The History of the Cumbria Weather Report

 

    The earliest known copy of the report is June 1969 and was then known then as the Lake District Weather Report. It is not clear if this was the first ever report and it may be the case it had been created earlier than this date and circulated to just a few interested parties. The temperature was recorded in Fahrenheit and the rainfall in inches.  In January 1971 the change from Inches to Millimetres was made but in Jan 1973 it became the Cumbria Weather Report or CWR and temperatures changed from Fahrenheit to Centigrade.

     The early reports were collated by Robin Cutforth from Esthwaite. He initially was a Maths teacher in London, but he secured a Physics teaching post at Trinity School in Carlisle in 1966 to be nearer the Lake District, he later moved to Edinburgh but maintained a second home in the Esthwaite Valley, his love for Cumbria was clear. Some of the reports mention Esthwaite Water and if skating was possible, along with references to the temperature of the water!  John Burton from the Isle of Man took over from Robin in the early 1990s and our present editor Andrew Woodcock from Plumpton near Penrith started in 1999.

Initially local weather observers would send in their information at the end of the month in order that the reports could be collated, sadly many of these weather and rainfall stations have stopped operating, but we are in debt to those observers that sent in their reports over the years, your data has been invaluable. Today we still have some long-term observers, namely Ambleside, Coniston and Grasmere, we are also in debt to the Met Office and our local Environment Agency Office for supplying additional information to make the report what it is today.

  In 2021 all the Monthly weather reports were combined into one book covering 50 years of Cumbria Weather, a few copies are still available if anyone is interested email pacrabtree@gmail.com

 

 

1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974
1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980
1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992
1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028

 

The records appear to be used on a regular basis, I would be keen to here from anyone using the records if they found them useful.

Usual disclaimer about accuracy ! please let me know if the links have failed or any other kind of problem with the documents.

 

Pennine/Penrith Snow reports by Andrew Woodcock

1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
2003	2004	2005

Cumbria Rainfall Event November 2009

Cumbria Flood Report 2005 - invaluable resource

Carlisle Floods 2015 - Final Draft Report

Cumbria Historical Weather Events  - 1665-2023