The 1940s Ice Age

One Response to The 1940s Ice Age

1. Blade says:

   August 8, 2011 at 6:48 am

   I thought it would be worthwhile to copy the plaintext here …

   ARE WE ENTERING A NEW ICE AGE?

   Freeze-ups Through the Ages

   Britain has been engaged in a deadly battle against the force, of ‘General Winter.’ England and Europe have been in the grip of the more severe cold in living memory. ( With snow piled high in London’s streets and with recollections of the recent cold winters of 1939-40 and 1940-41 still fresh in their minds, people in Europe may well ask themselves whether they are in for another ice age such as the one from which their countries emerged , barely ten or twelve thousand years ago.

   The present freeze-up Is not the first, nor is it likely to be the last History records periods of cold and heat drought and rain, end the influence of weather and climate on the course of human history is greater than many of us are inclined to admit. In historical times we hear of a ‘marvelous great snow’ in England as early as A.D. 764, when there was ‘so extreme a frost as the like had not been heard of, continuing from the beginning of the winter almost to the midst of spring.’ The year 1254 began with long and severe frosts, and another very severe winter occurred In 1279. when snow lay on the ground In London from Christmas time until March. The Thames was frozen, and when the ice broke in the spring, five arches of London Bridge, which had then been standing for eighty years, collapsed under the impact of the floes.

   Bad Record

   The 14th. century had a very bad record, with many complete freeze ups of all rivers both in England and on the Continent. Bad floods were caused by the spring thaws. Thus in 1342 Cologne and Mayence were completely inundated by the flood waters of the Rhine. It Is recorded that the Baltic Sea was completely frozen ?several times during the 13th. and 14th. centuries and people crossed over In carts and sledges from Sweden to Germany and Russia. These severe conditions were most acutely felt in northern Europe, and brought about the decline of the Norseman rule and the weakening of Norwegian might. Climatically, Europe had Been better days during the 9th. and 10th. centuries, when the northern oceans were free from ice for long periods, and the summers were warm and the winters mild. Favored by such conditions, the Vikings had spread far from their homes, and established their rule over large parts of western and even southern Europe.

   Another onslaught of rigorous conditions was experienced during the 16th. and 17th. centuries. Severe winters be tween 1640 and 1650 spelt ruin to many farms in England. Ice accumulated in the Alps, and from the end of the 16th. till at least the middle of the 17th. century the glaciers advanced several miles down the alpine valleys. Again the Baltic Sea froze over many times, and Charles XII, conquered Poland after a surprise, dash with his army across the solid ice from Sweden.

   Closer to our time we have the re- 1 cord of an unprecedented snowfall at Chepstowe in England on March 24, . 1888, when two Inches of snow fell! in two minutes, with flakes up to four inches in diameter! More severe even were the snow storms of 1891, prob ably the worst on record, and of ? Christmas, 1927, when the snow was : piling up all over southern England.’

   Bitter Cold.

   Still remembered by many is the bitter cold of the winter of 1917-18 at the height of the First World War. All of Europe was blanketed with snow, all the rivers were frozen over, and the severe cold caused great hard ships to millions or soldiers in their trenches from France to central Russia. Similar conditions recurred in the winter of 192S-29.

   Cold winters are brought about by the spread of what Is known as ‘Continental weather conditions,’ with easterly winds which are dry and not in summer, cold in winter toe; »o cold winters are often paired with hot summers, resulting In crop failures, famine and general decline in living standards, aggravated by tho rigorous winters that follow. The earliest, drought-caused famine recorded in England is one in A.D. 298, but the most severe droughts on record arc these of 1315, 1316, and 1321. There was generally a long dry spell from 1308 to 1322. and food was scarce all the time. The price of wheat raw rapidly after the bad harvest of 1315. and in May, 1316, it had risen to five times the normal level. People subsisted on a diet of roots, and horses and dogs -were killed for food. Thous ands died and a great shortage of labor resulted. Again, the summer of 1692 was so dry that the Thames at London could be crossed on horse.

   The Intervening periods of more genial climate, characterised by predominantly humid westerly winds, with cooler summers and warmer winters, brought increased rainfall and general storminess. There can be no doubt that the 11th and 12th centuries were such a period of violent gales, which brought great suffering to the countries bordering the North Sea. An unprecedented flood on November 11, 1099, claimed 100,000 victims in Holland and England, and exceptional storms in 1218 and 1219 broke the dykes of Holland and Frlsla. The great flood of November 19, 1421, gave the Zuyder Zee the form it retained until Dutch engineering skill reclaimed It from the Sea some ten or fifteen years ago.

   Controlled by the Sun.

   The question has naturally arisen whether the climatic changes are In any way periodic, and therefore predictable. In the last analysis all our weather is controlled by the sun. Is it possible that changes In climate are due to changes In solar radiation? The phenomenon of sun spots’ Is known to all. Large sun spots can be seen easily with the naked eye If the sun Is viewed through a smoked glass. Now the number of sun spots varies in cycles of about eleven years and a half, and it has been observed that an increase in sun-spot activity is often accompanied by dry summers and cool winters, but this Is by no means always the case. The cold European winters of 1917-18, 1928-29, and 1939-40, seemed to At in admirably with the sun-spot cycle, but the present cold spell falls halfway in a period and spoils the picture. More probably the weather follows a 23-year cycle, equaling two sun-spot cycles in length, but the laws of the ‘weather are not yet known In such detail as would make long-range prediction a practical possibility.

   Old people of all generations are convinced that the weather is not what it used to be; it has either be come colder or warmer, drier or rainier. Sometimes this Impression may be purely psychological, due to extreme colds or droughts having been experienced at an early Impressive age. On the other band, we have seen that the climate does have its ‘ups’ and ‘downs,’ but of one thing we may be certain; during the last twenty-live centuries there has been no overall change, no profound modification of climatic conditions to wards a colder or warmer state. No second ice age is as yet In sight, although just when Europe will be In for another long mild spell may be anybody’s guess.

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