The Great Storm of 1703, unprecedented in …

Years: 1704 - 1704
January

The Great Storm of 1703, unprecedented in ferocity and duration, is generally reckoned by witnesses to represent the anger of God—in recognition of the "crying sins of this nation", the government declares January 19, 1704, a day of fasting, saying it "loudly calls for the deepest and most solemn humiliation of our people".

It will remain a frequent topic of moralizing in sermons well into the nineteenth century.

The Great Storm also coincides with the increase in English journalism, and is the first weather event to be a news story on a national scale.

Special issue broadsheets are produced detailing damage to property and stories of people who had been killed.

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