I found this in The Times archive from 1954. Presumably the fact that Dr Sutton needed to rule out condensation trails as a cause for bad weather means that people were theorising about them even then.
For context, 1954 was a terrible summer in the UK, so people may have been looking for causes to blame:
http://www.trevorharley.com/trevorharley/weather_web_pages/1954_weather.htm
For context, 1954 was a terrible summer in the UK, so people may have been looking for causes to blame:
1954 set the record for the highest rainfall in any one year at one place in Britain: 6527 mm at the aptly named Sprinkling Tarn (Cumbria). It was one of the worst two extended (which includes May and September) summers on record (the other being 1931), and one of the worst summers of the century. There were only 28 days with a maximum above 21C in London, and only one in Belfast, Edinburgh, and Plymouth. In some places April was the sunniest month of the year, and the next month to have more sunshine than average was September. Overall, it was a very wet year.
http://www.trevorharley.com/trevorharley/weather_web_pages/1954_weather.htm
Last edited by a moderator: