Talk:Great Frost of 1709

wtf?
Wait, let me get this straight, this was the coldest winter ever yet my eyes cannot believe me reading "temperatures as low as negative 15 celsius". -15... -15... at night?! I find this a bit overreacting since this winter we've had -27 in Brasov at night and around -10 in the day. And weve had colder. And to many people's surprise we've been through "verycold" in the 18th century as well, and nobody made a fuss about it. And I heard it's colder and more extreme in Russia. Yet in all my life I haven't heard of trees exploding from reasons other than lightning struck. But let's presume that's not really the point here. Ok, so it may have been the coldest season in Britain / France, but a little mention about how cold it gets in the east / north would proove much welcome, par example, giving the average temperature for one who comes from a country were it is generally colder (say... my country) to understand the difference and what makes this frost that cold. Of course, it sounds stupid to call it "the coldest winter in EUROPE", last time I checked Eastern Europe and Northern Europe are withing Europe's boundaries, and all the temperatures et cetera are from England and France. Note down possible or for sure temperatures in other corners of Europe or call it the greatest frost in WESTERN Europe. Oh, and a tiny little mention of the cold in the east might be welcome. One more thing, I appologise if what i have just said made certain people feel insulted, but i for one do... sheesh, minus 15... 92.81.33.33 (talk) 17:09, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

1684
The Met Office site http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/secondary/students/winter.html#severe has this:

''Since daily meteorological records began in Britain in the 17th century, there have been a number of severe winters. The coldest of all was probably 1684, when the diarist John Evelyn took a coach to Lambeth along the frozen River Thames.

''There was an exceptionally cold and protracted winter in 1739/40 when, between November 1739 and May 1740, snow fell on 39 days in the London area. January in both 1795 and 1814 were colder than January 1740, and the month of February in 1855, 1895 and 1947 were colder than February 1740.''

England and Wales would have to wait 223 years for a winter as cold as 1740: 1963.

''But what was so remarkable about the 1739/40, however, is that the mean temperatures of both January and February were below 0 °C in the Midlands and southern England. The only other known instance of two successive months with mean temperatures below freezing took place in December 1878 and January 1879.''

This is only Britain, but no mention of 1709. Myrvin (talk) 20:53, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Anecdotal section
This information needs a different citation or it should be removed per WP:PAYWALL. -- Sweet Nightmares  (awaken)  19:44, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Vapid, unencyclopedic, name-dropping
For some reason, the removal of the line According to Dennis Wheeler, a climatologist at the University of Sunderland: "Something unusual seems to have been happening". keeps getting reverted. To put it kindly, this is unecyclopedic. I am told that Dennis Wheeler is "eminent", which is an appeal to authority, and an invalid argument. But that doesn't change the fact that saying an unusually cold spell is unusual is a non-statement. Furthermore, it is a quote from pop media, not a secondary source. What are the readers supposed to get from such a tautology? Clearly not an analysis of the cause of the cold snap. Even pure speculation from Wheeler would be preferable. Abductive (reasoning) 19:36, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

Something about the origins of Farenheit?
If I recall correctly, the lowest temperature in Danzig (now Gdansk) this winter was what was used for the baseline of 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Should this be somehow added? ERBuermann (talk) 02:33, 28 March 2023 (UTC)


 * From our article on the Fahrenheit scale, this seems not to have been how the baseline was arrived at. JH (talk page) 08:46, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

The map makes no sense
France had the worst weather, but the map shows it a little under 1850 averages. London isn't even at -4°C. Swedish-Russian war was happening in Poltava which is barely inside the -6°C. What's with this huge cold area in Pannonian Basin, Czechia, Slovakia and Poland? How wasn't it "particularly hard hit by the winter" and "shivering from cold"?

Either the map is wrong or the article should be rewritten to represent the whole Europe. 93.139.177.156 (talk) 00:34, 23 May 2024 (UTC)