Durham Weather and Climate since 1841

The book celebrates 180 years of weather in north east England by describing how the records were (and are) made and the people who made them, examines monthly and seasonal weather patterns and extremes across two centuries, and considers long-term climate change.

The British have always been obsessed by the weather. Astronomers at Durham Observatory began weather observations in 1841; weather records continue unbroken to this day, one of the longest continuous series of single-site weather records in Europe. Durham Weather and Climate since 1841 represents the first full publication of this newly digitised record of English weather, which will be of lasting appeal to interested readers and climate researchers alike. The book celebrates 180 years of weather in north-east England by describing how the records were (and are) made and the people who made them, examines monthly and seasonal weather patterns and extremes across two centuries, and considers long-term climate change. Local documentary sources and contemporary photographs bring the statistics to life, from the great flood of 1771 and skating on the frozen River Wear in February 1895 right up to Durham's hottest-ever day in July 2019 and its wettest winter in 2021. Extensive links are provided to full daily weather records back to 1843. This volume is a sister publication to Oxford Weather and Climate since 1767 by the same authors, published by Oxford University Press in 2019.

While the Durham record is less well-known than the Oxford one, it is still impressive and its analysis will give a picture of a very different location. Climate change is an increasingly significant issue. The volume is very timely.

Autorentext
Dr Stephen Burt has published widely on many and varied aspects of British climatology, including case studies of notable weather events including gales, snowstorms, heatwaves and thunderstorms, and citizen science data rescue projects including the hourly Ben Nevis Observatory records and 350 years of Met Office rainfall data. He is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and a member of the American Meteorological Society and the Scientific Instruments Society. Previous books include Oxford Weather and Climate since 1767 (with Tim Burt) and The Weather Observer's Handbook. He is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading. Tim Burt retired in 2017 after 21 years as Master of Hatfield College and Professor of Geography at Durham University. Before that, he was Lecturer in Physical Geography at Oxford University and a Fellow of Keble College (1984-96) and Director of the Radcliffe Meteorological Station (1986-96). Tim has run the Durham Observatory weather station since 2001, not as old as the Radcliffe, but still with records dating from 1843. Tim has published widely on the Durham and Oxford records as well as in other areas of physical geography (notably, hydrology and water quality, fluvial geomorphology). He is now an Emeritus Professor at Durham University and a Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol. An undergraduate at Cambridge, Tim has an MA from Carleton University, Ottawa, and a PhD and DSc from the University of Bristol.

Inhalt

• Part 1 Durham's weather and climate

• 1: Durham - its regional, economic and physical setting

• 2: Meteorological observations in Durham

• Part 2 Durham weather through the year

• 3: The annual cycle

• 4: January

• 5: February

• 6: March

• 7: April

• 8: May

• 9: June

• 10: July

• 11: Aaugust

• 12: September

• 13: October

• 14: November

• 15: December

• 16: The calender year

• Part 3 Durham weather through the seasons

• 17: Winter: December, January and February

• 18: Spring: March, April and May

• 19: Summer: June, July and August

• 20: Autumn: September, October, November

• Part 4 Long-term climate change in Durham

• 21: Climate change in Durham

• 22: Chronology of notable weather events in and around Durham

• Part 5 Durham weather averages and extremes

• 23: Warmest, driest, sunniest

• 24: Temperature extremes in Durham

• 25: Precipitation extremes in Durham

• 26: Sunshine extremes in Durham

• 27: Barometric pressure extremes in Durham

• APPENDICES

• Appendix 1

• Appendix 2

• Appendix 3

• Appendix 4

• Appendix 5

• Appendix 6

• Appendix 7

• Appendix 8

• Appendix 9

• Appendix 10

• Appendix 11