Britain’s Weather A Hundred Years Ago

By Paul Homewood

https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/SO_e109527b-8971-4e30-b420-d486dad326de/

The Met Office would love people to think that there is such a thing as a “normal” British climate; any variation from this norm now can then be labelled as an example of a “changing climate”.

There are averages of course, average temperatures, rainfall and so on. But averages and norms are two different things, the former being merely an arithmetic construct.

A look back at the Met Office archives shows just how variable our weather was 100 years ago. The list below shows the headlines for each monthly weather report, with a bit more detail from those reports in some months.

January: Mild, with frequent gales
February: An extremely wet month: the second wettest on record in England: temperatures reached 61F: heavy snowfall
March : Mild and dry
April: Cold and wet: severe frosts
May: Cold and dull
June: Cool, dull and dry
July: Hot and thundery: temperatures hit 96F: floods caused considerable damage in Cambridge
August: Rather cool and wet
September: Cool, sunny in SE, wet in North
October: Wet and windy
November: Cold, sunny and foggy: very severe floods in NW England
December: A variable month: considerable snowfall across Britain