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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted -  02/12/2011  :  09:34

WHERE IS WINTER?

An old farmer once told me that the great thing about the weather up on the tops in the Dales was that if you didn't like it all you had to do was wait twenty minutes for it to change. He was right of course, we are a temperate island and our weather is ruled by the prevailing winds coming in off the Atlantic bringing us systems that are fast moving and constantly changing. This is probably the reason why the weather features so much in our conversations. However, if we look back in history there are longer term variations that weren't so obvious at the time. Between 1550 AD and 1850 AD we were subject to what was later described as the Little Ice Age when we had long runs of very cold winters, this was the time of the famous Frost Fairs on the Thames when the ice was thick enough to bear the weight of side shows and entertainments. For the last 150 years we have been enjoying a warmer spell of weather, snowy winters have become exceptional rather than the norm but as we know, this can catch us out.

Recent research suggests that one of the major factors in these long term variations is the effect of changes in the Sun's activity which affects the direction and strength of the high altitude Jet Stream winds which in turn alter weather patterns at the Earth's surface. We seem to be going through such an event at the moment. Instead of a steady flow of high altitude wind coming out of the West and passing directly over the Isles there is a big kink in the flow, it's heading up towards Iceland, then turning sharply South before resuming its Westerly flow somewhere round the English Channel. The effect of this seems to be to encourage high pressure weather systems over Northern Europe which block the incoming Atlantic systems giving us long periods of settled weather. At the moment, this means that warmer air from the South is getting up to us and the Met Office predicts that October and November this year could be the driest and warmest for 350 years. Right! Enough explanation, what interests me is what is happening on the ground.

Billy Parsons reckons, and I think he could be right, that one of the warmest places in Barlick is at the top of what I call the pensioner's path up into Letcliffe Park from the main gate on Manchester Road. It's a more gentle slope and easier than the very steep main path. I thought of Billy yesterday when I encountered a swarm of midges there! There is no doubt that we are enjoying a very kind back end, I can't remember such good weather for the time of year. All good stuff and it certainly helps the gas bills but before you start to cheer bear in mind that the 'blocking high' over Northern Europe is the same weather feature that encouraged the strong North Westerly winds last winter and brought cold air down from the North which gave us ice and snow. The one comfort we have is that despite the price of gas, we can sit in warm draught-proof houses and watch the weather outside.

Think back 50 years and imagine you are sitting in a typical small house in the town. Ill-fitting doors and windows ensured you had plenty of fresh air from the draughts. The only heating was one open fire downstairs and you kept the door to that room closed to conserve what heat you had. The kitchen and bedroom windows were covered with ice on the inside in cold weather and I can remember as a lad in the 1940s warming a penny to thaw a spy hole out in the frost so I could see outside. I can still feel the shock of the cold linoleum as you swung your legs out of bed in the morning! The comfort of your house depended on how much coal you could afford to burn. My little house in East Hill Street had a fireplace in every room, including the bedrooms. We used to live in an old Victorian terraced house in Stockport and I can remember being ill one winter and as a treat I was allowed a fire in my little bedroom. I can still remember lying in bed, snug as a bug in a rug, watching the coal fire flickering as I dropped off to sleep. Bliss! But short-lived, as soon as I got better I was back to the icy lino!

There were other disadvantages. There was no cheap waterproof clothing until well after the Second World War. You wore your thickest coat to soak up the rain and then you had the problem of drying it ready for the next day. Even in the 1950s I can remember putting a damp top coat on in the morning before I went out. Then there was the snow. Many of my older readers were reared wearing clogs and will remember 'cloggy bottoms'. This was when packed snow built up inside the clog irons and as you walked along you gradually became slightly taller. Every now and again you had to stop and knock the snow off the soles of your clogs. Mind you, if you had a good pair of clogs the thick wooden bottom was a marvellous insulator against the cold. One way of stopping the snow building up, especially if you had rubber 'irons' was to put an old pair of woollen socks on over the top of your clogs. There were no cheap synthetic fleeces, the only way to keep warm was to wear more layers, in really cold weather you ended up looking like Mr Bibendum, the Michelin Man. As late as the 1950s I can remember being on guard in Berlin in bitter weather wearing my pyjamas under my uniform and still freezing.

