Oxford Weather and Climate since 1767

The British have always been obsessed by the weather. Thomas Hornsby, who founded the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford in 1772, began weather observations at the site. They continue daily to this day, unbroken since 14 November 1813, the longest continuous series of single-site weather records in the British Isles, and one of the longest in the world. Oxford Weather and Climate since 1767 represents the first full publication of this newly-digitised record of English weather, which will appeal to interested readers and climate researchers alike. The book celebrates this unique and priceless Georgian legacy by describing and explaining how the records were (and still are) made, examines monthly and seasonal weather patterns across two centuries, and considers the context of long-term climate change. Local documentary sources and contemporary photographs bring the statistics to life, from the clouds of 'smoak' from the Great Fire of London in 1666 to the most recent floods. This book explores all the weather extremes, from bitter cold winters to hot, dry summers, bringing to life the painstaking measurements made over the last 250 years.

Stephen Burt, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading,Tim Burt, Durham University, Emeritus Professor

Stephen Burt retired from the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading in 2018. His career began in the Met Office in 1977, since when he has published widely on many and varied aspects of British climatology, including case studies of notable weather events such as the 'Great Storm' of October 1987, heatwaves, snowstorms and extreme rainfall events. He holds an MSc in Applied Meteorology and is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, Chairman of the Climatological Observers Link and a member of the American Meteorological Society and the Scientific Instruments Society. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Reading.

Tim Burt retired in 2017, after 21 years as Master of Hatfield College and Professor of Geography at Durham University. Before that, he was Lecturer in Physical Geography at Oxford University and a Fellow of Keble College (1984-96) and Director of the Radcliffe Meteorological Station 1986-96. Tim has run the Durham Observatory weather station since 2000. He has published widely on the Oxford and Durham records as well as in other areas of physical geography. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the British Society for Geomorphology. He was awarded the Cuthbert Peek Award of the Royal Geographical Society in 1994 and the Linton Award of the British Society for Geomorphology in 2017. He is now an Emeritus Professor at Durham University, a Visiting Professor at Bristol University and a Collaborating Research Scholar at Keble College, Oxford. An undergraduate at Cambridge, Tim has an MA from Carleton University, Ottawa, and PhD and DSc from Bristol.

Part 1: Oxford's weather and climate
1. Oxford: Its regional, economic and climate setting
2. Weather observation in Oxford
3. Oxford's urban growth and its potential impact on the local climate
4. Oxford weather in its regional context
5. Long-period weather observations elsewhere in the British Isles and Europe
Part 2: Oxford weather through the year
6. The annual cycle
7. January
8. February
9. March
10. April
11. May
12. June
13. July
14. August
15. September
16. October
17. November
18. December
19. The calendar year
Part 3: Oxford weather through the seasons
20. Winter
21. Spring
22. Summer
23. Autumn
Part 4: Long-term climate change in Oxford
24. Climate change in Oxford
Part 5: Chronology of noteworthy weather events in and around Oxford
25. Chronology
Part 6: Oxford weather averages and extremes
26. Warmest, driest, sunniest...
27. Earliest and latest dates
28. Droughts and wet spells
29. Oxford's 'top ten' extremes
30. Notable heatwaves and cold spells, sunny and dull periods, in Oxford since 1815
Appendices
1. Metadata: Meteorological observations at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford 1776 to date
2. The Radcliffe Observers
3. Climatological averages and extremes for Oxford, since records began
4. Climatological averages and extremes for Oxford, since records began
5. Monthly rainfall totals for Oxford 1767-1814
6. Monthly and annual summaries of Oxford's weather by year, 1813-2018