Weather

The meteorological chart below shows the recorded weather at 18:00 on the 24th March 1954 – the day of the flight just one hour prior to take-off (see the timeline). It shows temperatures in the range of 39° F to 41° F (4° C to 5°C), 20 kt NNE winds and 7 oktas of cloud coverage. The forecast was for snow on high ground.

Reports overnight from the met station at Dishforth only a few miles north of Leeming, were of light mist and soid overcast cloud. Ceilings were at 3000 ft at the time of take off and had descended to 2500 ft by midnight with very light rain (0.2 mm) reported overnight. Visibility was 56 furlongs (11.25 km), which dropped to 24 furlongs (4.8 km) by midnight.

This is similar to eye witness reports from the inquest which stated:

“witnesses said that the cloud base at Leeming on the day of the accident was 3500ft, with a visibility of five miles”.

The inquest

Weather Reports 00 hr, 06 hr and during the night

Location	Dishforth
Wind direction	340
Wind speed	0.4	kts
Visibility	24	furlongs
Present Weather	blue sky
Pressure at MSL	1003.2	mbar
Change in last 3 hours	3.3	mbar
Dry bulb temperature	43
Dew point	41
Cloud – Low
Cloud – Med
Cloud – High	Dense cirrus in patches
Total Coverage	2	oktas
Cloud Main body	–
Cloud Lowest layer	–

Location	Dishforth
Wind direction	350
Wind speed	17	kts
Visibility	7	furlongs
Present Weather	intermittent drizzle overcast
Pressure at MSL	1009.7	mbar
Change in last 3 hours	3.4	mbar
Dry bulb temperature	44
Dew point	43
Cloud – Low	Cirrus
Cloud – Med	–
Cloud – High	–
Total Coverage	8	oktas
Cloud Main body	8 oktas at 500 ft
Cloud Lowest layer	–

Location	Dishforth
Wind direction	360
Wind speed	16	kts
Visibility	48	furlongs
Present Weather	overcast and drizzle
Pressure at MSL	1016.5	mbar
Change in last 3 hours	1.9	mbar
Dry bulb temperature	43
Dew point	37
Cloud – Low	Cirrus
Cloud – Med	–
Cloud – High	–
Total Coverage	7	oktas
Cloud Main body	7 oktas at 3500 ft
Cloud Lowest layer	6 oktas at 1600 ft

Location	Dishforth
Wind direction	360
Wind speed	7	kts
Visibility	56	furlongs
Present Weather	overcast
Pressure at MSL	1018.3	mbar
Change in last 3 hours	0.9	mbar
Dry bulb temperature	40
Dew point	31
Cloud – Low	Cirrus
Cloud – Med	–
Cloud – High	–
Total Coverage	7	oktas
Cloud Main body	7 oktas at 3000 ft
Cloud Lowest layer	–

The original can be found here.

Working out a METAR for that Night

From the meteorological chart’s weather report, we can safely assume that, of the two runways, the main instrument runway 34 (336°) would have been operational. The stated NNE wind direction equates to a 20° wind. At 20 knots and, given the runway heading of 340, this equates to 40° angle between the runway and the wind – giving us a 13 kt crosswind as shown below.