Britain put in the cold by war at sea
Thesis
The British Isles are surrounded by water and close to
the warm Gulf Current of the Atlantic. The climate is thoroughly
maritime. The colder the waters around Britain get, the more the island
will be turned to typical continental weather feature. The war at sea
during the two World Wars changed the British weather substantially by
depriving the maritime supremacy, but replacing it with continental
weather dominance.
Facts
During the last century two major wars at sea
occurred, 1914 –1918 and 1939 – 1945. During both wars there was a
period in which a major part of the war at sea was in or close to
British waters, namely from 1915 to 1918 and again from 1939 to 1942.
During both periods the British Isles had three successive cold years
and extreme snowfall. Since comparable records had been taken since
1871, only these two periods had so much snow.
At Kew Observatory (London) snow was falling above 20
per cent of the winter days during the mentioned war periods. In winter
1916/17 it was as much as 48 per cent. The means average is 9 days per
winter months. The winter of 1916/17 was even colder than the winter of
1939/40, while January 1940 was regarded as the coldest January for 100
years. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported on 29th January 1940 that
in the close vicinity of London the river Thames froze for the first
time since 1814.
Evidence
It is not difficult to see the parallel conditions
during the two World Wars as striking evidence, if one acknowledges
that the war at sea turns huge water masses about, thereby increasing
evaporation and the cooling of the sea water body. These two aspects
inevitable generate the cooling down of atmospheric air temperature
that subsequently generated snowy conditions and cold winters.
The weather conditions in Britain during 1915-18 and 1939-42 are a
solid piece of evidence on anthropogenic climatic changes.
Conclusion and further reading
Due to the extensive and severe war at sea conditions
during the two World Wars the situation in Britain can be regarded as a
huge experiment in man-made weather-making. Each of three years war
period 1915-18 and 1939-42 proves alone that the war at sea generated
three arctic winters in succession. The compatibility of the two war
periods and their uniqueness since such data are recorded can be seen
as a “double checked” proof. Northern Europe plunged into arctic
conditions – winter 1939-40 (2_11), and
The European weather 1914-18 (5_11).
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