TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding weather futures based on the past: a case of Stornoway, Outer Hebrides
AU - Graham, Eddy (Eddie)
AU - Macdonald, N
AU - Naylor, S
AU - Bowen, J P
AU - Harvey-Fishenden, A
N1 - © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
PY - 2023/1/23
Y1 - 2023/1/23
N2 - We present a weather history for Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, an island chain off the northwest coast of Scotland. It combines anew 164-year composite rainfall record representative of the settlement of Stornoway (1857–2019), alongside descriptive accounts of weather harvested from the school logbooks from the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway (1873–1974). The school logbooks record the experiences of the school, school children and wider community throughout the seasons. We describe the construction of the rainfall record for the period 1857–2019 and present analyses of long-term annual and seasonal variability, with a particular focus on wet/dry extremes. In examining instrumental and qualitative sources together, we consider not just climate, but also the impacts and responses of extreme weather on the communities of the Outer Hebrides and specifically Stornoway. The climate of the late nineteenth century in the Outer Hebrides was climatologically and meteorologically challenging, with harsh storms, severe cold, and droughts with notable societal impacts. School logbooks provide the opportunity to examine societal responses to past climate variability, enabling a better understanding of how future climates may be adapted and responded too.
AB - We present a weather history for Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, an island chain off the northwest coast of Scotland. It combines anew 164-year composite rainfall record representative of the settlement of Stornoway (1857–2019), alongside descriptive accounts of weather harvested from the school logbooks from the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway (1873–1974). The school logbooks record the experiences of the school, school children and wider community throughout the seasons. We describe the construction of the rainfall record for the period 1857–2019 and present analyses of long-term annual and seasonal variability, with a particular focus on wet/dry extremes. In examining instrumental and qualitative sources together, we consider not just climate, but also the impacts and responses of extreme weather on the communities of the Outer Hebrides and specifically Stornoway. The climate of the late nineteenth century in the Outer Hebrides was climatologically and meteorologically challenging, with harsh storms, severe cold, and droughts with notable societal impacts. School logbooks provide the opportunity to examine societal responses to past climate variability, enabling a better understanding of how future climates may be adapted and responded too.
KW - Precipitation
KW - School logbooks
KW - Outer Hebrides
UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14702541.2022.2158366
U2 - 10.1080/14702541.2022.2158366
DO - 10.1080/14702541.2022.2158366
M3 - Article
SN - 1470-2541
JO - Scottish Geographical Journal
JF - Scottish Geographical Journal
ER -