1947

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Source: The Canberra Times

URL: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2733960

Date: 31/12/1947

Event: "Snow and Floods Over Britain and W. Europe"

Credit: The Canberra Times, Trove (National Library of Australia)

THE CANBERRA TIMES - DEC 31, 1947

SNOW AND FLOODS OVER BRITAIN AND W. EUROPE

LONDON, Tuesday. Three to six inches of snow fell yesterday in Lincolnshire and across Scotland. Blizzards are reported in some districts, with snow blocking the roads. Southern, central and eastern England had crisp sunshine and cold breezes with temperatures, at some points, down to near freezing point. Continuing cold is forecast with snowfalls in many parts of Britain and keen frosts.

Rivers, swollen by heavy rains and melting snow, have flooded towns and villages over a wide area in eastern France and western Germany, smashing bridges, closing roads and railways. The situation in the Saar is described as grave. Saarbrucken and Saarlouis are isolated. The Saar River is at the highest for 150 years. Four Alsatian towns can be reached only by boat. Parts of Nancy and Strasbourg are under water. The rivers Moselle and Meurthe have flooded thousands of homes. Floods washed away ten bridges on the Upper Rhine. American troops have evacuated 1,000 German families from Gelnhausen, on the Kinzig River.

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Source: Examiner

URL: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52619032

Date: 27/12/1947

Event: Southern England had "an unusually warm Christmas Eve and Christmas Day"

Credit: Examiner, Trove (National Library of Australia)

EXAMINER - DEC 27, 1947

FREAK THUNDERSTORM OVER LONDON

LONDON (A.A.P.).- A sudden freak thunderstorm ended for London and the Home Counties an unusually warm Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Vivid flashes of lightning brought many revellers from party games to watch the unscheduled fireworks. Elsewhere in Britain the weather varied between sunshine on the south coast and heavy snowfalls in the north.

At Sandringham with the Royal Family and the Duke of Edinburgh were Queen Mary, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and their sons, and the Duchess of Kent and her sons. His Majesty, after broadcasting alone in his study, went with the Royal party to the palace ballroom and distributed gifts to the servants and workers on the Royal estates. Most of Britain, like Royalty, gathered to home firesides. A total of 480 million letters went through the British post offices, compared with 430 million in 1946.

Europe Happier

Associated Press of America, surveying the Continent's Christmas, said that Europe, though still hungry for peace on earth, counted its blessings in the form of more food and less suffering. Mild temperatures in most of the Continent helped in drawing thousands from firesides, in contrast to the biting cold of last Christmas.

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Source: The West Australian

URL: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46334827

Date: 21/08/1947

Event: Delegates warn of "impending famine in China and India"

Credit: The West Australian, Trove (National Library of Australia)

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN - AUG 21, 1947

FAMINE WARNINGS

WINNIPEG, Aug. 20. Delegates attending the meeting of the cereals committee of the international Emergency Food Council yesterday warned of impending famine in China and India. The Chinese delegate (Mr. Chen Chih-mai) said that the 1947 rice crop was very bad and, in the coming year, China would have to import 800,000 tons of rice and wheat. The Indian delegate (Mr. N. G. Abhyanker) said that India's position was desperate - the worst for five years.

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Source: Madeira Tribune

URL: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19470820.2.39&srpos=5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-europe+drought-------1

Date: 20/08/1947

Event: Europe: "in the throes of a serious drought and heat wave..."

Credit: Madeira Tribune, UCR Center for Biographical Studies and Research

MADEIRA TRIBUNE - AUG 20, 1947

SERIOUS DROUGHT THREATS EUROPE

LONDON, Aug. 2O. - Europe was in the throes of a serious drought and heat wave today with crops suffering, forest fires breaking out in some places and both water and milk supplies running short. The situation was regarded as particularly bad in Germany where Dr. Heinz Runge, weather expert of the Potsdam meteorological station, said that Germany’s potato and cabbage crops were threatened with destruction.

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Source: The Newcastle Sun

URL: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/158253256

Date: 07/01/1947

Event: "Weather Not Crazy, Says Bureau"

Credit: The Newcastle Sun, Trove (National Library of Australia)

THE NEWCASTLE SUN - JAN 07, 1947

Weather Not Crazy, Says Bureau

SYDNEY: You might think the weather crazy, but the Acting State Meteorologist (Mr. G. W. Mackey) said today it was completely normal for this time of the year. Any suggestion that the atom bomb had set off an unusual weather cycle had no scientific foundation, he said. The fact that record gales were reported from Hawaii, terrific snow storms from southern Europe, while Newcastle was being rocked by violent electrical storms was pure coincidence, Mr. Mackey added.

The thunderstorm last night resulted from a combination of heat, humidity and a cold front advancing on the city from the west, he explained. "During the day the prevailing winds were from the north-west which meant that they were warm and contained considerable moisture, as they had travelled for some distance over the sea," Mr. Mackey continued. "As soon as the air came in contact with the land it became heated and started to rise. The result was the violent thunderstorm which broke over the city in the early evening."