Author Archives: Stephen Burt

La Nina outlook

Posted on 26 September, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Emma Suckling In late 2015 and early 2016 a strong El Nino event, characterised by warmer than normal temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, developed and led to a variety of global effects. These included drier than normal weather in … Continue reading →

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Double, double, toil and trouble

Posted on 19 September, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Geoff Wadge Iceland has been forcing itself on our consciousness in recent years, culminating recently in the humiliation of the English football team. There may be another unpleasant surprise up Iceland’s sleeve. Since 2010 there have been three volcanic … Continue reading →

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Earth System Modelling in the UK

Posted on 12 September, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Till Kuhlbrodt Making climate projections for the next couple of decades is a pressing and complex task for the global climate modelling community. One of the most important purposes of modelling the future climate is to provide society and Government … Continue reading →

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Atmospheric effects of solar eclipses

Posted on 30 August, 2016 by Stephen Burt

Solar eclipses rarely cross populated regions, but provide great opportunities both for science and science outreach when they do. The recent 20 March 2015 solar eclipse tracked across the Atlantic, giving substantial solar radiation changes in the UK and Iceland, … Continue reading →

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UK drought monitoring and forecasting

Posted on 1 August, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Laura Baker After what feels like a pretty wet start to the year, it may seem strange to be talking about drought (although admittedly the warm weather over the last couple of weeks should help!). But in spring 2012, … Continue reading →

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Home is where the chart is …

Posted on 25 July, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Andrew Gabey Increasingly detailed weather forecasts will need data from far more weather stations than at present. Filling this gap is especially important for urban areas, where the built environment and the heat emitted by human activities have a … Continue reading →

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Spotlight on aviation CO2 emissions

Posted on 18 July, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Emma Irvine Climate change, resulting from emissions of CO2 amongst other factors, is a major topic of research here at Reading. This blog focusses on the emissions from one particular sector, aviation, and progress on tackling them. I write … Continue reading →

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An artefactually introduced monthly cycle in the ensemble fields constrained by HadISST2

Posted on 11 July, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Xiangbo Feng ECMWF has recently developed two major ensemble products for 20th century climate, i.e. ERA-20CM and CERA-20C, within ERA-CLIM and ERA-CLIM2 projects. ERA-20CM is in ECMWF’s public datasets now, and CERA-20C has been scheduled to disseminate in the near … Continue reading →

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A month’s worth of rain …

Posted on 4 July, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Ben Harvey Phrases like a month’s worth of rain fell in just one day are often seen in media reports of extreme precipitation. But what does this statistic actually mean? How rare is it to see a month’s worth … Continue reading →

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Why does it always rain on me?

Posted on 27 June, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Helen Dacre Last Monday morning I got so wet on my cycle to work that I had to spend 10 minutes under the hand dryer in the toilets to stop myself looking like a drowned rat. Being the keen … Continue reading →

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