Monthly Archives: August 2012

Cold night breaks August records in places

Posted on 31 August, 2012 by

Last night saw some unusually cold August night-time temperatures across parts of the UK, with some observation sites hitting record lows. Among those stations seeing their coldest recorded August temperature were: Braemar No 2, Aberdeenshire: -2.4 °C Aviemore, Highlands: -1.8 … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Record low for Arctic sea ice extent

Posted on 29 August, 2012 by

This week the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) announced that Arctic sea ice extent has reached a new record low since satellite data records began in 1979. According to the NSIDC, observations show there were 4.1 million square kilometres … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office in the Media, Met Office News | Tagged , ,

Tropical Storm Isaac heads toward New Orleans

Posted on 28 August, 2012 by

At 1500 UK time on Tuesday 28 August, Tropical Storm Isaac was located about 150 km southeast of the Louisiana coast and heading northwest at about 15 km per hour.  Mean wind speeds of 70 mph at the surface  have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office News | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Tropical Strom Isaac likely to make landfall as Cat 2 Hurricane

Posted on 27 August, 2012 by

Tropical Strom Isaac was located about 120km WSW of Key West at 4am (UK time) on Monday 27 August, and continues to move west north west. Mean wind speeds of 65 mph have been observed by the United States National Hurricane Center aircraft. … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office in the Media | Tagged , , , , , ,

Is it the wettest UK summer on record?

Posted on 26 August, 2012 by

This summer started with the wettest June in the UK in the national records which go back to 1910 and was followed up by a wetter than average July (16th wettest), so are we set for the wettest summer on … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Stormy days ahead in the Tropics

Posted on 23 August, 2012 by

Whilst in the UK attention is focused on the weather for the coming Bank Holiday weekend, in the tropics it looks set to be a stormy few days ahead. Typhoon Tembin  has winds of over 100 mph and is set to make landfall … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office in the Media | Tagged , ,

Hottest day of the year so far

Posted on 19 August, 2012 by

Yesterday saw the hottest day of the year so far, beating the 30.7°C recorded at St. James’ Park, Greater London on 25th July. The highest temperature yesterday was 32.4°C which was recorded at the Met Office observation site in Cavendish, … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office News | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Heavy rain in the west but very warm in the south east

Posted on 17 August, 2012 by

The UK’s weather will see marked contrasts over the next few days – with heavy rain in the west today and very warm weather in the south east. Forecasters at the Met Office have issued severe weather warnings for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office in the Media, Met Office News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Weather at the 1948 London Olympic Games

Posted on 5 August, 2012 by

2012 is the third time that the capital of the UK is hosting the Olympic Games.  In this short feature Dan Suri, Deputy Chief Forecaster at the Met Office reflects on the weather in 1948 and the similarities with 2012. … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office News | Tagged , , , ,

Tropical storms update – Damrey, Saola, Ernesto and Haikui

Posted on 3 August, 2012 by

As reported in yesterday’s blog, the tropical west Pacific has been active recently with typhoons Saola and Damrey both causing disruption in parts of south-east Asia. Saola weakened to a tropical storm before making landfall over the Fujian province of China. Huge amounts of … Continue reading →

Posted in Met Office News | Tagged , , , , ,