Weather Extremes
Weather ExtremesThe highest temperature ever recorded was 58 degrees centigrade at
Al'Aziziyah in Libya, on 13th Sept, 1922
The biggest hail stones fell on Bangladesh on 14th April, 1986. Each
weighed over 1kg.and 92 people are reported to have been killed.
The wettest place on earth is Mawsynram in India. 11,873mm falls each
year.
The driest place is Antofagasta in Chile. where average rainfall is
less than 0.1mm. Several years have had no rainfall at all.
The windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica where winds of
200mph have been recorded.
Roy Sullivan of Virginia, USA has been struck by lightning 7
times.
Sunniest place - Yuma, Arizona has over 4,000 hours per year (the sun
shines for 90% of the total possible time each year).
Least sunshine - the South Pole has no sun for 182 days every
year.
Most rainfall in one hour - 38.1mm fell on 26th November, 1970 at
Barst on Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
Greatest recorded wind speed - 371kph at Mt Washington, New
Hampshire, USA.
Highest waterspout - 1,528m at Eden, New Souh Wales in Australia.
Greatest Snowfall - 31.1metres during 1972 on Mt Rainier, Washington
State, USA.
Longest lasting rainbow - 3 hours on 14 August, 1979 on the coast of
Gwynedd, North Wales.
Weird Weather
Britain has had more than its fair share of strange phenomena when it
comes to the weather, according to Paul Simons, a writer on climatic
conditions.
These have ranged from showers of fish and frogs and bangs in the
night, to exceptional storms and periods of drought, he says in his
book detailing 16 years of research.
Frogs fell on Sutton Coldfield in 1954 and on Trowbridge, Wilts, in
1938. Tadpoles dropped on Chippenham town centre in 1983, and small
flounder and Dover sole fell in east London in May 1984. "Tornadoes
might explain these showers," he writes.
"Tornadoes can suck up objects into their funnels and carry them for
miles in thunderclouds, eventually seeing them fall out in heavy
rain."
Britain gets several tornadoes each year, he writes. One of the worst
hit west London on Dec 8th, 1954, ripping through Chiswick,
Gunnersbury, Acton, Golders Green and Southgate.
"An eyewitness described seeing a car 'flying by at 5 metres in the
air before landing upright without even bursting a tyre'."
The year 1979 was a year for waterspouts. Picnickers by lakes near
Reigate, Surrey, reported watching "as a freak whirlwind struck,
spinning water into the air and making a loud roaring noise."
On May 11, 1979, a waterspout was seen off the coast of Mablethorpe,
Lincs. Gaynor Kirkby said:"It was like steam rising off a boiling
sea, and travelled parallel to the coast before veering out to sea
and disappearing."
In the early hours of July 1, 1968, a remarkable shower of red sand
fell over southern England and the Midlands "which turned out to be
Saharan sand carried up in sandstorms and carried to Britain on a low
pressure system that sent temperatures up to 32°C."
In February 1977 a rushing noise followed by a massive explosion and
blue-green flash rocked the village of Ford in Wiltshire, "possibly
the result of a powerful form of ball lightning".
Mr Simons concludes: "The record drought last year appears to be part
of global warming, with European summers turning hotter and Kent
getting the most thunderstorms in the UK.
"Now as the sea levels are rising because the climate is growing
warmer, the chances of a flood breaching the Thames barrier are
growing by the year."