From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

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

There was nothing unusual about 1923; most years will show similar swings from one extreme to the other from month to month, and week to week.