Details of Chris Folland's Climatic Events for the 20th Century

1. Decadal variations in winter blocking/ winter westerlies over Europe. The 1962-3 winter fits within this. So does the shock of the 3 consecutive World War 2 cold winters 1939-1942, not seen since the 19C. Relates to decadal variations in drought/ plentiful rain over S Europe.
2. The October 1987 storm over UK, N. France. The most severe since the Great Storm of 1703, described in a book by Daniel Defoe. Has had long lasting effects on forestry and gardening. Caused enormous insurance claims. An "Event" but I think worthy of inclusion. Came at start of renewed strong westerly phase.
3. The 1975-76 drought over UK/France. The worst drought for hundreds of years (some estimates of 500-1000 years). The early part of a persistent tendency to dry summer and warm summers in particular though the 1975-6 event lasted a year. 1976 was the driest summer on record (200 years) in many areas of this region.
4. The late winter 1952 storm surge in S North Sea. Caused enormous damage/ much loss of life. Certainly the event of this century of that kind, probably more than that. Again an event with long lasting consequences.
5. Atlantic hurricanes of the century from the 1900 Galveston storm (I think 6000 lives lost) to recent multibillion dollar storms.
6. Severe winters over Eastern Med/ northern Middle East region in recent years.
7. The reduction in diurnal range and increase in cloudiness in many continental regions. Hopefully the story will be more complete than now in 3 years time.
8. For further investigation but a major composite story (new evidence will soon be available) may be the recession/collapse of several Antarctic Ice shelves in recent decades.
9. A story about glacier recession, partly from a tourist approach, would be nice. A cameo (and a complex one - not all recession) could be the story of the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers in New Zealand. These have shown fairly spectacular changes. We could even use a postage stamp to illustrate this story! Please notice that the events and climate highlights identified so far have a tendency for a European/North American bias, so we are keen to add items pertinent to Asia and the Southern Hemisphere.
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