Historical climatology and the cultural memory of extreme weather events

In this episode Professor emeritus in history Christian Pfister,
Fellow of the Oeschger Centre of Climate Research at the
University of Bern examines the cultural memory of extreme
weather events. In the past people experienced extreme weather in
different ways depending on whether they lived in an agricultural
society, an urban environment or in what profession they worked.
Political and religious structures also influenced the response
to weather related disasters. This coloured the narrative and
memory of past extreme weather events and floods. Pfister
demonstrates that this qualitative data is surprisingly objective
and can be successfully used for climate reconstruction,
producing surprising results.