{"id":5116,"date":"2025-06-07T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?p=5116"},"modified":"2025-06-07T19:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T18:15:13","slug":"the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/","title":{"rendered":"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
North Atlantic chart of weather for June 6th 1944.  D Day. Showing occupied Europe with observations obtained from the enigma machine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2014 or thereabouts I went to a play by David Haig which was based on the true story of a weather forecaster’s role in D Day. James Stagg’s advice was that the weather on June 5th, the intended day, was too volatile. He suggested the 6th June 1944 instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play was called Pressure and was great because it really conveyed the enormity of the decision that Ike, Churchill and others had to make.  To go ahead in bad weather risked enormous casualties and the failure of the Landings.  To postpone, might mean Hitler discovered the location of the invasions and might lead to disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major characters portrayed in the play included Ike and his driver, Kay Summersby<\/a> with whom he was very close. Also depicted was an American forecaster who disagreed with the British meteorologist James Stagg.  How much of the play was for dramatic effect and how much is true, I’m not entirely sure but it is a fascinating D Day story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The maps were hand drawn and partially based on intercepted data decoded by the enigma machine.  Stagg recommended postponing the landings one day from the 5th to the 6th of June, when it was hoped the ideal combination of calm seas, low water at first light and a full moon would occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maps used to present the data have recently been  up for sale and are discussed here https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-somerset-68845546<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was reminded of the play by this article on the weather on D DAY on the BBC website https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/weather\/articles\/c2995n9wgz8o<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please have a read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published 2024, republished 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2014 or thereabouts I went to a play by David Haig which was based on the true story of a weather forecaster’s role in D Day. James Stagg’s advice was that the weather on June 5th, the intended day, was too volatile. He suggested the 6th June 1944 instead. The play was called Pressure … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[112,307,421,116,321,118,423,405,23,324,16,712,322,320],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-almanac-of-the-past","category-america","category-bath","category-calendar","category-europe","category-events","category-france","category-germany","category-heritage","category-history","category-modern","category-science","category-uk","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\nThe most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th - And Did Those Feet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th - And Did Those Feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2014 or thereabouts I went to a play by David Haig which was based on the true story of a weather forecaster’s role in D Day. James Stagg’s advice was that the weather on June 5th, the intended day, was too volatile. He suggested the 6th June 1944 instead. The play was called Pressure … Continue reading "The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"And Did Those Feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-07T18:15:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-07T18:15:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin Flude\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin Flude\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin Flude\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\"},\"headline\":\"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-07T18:15:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-07T18:15:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":312,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Almanac of the Past\",\"America\",\"Bath\",\"Calendar\",\"Europe\",\"Events\",\"France\",\"Germany\",\"Heritage\",\"History\",\"Modern\",\"Science\",\"UK\",\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/\",\"name\":\"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th - And Did Those Feet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-07T18:15:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-07T18:15:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/\",\"name\":\"And Did Those Feet\",\"description\":\"The Past brought to Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\",\"name\":\"Kevin Flude\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\",\"width\":525,\"height\":371,\"caption\":\"Kevin Flude\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/author\\\/kpfludechr-org-uk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th - And Did Those Feet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th - And Did Those Feet","og_description":"In 2014 or thereabouts I went to a play by David Haig which was based on the true story of a weather forecaster’s role in D Day. James Stagg’s advice was that the weather on June 5th, the intended day, was too volatile. He suggested the 6th June 1944 instead. The play was called Pressure … Continue reading \"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th\"","og_url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/","og_site_name":"And Did Those Feet","article_published_time":"2025-06-07T18:15:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-07T18:15:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin Flude","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin Flude","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin Flude","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f"},"headline":"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th","datePublished":"2025-06-07T18:15:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-07T18:15:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/"},"wordCount":312,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png","articleSection":["Almanac of the Past","America","Bath","Calendar","Europe","Events","France","Germany","Heritage","History","Modern","Science","UK","World"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/","url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/","name":"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th - And Did Those Feet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png","datePublished":"2025-06-07T18:15:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-07T18:15:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/screenshot_20240606-1416474220330478314962121.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/the-most-important-weather-forecast-in-history-d-day-june-6th\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The most important weather forecast in History D Day June 6th"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/","name":"And Did Those Feet","description":"The Past brought to Life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f","name":"Kevin Flude","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg","width":525,"height":371,"caption":"Kevin Flude"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.chr.org.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/author\/kpfludechr-org-uk\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5116"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7465,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5116\/revisions\/7465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}