Through the courtesy of the Elder Brethren of Trinity House and with the co-operation of the masters of twenty-six lightships, details of snowfall at sea are now available for the first time in these records.

No snowfall was reported during September, October, November, May or June at any ship station, and the Seven Stones lightship, off Cornwall, and the Helwick and English and Welsh Grounds vessels, in the Bristol Channel, reported an entirely snow-free season.

In December snow was reported on the 8th by the Morecombe Bay lightship, and on the 9th at Breaksea and Scarweather lightships in the Bristol Channel. Between the Humber and the Isle of Wight snowfall was reported on 3 days at the South Goodwin lightship, on 2 days at Shipwash, North Goodwin and East Goodwin lightships, and on one day at the Sunk, Varne and Owers lightships.

During January snowfall was reported from every lightship off the east coast from the Humber to the Isle of Wight, with a maximum of 5 days at the Sunk and Barrow Deep lightships, and but one day at the Outer Gabbard, Royal Sovereign and Owers lightships.

In February snowfalls were reported from all stations except the Sunk, Royal Sovereign, Owers, Seven Stones, St. Goven, Helwick, Breaksea, English and Welsh Grounds and Morecombe Bay, lightships. The Humber lightship reported exceptionally large snowflakes on the 25th and 26th. Snowfall for hr. ending at 04.15 hr. on the 1st at Mid Barrow lightship was reported as “continuous, but at times really thick,” whereas at Barrow Deep, ten miles to the north-east, it was reported as “very light and of short duration.”

During March snowfall was confined to but one day, at the Dudgeon, Smith’s Knoll and Cork lightships respectively.

The late and somewhat heavy snowfalls of the 24th–25th April were fairly widespread, but were not reported from the Outer Gabbard, Barrow Deep, Mid Barrow and Tongue lightships off the east coast, nor from the Helwick or English and Welsh Grounds vessels in the Bristol Channel. At the North Goodwin it was sufficiently thick for the fog-horn to be sounded because of the reduced visibility, and theVarne reported a “storm of 45 minutes duration.” The Royal Sovereign reported squalls of snow and hail, and the Owers “light sleet or snow for 30-minute periods.” The Royal Sovereign and St. Goven lightships alone experienced any snow on the 26th, the early hours of which day produced the heaviest late-April snowfall for 31 years over inland districts of south-east England.

Summary

East Anglian Area. The Map (Fig. 2, p. 525) shows the distribution of snow-days in this area for the season, together with that at adjacent shore stations. Broadly, it would seem that the snowfall at sea tends to be slightly less than on adjacent coasts; but the distribution shows considerable variation, with a maximum of 8 days at Barrow Deep and the South Goodwin. The minimum of 3 days occurred at the Outer Gabbard, Mid Barrow, Tongue and Royal Sovereign lightships. It will be of interest to see if the marked minimum at Mid Barrow and Tongue lightships is maintained in future seasons if the adjacent land and ship stations should again have at least twice the number of snow-days.

Fig. 2

Bristol Channel. The season’s distribution of snow-days in the Bristol Channel is shown in Fig. 3 (p. 525). It will be noted that the snowfall was, again, somewhat irregular, Helwick and the English and Welsh Grounds reporting none at all and Scarweather the maximum of 5 days.

Fig. 3