Jökull - 01.12.1986, Page 69

where) and many more as “cold”: 1771, 1772, 1774,
and 1778 (all in the north). The coldest winter—
spring seasons this decade thus included 1773, 1775,
1777 and 1780. Jón Jónsson wrote that the spring of
1780 was similar to the “hard” spring of 1728. The
only spring recorded as mild was 1776 and this was
also a mild winter. Sea ice was present off the north-
ern coast every year this decade except for 1779 and
1780. It is also recorded in the northwest in 1774,
1775 and 1776.
There do not appear to have been any particularly
unusual seasons among the summers and autumns of
this decade. Only the last two years, 1779 and 1780,
will be described in detail. The summer and autumn of
1779 were very wet in the south and west. In the
north and east, there was a reasonable balance
between wet ahd dry weather. In 1780, the summer
(particularly the latter part) and the autumn were very
wet in all southern and western districts. Thodal, the
Governor at Bessastaðir in the south, wrote that,
since he first came to Iceland (in 1770) his visit to the
Alþing, a journey of some 70 kilometres, had never
been so wet and uncomfortable. “I left there in the
rain on the 29th July ... and should have returned
home on the 31 st. As a result of the rain and bad
weather, we did not get there until the 4th of August”.
In the east, the early part of the summer was cold,
then the weather became mild and better than aver-
a8e. Similar summer weather was recorded by Jón
Jónsson, but September was very wet and unfavour-
able for the hay harvest.
THE WEATHER DURING 1781 TO 1784
In the following section, the weather during 1781 to
1784 will be discussed year by year. Particular atten-
fion is paid to 1783, the year of Skaftáreldar. A sum-
mary of the characteristics of these years may also be
found in Table 3.
1781
Almost all sources state that the winter of 1780 to
1781 was a reasonably mild one. Typical accounts are
from the Sheriffs of Austur-Skaftafellssýsla (“a good
winter”) and Rangárvallasýsla (“mild and reasonable
as regards frost and snow”). In the south and west, the
spring was also reasonable. The Sheriff in Rangár-
vallasýsla noted that frost and ice in the ground
melted unusually early. In Gullbringusýsla, the spring
was said to have been damp and cold with rain to
June. From Barðastrandarsýsla, the report is of
Pleasant spring weather from 27 April. A snowstorm
occurred on 10 to 12 May, but from then on the
weather was average. In the north, Jón Jónsson
recorded that, up to 31 May, spring had been change-
able with continual night frosts which slowed grass
growth. Sea ice occurred off the north coast in April,
and stayed at least to early June. The ice hindered
seal-fishing in the east, but apart from that, conditions
there were said to be better than in previous years
(B.S. Múlasýsla).
The summer of 1781 was favourable in most dis-
tricts, and most sources refer to a good crop of grass.
The account from Gullbringusýsla is typical of many:
“This year’s grass and hay the best”. Instrumental
temperature observations are also included in the
latter account: “From June on, temperature often
twelve to fifteen degrees above freezing.” As we have
no information about the instrument used nor its
location, it is difficult to assess these values; but they
certainly support the qualitative information. The
Sheriff of Dalasýsla recorded “a mild and grass-rich
summer, even though the Greenland drift ice lay off
Strandasýsla into July.” From Jón Jónsson’s account,
it is clear that, in the north, the summer was reason-
ably mild from early June to the end of August.
Some western sources refer to a rainy autumn, and
this meant that the harvest was not quite as good as
hoped. The Sheriff of Hnappadalssýsla wrote that
there had not been so much rain for such a long time
during the past seventy years. In Dalasýsla, the
autumn was said to be tolerable. Jón Jónsson wrote
that there was cold weather with snow from late
August to late September, but October was good. In
the south, the autumn was mild.
1782
In contrast to the relatively mild year of 1781, 1782
seems to have been unusually cold all over Iceland for
much of the year. It was also a heavy ice year. Most-
northem sources state that the ice first came to the
north coast in mid March, but the Sheriff of Norður-
Múlasýsla wrote that the ice lay off the eastern coast
from early February to well into September. The
Sheriff of Dalasýsla recorded that the sea ice came to
thé northwest around the end of March and beginning
of April and remained up to the time that he was writ-
ing (19 August). The sea in Breiðafjord was also
frozen this year (B.S. Barðastrandarsýsla). Most
sources say the ice left the northern coast in August,
but it may have remained in the vicinity of Iceland at
least to the end of August or later. For the week 18 to
24 August, Jón Jónsson recorded that there were said
to be nineteen Dutch ships anchored off Hrísey in
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