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Experts to examine UK weather

Leading forecasters and scientists are due to meet at The Met Office in Exeter today to discuss what is causing the UK's unusual weather conditions.

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Summit will examine extreme weather records

Snow or sleet now falls on the UK an average of 33 days a year according to figures from the Met Office between 1971 and 2000.

Meteorologists and scientists meet this afternoon at the Met Office to discuss recent, unusual weather patterns in the UK.

The Met Office records the most extreme weather as follows:

  • March 2013: Coldest since 1962
  • April 2012: Wettest ever on record
  • Spring 2012: Warmest ever
  • Highest daily maximum temperature record: 38.5C, August, 10, 2003, Faversham (Kent)
  • Lowest daily minimum temperature record: -27.2C, February 11, 1895, Braemar (Aberdeenshire)
  • Highest 24-hour rainfall totals for a rainfall day: (0900-0900 GMT): 279mm, July 18, 1955, Martinstown (Dorset)
  • Gust speed: 142mph, February 13, 1989, Fraserburgh (Aberdeenshire)
  • Snow: Between 22 January and 17 March, 1947 snow fell every day somewhere in the country

Read: A possible change of view on impact on climate change?

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Experts to examine 'unusual seasons' in UK

We have seen a run of unusual seasons in the UK and northern Europe, such as the cold winter of 2010, last year's wet weather and the cold spring this year.

This may be nothing more than a run of natural variability, but there may be other factors impacting our weather.

For example, there is emerging research which suggests there is a link between declining Arctic sea ice and European climate - but exactly how this process might work, and how important it may be among a host of other factors, remains unclear.

The Met Office is running a workshop to bring together climate experts from across the UK to look at these unusual seasons, the possible causes behind them, and how we can learn more about those drivers of our weather.

– Stephen Belcher, head of the Met Office Hadley Centre

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Experts to discuss UK's unusual weather conditions

March 2013 was the coldest on record since 1962. Credit: PA Wire

Leading forecasters and scientists are due to meet to discuss what is causing the UK's unusual weather conditions.

It comes after the freezing winter of 2010, last year's droughts and floods and the coldest spring for more than 50 years.

Read: Met Office to investigate Arctic link to record low temperatures in the UK

Discussions at the Met Office in Exeter will seek to answer whether the unusual seasons were the result of natural variation or linked to impacts of climate change, such as melting Arctic sea ice, which could be influencing weather

What's happening to our weather - the jet stream may have the answers

Meteorologists say the Jet Stream has now slipped, meaning the sunshine has given way to wet and windy weather.

Now experts at the Met Office are meeting next week to try to work out what is happening to our summers, and whether the trends of the last few years can be put down to the UK's varied conditions.

Or is there a more serious climate change imminent. David Woodland reports.

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