Colonel Stagg's Weather Reports
June 2 at 21:30 p.m., the first very unfavorable weather reports were presented to General Eisenhower. This was Colonel Stagg, chief forecaster at the headquarters of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). Despite this bad news, the plan and date of the invasion remained unchanged.
On June 3 at 21:30 p.m., due to the poor weather conditions, Eisenhower decided to temporarily postpone the D-Day landings. But the night was short-lived.
At 4:4 a.m. on June 15, during a new conference at SHAEF headquarters, Eisenhower decided that the 24-hour postponement, decided on as a provisional measure the day before, would be maintained. The order was therefore given to recall the convoys that had already set sail. The date of the Landing was therefore set for June 6. In the evening around 21:30 p.m., during a new conference and while the storm was sweeping over the south of England, Eisenhower postponed the final decision until the next meeting scheduled for the following morning, June 5.
At 4h15, lJune 5, Colonel Stagg's weather reports offer a glimpse of hope. Faced with the opportunity of a 36-hour lull in the weather on the morning of June 6, the final decision is then taken to disembark the next day, from the early hours of dawn.
