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BY PAUL SIMONS BIRMINGHAM could be the tornado capital of Britain. The violent twister on Thursday had winds of more than 100mph (161 kph) and left a trail of devastation and several injuries (The Times, July 29). An equally ferocious tornado struck a nearby area of Birmingham on June 14, 1931. A big thunderstorm broke that afternoon and soon afterwards a tornado struck Hall Green to the south of the city, then carved through Sparkhill and Small Heath. “Windows blew in, pieces of wooden pailing flew in all directions,” described the Birmingham Mail. “Slates and pieces of roofing sped through the air like a flight of startled birds.” Hundreds of trees were uprooted or stripped of leaves. One woman was killed sheltering at the side of a shop which collapsed; several other people were injured in their homes by falling masonry. Photographs of the devastation showed houses half demolished as if a bomb had gone off, and it is amazing that there were not more casualties. Dozens of families were left homeless, the damage to their houses made worse by the storm’s intense rains and another huge downpour two days later. Another tornado struck Selly Oak, Birmingham on July 6, 1999. This one was less powerful, but trees were bent and tiles were ripped from the roofs of 21 houses. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS ASTOUNDING monsoon rains fell on Bombay this week, with 944.2mm (37.2in) of rain in one 24-hour period. This is more than the city’s average rainfall for the whole of July. Even more rain fell in the city’s suburbs: 972mm (38.3in) in the same period was a new record for the wettest day in India. The rains came from severe thunderstorms, typical of the monsoon season. India’s previous 24-hour rainfall record was 838mm (33in), recorded on July 12, 1910, at Cherrapunji. This remote town of 7,000 people in the northeastern state of Meghalaya (meaning “Abode of the Clouds”) is famed as one of the wettest places in the world. Perched on the edge of an escarpment looking down over Bangladesh almost a mile below, it is drenched in the monsoons every June. Huge clouds roll in from the Bay of Bengal and run into the steep wall of rock at Cherrapunji; as the moist air rises it cools and disgorges torrents of rain. In 1833 the British established a colonial seat of government in this town, but the weather drove them to despair. The soldiers’ morale sank in the incessant rains, and some even committed suicide. Cherrapunji’s reputation was confirmed between August 1860 and July 1861, when the rainfall reached 26,470mm (1,041in) — the world record for a 12-month period. Link to Weather Eye source

Beautiful sunny skies There has been some cloud as well, which at one time brought a few spots of rain, but it has been predominantly sunny. Warm too, up to 22c

Temperature: 18ºc Feels like: 18ºc Humidity: 94% Dew Point: 17ºc Wind: 10 mph SSE UV Index: 0 Low Visibility: 6.2 miles Pressure: 29.71 in and steady Sunrise: 5:28 AM Sunset: 8:58 PM As reported at Bournemouth, United Kingdom last updated 7/28/05 7:50 AM Local Time I'm surprised at the warm temperature reading, doesn't feel that warm. Currently cloudy with a few spots of rain

BY PAUL SIMONS THE school holidays have got off to a soggy start with heavy rain across Southern Britain.The wet weather came from a slow-moving depression as hot humid air drifted up from North Africa and encountered cold air from the North Pole. The best holiday weather this week is in Scotland, which falls under the enormous ridge of high pressure extending all the way from the sub-tropical Azores to Iceland. In fact much of Scotland is enjoying some of its driest weather for nine months, and could end up with only half its average rainfall for July — while the South looks likely to exceed its average July rainfall by a wide margin. The sudden change in the South’s weather from dry to wet was caused by a shift in the jet stream. For most of the summer this high-altitude river of wind has run between Iceland and Scotland, dragging Atlantic depressions with it. But now the jet stream has snaked across southern England and brought the low-pressure system with it. This depression is going to take time to shift and could give huge downpours in some places. But holidaymakers in the South need not despair. Next week holds the promise of high pressure from the Azores building up and giving fine weather again — perhaps just in time for the second Test match at Edgbaston on Thursday. Link to Weather Eye source

Weather: Light Drizzle Temperature: 14ºc Feels like: 14ºc Humidity: 100% Dew Point: 14ºc Wind: 6 mph NE UV Index: 0 Low Visibility: 2.2 miles Pressure: 29.74 in and steady Sunrise: 5:27 AM Sunset: 9:00 PM As reported at Bournemouth, United Kingdom last updated 7/27/05 7:50 AM Local Time Cloudy but wet after overnight rain

