London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Greenwich 1971

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]

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37
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS—1971
I am indebted to the Director of the National Maritime Museum
and, in particular, to Lieutenant-Commander D. W. Waters, R.N.,
head of Department of Navigation and Astronomy, for the following
meteorological data for the year ended December, 1971:—

Temperature (Fahrenheit)

Highest screen temperature82.4° on 8th July
Lowest screen temperature24.0° 6th January
Maximum in January55.2° on 10th
„ „ February55.0° on 20th
„ „ November63.0° on 2nd
„ „ December59.0° on 21st

Sunshine

TOTAL FOR YEAR1,397.8 hours
Sunniest day14.1 hours on 21st May
Number of Days, without sun, 73, distributed as follows:—
January13JulyNil
February9August3
March5September1
April12October4
May3November6
June4December13

Rainfall

TOTAL563.0 mms.
Highest Fall in 24 hours28.4 mms. on 10th June
Driest Month12.0 mms. in February
Wettest Month88.4 mms. in June

Observations:
Sunshine throughout 1971 amounted to 1,397.8 hours, a fall of 0.24%
in total from the previous year and a reduction in the daily average
from 3.92 to 3.81 hours. Sunless days numbered 73, an increase of
7 over 1970.
At 563 mms., the year's total rainfall was 59 mms. lower than for
1970, a decrease of some 9.5%.
Respective averages for the previous 6 years are:—
Total Sunshine 1,316.58 hours
Daily Sunshine 3.61 hours
Sunless days 83
Rainfall 650 mms.
According to a recent forecast made by the World Meteorological
Organisation's Research Group and based upon analyses of deep
ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, average annual temperatures
in Britain will fall until 1985 after which they will climb
back. Although these differences will only be of the order of one
or two degrees centigrade, nevertheless, their effects could be
significant.