This Sunday, as you’re walking down the Reading streets en route to a Hallowe’en-themed party, or dressing up and terrorising the neighbourhood for their sweets, you have probably tried your hardest to look really scary (unless you’re lucky enough to naturally be like that). You might have decided you would try a witch costume. The […]

16.10.2010 A very interesting period is on the way, at least from the meteorological point of view…while I am writing a blocking regime is about to build up over the Euro-Atlantic sector. The intention of this post is a real-time description of the evolution of blocking. However, before looking at the maps, it might be […]

During September and October the large spring-time depletion of stratospheric ozone, the so-called ozone-hole, occurs over the Southern Hemisphere polar cap. Despite the success of the Montreal Protocol in restricting production and emission of ozone depleting substances, large concentrations remain in the stratosphere and continue to cause major depletion of ozone each spring. A summary […]

The leaves are starting to turn and my walk to work is getting muddier every day so that must mean that a new term is about to start. For those new to the department, this blog is a complement to our weekly weather and climate discussion (Friday, 12pm, GU01). Each week (and sometimes in between) […]

The 2-meter temperature anomaly forecasts averaged over three-month periods from November 2010 to June 2011 from NCEP’s Coupled Forecast System (CFS) model are shown below (additional fields including SST and wind anomalies are available here). The most striking features are the strong negative anomalies over Alaska during the coming winter and early spring (a result […]