On Saturday 09 Jan 2010 12:42, scribbled:

"Graham P Davis" wrote:
On Saturday 09 Jan 2010 11:53, Philip Eden scribbled:
"Graham P Davis" wrote:

Also, I remember that 6th March 63 was the first day at Bedford when we
had
a temperature higher than PS 0 since Christmas. Now that's not a
persistent
frost but quite a long chilly spell just the same.

I take it you mean a *minimum* temperature higher than zero, Graham.
And I'm guessing that's Bedford/Thurleigh which is not quite
the same as Bedford town.

No, a maximum higher than PS 0 - above zero but not PS 1. Sounds unlikely
but that's how I remember a comment on the morning of the 6th made by the
other assistant at RAE Bedford who'd been keeping a graph of the
temperature.

I joined Bedford on the 18th February. Before that, I was at Wyton where
I recall a couple of occasions where we had thaws lasting a few hours.
When I
was at Bedford, on one of the numerous days when temperatures had been
forecast to rise to 10C, a warm front had gone through and we were in a
sw'ly warm sector but the temperature stubbornly remained stuck at just
above zero. That was the closest I can remember us getting to a plausible
thaw situation until the 6th - a beautiful, warm, mostly sunny day with
temperature I think reaching the giddy heights of 6-7C. The ground was
still
frozen hard and mostly covered with snow.

This is how I've remembered that winter ever since it ended but the older
I
get the less sure I am. I guess I'll have nagging doubts now until I see
the
log-books for 03558 for that winter.

I did, in fact, copy all the monthly means and extremes at both
Thurleigh and Cardington in 1981 for a comparison of the two
sites which appeared in 'Weather' for November 1982, and many
thanks are due to Brian Cole (not sure whether he's still with us)
who was Chief Met Officer at Thurleigh not just for putting up
with me, but for feeding me tea and biscuits too.

From that paper (I can't lay my hands immediately on the
original transcripts) the temperature reached 4.0°C at
Thurleigh in January and 4.2°C in February. But there was a
considerable difference in snow-cover between the two sites:
Cardington had 30 days in Jan, 13 in Feb, and none in Mar;
Thurleigh had 31 in Jan, 28 in Feb, and 2 in Mar. The max
temp on 6 Mar -- I remember it clearly too! -- was 15.9°C
at Cardington and 15.0°C at Thurleigh.


Thanks for that, Philip. Seems I got it wrong all those years ago. I don't
know whether it's good news or not that my memory failed me on this when I
was about twenty rather than now I'm 65. ;-)

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."