Making the weather in English writing and art

From icy ground gleaming in early literature to our idea of a data cloud … the portrayals of weather in different eras are full of surprises

On the last night of the 18th century, the heroine of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando leans out from her London window. In the cool, clear air she surveys the smooth domes and magnificent vistas of the city. All is “light, order, and serenity”. But then, as she watches, a rapid gloom starts to close in. Within moments, there comes a dramatic meteorological alteration. “A turbulent welter of cloud covered the city. All was darkness; all was doubt; all was confusion. The 18th century was over; the 19th century had begun.”

This is how time passes in Woolf’s historical pageant: the atmosphere of English life in different eras is established through changes in the air. It is a masterstroke of literalism. Life changes in accordance with the newly Victorian weather: skirts are worn to the ground and tablecloths follow suit; ivy grows in profusion; in the muffled gloom, evasions and concealments are bred almost as quickly as children.

Related: Drip, drip, drip, by day and night

This weeke was wonderfull dull and malincholly weather. The sun shone not