On Friday, 26 June 2015 18:40:56 UTC+1, John Hall wrote:
In message ,
Scott W writes
I've written a few lines on heatwaves of the last 165 years.
Temperatures have risen and reporting styles have changed greatly...

https://wansteadmeteo.wordpress.com/...gue-of-heatwav
es-1850-2015/


Thanks, Scott. A fascinating read. A few comments:

Thanks, John - I will modify accordingly. I don't have an editor and there's over 4,400 words there - there were 6,000 at one point

"Little is written of the 17th ranked 1906 heatwave that ran from August
31st to September 2nd..." I think this was arguably the most remarkable
heatwave of all, because it occurred so late in the year.

Yes, I thought that too. I've looked elsewhere for information, without success

"The season, which produced hot weather throughout July and August, is
worthy of mention, however, because August 9th saw the first occasion
when London reached 100°F." It might be better to say "the first
occasion when 100F was recorded", as I believe the reading is no longer
accepted.

I did look into this and it is thought that the reading at Greenwich is possibly 1F - 3F too high because a Glaisher stand was in use. They didn't use a Stevenson's Screen until 1938. It is feared that observers, on occasion, may not have turned the Glaisher stand properly - leading to a high reading. However, we will never know for sure (in my opinion) whether best practice was followed on that day. I feel it does something of a disservice to the professional integrity of the observers of that time.
It is a similar argument to whether the reading at Brogdale should stand because the screen there is close to a conifer hedge...

"The heatwave of August 6th - August 8th 1947, which ranks 18th, was
sparsely reported save for the usual heat stroke casualty stories and
the fact that Cheltenham recorded 11 hours of sunshine on one sweltering
day." Can that figure be right? Though the days are a little shorter by
early August, I'd expect 13 or more hours of sunshine to be not that
uncommon at that time of year.

Agreed - I think it was probably a figure that the journalist of the time thought looked impressive.

1952: 'The author takes a walk past Embankment and up to Trafalgar
Squa "The girls are in topless frocks..."' Presumably "topless" was
used a little differently then from now!

LOL - the manner of the reporting is very amusing in places

"In terms of length, heat and sunshine, therefore, 2003 comes out on
top. Though many people will argue that 1976 is the more impressive
summer that year produced two spells that satisfy my criteria, coming in
second and fifth."

I would be one of those people. I've never experienced such prolonged
heat as that which lasted from mid-June to mid-July (and of course the
following six weeks were pretty warm too). In the middle of that torrid
four weeks there was a spell of 15 consecutive days - I think it was -
when 32C (90F) or more was recorded somewhere in England. But it didn't
seem as intolerable as one might expect. I suppose one acclimatised
after a while, and also for much of the time I think the humidity was
low. Of course, I was younger then, and might have coped better than I
would now.

I think 2003 is my yardstick because my memories of 1976 are very vague.

Is there something wrong with the 1976 sunshine hours in the table? 11.1
hours in 6 days surely can't be right?
--
Thanks, it should be 71.6hrs

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