The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marks the anniversary of Armistice, which was signed by the Allies and the Germans in 1918, ending World War 1, and 4 years of conflict. On this day, many people took to the streets to celebrate and the weather would have played a crucial part in the celebrations.
At 11 O’ Clock today glorious sunny skies shone down on London. But for most places the day has been sombre and cloudy. In fact the weather in the UK in 1918 was rather similar. Low pressure was situated over Norway giving west to northwesterly winds over much of the UK. Temperatures were similar to today too, with highs of around 10-12°C.
By contrast Armistice day back in 1940 was far from tranquil for some northern states of the US. The day started fine and dry but by mid afternoon a storm moving west brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Great Lakes and parts of Wisconsin. Six boats were capsized on Lakes Michigan and Erie. The storm then pushed further west into Minnesota where the rain quickly turned to snow and with gale force winds, blizzards soon put an end to the Armistice day celebrations.
