Unusual Climate in Northwest Europe During the Period 1730 to 1745 Based on Instrumental and Documentary Data

Abstract

This study focuses on one of the most interesting times of the early instrumental period in northwest Europe (from 1730-1745) attempting to place the extremely cold year of 1740 and the unusual warmth of the 1730s decade in a longer context. The similarity of the features in the few long (and independent) instrumental records together with extensive documentary evidence clearly indicates that remarkable climatic changes occurred rapidly in this period. We use unpublished subjective circulation charts developed by the late Hubert Lamb, to assist in understanding the course of events, particularly during the extreme year of 1740 and the four subsequent years. We also compare these subjective charts with others recently developed using more objective modern reconstruction techniques. Apart from evidence of a reduction in the number of explosive volcanic eruptions following the 1690s, it is difficult to explain the changes in terms of our knowledge of the possible factors that have influenced this region during the 19th and 20th centuries. The study, therefore, highlights how estimates of natural climatic variability in this region based on more recent data may not fully encompass the possible known range.

A 305-year continuous monthly rainfall series for the island of Ireland (1711–2016)

“…However, we include the years 1727-1765 prior to the modern England and Wales Precipitation (EWP) series that begins in 1766 (see below). Early EWR data were analysed by Jones and Briffa (2006) and provided by Phil Jones. We treat the EWR series by simply appending it to the EWP series (where EWR and EWP are appended in such manner we refer to the resultant series as EWR/EWP).…”

“…Continuous observations of precipitation in the British-Irish Isles (BI) can be traced back to 1677 -the year the first known rain gauge was developed by Richard Towneley of Burnley, Lancashire, in NW England. Since the early 1700s, at least three precipitation gauges have operated somewhere in the BI every year (Jones and Briffa, 2006). The earliest meteorological observations in Ireland began at the end of the 17th Century.…”

A standard paleoclimatological approach to temperature reconstruction in historical climatology: an example from the Czech Republic, A.D. 1718–2007

“…Luterbacher et al (2004Luterbacher et al ( , 2007 and Xoplaki et al (2005) found a warming trend in European winter and spring temperatures from the late Maunder minimum, culminating in the late 1730s. Jones and Briffa (2006) analysed the unusually warm 1730s and extremely cold winter of 1739-1740 in north-west Europe. The year 1740 was even noted as the coldest year on record in Central England since 1659.…”

Extreme grape harvest data of Austria, Switzerland and France from A.D. 1523 to 2007 compared to corresponding instrumental/reconstructed temperature data and various documentary sources

“…Jones and Briffa (2006), for example, tried to place the unusually cold year 1740 within a wider context. Briffa et al (1992aBriffa et al ( , b, 1994 used tree-ring density records to reconstruct annually resolved series of average summer half-year temperatures and thereby found abnormal decades/years for northern Fennoscandia and North American regions.…”