[Russian Heat Wave]

The senior forecaster I referred too in my post was talking specifically about the current heatwave in Russia. It wasn't a general discussion about past heatwaves and the position of the jet.

[Russian Heat Wave]

There was a senior forecaster from the Met. Office on the Today programme this morning explaining the weather in Russia and the heavy monsoons in Pakistan. In simple terms it's down to our old friend the jet stream being much further south than normal (I think he said it's around the Nepal Plateau) which in effect 'traps' the very hot air over Russia and has led to the tragic events in Pakistan.

I've attached the 111200z 250mb wind chart for Russia. Well I think I have. I'm having a bit of trouble learning the procedure. How do you upload an image to the forum?Are, seems to work.

[Worst Weather Event you Have Experienced?]

I was on a weather ship out in the Atlantic in the early seventies and a depression of 923mb (from memory) went shooting through. I drew the short straw and had to fill the upper air balloon. No joke being out the lower open deck with the wind gusting over 100kts and seventy foot seas crashing over the ship. Looking back it amazes me that no one was killed on weather ships over the years.

[Do You Remember This?]

I hope we get a good period of cold and snow this year,Im not in to very hot temperatures (no problem this year then) and like the Autumn and winter.One down side of all the snow,Im a firefighter, and had one of my busiest winters for Road Traffic collisions,but the vast majority were minor as people tend to keep there speed down.Still you get the odd Idiot in a big executive car doing 80mph in the fast lane driving over 2-3 inches of hardpack.....

You can keep your cold winters. I still remember working at Larkhill Met. Office during the 1963/3 winter with 20 foot snow drifts and no heating in the office or the radar. Talk about cold; brass monkeys weren't even in the frame.