"THE history of the world," according to the 19th century historian, Thomas Carlyle, "is but the biography of great men".
Meteorologists, however, take a wider view: they think there should also be a little weather in it, and once a year they provide a supplied script for inclusion in the chronicles.
During the first few months of every year, the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva collects all the available information from around the world about the weather in the year just past. After they have analysed the data, they make available a verbal snapshot of their findings - the "abstracts and brief chronicles of the time", as it were. Just recently they have issued the formal "Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 1996".
1996, they tell us, was the eighth warmest year on record since the middle of the last century. The average global temperature was 0.22 C above the 1961-90 average not quite as warm as 1995, which was an all time high of 0.38 degrees above the norm, but easily hot enough to take its place as the 18th consecutive year in which the global temperature was above the long term average.
Paradoxically, in the northern hemisphere it was also the fifth snowiest year since satellites began to record snow cover some 25 years ago; average snowcover during the year was well above the norm of 10 million square miles.
The most climatologically noteworthy feature of 1996 was the heavy rain that affected southern Europe, north Africa and the Middle East.
The rains were a welcome change from the very dry conditions that had characterised these regions for most of the previous decade, bringing particular relief to the Iberian peninsula where winter rainfall more than doubled.
By contrast, severe drought was experienced over much of northern Mexico and the southwest of the United States during the first half of the year.
In Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona, winter wheat crops were severely retarded by drought, and wild fires were endemic to the extent that by the end of September, in the United States as a whole, nearly 10,000 square miles of forest had been destroyed - more than in any other year since the mid-1970s.
Much of central Europe, too, from Britain right across to Russia, was exceptionally dry. Belgium, for example, had its driest year since 1833. In England and Wales - confirming reports highlighted during the recent drought - 1966 was the third driest year since 1730.