WAR AND WEATHER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 42, 18 August 1941, Page 7

WAR AND WEATHER

Abnormal Times in Britain

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, August 17. The freakish weather in Britain this year supports the ancient belief that a^year of war brings about abnormal climatic changes, says the "Sunday Times." After a year of war Britain's spring was the bleakest on record. It was followed by a record long summer. The first half of July had record temperatures, followed by the heaviest rainfall for the whole of any month since 1924. The first ten days of June had in sunshine the ordinary allowance for the whole of a normal January, then drought and heat began, with temperatures as high as 94 degrees in London. The drought ended suddenly in mid-July with three days of terrific thunderstorms which caused loss of life and extensive flooding.

enemy's attempts to stage a large offensive there as "one vast failure," and the Germans are digging in. Smolensk, says the commander, has been a vast graveyard for the Germans.

The Italian news agency yesterday states: "In the first big clash of Italian and Russian forces a large number of casualties were inflicted on the Russians in the Ukraine. The Italians are now encircling the enemy in the River Bug area."