Take the weather with you

Weekend weather forecast 021107

Friday 2nd November

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Friday will see a high pressure system sitting over the top of us. This will mean a calm, dry and sunny day with no wind. The sunshine will push temperatures up to the 10 degree mark, but it will feel cold at night with no cloud and temperatures will drop to 3-4 degrees.

Saturday 3rd November

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

While the high pressure sits on top of us again today, there is a cold front which will pass over us and this will bring a high chance of rain in the afternoon after a dry and sunny start to the day. Winds will again be light and because they are from the north, will feel cool. Temperatures will be 6-8 degrees.

Sunday 4th November

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

After a cold night, we should again have a bright, clear start to the day but the presence of the weather front indicates a chance of rain around lunchtime. Winds will again be light but temperatures will be a cool 6-8 degrees.

Mrs Hunnybun's weather review - 130707

  Mrs Hunnybun is the school librarian and was always the focus of our weather forecasts in the old days before the blog so that she could plan for her weekend. Mrs Hunnybun is a veteran campaigner and has seen many of the major weather incidents of the last two centuries such as the drought of 1976. She denies any first hand experience of the 'Little Ice Age' which started in the 16th century.

Mrs Hunnybun has recently been developing her computer literacy and can now access this blog and write e-mails so she can now post her views on our forecasts.

This week she says "Well done the weekend weather forecast was very good. However, the thunder did come as a surprise, but it came to nothing. Well done to everyone".

  Mrs Hunnybun is the school librarian and was always the focus of our weather forecasts in the old days before the blog so that she could plan for her weekend. Mrs Hunnybun is a veteran campaigner and has seen many of the major weather incidents of the last two centuries such as the drought of 1976. She denies any first hand experience of the 'Little Ice Age' which started in the 16th century.

Mrs Hunnybun has recently been developing her computer literacy and can now access this blog and write e-mails so she can now post her views on our forecasts.

This week she says "Well done the weekend weather forecast was very good. However, the thunder did come as a surprise, but it came to nothing. Well done to everyone".

  Mrs Hunnybun is the school librarian and was always the focus of our weather forecasts in the old days before the blog so that she could plan for her weekend. Mrs Hunnybun is a veteran campaigner and has seen many of the major weather incidents of the last two centuries such as the drought of 1976. She denies any first hand experience of the 'Little Ice Age' which started in the 16th century.

Mrs Hunnybun has recently been developing her computer literacy and can now access this blog and write e-mails so she can now post her views on our forecasts.

This week she says "Well done the weekend weather forecast was very good. However, the thunder did come as a surprise, but it came to nothing. Well done to everyone".

  Mrs Hunnybun is the school librarian and was always the focus of our weather forecasts in the old days before the blog so that she could plan for her weekend. Mrs Hunnybun is a veteran campaigner and has seen many of the major weather incidents of the last two centuries such as the drought of 1976. She denies any first hand experience of the 'Little Ice Age' which started in the 16th century.

Mrs Hunnybun has recently been developing her computer literacy and can now access this blog and write e-mails so she can now post her views on our forecasts.

This week she says "Well done the weekend weather forecast was very good. However, the thunder did come as a surprise, but it came to nothing. Well done to everyone".

Weekend forecast (MetCast) - 130707

Here is the MetCast for the week beginning 130707 read to you by our rock star forecaster. You can find the synoptic charts below for reference.

Get a Voki now!

Friday 13th July

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Friday will be dominated by a low pressure system. As the warm front goes over during the night it will be wet with blustery winds from the south-west. During the day we will be in the warm sector of the system and so showers are possible with sunny spells. Temperatures will be 16 - 18 degrees.

Saturday 14th July

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Saturday will see heavy rain in the early hours as a cold front passes overhead. Thereafter the day should be dry, but cloudy with sunny spells. Winds will be lighter. Temperatures will be 18-20 degrees.

Sunday 15th July

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Sunday will see a wet start as a warm front overs overhead. In the afternoon it should dry up and temperatures rise to the early 20's in degrees centigrade.

Mrs Hunnybun's weekly weather review 290607

  Mrs Hunnybun is the school librarian and was always the focus of our weather forecasts in the old days before the blog so that she could plan for her weekend. Mrs Hunnybun is a veteran campaigner and has seen many of the major weather incidents of the last two centuries such as the drought of 1976. She denies any first hand experience of the 'Little Ice Age' which started in the 16th century.

Mrs Hunnybun has recently been developing her computer literacy and can now access this blog and write e-mails so she can now post her views on our forecasts.

This week she says "Well, Friday wasn't too bad but what happened to Saturday?!! I have
never got so wet, no let up at all. However Sunday was a good forecast, looking forward to next weeks forecast".

Tis true we had a stinker on Saturday. However, if you look at the Nodehill Weather Station, June has the been the driest on record, with not a single drop of rain recorded!! Obviously we need to fix the rain gauge!.

  Mrs Hunnybun is the school librarian and was always the focus of our weather forecasts in the old days before the blog so that she could plan for her weekend. Mrs Hunnybun is a veteran campaigner and has seen many of the major weather incidents of the last two centuries such as the drought of 1976. She denies any first hand experience of the 'Little Ice Age' which started in the 16th century.

