Jökull - 01.12.1986, Page 70

Eyjafjord, afraid to leave because of the ice still lying
off the northeast coast. The sea ice also reached the
southeastern and southem coasts. The Sheriff from
Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla stated that the ice first oc-
curred there at Whitsun (19 May) and did not leave
until 23 August. In the report from Rangárvalla dis-
trict it was said that, shortly after 13 May, the sea
“was quite covered with sea ice which came from the
east”. This stayed for about three weeks. On 14
August more ice came, “no less than before”. Skúli
Magnússon, who sailed to Copenhagen in late August,
wrote that the ice stayed in the north to August, and
that it then drifted away past the eastern ljords to the
south and lay just off the Westman Islands. The ship
he travelled in had to change course, from southeast
to southwest, in order to avoid it. For this year, the
Sheriff of Norður-Múlasýsla wrote: “No one can
remember that the ice has ever stayed so long here
..Such remarks should be treated with caution, as
people’s memories of natural events are short, but
other evidence suggests that the ice had not lasted for
quite such a long time since the 1750s. Furthermore,
Jón Jónsson, writing in early April, stated that the
amount of ice off the northern coast at that time was
the greatest he remembered. Jón, then aged sixty-
three, was an accurate and reliable witness, and his
statement should be taken seriously. From all these
accounts, 1782 appears to have been one of the most
severe sea-ice years of the eighteenth century.
The winter of 1781 to 1782 was unusually severe in
most districts. Accounts from the east, south and west
are remarkably similar in their descriptions of this
season. Some northern sources record that it was
mainly the latter part of winter which was very severe
there. Although, according to Jón Jónsson, all of
November (1781) was harsh. From the end of
November to the end of February, only one week was
characterized by him as severe. Seven weeks were
“good” (mainly because there was sufficient pasture
for lifestock) and three were “reasonable”. Flowever,
March was undoubtedly very severe, and there was
great frost and cold to mid April. In Suður-Múlasýsla,
it was said that the winter began in November 1781
with snow, storms and bitter frost. This lasted to mid
December when it became milder for fourteen days.
Right after the New Year this changed to continual
northeasterly storms with snow and terrible frost, and
became increasingly worse to mid April. The Sheriff of
Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla wrote that the winter began in
October with snow, and that, except for short times in
December and February, there was the severest frost
that people could remember, and this lasted the whole
winter. Governor Thodal at Bessastaðir said that the
winter was fairly mild to 6 January when a severe
frost and heavy snowfall occurred. He also wrote that
he had not experienced such a winter since he first
same to Iceland (in 1770) and that the Icelanders he
spoke to said they could not remember a similar one,
either. Skúli Magnússon, writing from Viðey off
Reykjavík stated that, from 3 January to 15 April,
there was often severe frost except for the 9 to 20
February when the snow melted somewhat during a
period of rain and southerly winds. The Sheriff of
Dalasýsla wrote that this was one of the severest
winters in people’s memories, and also noted that
around the end of March and beginning of April,
there was such severe frost that people who were out-
side were frost-bitten on the hands and face.
The very cold weather continued into the spring in
all districts. A typical account is that from Dalasýsla:
.. the spring was very cold and dry with continual
night frosts”. As might be expected, however, there is
some regional variation. In Suður-Múlasýsla, the
weather continued severe to mid April, when it
became milder, but it was cold with frost and snow
right up to the beginning of June “on account of the
sea-ice”. In Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla, the spring was
said to be very severe to the end of May when it be-
came milder. The Sheriff of Rangárvallasýsla wrote
that there was severe weather during the spring which
became milder just before Easter (31 March). There
were some days of thaw, but then the frost and bitter
cold began again immediately afterwards. Jón Jónsson
recorded severe weather right through spring. Only
two weeks at the beginning (14 to 27 April) were de-
scribed as fine and with thaws.
The summer of 1782 was undoubtedly unusually
cold. Writing on 6 July, the Sheriff of Suður-Múla-
sýsla stated that the homefields were still “bald”. In
other words, there was still snow-cover with no grass
growth. At this time, mountain roads and paths in the
district were still virtually impassable due to snow and
ice. In the north and south, it was also dry for much
of the time. Jón Jónsson recorded cold and dry
weather in June and July. It was also cold in August
in the north, although there were periods of rain too.
The Sheriff in Rangárvallasýsla wrote that it was a
very dry summer with frequent night frosts. At Bessa-
staðir, Thodal also recorded a dry summer. The
Sheriff s report for Austur-Skaftafellssýsla stated that,
there, it was cold with continual drought. However,
the report for Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla says that the sea
ice, which lay off that part of the coast from 19 May
to 23 August, sometimes brought rain, and the
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