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jamesbhx

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    SE England and EA Regional Weather Discussion

    in Regional

    Posted · Edited by jamesbhx

    As someone mentioned earlier I think, the use of amber and red alerts are used sparingly as they trigger various contingency plans with government, local councils, emergency services, utility companies and many more sectors. For example in my industry (aviation based) an amber alert for snow would involve placing additional staff on standby and readying equipment and a red alert would likely involve a shut-down of the operation (one of the options anyway). Both of these cost time and money so the MetO do not take such decisions lightly. 

    For example the main electricity company in the affected area tonight, UKPowerNetworks will most likely have brought in additional engineering staff for their nightshift as part of their contingency plan. They may also be readying additional generating equipment too. This is where the cost comes in.

    • Like 2

    South East and East Anglia weather discussion/Chat - 2nd February onwards

    in Regional

    Posted

    Just finished a teleconference with various airlines, the Met Office and airports. The highest risk is for Luton and Stansted (and the area in between, sort of M1 to M11) for 1-2cm overnight through til about 6am. No significant accumulations are expected anywhere else in England and whatever falls is most likely be rain or sleet. The greater risk is for low cloud bases and poor visibility associated with rain/drizzle/sleet. 

    I'd say the area defined by a box shaped Luton-Stansted-Cambridge-Milton Keynes has the highest risk of seeing snow which will settle.

    • Like 1

    Storm & Convective Discussion - 1 September 2015 onwards

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    Well done great pics and you've got a waterspout there on the second and third photo ,you can see the funnel whipping up the water at its base. You must be Chuffed. I know I would be! :yahoo:

     

    Thanks! I've seen a few funnels in that location over the past few years, particularly with a northerly wind versus a sea breeze set up as occurred this afternoon. I'm pleased to report the yacht and aircraft were fine - it looked a lot closer than it appeared!

    Storm & Convective Discussion - 02/07/15 Onward - Heat & Plumes

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted · Edited by jamesbhx

    See http://www.radartutorial.eu/07.waves/wa17.en.html for more information on anaprop. Although radar processing does remove a lot of "clutter", it is not completely foolproof and the occasional spots do get through. It is often worse around sunset or sunrise. Flocks of birds, aircraft and even swarms of insects sometimes show up on weather radar. I have even seen the ISS orbiting the earth appear on primary radar (air traffic control) due to refraction of the beam upwards in to space.

    • Like 1

    Storm & Convective Discussion - 02/07/15 Onward - Heat & Plumes

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    A really tricky one to call for this evenings potential. I'd say looking at available data and taking an average across various models and independent forecasts, you're more likely to see some activity the further west you are however the severity would appear to increase the further east you are.

    So west - higher chance but less severe potential, East - less chance but higher severe potential for anything that develops. I'd probably draw an imaginary east/west line from the Isle of Wight - Oxford - York.

    Atlantic Storm 14th - 15th January

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    I live near gatwick and some aircraft are diverting, an easyJet flight just diverted off to Amsterdam!

    Yes quite a few go arounds tonight.

    I have my own measure of whether the wind is significantly strong or not, and that is when I can hear it on the opposite side of the house to the direction it's blowing from - and right this moment I can hear it.

    • Like 2

    Project: UK METAR Weather Overview

    in Spring Weather Discussion

    Posted

    Hi Dale,

     

    Nice project. As someone who makes and deals with METARs daily I thought I'd just give you some background. You're correct in that METARs are timestamped :20 or :50. The observation "window" actually begins 5 minutes before and lasts until 5 minutes past the scheduled METAR time. This is to allow time for the observer to make the observation and enter it in to whatever system they are using. The METARs are then sent via a link to the Met Office for quality control. Once QC'd they are send in to the wider world. Because of this time window, transmission delay (due to message priority) and QC its often at least 5 or 10 minutes after the published time that METARs start to appear on the various websites/apps/platforms etc.

     

    There are things called SPECI reports too which are coded METARs but are only send in certain occasions. They are timestamped with the actual time sent, rather than a 50 or 20. They occur when a certain met criterea is met, or a change of weather occurs between two METAR obs which requires updated information to be sent. To my knowledge SPECIs are only sent to the Met Office and to local ATC units rather than the whole world, but if someone knows different then please say!

     

    Most of the different weather types you list, Squalls, Volcanic Ash etc are very very rarely reported. It may be better if you coded wind strength as an indicator. This would at least show which stations have stronger winds and which don't.

     

    Also as the METAR period exists for 30mins, it would be better if the stations listed still showed up after 30mins, again due to the lag in getting data. Perhaps remove an airfield from the screen if it hasn't had updated METARs for two consecutive observations.

    • Like 1
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