The coldest winter of the Great War, the severe winter of 1916-17 which had a CET of 1.5
December 1916 was a notably cold month. The first cold wintry spell came around the 10th, when a low pressure
became slow moving around the south of the UK, this brought wintry showers to many places.
This spell more or less continued until about the 17th with air becoming colder and snow showers falling often
The weather became somewhat milder around the 20th but it wasn't until the 28th that it became very mild
This mild spell continued into the early part of January
The weather became colder around the 9th as a NEly developed across the UK
The 14th was a particularly cold day with a biting NEly and snow showers
High pressure started to build over Scandinavia and a cold continental flow developed across the UK
The last third of January was cold with a cold easterly south/easterly flow with maxima near or below freezing
The flow became an Arctic northerly at the start of February and this heralded the coldest spell
of the winter as an anticyclone developed over the UK and with the clear skies at night and a snow cover minima drop below -10C in a number of places
The Atlantic started to make in roads on the stagnant cold high after mid month and the high slipped further and further into Europe and this allowed milder Atlantic air to push in over the UK
As we moved into the spring of 1917, the cold air was still close by and a tight pressure gradient over the UK developed during early March between a strong low in the mid Atlantic and a strong high pressure over Russia
The 8th of March was a particularly cold day and there was heavy snowfalls during this period
The weather alternated between cold and mild spells after mid month for the rest of the month
On the 1st of April, low pressure was over southern Norway and this directed a northerly flow over the UK which was intensely cold and a number of places in the north had subzero maxima. The polar airmass that flooded the UK came from the Spitsbergen area which recorded a minimum of -49.2C on the 28th of March 1917. That was the lowest minimum recorded that year for stations in the latitude zone of 70N to 80N and the lowest minimum recorded in that latitude range from 1910 to 1918.
Snowfalls fell in many places especially in Ulster which was exposed to the flow, depths of snow over the Mourne Mountains were approaching 1m.
The low pressure over Norway moved over the UK and the snowfalls continued although the intensity of the cold was losing its grip during the day, the intensity of the cold at night was increasing with the snowcover, clear skies and slack gradients.
Minima were breeching the -10C mark regularly and at Newton Rigg in Cumbria, -15C was recorded on the 2nd.
April 1917 was cold with a CET of 5.4. The first two thirds of the month was plagued by cyclonic conditions and with winds with a northerly component. High pressure dominated the last third of the month.
Data for winter 1916-17
December 1916: 1.9 (-2.1)
January 1917: 1.6 (-1.9)
February 1917: 0.9 (-3.0)
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March 1917: 3.2 (-1.9)
April 1917: 5.4 (-2.3)
1st-28th December: 1.1
2nd half of January: -0.5
1st half of February: -2.2
Coldest spells of winter
13th-19th December -0.7
14th January- 16th February: -1.1
Mildest CET maximum day: 13.0 29th December
Coldest CET maximum day: -2.6 7th February
Coldest CET minimum night: -11.7 7th February
1st-10th March: 1.3
1st-10th April: 2.1
The period 1st December 1916-15th April 1917: 2.0C
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Unlike with World War 2, weather reports in the newspapers was not as restricted, during World War 1
Guardian clippings from December 1916
2nd https://i.imgur.com/pYlnrFF.jpg
4th https://i.imgur.com/y9D328y.jpg
5th https://i.imgur.com/A7xtYAN.jpg