Mrs Hunnybun has recently been developing her computer literacy and can now access this blog and write e-mails so she can now post her views on our forecasts.

This week she says "Well, Friday wasn't too bad but what happened to Saturday?!! I have
never got so wet, no let up at all. However Sunday was a good forecast, looking forward to next weeks forecast".

Tis true we had a stinker on Saturday. However, if you look at the Nodehill Weather Station, June has the been the driest on record, with not a single drop of rain recorded!! Obviously we need to fix the rain gauge!.

Weekend Weather Forecast (MetCast) 290607

Here is the weekend forecast for the weekend starting 29th June 2007.

Our new rockstar weather forecaster brings you the weather

Get a Voki now!

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

This weekend we will be affected by a low pressure system. Friday will have a wet start due to both cold and occluded fronts passing over but it should dry up in the late afternoon. Blustery winds will come from the south-west. Temperatures will be 14-16 degrees.

Saturday 30th June

 

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Saturday will be warmer than Friday - 18-20 degrees. After early rain associated with the warm front, it should be dry but cloudy for most of the day as we are in the warm sector of the pressure system. We will have heavy rain in the evening as the cold front passes over and blustery winds from the south-west, which will then veer westerly and finally north-westerly as the front passes over.

Sunday 1st July

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Sunday will be wet and windy until lunchtime due to the cold fronts passing over. In the lee of these, the afternoon should be dry and clear although a cooler 16-18 degrees.

Ooops!

My computer died on Friday and so I was unable to discover that I had saved last weeks weather forecast as a draft rather than posting it. Here is the forecast - not that it is any use to anyone now, except to identify that we did very well with the forecast for Friday and Saturday. However, we had a complete stinker on Sunday and failed to predict that the rain wouldn't stop falling for the whole of the day!

You will be relieved to know I now have access to a new computer (obviously, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this!) and so normal service will be resumed.

Weekend forecast (Metcast) - 180507

Here is the MetCast for the weekend beginning 18th May 2007.

Friday 18th May

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Friday will see us on the edge of a deep low pressure system. A pair of cold fronts will pass over in the morning bringing rain and gusty winds from the south-west. Late afternoon and evening will see clearer weather and it will be dry. Temperatures will average 14-16 degrees.

Saturday 19th May

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Although still in a low pressure system, Saturday will be a dry day although probably cloudy. Winds will still be strong and from the south-west until teatime when they will die down. Temperatures should be 14-16 degrees.

Sunday 20th May

(c) Crown copyright [2007], data supplied by the Met Office

Sunday will see a high pressure system start to affect us. We should have a shower around lunchtime but apart form that it will be dry if a little cloudy.

Can you predict the weather?

Can you use the weather chart below to predict the sequence of weather over the next few hours? Use the Predicting the weather guide to help you make your forecast.

(c) Crown copyright [2004], data supplied by the Met Office

How to do your own forecast

Making a weather forecast is not as difficult as it may seem.

In the Met Club we follow these guidelines to make a forecast for the next 3 days:

1.  What pressure system are we affected by?

Look at the current pressure reading on the weather station – is it high pressure (over 1008mb) or low pressure (under 1008mb).
Confirm this by looking at the current synoptic (weather) chart.

a. High pressure – This is called an anticyclone and the weather will be very stable and last for several days.
In summer it produces warm sunny days with little cloud and little or no breeze.
In winter it produces cold, clear skies, cool winds from the north and possible frost at night.

b. Low pressure – This is called a depression and the weather will be changeable – see the guide to low pressure for more information.

2. Temperature

To be able to make a prediction of temperatures then look at the current temperature on the weather station along with the previous few days. If you have high pressure then temperatures will more than likely remain the same. Low pressure systems are slightly more complicated and it depends on when the different fronts will pass over.

3. Winds

In high pressure systems winds are light due to isobars being spaced quite far apart and travel clockwise around the high. Usually winds will be from the north in the UK.
In low pressure systems winds will be stronger. The closer the isobars are together the stronger the wind. Winds will generally be from the south west until the cold front has passed when they come from the North West.

4. Clouds

Look at the sections on low and high pressure systems to identify which clouds are associated with which system.

5. Finally, write your prediction up in the following order.

a. Pressure system – which type will affect us
b. Fronts – which if any will affect us and what weather do they bring?
c. Winds – which direction and how strong?
d. Temperature – remember day and night variations
e. Clouds
f. Give a general statement to summarise

Synoptic (weather) charts

Back in the day, descriptions and tentative forecasts were based on observations by people around the country. Nowadays supercomputers are sent data from permanent weather recording stations sited at intervals on land and in the ocean. These computers build up synoptic charts which show the areas of high pressure (H) and low pressure (L), the fronts and the isobars (lines which join up points of equal pressure).

(c) Crown copyright [2006], data supplied by the Met Office

You can use these to make simple forecasts as follows:

High pressure areas will stay overhead for several days as they are so stable and will block low pressure areas moving from west to east towards and across the UK. In Sring and Autumn our weather is dominated by a succession of depressions going over bringing wet weather!