Weather Permitting: London's Changing Climate

The Museum of London will this month be launching a new exhibition about the changing nature of the capital's climate over the last 2000 years.

Weather Permitting: London's Changing Climate uses a colourful timeline filled with intriguing objects and quirky facts alongside stunning paintings to explore the changeable weather of the past and peer into the unpredictable weather of the future.

The state of the weather is a national obsession and, as Dr Johnson put it, 'when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.' This still rings true, with conversation being kick-started by a reflective remark on the day's weather and the Museum has responded with a light-hearted look at the history of London's climate.

Visitors can shelter from the winter storms and grey skies in the Museum of London's foyer and take a moment to learn more about this fascination from a time well before records began. Weather Permitting reveals how Londoners have survived the elements and weathered the fogs, floods, heat waves and freezes of the past as well as the ways in which they have affected the city's landscape.

Why did the Romans introduce the trend of wearing socks and sandals? How could Holborn and Westminster cultivate vineyards? Why did bones come in useful for making a pair of ice skates? And what inspired the nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is falling down'?

Curator Jon Cotton comments, 'we are focusing on the historical oddities of the capital's weather and the ways in which we can know about this through archaeology, diaries, broadsheets, as well as highlighting its quirks and fascination.'
    
The exhibition runs from Friday February 15th to Sunday June 15th. The Museum of London is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5.50pm and Sunday from 12pm to 5.50pm.

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How to get there

The closest tube stations are at St Paul's and Barbican. If travelling by bus the 4, 8, 11, 15, 17, 23, 25, 26, 56, 76, 100, 172, 242, 388 and the 521 serve St Paul's and the surrounding area.

All Images Copyright of Museum of London