Monthly Archives: May 2013

A response on statistical models and global temperature

Posted on 31 May, 2013 by

Over a period of several months the Met Office has been involved in dialogue and answered a series of questions on the subject of the use of statistical models in relation to the global temperature record. The Met Office’s Chief … Continue reading →

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How weather drives our herd mentality

Posted on 30 May, 2013 by

We all like to think of ourselves as individuals, making up our own minds what to do and when to do it. But in Human Swarm, a new Channel 4 documentary, Jimmy Doherty reveals new evidence that suggests that in many … Continue reading →

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NASA Space Apps Challenge – Global winners announced

Posted on 23 May, 2013 by

The NASA Space Apps Challenge winners have been announced and the T-10 challenge from the Met Office event in London has won the Most Inspiring Award. The idea of T-10 was to create an app that could be used in … Continue reading →

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Spring on track to be coldest for 30 years

Posted on 22 May, 2013 by

Early figures from the Met Office show spring (March, April and May) 2013 is on course to be the coldest in the UK since 1979. Estimates of the mean temperature for the whole season have been made based on data … Continue reading →

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Recent climate research in the news

Posted on 21 May, 2013 by

A research paper published in Nature Geoscience (Otto et al, 2013) led to a fair amount of media coverage yesterday, including articles in the Guardian, BBC and an opinion piece by Matt Ridley in The Times (this article is behind … Continue reading →

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What are tornadoes?

Posted on 21 May, 2013 by

They are spinning columns of air that reach the ground from cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) clouds. Where do they occur and how do they form? – Most continents have regions with favourable conditions for tornado formation. The central and southern states of the … Continue reading →

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Guest Blog from the RAC: Ploughing on

Posted on 21 May, 2013 by

The RAC foundation has produced a report looking into winter resilience on the roads. The report found that there was good preparation for the winter of 2012/2013 and that local highways authorities and councils were helped by generally good advance warning of … Continue reading →

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Met Office predicts above average Atlantic hurricane season

Posted on 20 May, 2013 by

The Met Office Atlantic tropical storm forecast for 2013 is for 14 tropical storms between June and November, with a 70% chance that the number will be in the range 10 to 18. The long-term average over the period 1980–2010 … Continue reading →

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Update: Met Office keeping a close eye on space weather

Posted on 17 May, 2013 by

Updated on 20th May 2013 The recent activity on the Sun has now decreased back to levels we would normally expect at this point in time, close to a maximum of the 11-year solar cycle. This follows a period where … Continue reading →

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Met Office keeping a close eye on space weather

Posted on 16 May, 2013 by

The Met Office will be keeping a close eye on the Sun over the coming days after a recent surge in its activity. It’s fairly common for eruptions from the Sun (often called “space weather”) to occur, and these are … Continue reading →

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