So, enjoy the clement weather while it lasts but be prepared for the cold when it arrives. I am not foolish enough to make any predictions, who knows, we may be in for a mild winter. However, recognise that those big winds miles over our heads may trigger a Northerly flow of cold air and we could see some cold weather. It was just such a weather pattern that gave us the bitter winter of 1963 when it froze every day from December 22 to March 6 without a break. I was on the road tramping all through that winter and believe me it was miserable. Not a bad idea to have a bit of salt about you, make sure that outside pipes are protected against the frost and be prepared. This present mild spell could be the lull before the storm!

1977 was a cold winter as well. Manchester Road in a hard frost.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk

Author Replies  
Bruff
Regular Member


479 Posts
Posted - 02/12/2011 : 11:29
I explain my birthday of 8 November 1963 away by my newly-wed mum and dad keeping warm during that winter........

 
Last year, we contrived to drive to the in-laws on the Saturday before Xmas when the big snow dump hit England.  Essentially, we drove from Crewe to Cheltenham in a blizzard, managing to keep moving on an M6/M5 where all semblance of lanes had disappeared, as all around us cars got stuck, folk gave up and general chaos hit.  Not sure how the wife managed it frankly.

 
The drive back on the Monday was through a perfect winter-wonderland where the temperature never got above -9 and the sun hung low in the sky.  Truly, the countryside looked magnificent.  Once back, we dumped the stuff, walked to a frozen beach, watched the sun set over the Welsh hills and popped into the local where we sat in the snug, in front of a roaring fire and drunk some real beer thinking well, things aren't so bad really.

 
Richard Broughton



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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 02/12/2011 : 15:40
I wonder how far the price of gas has risen in the last 15 years? We have no gas supply here in the sticks and our oil was 17p a litre when we came here 15 years ago. Now it's around 60p and got up much higher at one point.


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Sunray10
Regular Member


557 Posts
Posted - 02/12/2011 : 18:01
Winter is coming in the next few days, but it won't be as bad as this time last year. Be patient !Yay


R.Spencer. Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 03/12/2011 : 05:22
Tiz, looked at my old gas bills. Oct 2002 first 1086Kw/hr was 1.420p anything above that was 2.038p May 2010 4.511p per Kw/hr.  Mind you, I'm on the Essentials Tariff and perhaps get it cheaper than many people.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Sunray10
Regular Member


557 Posts
Posted - 04/12/2011 : 23:11
Yipee, its snowing in Nelson tonight.ya-hoo


R.Spencer. Go to Top of Page
Tardis
Regular Member


453 Posts
Posted - 05/12/2011 : 10:27
I wonder if this article had the same effect as the weathermen who warn about droughts, shortly followed by deluges of rain.

Certainly feels like December to me, although the experience may be enhanced by the side effects of my current medication.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 06/12/2011 : 06:35
Due to a mistake at the BET this article was published a week later than I intended. It should have been published at the end of the warm spell.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Doc
Keeper of the Scrolls


2010 Posts
Posted - 06/12/2011 : 08:15
We don't have any mains gas supply up here at Prospect so we have a bulk 2000 litrer Calor Gas tank, just had it filled up and was charged 48p per litre. Last year we had one and a half tank full to keep us going, hopefully if this winter is a bit milder we might get by on just the one tank for the year. Time and temperature will tell.

Keep warm and safe everyoneLaughing 


TTFN - Doc


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Zeke
Regular Member


114 Posts
Posted - 06/12/2011 : 19:06
Stanley, I love your writings. Keep em coming :)  Old man winter is rearing to show his ugly head again here in Chicago, Illinois. Forecasts are leaning towards a rough winter for us; heavy snow and very cold  temperatures. Hope they're wrong. 

Best Wishes to you & yours and all the Barlickers out there.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to all....

                                                                                         Zeke



quote:
Stanley wrote:

WHERE IS WINTER?

An old farmer once told me that the great thing about the weather up on the tops in the Dales was that if you didn't like it all you had to do was wait twenty minutes for it to change. He was right of course, we are a temperate island and our weather is ruled by the prevailing winds coming in off the Atlantic bringing us systems that are fast moving and constantly changing. This is probably the reason why the weather features so much in our conversations. However, if we look back in history there are longer term variations that weren't so obvious at the time. Between 1550 AD and 1850 AD we were subject to what was later described as the Little Ice Age when we had long runs of very cold winters, this was the time of the famous Frost Fairs on the Thames when the ice was thick enough to bear the weight of side shows and entertainments. For the last 150 years we have been enjoying a warmer spell of weather, snowy winters have become exceptional rather than the norm but as we know, this can catch us out.

