Last year Sheffield broke 11 weather records. Will it happen again, and again?
Last year Sheffield broke 11 weather records. Will it happen again, and again?
37 degrees in the shade: Climate change(d) in this city
Good afternoon members — and welcome to Thursday’s Tribune.
That our planet’s climate is changing isn’t really news anymore. But as anyone who lived through last summer’s heat wave will attest, its effects are becoming ever more noticeable here at home. According to the Weston Park weather station (which has been recording since 1882), in 2022, 11 separate weather records were broken in Sheffield. The man who runs the station, Alistair McLean, isn’t prone to hyperbole — but there comes a point when even the most cautious scientists have to sound the alarm. David Bocking reports.
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Mini-briefing
🏗️ Fargate’s disastrous Container Park development could be reused as toilets under plans drawn up by the council. The council says its preferred option is to invite bids from community groups to use them to improve catering and toilet facilities in parks. However, other options include moving them to one of two vacant plots of land near the train station, or selling them to a third party. The final decision will be taken by the Sheffield City Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee next Tuesday, 24 January. The containers will close for trading on January 29 and will be removed from site before the end of February 2023.
🏡 In 1987, the Yorkshire Television show On the Manor first aired in the UK. The four-part documentary focused on the inhabitants of Sheffield’s Manor estate as the country’s biggest council housing rebuilding programme took place around them. This excellent piece in The Star looks at the show’s legacy after it was screened at the Showroom before Christmas. Brent Woods, director at the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives, says despite the fact the documentary was made 35 years ago, many of its themes still resonate today. All four parts of the programme are available to watch at the Yorkshire Film Archive website.
🥗 Since it began in 2014, Veganuary has become well-established part of the culinary year. And for this year’s meat and dairy free month, Now Then have produced this invaluable list of vegan or vegan-friendly restaurants and takeaways for anyone wanting to try plant-based food over the next few weeks. The varied list includes new Campo Lane cafe Tigs, Union Street pop-up Icarus and Apollo and celebrity-owned Neepsend restaurant Church - Temple of Fun, as well as lots of other non-vegan venues which have plant-based options.
Things to do
🔪 Opening today (Thursday, 19 January) at Kelham Island Museum is Sheffield Treasure, the Hawley Collection’s latest Heritage Lottery Fund project all about pen and pocket knives. The exhibition showcases a selection of some of the best folding knives ever made in Sheffield, with the stunning Year Knife made by Joseph Rodgers & Sons for their showroom in Norfolk Street in 1822 taking centre stage. The show also includes a variety of other folding knives made by large firms as well as “little mesters” like the late Stan Shaw.
🎸 So many Britpop bands are currently making comeback tours that it’s becoming hard to keep track. The latest are psychedelic rockers Kula Shaker, who last year returned with a well-received new album First Congregational Church of Eternal Love (and Free Hugs) and a series of rave live reviews. When the Indian-inspired three-piece play The Leadmill on Friday, 20 January, expect a crowd of people in their 40s dancing wildly to 90s classics such as Hush, Hey Dude and Govinda. Doors open at 7.30pm and tickets are priced £27.50.
📀 Vinyl collectors are in for a treat this Saturday, 21 January, as AA Record Fairs return to Sheffield's Moor Market (9am-4pm). The event will feature 25 record dealers from all over the UK selling a huge range of vinyl records as well as CDs, cassettes and music related DVDs. Specialist traders attending on the day will include dealers selling genres including soul, indie, metal and punk.
Last year Sheffield broke 11 weather records. Will it happen again, and again?
By David Bocking
On 18th and 19th July last year, a heatwave swallowed Britain whole. You probably remember those days vividly: temperatures that high are hard to forget. As the rest of us sheltered from the heat with our curtains drawn, Sheffield Museums’ Curator of Natural Science and weather recorder Alistair McLean was being interviewed by local television. He stood out in the park by the weather station, sweltering in his sun hat.
On the 18th, the maximum temperature ever recorded in Sheffield rose another half a degree to 35.6 degrees, and then the new record was broken a day later, with a rise of over three degrees to 38.9 degrees. This was terrifying, but it also wasn't anything new. Throughout last year, multiple weather records were broken.
McLean hands me a print out from his recently published annual weather report for 2022. The report sets the tone in the first sentence:
“Just as 2021 ended with the warmest New Year’s Eve on record, 2022 began with the warmest New Year’s Day, and indeed the warmest January day on record, with a mean temperature of 12.7°C.”
It goes on to list eleven new all time records for Sheffield weather, an annual tally which is completely unprecedented.
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Weston Park All Time Weather Records Broken in 2022 (since measurements began in 1882)
Warmest year: 11.2°C (annual average temperature)
Highest daily minimum: 21.8°C
Highest daily maximum: 38.9°C
Highest daily mean: 30.4°C (average temperature over the day)
Sunniest January: 92.9 hours of sunlight
Highest January daily minimum: 11.5°C (minimum over a single day)
Highest January daily mean: 12.7°C (average temperature over the day)
Highest May minimum: 6.9°C (minimum over the whole month)
Highest July maximum: 38.9°C
Highest July minimum: 21.8°C
Highest July daily mean: 30.4°C (average temperature over the day)
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“It’s alarming, to say the least,” says McLean.
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