From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

As you know, I like sometimes to go back in history and recall some of the extreme weather we used to have then. It is always a sobering experience, and puts into perspective the hype we get nowadays about every bit of bad weather.

So that I cannot be accused of cherry picking, I always go back in tens of years, so this post is devoted to 1953.

It should come as no surprise that I start with the Great North Sea Flood, which the BBC recalled earlier this year:

On the night of 31 January 1953, a wall of water surged from the North Sea, over-topping sea defences and leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

A massive storm brought devastation to the east coast of England and claimed more than 300 lives, including 43 in Lincolnshire, 26 of whom were aged over 70.

It is widely regarded as one of the worst peacetime disasters to hit the country in the last century.

Badly hit though England was, the death toll in the Netherlands was far worse, killing more than 1800.

A few months later, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth took place in the middle of what the late Philip Eden described as the worst June weather of the century, so wet and cold was it.

Towards the end of the month, thunderstorms brought severe flooding. At Eskdalemuir 80mm of rain fell in 30 minutes, still a record for the UK:

In the US, Major floods occurred in four areas during 1953: western Oregon and northwestern California, Louisiana and adjacent States, the Missouri River basin in Montana, and northwestern Iowa:

Japan also experienced two major flooding events that summer:

Drought

While some parts of the USA were being inundated, others were in the middle of years long severe droughts, notably Texas and California:

Tomorrow we’ll look at hurricanes and tornadoes.