Recent research suggests that one of the major factors in these long term variations is the effect of changes in the Sun's activity which affects the direction and strength of the high altitude Jet Stream winds which in turn alter weather patterns at the Earth's surface. We seem to be going through such an event at the moment. Instead of a steady flow of high altitude wind coming out of the West and passing directly over the Isles there is a big kink in the flow, it's heading up towards Iceland, then turning sharply South before resuming its Westerly flow somewhere round the English Channel. The effect of this seems to be to encourage high pressure weather systems over Northern Europe which block the incoming Atlantic systems giving us long periods of settled weather. At the moment, this means that warmer air from the South is getting up to us and the Met Office predicts that October and November this year could be the driest and warmest for 350 years. Right! Enough explanation, what interests me is what is happening on the ground.

Billy Parsons reckons, and I think he could be right, that one of the warmest places in Barlick is at the top of what I call the pensioner's path up into Letcliffe Park from the main gate on Manchester Road. It's a more gentle slope and easier than the very steep main path. I thought of Billy yesterday when I encountered a swarm of midges there! There is no doubt that we are enjoying a very kind back end, I can't remember such good weather for the time of year. All good stuff and it certainly helps the gas bills but before you start to cheer bear in mind that the 'blocking high' over Northern Europe is the same weather feature that encouraged the strong North Westerly winds last winter and brought cold air down from the North which gave us ice and snow. The one comfort we have is that despite the price of gas, we can sit in warm draught-proof houses and watch the weather outside.

Think back 50 years and imagine you are sitting in a typical small house in the town. Ill-fitting doors and windows ensured you had plenty of fresh air from the draughts. The only heating was one open fire downstairs and you kept the door to that room closed to conserve what heat you had. The kitchen and bedroom windows were covered with ice on the inside in cold weather and I can remember as a lad in the 1940s warming a penny to thaw a spy hole out in the frost so I could see outside. I can still feel the shock of the cold linoleum as you swung your legs out of bed in the morning! The comfort of your house depended on how much coal you could afford to burn. My little house in East Hill Street had a fireplace in every room, including the bedrooms. We used to live in an old Victorian terraced house in Stockport and I can remember being ill one winter and as a treat I was allowed a fire in my little bedroom. I can still remember lying in bed, snug as a bug in a rug, watching the coal fire flickering as I dropped off to sleep. Bliss! But short-lived, as soon as I got better I was back to the icy lino!

There were other disadvantages. There was no cheap waterproof clothing until well after the Second World War. You wore your thickest coat to soak up the rain and then you had the problem of drying it ready for the next day. Even in the 1950s I can remember putting a damp top coat on in the morning before I went out. Then there was the snow. Many of my older readers were reared wearing clogs and will remember 'cloggy bottoms'. This was when packed snow built up inside the clog irons and as you walked along you gradually became slightly taller. Every now and again you had to stop and knock the snow off the soles of your clogs. Mind you, if you had a good pair of clogs the thick wooden bottom was a marvellous insulator against the cold. One way of stopping the snow building up, especially if you had rubber 'irons' was to put an old pair of woollen socks on over the top of your clogs. There were no cheap synthetic fleeces, the only way to keep warm was to wear more layers, in really cold weather you ended up looking like Mr Bibendum, the Michelin Man. As late as the 1950s I can remember being on guard in Berlin in bitter weather wearing my pyjamas under my uniform and still freezing.

So, enjoy the clement weather while it lasts but be prepared for the cold when it arrives. I am not foolish enough to make any predictions, who knows, we may be in for a mild winter. However, recognise that those big winds miles over our heads may trigger a Northerly flow of cold air and we could see some cold weather. It was just such a weather pattern that gave us the bitter winter of 1963 when it froze every day from December 22 to March 6 without a break. I was on the road tramping all through that winter and believe me it was miserable. Not a bad idea to have a bit of salt about you, make sure that outside pipes are protected against the frost and be prepared. This present mild spell could be the lull before the storm!

1977 was a cold winter as well. Manchester Road in a hard frost.



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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 07/12/2011 : 05:03
Thanks foe that Zeke. The editor reckons about 8,000 people read it every week and it's amazing how many papers are sent abroad and I get feedback from them as well.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page


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