English Weather: The Seventeenth-Century Diary of Ralph Josselin

Abstract

The seventeenth-century diary of Ralph Josselin recorded local weather conditions in Earls Colne, Essex, during a period when some of the most severe weather of the Little Ice Age occurred. A comparison of information extracted from the journal with the instrumental findings of Josselin's contemporaries, the natural proxy of tree rings, and the highly regarded Central England Temperature series corroborates current knowledge about weather conditions during an era for which sources are problematical.