Wednesday 5 October 2011

Here comes the rain again

D51/3/7: Weather chart for October 1917

It's another day of cloud, rain and wind in Orkney today. So to cheer everyone up I thought I'd look back at the weather of the past when summers were long and skies were always blue. The chart above records the weather for October 1917 so that we can compare.

Systematic weather observations were begun in Orkney in 1827, by Rev Charles Clouston, minister in Sandwick. Although reputedly the second oldest complete set of weather records in Scotland, the records held by the Archives begin in 1890. The first recorder of these was Magnus Spence F.E.I.S. in Stenness who carried on until 1919.

So let's take a look...


This part of the chart gives a brief description of the weather on each day. Day 1 is overcast and foggy, day 2 is overcast and cloudy, day 3 is overcast and cloudy, day 4 is overcast and cloudy. I think we can detect a pattern here!

So there it is readers, the startling news that the weather was just as rubbish 94 years ago as it is today. Oh well, time to unpack the long johns.

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