Detailed Description

This richly illustrated book reveals the dramatic story of Reading’s weather over more than 200 years, combining vivid historical accounts, contemporary photography and one of Britain’s longest continuous daily weather records, kept at the University of Reading since 1908. From the scorching summers of 1911, 1976 and 2025, great snowstorms in 1814, 1927, 1963 and 2010, devastating floods in 1947, Reading’s very own climate stripe and even a fatal tornado at Reading Station in 1840, the full diversity of British weather is revealed within these pages. Local yet global, scientific yet human, this book shows how weather has shaped Reading — and why its remarkable record matters more than ever.