"Martin Rowley" wrote in message


Can anyone with access to the original literature shed light on the
period(s) over which Alexander Buchan based his analysis?
Buchan’s first cold period: 7th – 14th February.

Buchan’s second cold period: 11th- 14th April.

Buchan’s third cold period: 9th -14th May.

Buchan’s fourth cold period: 29th June to 4th July.

Buchan’s first warm period: 12th -15th July.

Buchan’s fifth cold period: 6th -11th July.

Buchan’s second warm period: 12th – 15th July.

Buchan’s sixth cold period: 6th -13th November.

I think that’s all of them in the 1950 edition of Weatherlore by Richard
Inwards. You can check up in your public library first thing tomorrow in
Whitacker’s Almanack, that book also contains a brief history. My dates
came from Richard Inwards’ collection.

Another book I have mentions 3rd to 14th December as his second warm
period. This one relates the second cold period to the “blackthorn
winter.” Various countries have festivals to ice saints at the time of
the third cold period. It also mentions 2 more warm periods: 12th-15th
August and 3rd – 14th December.
Britain’s Weather. David Bowen.

I seem to recall that the first cold period is coincident with the
proverb about hibernating mammals such as badgers, bears and groundhogs.
That last may give more credence to it all; that there are allowances
for variation in the system.


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