Allied weathermen duked it out days before D-Day

Toronto’s Royal Alexandria Theatre (a short walk from my condo) hosted a weather-themed play, Pressure. The allied forces led by General Eisenhower wanted to pounce on France’s Normandy beaches on June 5th, 1944. But British meteorologist, James Stagg, convinced the Allies to delay the attack by one day. Stagg knew the North Atlantic weather patterns and fully understood the impact of inclement weather. But American weatherman Irving Krick postulated good weather based on historical weather patterns. Stagg won out, delaying the invasion by a day making it one of the most critical weather forecasts ever.

The play had the right amount of weather talk, including a side fling between Eisenhower and the secretary. Who knew weather and romance could exist in the same sentence?

Technically speaking, the playwright did their weather research, but the backdrop weather map was mislabeled with 3 millibar separation. The play’s program and advertising had it right, with diagrams labeled every 4 millibars.

Incidentally, the D in D-Day is a coded designation used for the day of any vital invasion or military operation.

One response to “Allied weathermen duked it out days before D-Day”

  1. Very cool. There was a lot of “pressure” to get that forecast right.

    Like

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