February 1903: Exceptionally mild, a dustfall and a great gale

[Weather-history]

February 1903 was an exceptionally mild month with a CET of 7.1  Tropical martime southwesterly frequently flooded the UK bringing exceptionally high maxima for the time of the year.

 

On the 21st of February, an airmass that originated from north Africa gave a remarkable dust fall across parts of Wales and central and southern England as can been seen on this map. The shaded areas is where dust was reported


Some reports

Mrs Foster, Witley, Godalming

"On Saturday, February 21st, we had a remarkable dust-storm, worst about midday. Several people who went out of doors complained of the dreadful dust in their eyes and nostrils. On Monday morning, after the rain of Sunday. the 22nd, I saw yellow dust on the south and west window sills, but it was like cement and could not be swept up, so it had to be washed off."

Dr Edwin Freshfield, Juniper Hill

"From 9am till 2pm the sun was shining brightly enough through a haze similiar to the Khamsin haze in Egypt, then the semi-obscured sky cleared of mist about 4pm. Evergreen trees were noticed to be covered with chocolate coloured dust at 11am and by 4pm the trees were all of one uniform colour. The dust was silky to the touch."

Mrs Silver, Highfield Vicarage, Southampton

"On the Sunday, February 22nd, between 11am and noon the sky was coloured with a thick yellow cloud exactly like a Lonodn fog, too thick for sufficent light to penetrate to read by. The darkness lasted about an hour and when it had passed the windows were covered with yellow sand."

G.D, Hope, Romford

"On Saturday 21st February, a great amount of grey dust fell at Havering. The conifers collected most and looked as if they had been powdered with flour"

 

  

 

A few days later, there was a tremendous gale that hit northern parts that for Ireland was described as the worst gale since the Big Wind of January 1839.

One estate near Birr reported about 2000 trees uprooted, 4000 trees on an estate in Kilkenny, 3000 trees were uprooted in Phoenix Park, Dublin.

Reports on the gale

 

Norwich: Great gale on the night of 26th with terrific gusts

 

Bolton: On the 27th, occurred the most severest gale for many years, its force being almost equal to that of the memorable gale of 9th December 1886

 

Melmerby: Violent SW gale on the 26th and 27th. Many trees uprooted and houses unroofed.

 

Douglas: A storm of probably almost unprecedented violence on the 26th and 27th did much damage to churches, houses, trees and gardens.

 

Cargen: The gale on 27th caused considerable damage to timber and trees

 

Darryanne Abbey: The gale of the 26th was said to be the worst remembered.

 

Dublin: A hurricane on the night of 26th/27th unequalled since the big wind of January 6th 1839

 

Athlone: The greatest storm since "the night of the big wind" on January 6th 1839 raged on 26th. Trees were laid low all over the country and in some cases almost whole woods.

 

Ballinaloe: Violent gale on the 26th. Houses were unroofed and thousands of trees blown down all over the district.

 

  

 

The gale made news across the pond. This from a North Carolina newspaper

[LetItSnow!]

1903 is one of those "classic" unseasonable years along with the likes of 1974, 1998 and 2011. Exceptional winter mildness followed by a very cold April, and infamously bad summer which included one of the longest continuous spells of rain ever known, then the only fine weather of the year came in September, but it didn't last long as then came the wettest month ever known in reliable records, October 1903 with an EWP average of 218mm. The last one isn't unseasonable so much as it is extreme. 1903 was a very extreme year. In contrast, 1904 was a lot more benign. So much so the only month Trevor Harley wrote about was November!

1903 looks like a pre-AGW version of many recent years tbh: mild winter, cold spells in the spring, an unsettled summer, warm spells in September, turbo charged Atlantic in October then generally mild with transient cold blips across November and December. The synoptics for February 1903 are impressive though and wouldn't look out of place today with that massive slab of high pressure over Europe.

The C.E.T. for 1903:

4.2 7.1 7.1 6.4 11.1 13.0 15.3 14.3 13.1 10.5 6.4 3.3 - 9.3

What I think the same synoptics would produce now:

4.7 7.6 7.6 6.9 11.6 14.5 15.8 14.8 14.6 11.0 6.9 4.8 - 10.1

Edited February 14 by LetItSnow!