Colonel Stagg's Weather Reports
On June 2nd at 21:30 PM , the first extremely unfavorable weather reports were presented to General Eisenhower. These reports came from Colonel Stagg, chief forecaster at 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 4:15 a.m. on June 4th, during another conference at SHAEF headquarters, Eisenhower decided to maintain the 24-hour postponement, decided the previous day as a provisional measure. Orders were also given to recall the convoys that had already set sail. The D-Day landing date was thus set for June 6th. That evening, around 21:30 p.m., during another conference, and as a storm raged across southern England, Eisenhower deferred the final decision to the next meeting scheduled for the following morning, June 5th.
At 4:15 a.m. on June 5, Colonel Stagg's weather reports offered a glimmer of hope. Given the opportunity of a 36-hour lull in the weather on the morning of June 6, the final decision was made to land the following day , at the first light of dawn.
