Given the fact we had about a week of lying snow last month, and that I’ve already been asked ‘is that it for this winter?’, I thought some statistics on lying snow here in Reading might not go amiss. We have complete day-to-day records of the dates with lying snow (defined as a coverage of … Continue reading “Deep and crisp and even”
From the early 1990s, high levels of tree mortality have been observed across large areas of forest in North America infested by species of bark beetles. The majority of the damage originates from the native Mountain Pine Beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae. The beetles burrow underneath the bark of the trees to lay their eggs, disrupting water … Continue reading “Mountain Pine Beetles, Climate and the Carbon Cycle”
The cultivation of bio-energy crops, such as sugarcane is a potentially lucrative activity. But sugarcane is a thirsty crop, and the infrastructure required to refine it is expensive. These issues raise serious questions about sustainability and profitability. Nowhere is this more true than in Africa. Assessing the environmental and economic feasibility of sugarcane cultivation is … Continue reading “Growing bio-fuels in Africa: Sugarcane in Ghana”
For a stratospheric scientist, winter is a worrying time. For most of the year we can enjoy whatever weather the atmosphere decides to throw at us, secure in the knowledge that none of it is our fault. But occasionally winter throws in a surprise, and one glance at last weekend’s weather forecast tells you that … Continue reading “Sudden Stratospheric Stirrings”
What is a “White Christmas”? For many people a White Christmas is a Christmas Day (25 December) with a ‘traditional’ look to the day – that is one with snow covering the ground. For those whose fancy a flutter at the bookmakers (although it is probably too late to get good odds now) a White … Continue reading “A White Christmas in Reading?”
By Ray Bell The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season officially ended on Saturday as a ‘very unusual‘ year with an abnormally large 19 tropical storms forming and curiously only 1 making it to Category 3 strength. A typical hurricane season has 12 tropical storms, 6 of which are hurricanes and 3 of which are major hurricanes. … Continue reading “2012 Hurricane season wrap-up”
The cold weather started just before the Christmas of 1962, as temperatures from the University’s climatological station (then in London Road) show.
A remarkable event occurs each springtime in the Antarctic (Sept-Oct-Nov) lower stratosphere – a dramatic depletion of ozone in a period of just a few weeks. It has not always been this way. Ozone amounts can be measured in many ways. One useful measure is the total number of ozone molecules above a square centimetre … Continue reading “The 2012 Antarctic Ozone Hole”
It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that summer 2012 has seen some pretty unusual conditions. In the UK its officially been the second wettest summer (June, July and August) since records began with only 1912 being wetter. The only exception was the NW of Scotland with somewhat drier than average conditions. This of course followed … Continue reading “summer weather and food production”
Last week you might have been forgiven for thinking there would be something spooky in the weather for Halloween, with several news websites were pushing headlines along the lines of: So what is ‘blood rain’ and was there any truth in these headlines? Every year, millions of tonnes of Saharan dust are lifted from the … Continue reading “Blood Rain for Halloween?”