If one stops thinking about temperature, and considers extremes of precipitation and strength/frequency of storms instead, I wonder if the evidence for (manmade) climate change suddenly looks much more convincing.
Best regards,
Pete
I may not be posting much more, the Thames is coming to get me. 
No, like Nick states I am far from convinced that the weather is being affected by man. Extending backwards Nick's great research on 17th Century weather changes I would add the following vital information for understanding the very natural change we are experiencing with our weather.
As the historian J.M.Roberts writes in his
History Of The World Pelican (1980) Page 22-23. there were four distinct ice ages, each lasting between 50,000 and a 120,000 years apiece. The last one that affected Europe was just 14,000 years ago, and now we are considered to be in a "warm Period". We know that the ice sheet for the last ice age reached what is now central London. After that the climate warmed to the extent that what we now consider African wild life roamed at least southern England, with grapes, oranges, and other fruits of warmer climates growing readily.
We fast forward now to a later age when climatic change was causing real concern, in the 13th and 14th centuries. Prestwich, M. in his book
Plantagenet England Clarendon Press (2005) Page 4 and 6. writes of the chronicles that record "England appears to have been prone to
very variable and sometimes extreme weather conditions". In the 1250s the St.Albans chronicler Matthew Paris noted each year "brought problems".
In May 1251 a violent thunderstorm brought down 35 oaks in Windsor Forest.
January 1252 brought a severe gale that "did much damage".
From April until July 1252 there was a severe drought, followed by a further drought in the Spring and Summer of 1253.
Then there was a period of heavy rains during the Autumn with floods.
In 1254 a "severe frost" began on the 1st January and
"did not end" until 12th March.
During the Summer of 1254 there were continuous strong winds for three months.
1255 saw a drought in April.
1256 witnessed a "severe storm" in June "did much damage".
The year 1257 began with floods and from February until May the weather "was very bad".
It was noted as of significance that in 1258 there was "severe cold" from February through to March.
If you are wondering about the evidence of the effects of this weather, well it was recorded the harvest had been "severely damaged", with grain and fodder in short supply. People were forced to sell their flocks and to leave the land uncultivated. The famine caused "many deaths", with corpses being so numerous they had to be thrown into common pits.
Hard winters were notable at this time, with one chronicler stating particularly that in 1280 there was a hard frost and lying snow for 7 weeks up to the 12th March. He expressed the interesting and revealing statement
"No one could remember such weather".In 1283 wind and rain for two nights and one day in Lincolnshire "caused many animal deaths" , with extensive flooding after sea defences were breached.
The pattern followed into the 14th century, with the Thames freezing over in the winter of 1309-10. Appalling weather in 1315 and 1316 was recorded by many chroniclers, with constant rain. This is recorded as being by far the most serious climatic episode , with the rains of "unprecedented" proportion. Wide spread flooding of low lying areas was not the only problem, as fields
"everywhere were turned to mud and topsoil was washed away". The whole of the late Middle Age period was noted as a period of "climatic deterioration" with lower temperatures and higher rainfall than in the 13th century
and earlier. One result of this recorded was the abandonment of cultivation in areas such as Dartmoor, where settlements had been abandoned by 1350. Of course the affects on agriculture were far greater then, and thus numerous poor harvests led to severe suffering for the population of England. Harvests fell by as much as 64% on the yield of 1315.
In summary, after yet another long post by me which I apologise for, you will hopefully understand that severe climatic change is not unusual and completely natural. The early period of English history that I have roughly covered (I could write a book on it!) added to Nick's excellent summary of later climatic events, hopefully outlines what has happened, and may well indicate what will transpire next with the World's / UK's weather. In short it will never stay the same, and will challenge mankind for decades / millenium to come. What man does has nothing to do with it!
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Topic: Snow storms in america (Read 7277 times)