Category Archives: University of Reading

How can a hurricane near the USA affect the weather in Europe?

Posted on 31 October, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By John Methven It may seem bizarre that processes occurring within clouds near the USA, involving tiny ice crystals and water droplets, can have an influence on high-impact weather events thousands of kilometres away in Europe, and our ability to predict them … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental physics, Measurements and instrumentation, Numerical modelling, University of Reading, Weather forecasting | Leave a comment

Polar Prediction School

Posted on 25 April, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Jonny Day During the last 2 weeks Dr Jonny Day spent two weeks lecturing and coordinating a Polar Prediction School for graduate students and early career researchers. The school is a joint initiative from the World Weather Research Programme … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Cryosphere, Measurements and instrumentation, Polar, University of Reading | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Wrap up well for St Valentine’s Day – a good chance of snow!

Posted on 8 February, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Roger Brugge The days are getting longer, the nights are getting shorter, but the temperature keeps falling – and so does the snow. At least in the climatological statistics they do! Looking at the date of occurrence of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Historical climatology, Measurements and instrumentation, University of Reading | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Snowflakes – not just a pretty picture!

Posted on 16 November, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Chris Westbrook The slow, inexorable approach of Christmas means that Christmas adverts are now increasing in frequency at an incredible rate. Nauseating John Lewis offerings aside, we are going to be seeing a lot of snowflake-based imagery over the … Continue reading →

Posted in Remote sensing, University of Reading | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Meteorology PhD theses digitised

Posted on 21 September, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Catherine Turner The Meteorology department at Reading is internationally renowned for its research. This research includes hundreds of theses for which we regularly receive requests for copies.  As the department’s librarian, I wanted to digitise our collection of theses … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Teaching & Learning, University of Reading | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Disentangling forecast errors

Posted on 14 September, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Oscar Martínez-Alvarado In a previous blog entry I discussed the factors contributing to errors in weather forecasts. These factors were sensitivity to initial conditions, incomplete knowledge of the atmosphere’s state and incomplete representation of the laws of physics governing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Numerical modelling, University of Reading, Weather forecasting | Tagged | Leave a comment

Summer in the City – Materials, 3D Morphology and Urban Surface Temperatures

Posted on 7 September, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Simone Kotthaus Who would have guessed that a zebra-crossing could go viral without a band walking across?! But this year it happened to pictures of a road in Delhi, India as the asphalt softened under soaring heat-wave conditions that … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary layer, Climate, Solar radiation, University of Reading, Urban meteorology | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Zeppelins at nine o’clock …

Posted on 15 June, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Stephen Burt One of the interesting and rather unexpected benefits of compiling One hundred years of Reading weather, the book Roger Brugge and I have written as part of the Department’s 50th anniversary commemoration, was the unexpected insights provided into … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Historical climatology, University of Reading | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment