitby and a thoroughly enjoyable one. Although the event considered global (Nick Klingaman), UK (Phil Jones) and Icelandic (Astrid Ogilvie) weather and climate effects of the Tambora eruption, the event also included talks relating to the weather of the local area (Trevor Goodall), and some famous Whitby characters including the fascinating and famed polymath William Scoresby junior (1789-1857). Matthew Ayre, drawing on some work conducted by Dinah Thomson told us how Scoresby followed in his father’s footsteps, captaining the whaling ship The Henrietta at the age of just 21. In this role he had to keep a logbook detailing the Arctic voyages, including weather information and extent of sea ice. Scoresby’s logbooks are more detailed than most and are therefore particularly valuable for those interested in historical weather. There is much more information on the Whitby Museum website.

Literature and weather

Speakers also considered the cultural and creative effects of the extreme weather of summer 1816. John Thornes looked at volcanic sunsets in art whilst Pierret Thomet and Simon James focused on writing, and specifically gothic fiction. Whitby is famous as the setting for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published 126 years ago. On Friday evening as I ran along the coastal path from Robin Hood’s Bay back to Whitby and the fish and chip supper at the Magpie Cafe it was easy to see why Bram Stocker found the remains of Whitby Abbey inspirational for his novel! However, the setting for Pierret’s talk was Switzerland, where 1816 became known as the ‘die hunger jahre’, as the poor weather destroyed the year’s harvest. That summer, a very literary group of friends (Claire Clairmont, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin (later Shelley), and Byron’s physician John Polidori) were holidaying at the Villa Diordati, Lake Geneva, and it is thanks in part to their non-fiction writing that we know what the weather was like that summer. It has been suggested that during the stormy days Byron challenged the group to write ghost stories – their outputs were certainly impressive. Mary Shelley penned Frankenstein (1818), Byron his poem Darkness, and Polodori, the least known figure of the group wrote The Vampyre, a short story that originally appeared under Byron’s name but that later influenced Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula as well as a number of other stories and operas. It is impossible to know whether the bad summer weather of 1816 is directly linked to the creative output of that group of teenagers but it makes a very good story! You can see some of the materials in this article by Greg Buzwell on the British Library website. Readers in Nottingham might be interested in a talk by Ralph Lloyd Jones on 14 June at Nottinghamshire Archives.

Whitby Abbey

Unfortunately I had to leave to get the train and so missed Simon James’ talk ‘Dark Visions: Weather in Gothic Fiction’ but hopefully versions of all of the talks will be available on the RMetSoc website soon.

Over the last year we have continued to gather information from the archive relating to this year that tells us more about the weather of 1816 as it was experienced by particular people around the UK, adding personal narratives to historical instrumental data. I thought I would share a couple of recent finds from Derbyshire to conclude this post and mark 200 years since the ‘year without summer’.

Longsdon correspondence, D3580, Derbyshire Record Office

London, October 8 1816

My dear Mother,

… Nothing ? of ? given me so much uneasiness as the ? of the very great losses that must be consequent on this bad weather. Your harvest I fear will be almost destroyed. The year has certainly been most unpropitious in returns as well to agriculture as general commerce and the distress is now so universal that I assure you the private affairs of none with whom I am acquainted, who are embarked in business ?? make a better shew than that of our own family – and my fear so good then there is some cause for satisfaction, not in the sufferings of others, but because the suffering was inevitable in a great measure – In our department too things are beginning to look better…

John Longsdon

London November 6 1816

Dear James,

… I am extremely sorry to read your deplorable account of the harvest; one misfortune has followed another in the agricultural department most cruelly, but I think you will soon have better times – and inasmuch as the success of any part of the family will be gratifying to the whole… I must inform you that William’s affairs continue to assume a most prosperous appearance… As to the price of corn continuing at this present elevation I must say I have no expectation that it will. You know that foreign wheat, barley, oats, & flour, may be imported for home consumption without the payment of any duty after the 15 ? for a continuance of 3 months – and for 3 months longer is the average price of what shall not then be under 80/s quarter… I am of a different opinion about livestock – and think they must advance next year for which reason I would keep up my stock as much as possible and buy all I could do with at the present low rates during the winter…

John Longsdon

As ever we are always interested to hear about other weather narratives!

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As we have previously explored on this blog, sometimes it is not the intensity or severity of weather that makes an event extreme, but its timing. This week many people have been taken by surprise at the falls of snow around the UK (as pictured in the feature image © Nigel Brown, geograph), some music fans interpreting the snow as a cosmic sign from Prince, one of his songs being, Sometimes it Snows in April. The Independent has gathered together a gallery of the late April snow.

Snow in April is not actually very unusual in the UK. According to the Met Office, ‘based on records from 1981 to 2010 the UK average is for 2.3 days of snow in April, which is more than the 1.7 days for an average November. Whilst the beginning of April is more likely to be white than the end of the month, there have been a number of notable snow events this late on’. The Met Office used the example of significant snowfall from 24^th to 28^th April 1981 but I thought I would look further back in history to see if we discovered any notable late April snow events during our archival research.

As it happens this week I have been finishing looking at the diary of John Davies which I started to consult last week at the National Library of Wales during a visit to Aberystwyth. Fortunately for James and I, the weather last week was more like summer than winter making our trip to catch up with the Welsh team all the more enjoyable.

Aberystwyth, 21 April 2016

However, as John, a bookbinder and cobbler of Llanfihangel Ystrad, Cardigan, recorded, the spring of 1797 was rather chilly with some snow:

• April 2 – cold with showers of hail
• April 3 – snow in the morning, cold all day
• April 9 – very cold
• April 10 – very cold
• April 16 – surprising cold every day
• April 23 – very cold and windy
• April 26 – very rainy all day and very cold with flood
• May 3 – high wind with showers of hail, extream cold
• May 4 – extream cold
• May 7 – very very cold
• May 9 – very cold & windy
• May 10 – extream cold & windy
• May 11 – very cold weather, uncommon cold with some rain (National Library of Wales, MS 12350A)

From the diary of Peter Pegge-Burnell we know that the weather was rather similar in Winkburn, Nottinghamshire:

3 April – rain and snow, wheat crops looks very unpromising. Cold and showers during the remainder of the month, a very backward spring. Very long winter & a vast deal of fodder consumed – sheep in general very poor & backward – no grass (Nottinghamshire Archives, DD/CW/8c/5/20)

Heavier falls

Heavier falls of late April snow fell in 1767 at Raveningham, Norfolk:

‘20th April 1767 – hail’d and snow for several days & was as cold as at xmas’ (Norfolk Record Office, PD 645/1).

And in 1808 in Nottinghamshire as recorded by Robert Lowe in Oxton:

• 19 April – snowed & raind most of the day was at home, wind N
• 20 April – very cold, wind E
• 21 April – snow’d most all night & most of the day it was 4 inches deep, wind NE very cold
• 22 April – raind most of day, went part of the way to Balkor returned on acct of rain
• 27 April – very cold day, wind N by E
• 28 April – very cold with some snow & rain, wind N by E, then N (Nottinghamshire Archives, DD/SK/217/12).

And Peter Pegge-Burnell in Winkburn:

• April 20 – a most severe frost, snow lay on the milk? Still – began to snow again about 10 night & continued most of the 21
• April 21 – of what a morn still snowing & ? most sad to behold in short I do not remember such a morn & fore noon so late in April, was under the necessity of fetch the ewes & lambs up to prevent them being starved or blown over
• April 22 – Black & cold flying hail and rain, frost at night
• April 23 – hail, storm & rain very heavy, rained most of this night & part of the next morn
• April 24 – a great flood again in our meadows – wind strong west by north
• April 25 – a very cold black day strong ice this morn
• April 26 – black cold morn after do rather milder in high wind became north again
• April 27 – a dismal cold black day some flying showers – sure such an unfavourable season was never before known
• April 28-29 – two ? such days wind very cold
• April 30 – only day at all like April – this a most unkind month (Nottinghamshire Archives, DD/CW/8c/5/26).

In 1919 Captain Thomas Powell Lewis at Llanerchaeron recorded in his fishing diary:

‘War over free to fish but March & April were wretched months. Snow, high winds, huge floods, the highest for 23 years, snow & hail 27 April, as I was canvassing with Ben Jones Alltycafan Mills against Labour there was little time to fish, Bowen was with me during March & April’ (Llanerchaeron private archive, 460148).

Weather that is mirrored by the batch books of Frears Bread Company Ltd in Leicester:

‘Week beginning 21 April – some cold showers & snowstorms NW & W winds. Week beginning 26 April – heavy snowstorms & blizzards on Sunday April 27th & sharp frost, wet & cold all the week’ (Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office, DE1576/18/4).

Further falls in May?

Whether further snow falls in May remains to be seen. If it does it certainly wouldn’t be for the first time. Among the earliest accounts of May snows in our database is for 3 May 1698. Detailed within the account book of Elias Webb is this description of an unexpected heavy fall of snow. It’s quite difficult to read but the final lines suggest that the unseasonable snow was interpreted as a message from God:

Memorandum, Shebourne in Warwicke – That upon May the third day 1698 it being a warme morning until about ten or eleven of the clock & then a North Wind began for to blow cold & the Aire began for to look darke & bleake with clouds & about one or two in afternoon it began for to snow a ??? grate in so much that before night the ? found ground was covered over with snow and by evening the Aire was ? cloase & began for to froze and on the morrow being Wednesday morning & for end day of the Easter sessions of Warwicke hold for county as I went up to Warwick about ? of clock in the morning thaw’d upon water that I did suppose might have carried??? and whereas the front/froze path was out??? of the ? being a little dirty by reason of snow on the day before and dirt was soo hard frozen that a man might have walked upon it without making noise? Little or no impression with his froze I thought it worthy of my observance from for to enter it in this place for??? the Great Lord of Heaven & earth hath reserved such a power in his hand that he can doth att his pleasure send a colde winterly season in the midst of the spring (Nottinghamshire Archives, DD/E/117/1).

During the course of our archival research we have found that church records are particularly useful sources for records of May snowfall:

In 1731, ‘May the 2^nd, a snowe day’ in Calverton, Nottinghamshire (Nottinghamshire Archives, M/5410).

In 1802 at Baslow, Derbyshire, ‘Calver cotton mill belongin to Messrs Gordon was destroyed by fire on 17th day of May 1802. Also on the same morning a snow fell from 2 to 3 inches deep’ (Derbyshire Record Office, D2380/A/PI/1/5).

And in 1821 on 26 May at Great Longstone, Derbyshire, ‘there was a very heavy snow fall this morning so much as to cover the ground completely… with a very strong frost’ (Derbyshire Record Office, D2373/A/PW/1/2).

We’ve uncovered very little material relating to late spring or even early summer snowfall having significant impacts, but it would seem that, as was the case this week, it did usually come as a bit of a surprise!

Further reading

John Davies’ diary has been digitised and is available to view from the National Library of Wales website.

The post April showers… of snow? appeared first on Weather Extremes.

Since Christmas I’ve been spending some time over at the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections, looking more closely at their weather-related holdings. A large proportion of the documents I’ve so far consulted have been letters.

Corresponding about weather

The weather is a popular topic of conversation, and, in a similar way to diaries, letters exchanged with loved ones (family members or friends), or between an employee and their trusted employer, or tenant and landlord often contain both descriptive accounts of the weather and its impacts, and personal reflections upon it, detailing physical or emotional effects. Correspondence is therefore, a widely recognised and valuable source for historical climatology. For example, Georgina (working with David Nash) has previously used missionary correspondence to explore climate variability in central southern Africa between 1815 and 1900, the content of letters enabling the construction of a chronology of drought and wet phases, as well as providing insight into missionary perspectives on drought and desiccation. There are some difficulties associated with the source – especially in ascertaining what the qualitative descriptions of the past are equivalent to in today’s terms, but there are many advantages too. In the vast majority of cases, a letter begins with a place or address, and a date, enabling a geo-referenced and precisely dated reconstruction of a weather event, exactly what we’re after for our database. Estate correspondence often also offers the further advantage of a long series of letters exchanged between the same people that can help us to get to know a little of the authors and their general relationship with the weather.

Papers of the Dukes of Newcastle

In this post I want to detail the type of weather information that can be found within the correspondence collections of large landed estates, and specifically within the papers of the Dukes of Newcastle. This collection has been designated as outstanding by the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council, reflecting its substantial historical interest for a whole range of topics. We have definitely benefitted from the detailed cataloguing of the collection that has been undertaken in recent years, the summary descriptions of letters often noting the presence of material relating to the weather, usually as it affected estate matters – whether it be building works, gardening, farming or travel.

The letters in the Dukes of Newcastle collection cover quite a wide geographical area, from the Nottinghamshire base at Clumber Park near Worksop, to other parts of the estate in Cardiganshire, Dorset, Kent, Lincolnshire, London, Surrey, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. All of those featured here come from the principal part of the archive known as the Newcastle of Clumber collection (Ne C).

Letters exchanged between Henry Heming and the 4^th and 5^th Dukes of Newcastle under Lyne (c. 1848-1860)

Henry Heming managed the Clumber collection of Newcastle estates, looking after rents and accounts for both the 4th Duke, Henry Pelham-Clinton (1785-1851) and the 5th Duke, Henry Pelham-Clinton (1811-1864). Heming’s letters regularly report on the weather as it was affecting works and harvests at Clumber and other Newcastle estates. When the 5th Duke was on a trip to Canada in July 1860, Heming adopted the practice of sending His Grace a weekly letter. Although Heming tried to be positive in his letters, the regular reports coincided with a very wet summer at Clumber and rain fell continually. On 17 August, Heming wrote to the 5^th Duke:

“The weather is now the all-engrossing weather. Knowing the deep interest your Grace takes in all that concerns the welfare and condition of your dependents I do not refrain from informing you of the state of the weather about which so much anxiety is now felt by all classes of the people although to is very painful to write bad news week after week. There has been more rain since I wrote last week than in any previous week. The lowlands have been submerged and a great deal of the spoilt hay carried away. I have heard from Cromwell this morning that after three days fearful apprehension of a flood the river is going down…” Wheat was rotting and mildewed, and building works slowed. In the same letter Heming also refers to “repairs and rebuilding of places thrown down in the storms”, that presumably occurred earlier in the year (Ne C 13804/1-2).

A month later (14 September) Heming was finally able to, “inform your Grace of six days fine harvest weather”, though the operation was much later than the previous year, “In my own small concern I am more than six weeks later than last year” (Ne C 13808/1-2). From Heming’s correspondence we know that the summer of 1859 (and that of 1857) had been very hot and dry:

July 29 1859
My Lord Duke
… We have had very parching weather which has dried up all the grass & prematurely ripened the corn crops. We have had very little rain here. Harvest commenced generally last Monday. I am afraid there will be great complaints of the crops… The buildings & improvements upon the estate are progressing the weather being highly favourable with this exception that the men could not work so freely under such excessive heat… (Ne C 13782).

Hafod estate correspondence

Correspondence relating to the Hafod estate, a few miles from Aberystwyth, provides a nice linkage between Wales and Central England, two of our case study areas. Henry Pelham-Clinton (4^th Duke) purchased Hafod in January 1835, the family already Welsh landowners at Dolycletwr in Cardiganshire and Cwmelan in Radnorshire. Henry took up residence at Hafod for parts of the year (he had recently left the house of Lords, his views out of sympathy with those of many of his peers, and also with those of his tenants and the Nottingham populace who resorted to rioting and an attack on the castle and his London residence). The Hafod estate had been unoccupied for some years before the Duke made his purchase and urgent building works were undertaken in 1837 and 1838 (Evans, 1995).

Hafod, Kell bros. lithograph, c. 1860-72 ©National Library of Wales

The early part of 1838 was not conducive to progress with outdoor work. On 1 February 1838, Samuel Heath (clerk of works, whom the Duke later dismissed) informed the Duke, “The weather continues so severe that the masons cannot work and very little had been done by the carpenters outside since my last. I have suspended several hands until the weather breaks and the timber is got in that they may be able to work outside at the shed &c. Several slates were blown off in various parts of the Offices during the late high winds…” (Ne C 8428).

On 26 February John Lown (the bailiff in charge collecting farm rents) wrote,“The weather has been very severe this last fortnight, frosts & snows. Your grace the weather has now changed & I fear we are going to have some cold rain, it is very rainy & stormy today. The turnips your Grace are a good deal injured by the frosts & there is a great complaint of a many potatoes being spoiled in the hills by the severe frosts” (Ne C 8429/1-2).

The following year, on the 14 January 1839, a hurricane struck the estate plantations (there was an abundant demand for timber from the local lead mines) as Alexander Williamson relayed to the Duke, “In the whole there are about 360 larch, 16 spruce and scotch, 12 oak, 24 other trees consisting of ash, beech and birch in different parts of the woods. The whole are among the largest dimensions upon the place but with the exception of the larch will not be found wanting as they are mostly from the back parts and centre of the woods where young ones are coming on to supply their places” (Ne C 8672/1). The winter of 1838-39 was also cruel to the sheep as John Lown wrote on 27 February, “…the weather has been of late very severe & very injurious to the sheep upon the Hills & has weakened them very much…” (Ne C 8456).

Conclusion

The examples featured here demonstrate how correspondence can be a rich source for UK weather history, both in building up a chronology of notable events and in understanding more about its impacts. Letters detail the effects of the weather on estate business and landscape but also hint at effects on people – tenant farmers struggling to make ends meet in years of poor harvests, labourers unable to work in poor conditions. Other letters in the Dukes of Newcastle papers describe impacts on personal health and wellbeing.

I hope to visit the team in Aberystwyth in April and so will be looking out for materials relating to Hafod in the National Library of Wales – the image of the estate reproduced here is taken from their collection. The majority of the Hafod estate is now owned by Natural Resources Wales who we are working with within the project.

We will be showcasing more of the materials from Manuscripts and Special Collections in an exhibition at the Weston Gallery at Lakeside on the University campus in December. You can also read more about in the manuscripts and special collections blog.

References:

• Endfield G. and Nash D. 2002 Drought, desiccation and discourse: missionary correspondence and nineteenth-century climate change in central southern Africa The Geographical Journal 168 33-47
• Evans E.D. 1995 Hafod in the time of the Duke of Newcastle (1785-1851) Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society 12 41-58

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The scale of loss and destruction wrought by the recent flooding across the north of England has been sobering.  Communities in Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire have all been, and continue to be affected. Amid threats of renewed floods with the imminent passage of ‘Storm Frank’- headline news at the time of writing- weather warnings have also been issued for parts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. I suspect there is little to be said in the way of comfort for those affected but as communities are at once beginning ‘clean up’ operations while preparing for further flooding, the government has pledged more than £100m towards the crisis and intends to set in motion a major review of flood prevention strategy.

Our own work has revealed very many often harrowing accounts of widespread and destructive flooding affecting different parts of the country, charting damage to the built environment, and loss of livelihood and, sadly, life. It seems glib to refer to past examples, but I do this here to raise a point about the centrality of ‘on the ground’, community-led response, to these devastating events.

Benchmark UK flood events

Widespread and repeat flooding in 1795, 1852 and 1875 are used repeatedly as ‘benchmarks’ in many of our flood accounts. Flooding between September and December 1852 – a result of unusually high rainfall across much of central England- was the subject of an Illustrated London News feature on 4 December 1852, while the rain and floods of 1875 were the focus of an enquiry produced for the Institution of Civil Engineers, authored by George Symons – head of the British Rainfall Organisation (BRO).  The problem in 1875, Symons argued, stemmed from the cumulative impacts of multiple periods of unusually wet conditions (Symons, 1876). The “number as well as the volume of the floods of 1875” was thus “extremely unusual.” The first flood took place in July (15th) a result of rainfall of “unusual amount and duration”  over a period of 30 hours and as Symons notes, “in most localities 90 or more per cent fell in twenty four hours”. This was followed by further flooding on 19th and 21st July when “heavy rain fell in various parts and “all of the districts visited by the heavy rains had previously been nearly saturated by those of the 14th to the 16th” resulting in inundations, canal breaches, railway disruption and considerable damage.  While the August that followed was generally dry, there were some unusually heavy rain days and a wet September followed. October, Symons notes, was a “very wet month”. On the 9th  “a heavy fall occurred over central England… much land was under water” . There were numerous days when torrential rain fell and  “rain fell over the whole of England and Wales to an average depth of 2 inches… the ground being saturated nearly all the low lying lands were flooded and the total area under water was probably greater than it had been for many years, certainly since 1852.” With a continuously wet November much of the flooded land remained so until the later part of that month. This then was a year memorable for large scale and prolonged flooding.

Community response

Twentieth century Hydrologist H.R. Potter later noted, however, how the flooding fostered a sense of community cohesion: “all neighbours who had little bones to pick with one another appeared from the bird’s eye view to have put all bickering aside, and were joining heart and hand in helping brethren in distress to make the best of a bad job”.

What we have seen in terms of community and emergency service responses across Northern England in the past few weeks also points to evidence of a civil society pulling together and drawing on local mechanisms of collective action. Shared concerns and values, the common sense of loss during or following flooding, and a sense of civic responsibility, have served as a catalyst for community engagement, cohesion and co-operation, of mutual assistance and support.

A new weather era

Yet as we enter what The Guardian has referred to as “the new weather era” – one of increased likelihood of more frequent and devastating flooding- there is a need for a more comprehensive understanding of the pathways through which communities have gathered and galvanised themselves in this way following flood crises. Exploring the influence of political structure on decision-making processes within communities and on the role that local institutions and the idea of ‘community’ itself play in shaping capacity to respond are critical areas of enquiry.  After all, and as we have recently witnessed, collective ‘on the ground’ action necessarily has to be at the very heart of developing coping strategies among those communities who are becoming accustomed to living with flood risk.

References

• H.R. Potter. The 1875 Floods, Nottingham University Manuscripts and Special Collections HRP/F/1/3/1
• Symons, G.J. (1876) On the floods in England and Wales during 1875, and on Water Economy. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 45: 1-14

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This week the Weather Extremes team has been catching up in Nottingham. As well as reviewing recent activity, setting goals for the year ahead, and Christmas plans, the conversation frequently turned to the weather itself. The mild weather that much of the country is currently experiencing was one talking point, as blossom and other traditional ‘signs of spring’ can be seen on the University campus.

Whilst mild weather might not normally be included in the category of ‘extreme’ weather events, one thing that can make an event extreme is the time of year at which it occurs, and by implication its unexpected nature. So, as hopes of a White Christmas fade we thought we’d round off our blogging for 2015 by exploring mild Decembers of years past.

Why is it so mild?

The BBC has produced a short report considering ‘BBC Why is it so mild?’ The feature explains that this year’s strong El Nino event might be playing a part in the present influx of warm air over the UK. However, no temperature records have been broken yet. The warmest day ever recorded in December was 18.3 degrees C in Scotland on 2 December 1948. The Met Office has also produced a blog on the mild start to December 2015.

Mild Decembers of winters past

Much of our project data has now been inputted into our database and so over lunch on Wednesday we began exploring historical accounts of mild Decembers – a useful test of our search tool! Many of our narrative accounts pre-date the instrumental record, enabling a much longer picture of mild winters to be assembled. There is no easy way of comparing them to the present conditions, but references to the flowering of trees and what are traditionally thought of as ‘signs of spring’ can be a good proxy for instrumental data.

Signs of spring and ‘green winters’

References to the weather being ‘spring like’, and to signs in nature are fairly common in the narratives that we’ve collected over the past two years. On 28^th November 1738 Richard Wilkes of Staffordshire described how:

The Weather was very moderated & the Air so mild; that the Grass Sprung & the meadows look as green as if it had been April. We have not yet had a Frost to bear a man upon the Ice (5350, p. 162, Staffordshire Record Office).

In Revesby, Lincolnshire, on 18 January 1759, William Banks wrote about the weather of previous weeks:

Jan 18 – The weather is so mild & warm as never was known in the memory of man at this time of the year, & has been so for a month or more last past & indeed there has hardly been any winter like weather yet, been but 2 frosts & they continued not above 2 or 3 days each, no snow to lye & very little rain, good land has all ye winter looked green & growing, very little hay eat, the thrushes & other birds begin to whistle, highish winds & westerly without rain, all footpaths quite dry and padded, white daisies & primroses (RA/2/C/1/1, Lincolnshire Archives).

The idea of a ‘green winter’ comes from the diary of William Thomas of Michaelston super Ely in South Wales who recorded the mild winter of 1769-70:

• Saturday December 9^th: The finest weathr. In my memory at such times of ye year
• December 31^st: mild weathr. considering ye time of ye year
• January 29^th 1770: Daisy and other flowers in full bloom
• January 30^th: This winter may be called ye green winter

John Clifton’s daybooks cover some very hard winters in Barnwell, Northamptonshire, as well as a number of mild Decembers, including 1778 when ‘Christmas day as mild as May day’ (ZA8742, Northamptonshire Record Office).

The winter of 1796 as recorded in the parish register for Clipston, Northamptonshire, was said to have been very mild indeed, meaning that what appeared on the dinner table was rather ‘unseasonal’:

1796 – Jany 18th – we have hitherto had no winter, the weather is mild and the fields exhibit a verdure unparalleled in the memory of man, yesterday the sun was all day unclouded, and birds of all sorts chortled their vernal lays – the streets are now dry and walking is pleasant; fine salads appeared on my table wch the natural ground produced in a south aspect… Batts were seen flying abt this evening, daises are very plentiful & luxuriant (CLIPSTON 70P/3, Northamptonshire Record Office).

Jonathan Wilshire’s collection of newspaper cuttings in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office includes a snippet on December 1806 in Leicester when:

As a further proof of the unnatural mildness of the season there are several apple trees in Welford in this county which have within the last few days been in bloom and one belonging to Mr Porter, saddler, has several which are set and are as long as gooseberries (DE4828/Box 3, in repository Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office).

Blossom on campus, December 2015

Garden flowers are another common reference point for mild conditions, as in this example from a newspaper cutting on Worcestershire Record Office from 1821:

Dec 19 1821 – Mildness of the season. There are now in Mr Turner’s garden Park Hall in this county, chrysanthemums, carnations, pinks, a great variety of ? and many other flowers in full blossom in the open air, a singular proof of the extraordinary mildness of the season (899/749/xii, Worcestershire Record Office).

A detailed summary of December 1857 in Moulton went as follows:

This has been one of the most extraordinary months experienced in memory from commencement to ending the weather has been very open clear and mild with only six slight hoar frosts which proved quite harmless to the most tender of vegetation. Many subjects of summer and autumnal decoration are revelling in health and weekly records are made in the Gardeners Chronicle of the protracted flowering or growth of various summer plants and shrubs which are generally locked in dormancy at this season of the year. The premature blossoming of many spring flowers are also engaging the attention of observers. Publicity is also given by the same source of extraordinary freaks of nature in the vegetable kingdom. Falling stars are seen on the 17th and a beautiful rainbow on the 21st inst (Box 125 43 MO, National Meteorological Library and Archive).

Mild winters and work

In general warm weather in December makes life easier, no worries about fuel and keeping warm, less animals to feed, and no travel disruption. But some new jobs can also emerge, like mowing the lawn, as JH Green of Mowsley explained in December 1897, ‘the weather continued so mild that I mowed my lawn on December 21, & took off three barrow loads of grass’ (DE3389/145, Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Record Office).

Other activities simply couldn’t happen, such as the collection of ice to be stored through the year. In 1900-01 Charles Isham Strong noted ‘We got very little ice (practically none) owing to the mildness of the winter’ (ST454, Northamptonshire Record Office).

Mild Decembers and illness?

One group that could seemingly find themselves with an increased workload during mild winters were doctors. In the winter of 1786-87, physician Matthew Flinders of Donington, Lincolnshire, detailed what he thought was a link between the mild winter weather and the accelerated rates of illness he has observed during his work:

I may remark that this has been the mildest winter we have had for several years past, we have has no long severe frosts but a considerable share of mild weather – on the contrary I scarce remember a more sickly winter. I have had much more Business than I had in the 3 preceding severe ones, this almost amounts to a proof that frost and cold are useful in preserving the human frame in health & that after the relaxing heats of Summer and Autumn, a frosty winter is a useful & restorative bracer, we have had several intermittents in the family among the children, but I thank God none of any disagreeable continuance (FLINDERS 2, Lincolnshire Archives).

A couple of our records from the nineteenth century also link mild winter conditions to outbreaks of illness, as is the case in these church records from Frettenham, Norfolk for December 1847 and from Droitwich, Worcestershire for 1861:

• A very mild winter, influenza & bad colds prevalent (PD 279/3, repository Norfolk Record Office).
• Dec – on xmas day we had a very good attendance… and sermons on the 4 Saturday as the weather was so mild. During the past month there has been a great deal of fever… the weather has been unusually mild and dry, only 2 nights as yet of frost (850DROITWICHSPA/10, Worcestershire Record Office).

Walter Davies (Gwalter Mechain) of Meifod, Powys, often looked for links between the weather and behaviour. During the winter of 1802-03 he recorded a very open winter that he forecast would lead to a increased mortality among the Welsh people once severe weather arrived:

So uncommon – that sheep were left on the open wastes, without being taken into inclosures till the 10^th of January – when the frost set in. This winter verified the old adage Hâf tan galan – a Gauaf hyd Wyl Ifan. A mild winter is vulgarly supposed to forerun a mortality among the people – Gauaf glâs wnâ fonwent frâs – This may be founded on the effect that a sudden change from mildness to extreme severity of weather, has upon weak constitutions, and which they can hardly recover from. When hard weather sets in early in winter, it is not in general so severe or so lasting as when it be deferred beyond the solstice (MS 1762 B ii, National Library of Wales).

Record ‘milds’

Into the twentieth century and the ready reference of temperatures with the instrumental record, there are more comparisons with the temperatures of previous years. William Richmond of Nottingham commented in his diary that, ‘1934 ended with the most wet for December since 1914 and warmest for over 120 years’ (DD/2535/5, Nottinghamshire Archives).

Radio, and later television, reports informed people when records were broken. In December 1953, Mary Elizabeth King in Birmingham knew immediately that, ‘The first six days in December is registered as the warmest for over a century’. This was enforced by her own observation that, ‘There is an abundance of bird melody around for this time of year’ (MS1547/32, Birmingham City Archives).

The following report from E.H. Morse in Brundall, Norfolk, from December 1949 also picks up this theme and seems like a very appropriate extract to end the year with:

Dec – warmest night on roof of air ministry Dec 26th for 67 years, temperature 56, Christmas Day warmest for 50 years – so said the BBC. Fred Rose & Geo. Forester reported that crowds of people were sitting on seats at 5pm on Nottingham market Place reading the newspapers by the light from the xmas tree 40 ft high, Dec 27^th (MC 145/1, Norfolk Record Office).

I wonder how many people will be doing that next Friday!

Merry Christmas from the Weather Extremes team. Thanks for reading.

The post Cherry Blossom and Daffodils: Mild Decembers in the Archive appeared first on Weather Extremes.

Guest post by Catherine Duigan and Sarah Davies (Aberystwyth University).

During extreme weather, a frozen lake can be a scientific, social and cultural event.

A partially frozen Llyn Idwal in Snowdonia, February 2015 (photo: Sarah Davies)

In temperate regions, like Wales in winter, frozen lakes are mainly seen in inaccessible relatively high altitude mountainous areas.  Even here people pause to consider them; photograph them; paint them. They poke at the ice, peer through and estimate its thickness.  The reckless test how much weight it can support. An extreme weather event will freeze the entire surface of mountain lakes and even the larger and relatively low altitude lakes, making it an even more remarkable and recorded incident.

In her early 1928 textbook on freshwater biology, Kathleen Carpenter (at Aberystwyth University) explained that it is one of the peculiar features of water that its maximum density occurs at a temperature of about 4°C, whereas the freezing point is 0°C. So when a body of water is sufficiently chilled, the heavier water, at about 4°C, tends to accumulate at the bottom, while the lighter water, at freezing point, forms ice at the surface.  A persistent ice sheet also alters the thermodynamics of the underlying waterbody. Carpenter observed only long-continued freezing can solidify the whole mass, if it be beyond a few inches in depth, so that below the icy coating a body of free water is preserved in which life can still be maintained.  She described how it is a common experience to see freshwater animals swimming actively beneath the surface of a frozen pond.

Kathleen Carpenter also defined stenothermic species which have a narrow range of temperatures which restrict their distribution.  Wales has some well recognised low temperature stenothermic fish species, such as the Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) of Llyn Padarn and the Gwyniad (Coregonus lavaretus) of Llyn Tegid.

Visual records of frozen lakes

Historic ice fairs on frozen rivers have been recorded in well known paintings as part of our cultural heritage.  Paintings by the Dutch Masters often included people skating on frozen canals and ponds as the popularity of the sport developed. The painting of Reverend Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch in Edinburgh, c. 1795 is a well-known and striking image. Such artistic representations provide insights into the severity of the weather conditions at a particular time, but also capture the cultural significance of these frozen landscapes. These extreme weather events were to be celebrated and commemorated.

Llyn Idwal, by Frank Ward, date unknown (by permission of Llyfrygell Genedlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales)

The recently discovered Lakes of Wales watercolour collection by Frank Ward includes a beautiful and remarkable image of Llyn Idwal frozen.  The white lake and surrounding mountains are set against a glacier blue sky.  And most intriguingly two small, well dressed and dynamic human figures are skating on the ice.  Is the larger adult figure trying to catch up with the child?

Due to its location in Snowdonia, the surface of Llyn Idwal is known to freeze to a variable degree during cold winter weather.  It does not freeze every year but it did this year (see photo above) and storms can break up the ice surface, with the wind creating piles of broken ice on the beach at the end of the lake.

Tonnau rhew / Ice waves at Llyn Idwal in January 2015 (image courtesy of @cwm_idwal)

But why was Frank Ward, a fisherman, motivated to record this particular Idwal freezing event in a painting?  We do not know when this image was painted but a possible candidate is the winter of 1929, a particularly severe winter across northwest Europe, with reports of skating on other UK lakes.This ties in with the approximate timing of Ward’s visits to the area. During that year, Lake Windermere was frozen for many weeks with thousands of people out skating as late as March (Kington, 2010). In Ward’s painting, the lake and surroundings look like they have been frozen solid for a significant period of time. It is also tempting to conclude that there was a personal connection to the skaters as this is the only Ward painting which includes people.

Textual records of frozen lakes

Another freezing event at Llyn Idwal was reported in the Evening Express, January 8^th 1908, describing the ‘ludicrous adventure’ of ‘Towzer’ Evans, a student from Bangor University College. ‘Towzer’ had gone up to Cwm Idwal to skate on the lake but fell through the ice. After clambering to safety, he then walked some distance to Bethesda to seek assistance. A lady from the village gave him a bed while she thawed his clothes, but overlooked his stockings. As he had to make a dash for the next train, she lent him an odd pair of hers. He was seen sprinting through the village in his knickerbockers, his legs ‘twinkling blue and green.’ ‘Towzer’ was reportedly entertaining his friends and the townsfolk of Bangor with the details of his escapade ‘with great relish.’

There are other newspaper reports of skating on Welsh lakes:

• The Llais Llafur noted on 10^th February 1917 that Wales’ largest natural lake, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) was ‘frozen over for the first time in 22 years, and there is skating for miles along the lake. The farmers report serious losses among their flock.’ These icy conditions mean entertainment for many, but bring hardship to others.
• In January 1881, widespread freezing conditions were reported, with the River Taff frozen over at Llandaff and the Towy at Carmarthen. In this account, a weather-related death in Ludlow is juxtaposed with reports of skating on the ponds around Cardiff.

