Weather and History...

One of my hobbies is researching the weather conditions present during great historical events. April 14 has 2 notable events that I have spent some time researching. What follows is based on things I have seen and read over the years..and I am always looking for some new bit of info to add.

The first is April 14,1912. The sinking of the Titanic. Weather charts of the North Atlantic exist for that night and they indicate the exact conditions that were described by the survivors.
A large arctic high pressure center was overhead the iceberg that RMS Titanic struck. The collision happened at 11:20 pm local time. Based on that map and survivor recollections. Here are the conditions:

Skies: Clear
Temp 32F
Wind: Dead Calm
Sea 31 degrees and glassy
(Survivors and ships crew said they had never seen the sea so calm..Like a small pond.)

It is conjectured by some that if there had been more wind, that waves breaking against the iceberg would have made it visible sooner..Perhaps averting the crisis. No moon at the time either (it rose later). That would have helped.

Certainly the weather played a large part in the disaster..not to mention the icy cold water claiming so many lives in a matter of 20 minutes or so.

The next event was 47 years before..Eerily at almost the exact same time!
Good Friday 14 April 1865 at 10th & E streets in Washington DC. Time 10:15pm.
What had been a perfect Spring day was now a mild evening with bright Venus shining in the West and an almost full moon rising in the East. A few clouds were in the sky and the winds were light.

At 10:15pm John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. When he died at 7:22 am the next morning, a steady and chilly rain was falling.

There are 3 survivors of the Titanic still living as of April 14 2005. Although the last one old enough to remember clearly the events of that night, died in 1997.

Lincoln had no surviving descendents nor did John Wilkes Booth who died a month later during capture. However, Cherie Booth of London England is his great great great niece. A notable person in her own right.

You can reach her through her husband at this address!

The Right Honourable
Tony Blair
Prime Minister
No. 10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA