// Latest Posts

Weather Extremes: Making and Breaking Records in Nottinghamshire

Over the last few months Georgina and I have been working closely with staff at the Department of Manuscripts, University of Nottingham, to curate a public exhibition for the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts, on the University campus. It opens today. Last night we held a private view that was opened by BBC meteorologist Helen Willetts, …

Guest post: A hive of weather data: exploring the International Bee Research Association’s collection

Guest post by Siobhan Maderson. Modern life appears to be dominated by time. Our phones beep incessant reminders, urging us on to our next appointment. But we are fundamentally biological organisms, ruled by elemental systems. The ancient Greeks recognised the difference between these two distinct patterns. Chronos describes the time of the clock, while Kairos …

Public Talk in Stornoway

On Tuesday 14 June 2016 a public talk titled ‘Extreme Weather on the Edge of the World: School log books and Hebridean Life’ was given at the new Lews Castle Museum and Archive, Stornoway (http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/extreme-weather-on-the-edge-of-the-world-school-log-books-and-hebridean-life-tickets-25228396814?aff=ebrowse). Forty one people attended the event, which outlined on-going research being conducted by the project team comprised of Drs. Simon …

Whitby and the ‘year without summer’

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Royal Meteorological Society regional event in Whitby, North Yorkshire. The theme of Saturday’s meeting was ‘1816 – the year without a summer’. The programme was put together by Dennis Wheeler (University of Sunderland). I wrote about the extreme weather of 1816 as experienced …

April showers… of snow?

As we have previously explored on this blog, sometimes it is not the intensity or severity of weather that makes an event extreme, but its timing. This week many people have been taken by surprise at the falls of snow around the UK (as pictured in the feature image © Nigel Brown, geograph), some music fans interpreting the …

Sources in focus: estate correspondence

Since Christmas I’ve been spending some time over at the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections, looking more closely at their weather-related holdings. A large proportion of the documents I’ve so far consulted have been letters. Corresponding about weather The weather is a popular topic of conversation, and, in a similar way to diaries, …

Widespread flooding and the centrality of ‘community’ response

The scale of loss and destruction wrought by the recent flooding across the north of England has been sobering.  Communities in Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire have all been, and continue to be affected. Amid threats of renewed floods with the imminent passage of ‘Storm Frank’- headline news at the time of writing- weather …

Cherry Blossom and Daffodils: Mild Decembers in the Archive

This week the Weather Extremes team has been catching up in Nottingham. As well as reviewing recent activity, setting goals for the year ahead, and Christmas plans, the conversation frequently turned to the weather itself. The mild weather that much of the country is currently experiencing was one talking point, as blossom and other traditional …

Waltzing on Water

Guest post by Catherine Duigan and Sarah Davies (Aberystwyth University). During extreme weather, a frozen lake can be a scientific, social and cultural event. In temperate regions, like Wales in winter, frozen lakes are mainly seen in inaccessible relatively high altitude mountainous areas.  Even here people pause to consider them; photograph them; paint them. They …

Floods as Heritage

Limoges workshop At the beginning of October, was held the Floods as heritage workshop at the Université de Limoges by the Chair on Environmental capital and sustainable management of waterways (Capital environment et gestion durable des cours d’eau).  With 14 presenters (myself included) from the UK, France, Algeria and Tunisia it was an occasion to look …