We have also found records of lake freezing in diaries, such as those kept by Richard Lister Venables (1809-1896) of Llysdinam Hall (Newbridge on Wye). From late November 1878, he recorded frost or snow most days, remarking on the thickness of ice that was forming on his pond. By 21^st December, he noted that the river (Wye) was fit for skating.  According to Dr Davies, who visited Llysdinam on 23^rd December, special trains had been organised from Knighton to Llandrindod Wells so that people could enjoy the frozen lake there. He reported up to 200 people at a time on the ice, skating and playing hockey. By 29^th December, the river was flowing again and a thaw had set in. The snow and ice had all gone by New Year’s Eve. (NLW A85/Llysdinam Estate Records).

These individual descriptions, similar to the paintings, provide snapshots of weather conditions, their impacts and cultural significance at a given time. The more continuous nature of diaries allow us to examine how prolonged such events were, the build up to them and their subsequent demise, whether gradual or a more sudden thaw. We don’t know of any systematic records of lake ice in Wales, but records extend back to 1936 for Lake Windermere. Lake ice phenology – the timing of the onset and duration of ice cover – can be tracked over years or decades. Such records can hold valuable clues about climatic variability, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (George, 2007).

We may think of frost fairs and skating on lakes here in the UK as a thing of the past, recent cold snaps such as in 2010 show that the tradition is very much alive, especially in Scotland. Although extremely cold winters are predicted to become less frequent in the UK as global temperatures continue their upward trend, they will of course still happen. Frozen lakes – picturesque, fascinating and of course dangerous – will continue to be memorable features of our experience of notable weather events in the UK.

The Snowscenes project on extreme winters and their impacts, was a forerunner to our current UK wide research on weather extremes. You can read more about Snowscenes here, including the fabulous composite images  created by Alexander Hall, merging old winter scenes of the Lake District with the present day.

Do you have records or memories of lake freezing events in Wales or elsewhere in the UK? If so, please get in touch, we’d love to hear your stories!

References

George, D. G. (2007). The impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the development of ice on Lake Windermere. Climatic Change 81: 455-468.

Kington, J. (2010) Climate and Weather. Collins New Naturalist Library, Harper Collins, London.

Newspaper reports were obtained using Welsh Newspapers Online / Papurau Newydd Cymru Ar-Lein a fantastic, open access resource developed by the National Library of Wales / Llyfrygell Genedlaethol Cymru

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Limoges workshop

At the beginning of October, was held the Floods as heritage workshop at the Université de Limoges by the Chair on Environmental capital and sustainable management of waterways (Capital environment et gestion durable des cours d’eau).  With 14 presenters (myself included) from the UK, France, Algeria and Tunisia it was an occasion to look at the role (if any) floods play in cultural heritage. The two days were centred on five key themes: memory, resilience, living with risk, socio-cultural heritage and creative heritage.

Memory and resilience

Memory was discussed in a variety of ways. From the immaterial such as floods passed on in poems and in stories to the tangible signs of flood remembrance through flood markers, memorials and pictures. Memory is a fickle beast and sometimes even extraordinary events don’t get remembered. That is often the case when they are overshadowed by larger or more dramatic events. Some talked about not only memory but also forgetfulness. These can be lost stories as they are forgotten from generation to generation. But the physical world also forgets. Bridges bearing markers can be washed away; signs on buildings can be eroded or wilfully erased; documents and research can be in a different language or destroyed. Both remembering and forgetting are needed if people are to keep living by the river. The key being in finding the right balance remembering to promote resilience and forgetting to allow a peace of being.

Resilience is the capacity of an individual or group to properly adapt to adversity and stress. While living with risk is associated with how the communities around rivers adapt the environment and to the environment. Through the presenters, we saw how long absences of floods and the forgetfulness associated with it can lead to a decrease in resilience and an increase in risky behaviour. Building in floodplains and the deterioration of flood infrastructure are some examples of such behaviour. The need for public understanding of the risks and preventative measures were brought up by all. River systems that cross over borders were used to stress this imperative with areas that remember past floods (in the forms of both institutional and community memory) suffering fewer losses and damages than ones that have not.

Flood marks in Montignac, France, Marie-Jeanne Royer, 2015

Cultural and creative heritage

The socio-cultural and creative heritage themes brought up the question of can floods be a heritage in and to themselves.  Much of the answers seemed to rest on how floods are perceived. Many religious texts give floods a positive connotation as a tool used to rid the world of evil people, in other texts it is a punishment from the heavens for some miss deeds that must be correct. These images influence the way people adapt to floods as they may be seen as inescapable. However these perceptions are changing through a better understanding of flood mechanisms. The immobility linked to the fatality of old is mixed with insurance contracts and flood management programs. Floods are also perceived in some areas as an occasion to renew community ties and to strengthen the sentiment of belonging. The perception of flood events is an ever evolving phenomena and care must be ensured to avoid taking them out of context, of limiting their nature to an economic one or of freezing them in time and space.

Floods are highly emotional events and they take on individual characteristics based on the time or the region. This workshop, however, showed the ample similitudes in issues faced by people living in flood areas, by institutions and by research on the topic. Have you lived through a flood? How has it affected you? In what ways do you remember it? What things do you do differently now?

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