News - Nottinghamshire weather records available to view

Nottinghamshire basked in sun last month - but the region was actually warmer during March 1990, the year Pavarotti shot to fame during the football World Cup, says a weather expert.

Southwell-based Jim Rothwell (FRMetS), a Fellow of the Royal Meteorlogical Society, and former MET office forecaster, hit the headlines last year for compiling Central England’s most comprehensive record of weather data – stretching back to Roman times.

His record, the Central England Weather Series, is kept in the Nottinghamshire County Council archives service and details hundreds of interesting weather events and facts and figures sourced from history books, the MET office, weather journals and other historic sources such as the writings of Samuel Pepys.

And while hundreds of people enjoyed the unseasonally warm afternoons during March here in the region, Jim says the monthly mean temperature was 8 degrees C. Yet, in 1990 the mean temperature for March was warmer in the region at 8.5 degrees C.

Jim’s comprehensive records show that the highest temperature recorded in March this year was 20.5 degrees C, but this was eclipsed by a recording of 23 degrees C on March 9, 1948. Jim said: “People’s interest in the weather never wanes, especially when we appear to have unseasonal weather. It was a warmer month than normal last month but the mean temperature was compromised because while we had a lot of hot afternoons there were also a number of ground frosts in the mornings.

“It is quite interesting to note that the average temperature in the region was actually higher in 1990 than this year in March.

“The weather never ceases to amaze with the advent of snow in Scotland this week after a week of warm weather. But again, rapidly changing conditions have been witnessed before. For example, just two weeks before the highest weather for the region was recorded in March 1948 there had been snow on the ground.”

Jim (80) is on the editorial board for the journal Weather and worked for the Met Office for 38 years as a weather forecaster.

On his retirement in 1989, he turned detective to begin to piece together the most comprehensive weather study there is for central England.

In his time at the Met Office he spent ten years as a weather observer at College of Aeronautics at Cranfield in Bedfordshire, and also spent some years at the research unit at Cardington, near Bedford, for climate research. It was his job to advise the RAF on when to fly by forecasting the weather. He was also the expert weather forecaster for filming of the 1965 James Bond classic Thunderball, where the Vulcan bomber was filmed at RAF Waddington Airfield.

Mark Dorrington, Team Manager Archives and Local Studies, at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “This is a fantastic and comprehensive record of weather in Central England and we are privileged to have it in our archives.

“The weather is always a fascination for people and this collection of records is a hidden gem, so we are delighted to let people know it is available.”

The records (Ref: DD1963) can be consulted at Nottinghamshire Archives, Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham, NG2 1AG on Tuesday 9am-8pm, Wednesday, Friday 9am–4.45pm and Saturday 9am–12.45pm.

They are freely accessible to anyone with a valid Archives reader’s ticket which can be obtained by providing proof of identity and address.

From: http://www.chad.co.uk/news/local/nottinghamshire-weather-records-available-to-view-1-4413414

News - Sunny Jim the weather king (Nottinghamshire)

UNSEASONABLY warm autumns, flash-flooding and violent storms may seem like modern phenomena – but a Notts researcher has proved that unusual weather is nothing new.

Retired meteorologist Jim Rothwell, 80, has spent more than 20 years collating climate data. His information dates back to 56 BC and includes logs on severe storms, flowers blooming at Christmas and an ice floe so severe it destroyed a bridge on the River Trent.

Mr Rothwell said: "People talk about things like last winter being the coldest in 130 years, but really it's not unusual.

"We have always had extremes, dating back to when Julius Caesar was in Britain, when the records start, so it's not as quirky as people think.

"In the short term people notice these things, but if you look at it on a wider scale it has all happened before."

The data includes cold, wet weather in August 1357, when wolves were seen in Sherwood Forest, and a thunderstorm on July 17 which, along with a tornado and large hail, destroyed Lenton and Wilford and killed five people.

Mr Rothwell has long been fascinated by weather. He said: "I'm a retired weather forecaster and I worked for the Met Office for 38 years. I've always had a feel for climatology."

He became interested in the shifts in weather at an early age. "My interest started during the war in 1940,'' said Mr Rothwell.

"There were no forecasts then because they were secret, and they would have given the Germans information they could use against us.

"I went to bed one night as a little boy, and then when I woke up there was six inches of snow. It was like magic and I wanted to understand it better."

From 1990, he has spent a few hours every day creating reports on the weather from 56 BC to the current day.

He donated the reports, called the Central England Weather Series, to Nottinghamshire County Council's archive services in 2008, but still works on them now.

His sources include council and university archives, weather reports from the Middle Ages, newspaper reports and history books.

His work as a meteorologist has even taken him to the set of a James Bond film, when he was an advisor for 1965 film Thunderball, which was filmed at RAF Waddington. "I worked as an advisor, because they needed good, Caribbean weather and wanted to know when that would happen.

"It was only five minutes of film, but it took us a week of waiting for the right moment.

"Unfortunately I didn't see any Bond girls."

Mr Rothwell continues with his work, spotting the trends in weather. He said: "For me, something like a storm in October is unusual. But the weather has always had extremes."

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Sunny-Jim-weather-king/story-13687078-detail/story.html

article - Archives show year of winter blooms (Nottinghamshire)

Recent record-breaking temperatures may have surprised those of us ready for chilly autumn weather but they are nothing compared to the year Britain's summer flowers were in bloom at Christmas, records in Nottinghamshire show.

This October we have seen deckchairs on the beach, gritters on stand-by and warnings of floods but in 1607, under the reign of James I, many summer buds decided to open, weather archives have shown.

The unusual data has been revealed in the Central England Weather Series, which begins at 56BC in the era of Julius Caesar, and is housed at Nottinghamshire County Council's archives service.

It is the work of retired meteorologist Jim Rothwell, 80, who donated the collection to the archive service in 2008.

He said: "The records show that the warm weather in October that we have witnessed this year is not unique. All sorts of unusual weather has occurred during all of the seasons in central England in the past.

"The direction of wind plays a big part in the weather situation. People are alert to unusual weather patterns at the time they happen, but do tend to forget these exceptions as time goes on."

Mr Rothwell, who lives in Archers Field, in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, is a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, on the editorial board for the journal Weather and worked for the Met Office for 38 years as a forecaster.

On his retirement in 1989, he turned detective to begin to piece together the comprehensive weather study for central England. He said Central England is defined as almost a geographical 'pear shape' with Leicestershire at the centre.

Mr Rothwell said it takes in the area of central England which is largely flat and not disturbed by hills, as hilly areas can vary and skew temperature records. Central England therefore stretches from the north Midlands to Winchester and London in the south.

Mark Dorrington, team manager of archives and local studies at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "This is a fantastic and comprehensive record of weather in Central England and we are privileged to have it in our archives. The weather is always a fascination for people and this collection of records is a hidden gem, so we are delighted to let people know it is available."

From: http://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/regional/archives_show_year_of_winter_blooms_1_3910373