In article
,
Alastair writes:
This link to a New Scientist article was posted on the sci.meteorology
newsgroup. I thought I would share it here as I found it very
interesting.

1709: The year that Europe froze
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...the-year-that-
europe-froze.html?full=true

Thanks. A very interesting read.

"It was the coldest winter in 500 years."

That was probably true for Europe as a whole, but in England both 1683-4
and 1739-40 were worse. The coldest month in 1708-9 was January with a
CET of -1.5C (to the nearest half degree). January 1684 was -3C (to the
nearest degree). January 1716 managed -2C, and January 1740 was -2.8C.
(January 1795 managed -3.1C so could have been colder even than January
1684, though taking the three winter months together it was nothing like
as cold as that winter.)

Of course, a problem in deciding the coldest winter or the severest
month is how you trade off duration against intensity. For example, is a
winter with monthly means of 4, -3, 2 more or less severe than one with
means of 1, -1, 0? Similarly is a month with two weeks of severe cold
and two weeks of mild weather better or worse than a month with four
coldish but not extreme weeks?

Incidentally, I can well remember January, 1963, which managed a very
respectable -2.1C.
--
John Hall "Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always
pays off now." Anon