16th July - Today's News

2nd Ashes test gets underway today and it looks like the weather could make it another draw with tomorrow looking a washout and further showers through the weekend. Some folk have already been accusing the Met Office of getting their experimental long range forecast for the summer completely wrong, particularly hitting on the 'headline' of a BBQ summer. Whilst the actual forecast may indeed prove wrong, we won't know that until the 1st September (and June was pretty much spot on). As I said earlier this month: folk have already forgotten the late June/early July heatwave (and indeed the one a month earlier) which gave us the warmest weather for nearly 3 years. Mind, if you ask me it was too hot for BBQs then ....... so maybe the disingenous jealous detractors have a point? hehehe!

And so to the latest news, and just to show not all are expecting the Met Office forecast to fail, The Time warn that El Nino effect could herald if heatwave in barbeque Britain.

“The pattern we are seeing this summer over the UK is very much like an average El Niño year, with warmer and drier weather than in the La Niña years,” said Adam Scaife, at the seasonal forecasting unit in the Met Office Hadley Centre.

The “barbecue summer” trumpeted by the Met Office in April helped to give an impression of a blistering hot summer all the way through. In truth, the forecast was for a warmer and drier summer than average, and the key word was “average” — the heatwave of June is now being balanced out by the cooler, showery weather of July. By the same law of averages, though, we should expect more hot weather to come, and there are tentative signs that heat might build up again towards the beginning of August.

It's worth noting that the 2 heatwaves so far both fell over month end. So maybe temperatures will soar again for the last couple of days of July and the beginning of August? We'll see.

Texas mulls massive 'Ike Dike' to prevent flooding

Heavy rain continues to lash Mumbai

One for the deniers to get all het up about: Arctic glacier to lose Manhattane sized 'tongue' Which really is no surprise given how warm the Arctic has been in recent summers.

Can windfarms change the weather?

Based on computer modeling, researchers at Duke and Princeton universities found that wind mill-generated turbulence raised pre-dawn surface temperatures by about four degrees and resulted in drier soil conditions. Presumably, the surface warmth was largely the result of the mixed air preventing the settling of cold air at the surface, while the dryness reflected increased evaporation by the wind of soil moisture. This is not dissimilar to the more familiar experience of a windy night keeping temperatures from falling as low as might otherwise be expected and also drying out pavement made wet by an evening shower.

The wind farm heat island effect? Best not build any near a weather station then!

Cape Town storms affect 20,000 as floods wreak havoc

Quake sparks NZ-Australia alert

Latest Pacific hurricane news is goodbye Carlos, hello Dolores. Still nothing showing in the Caribbean though.

In Austria football teams hurt by lightning - and there's me not seen a ground strike in years! Were a big storm to kick off overhead I have to say that, yes, I would be out in it, lightning or not!

Arctic sea full of huge blobs of floating goo ...... or possibly an algae bloom.