October 2004, has been a month of extreme weather, heavy
rain, gales and believe it or not a couple days of autumn
sunshine with clear skies and a warm feel to the sun.. Lyneham
has experienced topsy-turvy weather all through the month,
one day deluge of rain, the next sunshine clear skies..
The monthly rainfall has been very high, with over 11 days
getting over 4mm of rain.., and 4 days with over 14mm (nearly
a half an inch) of downpours. October can be remembered
for the gales, not just this year, but Michael Fish's infamous
weather predictions of 1987.. Probably the most important
storm in the history of British meteorology happened in
an October. This happened 145 years ago, and its consequences
marked the beginning of official weather forecasting in
this country.
The SS Royal Charter, an auxiliary steamer, was nearing
the end of its voyage from Australia on October 25th 1859,
carrying over 400 passengers and a large quantity of gold
bullion. The storm sprang up that evening. As the northerly
wind strengthened to gale force the Royal Charter dropped
anchor off the coast of Anglesey.
The captain preferred to ride out the storm rather than
continue to Liverpool lest such a northerly gale would drive
him towards the coast of North Wales.
In the event, the ship foundered during the early hours
of October 26th of the village of Moelfre
with the loss of most of the passengers, crew and cargo.
As a result of an inquiry, the Meteorological Department
(later to be called the Met
Office) were instructed to make use of new electric
telegraph to warn of storms in British Coastal waters..
Thus the first official gale warnings were inaugurated in
June 1860. |
