Monday 2 June 2008

Snow on 2nd June?

On the radio programme this week we were talking about the climatology of
2nd June, with particular reference to the Coronation in 1953. In planning the big day the Palace approached the Met Office to recommend a day with ‘the most suitable’ weather. The Met Office suggested the 2nd June as climatologically the sunniest and mildest day of the year – ideal for a coronation event. As we know the Palace decided on this day, and also as we meteorologists know, there is a distinct difference between weather and climate – needless to say it poured down all day!

Phil Kennedy, the radio presenter whose show we appear in, said that his wife (whose birthday is on this day) recalls snow on 2nd June in 1975, which stopped a cricket match at Lords. I have not had a chance to check this out yet, but it is on my list to look up the daily weather summary on my next visit to the Met Office. It did also start me thinking what was the latest snowfall that we have ever experienced in the UK, with, I suspect, some very different answers for Scotland and the rest of the UK?

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