Weather Watching, 1912-1968
Before fridges and freezers, shopkeepers could easily lose their food stock if the weather was too hot or too cold. Many shopkeepers kept notes of the weather from year to year, so that they could spot patterns and plan their food ordering and food storage accordingly.
Fred White and his daughter, Muriel, ran the Flintham village shop, Nottinghamshire, from August 1911-1982. They jotted down their assessment of the day's weather from the day they opened in pocket-sized books, along with the day's takings, until 1968. After that, notes were kept on scrappy bits of paper which have not yet been sorted and catalogued. Sometimes, the Whites also added snippets of information about people and activities in the village.
As there is currently so much interest in the weather and global warming, we thought it would be interesting to look at particular days and track the weather on that day from year to year using the comments from the weather books. Neither Fred nor Muriel recorded the weather on Sundays, so there are no comments for some years unless the weather was the same on both the Saturday and the Monday.
14 February, St Valentine's Day. Traditionally, this was believed to be the day when birds chose their mates. Can you spot any patterns?
| 1912 | Fine |
| 1913 | Fog all day, cold |
| 1914 | Rough, dull |
| 1915 | Sunday |
| 1916 | Cold, showers of sleet |
| 1917 | Fine, bright |
| 1918 | Fine, dull |
| 1919 | Fine, bright |
| 1920 | Fine after am, 'Rev Rouse paid'. (Clearly, a red letter day!) |
| 1921 | A beautiful day |
| 1922 | Fine, cold |
| 1923 | Snow storm |
| 1924 | Fine, slightly warmer |
| 1925 | Cold and wet |
| 1926 | Fine and bright |
| 1927 | Fine, slight fog, milder |
| 1928 | Wind and showers 'big trees all down, a tragedy to beauty'. (This comment followed one on February which ran, 'Maltbys started having the large trees taken down, a perfect wicked job, spoils the look of the village'. The Maltbys and the Whites were very good friends and one wonders whether the tree incident dented their friendship for a short time.) |
| 1929 | Hard frost, fine 'Skating on the lake started'. (The frost did not end until February. At the end of that year, Fred clipped a newspaper cutting in to the book which said that February had been the coldest for years. The lake was in the grounds of Flintham Hall.) |
| 1930 | Mist all day, cold |
| 1931 | Fine, dry, cold |
| 1932 | Sunday |
| 1933 | Fine, bright, cold |
| 1934 | Fine, dull |
| 1935 | Cold and fine, 'Day in bed'. (This was such an unusual event that it was clearly worthy of recording.) |
| 1936 | Fine and cold |
| 1937 | Wet after tea, 'Singer died'. (This was probably one of the many cats kept by the Whites, whose deaths they recorded.) |
| 1938 | Frost, snow, wind |
| 1939 | Fine, dull, cold |
| 1940 | Frost, slight snow, 'Worst winter weather for years'. |
| 1941 | Fine afternoon, rain early |
| 1942 | Very cold, dry |
| 1943 | Sunday |
| 1944 | Fine, dull, cold |
| 1945 | Fine, bright |
| 1946 | Fine, dull |
| 1947 | Still frosty, very cold |
| 1948 | Dully, fairly fine |
| 1949 | Fine, bright and mild |
| 1950 | Fine, bright, very cold |
| 1951 | Rain all day, cold |
| 1952 | Fine, bright, cold |
| 1953 | Snow showers, cold |
| 1954 | Sunday |
| 1955 | Fine, dull, cool |
| 1956 | Shower, very cold |
| 1957 | Fine, bright, cool |
| 1958 | Fine, showers, mild |
| 1959 | Fine, slight rain, dull, cold 'Alan Cartledge married at Flintham'. (Marriages usually took place at the church in the bride's parish, so perhaps that is why this marriage is recorded as being 'at Flintham'.) |
| 1960 | Fine, bright, cold |
| 1961 | Fine, bright, warmer 'Warmest day for years in February'. |
| 1962 | Fine, bright, very cold |
| 1963 | Dull, snow and rain showers, cold (the day before the bees had been out for a 'cleansing flite'. Muriel's spelling was never very good!) |
| 1964 | Fine, dull, cold rain or snow showers later |
| 1965 | Sunday |
| 1966 | Fine and bright, cold |
| 1967 | Fine, bright, very cold wind |
| 1968 | Fine, brighter, cold |