6th https://i.imgur.com/35XAXi7.jpg
7th https://i.imgur.com/kKfYOK9.jpg
12th https://i.imgur.com/umZLqK6.jpg
13th https://i.imgur.com/2hc5QKw.jpg
14th https://i.imgur.com/zxt0Ke3.jpg
15th https://i.imgur.com/t2bjPur.jpg
16th https://i.imgur.com/uU1feDT.jpg
18th https://i.imgur.com/zArwNzQ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/y5Yp4gy.jpg
19th https://i.imgur.com/LdTbMih.jpg
20th https://i.imgur.com/Q5ScVsj.jpg
21st https://i.imgur.com/u2EWvv6.jpg
22nd https://i.imgur.com/s463oRY.jpg
23rd https://i.imgur.com/yLxO1Rv.jpg
26th https://i.imgur.com/jG4K8LC.jpg
27th https://i.imgur.com/ZLDFoir.jpg
28th https://i.imgur.com/ILtDc6U.jpg
29th https://i.imgur.com/6EBgqwv.jpg
January 1917
3rd https://i.imgur.com/xLXwPnU.jpg
4th https://i.imgur.com/XFvv0AL.jpg
5th https://i.imgur.com/rbmzxlv.jpg
6th https://i.imgur.com/9lxoGNI.jpg
8th https://i.imgur.com/ToFh9Aa.jpg
9th https://i.imgur.com/XdsSjIK.jpg https://i.imgur.com/pTy8fYJ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QJUzdaE.jpg
10th https://i.imgur.com/nXcAMZx.jpg
12th https://i.imgur.com/3NdbPYH.jpg
13th https://i.imgur.com/yc11YuP.jpg
15th https://i.imgur.com/NvfytUQ.jpg
16th https://i.imgur.com/560wpMH.jpg https://i.imgur.com/0YxDaEy.jpg
17th https://i.imgur.com/0JGxhA4.jpg
18th https://i.imgur.com/uE1iZ8O.jpg
19th https://i.imgur.com/Hl3WkZs.jpg
20th https://i.imgur.com/hc1MBNc.jpg
22nd https://i.imgur.com/n2c4LVR.jpg
23rd https://i.imgur.com/xh60NA6.jpg
24th https://i.imgur.com/vvHgSvG.jpg
25th https://i.imgur.com/txvXuNO.jpg
26th https://i.imgur.com/iMJVBeM.jpg
27th https://i.imgur.com/TRvTv8k.jpg
29th https://i.imgur.com/1hLMiMt.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tfFQbNn.jpg https://i.imgur.com/hLizaA5.jpg
30th https://i.imgur.com/4bMLw89.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Ul2vx0Y.jpg https://i.imgur.com/xTe3LaO.jpg https://i.imgur.com/O3kZYOn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hcvAfSW.jpg
31st https://i.imgur.com/6Ufzv3D.jpg
February 1917
1st https://i.imgur.com/ScFEFS2.jpg
2nd https://i.imgur.com/ScFEFS2.jpg
3rd https://i.imgur.com/V2KdInb.jpg
4th https://i.imgur.com/QBAefai.jpg
5th https://i.imgur.com/QaMxQdE.jpg
6th https://i.imgur.com/sWbUz6L.jpg https://i.imgur.com/JTxbH5x.jpg
7th https://i.imgur.com/DfFbp77.jpg https://i.imgur.com/skBZmND.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Hu94YFT.jpg https://i.imgur.com/I731oX6.jpg
8th https://i.imgur.com/CXx0t53.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2jZ6OJK.jpg
9th https://i.imgur.com/XlLdD18.jpg https://i.imgur.com/eqVYb9X.jpg
10th https://i.imgur.com/i8ysddi.jpg
11th https://i.imgur.com/jwZDjNy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WfChFAy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/vTu7Ofg.jpg
12th https://i.imgur.com/HEKl3YG.jpg
13th https://i.imgur.com/tsiI6oX.jpg
14th https://i.imgur.com/z0Dl0G4.jpg
15th https://i.imgur.com/yqHHFU4.jpg
16th https://i.imgur.com/LszAqMd.jpg
17th https://i.imgur.com/6pzOy2F.jpg
19th https://i.imgur.com/Qp9SImT.jpg
20th https://i.imgur.com/21R5UMh.jpg
21st https://i.imgur.com/l1EZB4g.jpg
22nd https://i.imgur.com/GDz4j21.jpg
23rd https://i.imgur.com/iChwnFk.jpg
24th https://i.imgur.com/exILsnA.jpg
26th https://i.imgur.com/CjrD6ap.jpg
27th https://i.imgur.com/4pzprjT.jpg
28th https://i.imgur.com/mTvXwI3.jpg
March 1917
5th https://i.imgur.com/3D9n7H9.jpg
6th https://i.imgur.com/KFDiH1H.jpg
8th https://i.imgur.com/CQa835S.jpg https://i.imgur.com/9O3MEJT.jpg
April 1917
2nd https://i.imgur.com/9c8nt7f.jpg
3rd https://i.imgur.com/xPq71P8.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6Ow3KXn.jpg
4th https://i.imgur.com/r4hU4lx.jpg
Edited by moderator
14 November 2021 11:36:21
|
Reason: Not specified
MANCHESTER SUMMER INDEX for 2021: 238
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