Monday December 18, 1944
The setting for episodes 1-4 of Beyond the Zero. By this date London had been under V-2 attack for 3 months and 10 days, as is related at Beyond the Zero: Episode 41.
GR reports the weather to be a 'dripping winter noon'2 and that the 'wind has shifted around to the southwest'3 with a low barometric pressure which corresponds to Met Office data for that day. On the Pacific front the US Navy took a battering from Typhoon Cobra, resulting in the sinking of three ships: USS Spence, USS Hull and USS Monaghan.
The Met office report for the day's weather reads:
'It was a cloudy day, with some light rain during the morning, and some blue skies later on. A maximum temperature of 52F (11C) and a minimum of 46F (8C) were recorded.
0600GMT - Barometer at MSL: 03.2mb
Change in 3 hrs: + 14
Wind: SSW force 4
1200GMT - Barometer at MSL: 08.1mb
Change in 3 hrs: + 20
Wind: SSW force 4
1800GMT - Barometer at MSL: 12.4mb
Change in 3 hrs: + 20
Wind: SSW force 3'4
The Daily Express for this date reports 'Children Killed as V-Bomb Falls', indicating the ongoing V-1 strikes against London at this time.
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part and episode listing
Beyond the Zero: [1], [2]
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page numbers
3, 7
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references
- ^Pynchon, Thomas, Gravity's Rainbow (London: Vintage, 2000), p. 21
- ^Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, p. 17
- ^Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow, p. 20
- ^Strachan, Kate, Met Office Archivist in email to Martin Eve, # (accessed: 2007-01-19)
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