show a cool period from 1600 to 1800. Although it is only anecdotal evidence, the Antonio de Vea expedition entered San Rafael Lake in 1675 through Río Témpanos (Spanish for "Ice Floe River"). The Spanish mentioned no ice floe but stated that the San Rafael Glacier did not reach far into the lagoon. In 1766, another expedition noticed that the glacier reached the lagoon and calved into large icebergs. Hans Steffen visited the area in 1898 and noticed that the glacier penetrated far into the lagoon. Such historical records indicate a general cooling in the area between 1675 and 1898: "The recognition of the LIA in northern Patagonia, through the use of documentary sources, provides important, independent evidence for the occurrence of this phenomenon in the region." As of 2001, the borders of the glacier had significantly retreated from those of 1675. It has been suggested that all glaciers of Gran Campo Nevado next to the Strait of Magellan reached their largest extent of the whole Holocene epoch during the Little Ice Age. Central England temperature series The Central England Temperature (CET) is the longest instrumental temperature record in existence anywhere in the world, and extends back continuously from the present day to 1659. Hence it starts in the middle of the Little Ice Age (LIA), however the LIA interval is defined. CET holds some very important implications for our understanding of the LIA. The CET data show that during the LIA there was an increased occurrence of exceptionally cold winters and these years coincided with years when frost fairs were held on the Thames and when exceptionally low temperatures were reported elsewhere in Europe. It also agrees well with paleoclimate estimates in average trends. However, winters were not unremittingly cold during the LIA in the CET record. For example, the coldest winter (defined by the average temperature for December, January and February) in the whole CET data series is 1684 (the year of one of the most famous frost fairs) yet the fifth warmest winter in the whole CET data series to date occurred just two years later, in 1686. Furthermore, summer temperatures are not greatly depressed during the LIA and when they are these lower temperatures correlate highly with volcanic eruptions. Hence the CET data strongly argue that the LIA, at least in Europe, should be regarded as a period of enhanced occurrence of exceptionally cold winters and