Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1916-02-23
A WEATHER MYTH
Thu Idea That the Old Fashioned
Winter Was a Fury.
FAMOUS FRosTs WERE RARE.
Records Show That Remarkable Snow
storms and Long Seasons Of Hard
Freezing Wsrs Not All the Rule.
Testimony Of Pspys and Evelyn.


Testimony Of Pepys and Evelyn.
Perhaps the greatest Of weather
myths is the legend of the "old fash
loned winter"-that prolonged season
of ice and snow which is supposed to
have held the land In its grip every
year. So firmly has this idea been held
for many years that 1t came as shock
when meteorologists first began to
delve into the records of the past and
prove its inaccuracy.
There can be no doubt that Charles
Dickens, Washington Irving. artists
who depicted winter scenes. and. In a
later era, the Christmas number and
the Christmas card are mainly respon-
sible for the belief that up to about
half a century ago the British winters
were always extremely severe.
Such records as we possess prove the
fallacy of the idea. No records Of the
weather were kept up to about fifty
or sixty years ago, so that we have to
rely on the statements Of private dia-
ries and old family records, and there
fore it takes lot Of research to obtain
any data at all.
In olden times no one troubled to
make note OF average weather, for
writing was an art possessed only by
few, and writing materials were hard
to obtain; hence it is that mention is
made only of something unusual, some
abnormally mild winter or heavy fall
of snow or prolonged frosts.
And when all Is said there are COM
paratively few OF the latter, although
they were likely to be recorded, while
the milder ones would be passed over
A few years ago there were published
in France some notes concerning very
mild winters In early times. Gregory
of Tours tells us that 5S4 was excep-
tionally mild, as were the winters Of
sos, s34, s44 and 1907, when influenza
was rife.
Another mild season occurred in
1923. when the birds are said to have
Matched their young by February.
while the weather journal OF the Rev.
William Merle, which is in the Bod
leian library at Oxford, shows US that
during the middle OF the fourteenth
century the weather was very much as
1t Is now and that mild winters were
not uncommon.
There were one or two mild winters
during the next hundred years, the
most notable one being that of 1895,
when barley and corn were in the ear
at the end of January. Writings of the
sixteenth century have similar testi.
mony to offer, the one or two excep
tons only going to prove the rule be
cause they aroused so much comment
Pepys and Evelyn come to our aid
from the middle to the end of the sew
enteenth century and prove conclusive
ly that the old fashioned winter Is a
myth The diaries of these famous
writers have been analysed. and as a
result it is found that falls OF snow
are mentioned only thirteen times over
nearly sixty years, while exceptionally
heavy storms are referred to only three
times
AZ tht caLAO PSAAo1 AhNAS "NAS p-s
six prolonged frosts, and apparently
only the famous one Of 1884 and an
other few years later were SO severe
as the modern ones of 1901 and 1895.
In January. 1861. Pepys comments on
the mild winter, and In December of
the following year he notes that b,
awoke TO find the roofs covered with
snow. which he had not seen for three
years.
Evelyn has the same story to tell
few hard winters and many mild
ones. Such years were 1861, Dec.
%, Little appearance Of winter as
yet" and 1928, Feb. 4. Hitherto
an exceedingly mild winter-an ex-
traordinarily dry and warm season.
without frost and like new spring.
such as has not been known for many
years"
Here and there we come across ref
erences to the weather which are just
like the letters written to modern
newspapers informing readers that
''roses and primroses were in bloom in
my garden on Christmas day" Gil
bert Whites record of the weather be-
tween 176S and 1913 helps to end the
myth, for the same number Of years
at the present day would show pretty
much the same sort Of weather, as
thirteen of the Defenders were mild
and wet.
There were mild winters In the begin
ming Of the nineteenth century, as well
as one or two severe ones. so that we
may rest assured that the "old fash.
Toned winter was just like the new
fashioned ones.-Ernest C. Pulbrook
In London Family Herald.
aA.~L III. n..t-