Odd weather

In July 1878 the mineralogist Professor Forster Heddle, back home in St Andrews from an expedition in Sutherland, wrote to his geologist friend Professor Archibald Geikie to tell him about his exploits.

Of a day near Durness spent climbing Beinn Spionnaidh (773 metres) and Cranstackie (801 metres), Heddle wrote: “Breath and fog frozen into solid ice on our beards on top of Spinnie and Cairnstackie, icicles 8 inches long on stones… shivered all the next day, which was a drooker”.

It seems that wintery weather in July is not abnormal, so perhaps we should not be too alarmed by current reports (‘Summer weather is snow joke in Scotland’, 30 July 2015).

Hamish Johnston

Inverness

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