BY PAUL SIMONS THIS year’s hurricane season began with Arlene last month, six weeks earlier than last year’s first named storm. Two weeks ago Hurricane Dennis ploughed through the Caribbean at Category 4, with wind speeds of 230km/h (145mph). This is the earliest Category 4 hurricane since records began in 1851. Last week Tropical Storm Franklin spun off into the Atlantic without causing significant damage. But the worrying thing is that this was the sixth named storm of the Atlantic this year — the earliest that this many have formed. And much worse is expected. According to a team of scientists at Colorado State University, 15 named storms are predicted this season, and of these eight could become hurricanes. One brief respite is expected this week. An enormous cloud of dust is blowing on the trade winds from the Sahara across the Atlantic towards the US. The tiny particles of desert dust help to stabilise the atmosphere and prevent the build-up of the storms, which can grow to become tropical storms or hurricanes. The dust cloud is expected also to give poor air quality in the Caribbean and southern US, creating some dramatic sunsets as well as a surge in asthma and other breathing problems. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS AS RAINS drench much of Britain, and the air turns uncomfortably muggy, something else is making life slightly unpleasant — flying ants. You may have noticed hundreds of the creatures crawling or flying around, but rather than try to stamp them out, they are worth marvelling at. The common black garden ant looks for a mate at this time of year. Most of the males are wingless and infertile, but during the summer, fertile winged males hatch and are pampered by the flightless workers, often for several weeks. The workers monitor the climate outside, waiting for the perfect mating weather — hot and humid — before releasing the flying males along with female queens. The amazing thing is that ants from thousands of colonies all take to the skies at once to mate in one glorious swarm. Once they have mated, the male ants die and the females crawl underground and hibernate until next year, when a new colony is begun. Despite being larger than the wingless males, the flying ants do not sting or bite, but it seems that their huge swarms have a bad public image. In fact, they are a bonanza for birds, which snap up the flying insects. Perhaps part of the problem is that the swarms are growing larger. Experts say our warmer, longer summers have helped ant populations to thrive. Link to Weather Eye source

What did Derek say about the weather for Thursday Julian? :o Thanks for keeping up these forecast summaries mate, hopefully I can start up the Central Southern forecast summaries soon

BY PAUL SIMONS IN the past couple of weeks, you might have seen one or two beautiful patches of rainbow-coloured light near the sun in late afternoon or evening. These were not rainbows but sun dogs, also known as mock suns. If you are not used to seeing sun dogs they are easy to miss, but there are some telltale signs in the sky. Watch for wispy strands of cirrus clouds draped across a fairly low sun in an otherwise clear sky. Put your hand up at arm’s length to shield out the sun, and look about a hand’s breadth on either side of it for a bright patch of coloured light — a sun dog. It also helps to wear polarising sunglasses to cut the glare. If the cirrus clouds are moving around you may find sun dogs come and go, and sometimes you can see a pair of them, one on each side of the sun, so it is worth spending some time watching the sky. Cirrus clouds lie roughly about 6km (4 miles) high where it is so cold that the water in the clouds exists as ice crystals. These crystals can bend the sunlight like tiny glass prisms, casting a spot of light some 22 degrees to one side of the sun, and so creating a sun dog. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS A WARNING for anyone planning a barbecue this weekend. Rain is moving in from the West, and for once it looks as if the southern half of Britain will experience more wet weather than northern areas. This is welcome news for gardeners, though. July’s rainfall so far is about 60 per cent below normal in the South East, and 50 per cent in the South West, Midlands and Wales. This follows almost eight months’ poor rainfall over much of southern England. Although this weekend’s showers will help to water lawns and gardens, do not be tempted to turn on the taps recklessly when the weather eventually turns dry again. The rains are too little and too late to boost water supplies in drought-hit regions. Very little of the rainwater will sink deep enough to recharge the ground-water supplies that much of the South and East rely on. In fact, most of the rainwater will vanish, evaporating from the ground or in even larger volumes from plants. A mature oak tree can lose about 80 gallons (370 litres) of water a day in summer, while an acre of a thirsty crop such as maize loses about 3,300 gallons (15,000 litres) of water each day. To make a substantial difference to our water supplies this summer we need weeks of rain, and the chances of that appear fairly remote. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS TODAY is the 200th anniversary of a sea battle that set the scene for Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. In April 1805 Napoleon sent a Franco-Spanish fleet to the Caribbean to lure Nelson away from the Channel, thus allowing a massive army to invade England. But much of Napoleon’s navy remained blockaded at Brest while the remainder, commanded by Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve, had a frustrating venture to the West Indies and then sailed back to Europe. When news of the returning fleet reached the British, Admiral Robert Calder broke off his blockade of French ports and intercepted Villeneuve off Cape Finisterre, northwest Spain, on July 22, 1805. Although the Franco-Spanish fleet was larger, the weather was on Calder’s side. As the British bore down on the enemy line, a fog descended, and in the chaos Calder’s force captured two Spanish ships and inflicted hundreds of enemy casualties. It was a defeat for the French — Villeneuve fled to Spain for reinforcements and Napoleon finally was forced to abandon his plans to invade Britain. However, the Admiralty blamed Calder for not chasing the enemy — he was relieved of his command, court-martialled and never served at sea again. After Villeneuve’s fleet ran to Cadiz for reinforcements, Nelson blockaded the port. When Villeneuve ventured out again on October 21 he came to a sorry end at the Battle of Trafalgar. Link to Weather Eye source

Temperature: 16ºc Feels like: 16ºc Humidity: 77% Dew Point: 12ºc Wind: 10 mph N UV Index: 1 Low Visibility: 6.2 miles Pressure: 30.06 in and steady Sunrise: 5:20 AM Sunset: 9:07 PM As reported at Bournemouth, United Kingdom last updated 7/22/05 8:20 AM Local Time Beautiful sunny skies, should be a lovely day

BY PAUL SIMONS IF HISTORY is a reliable guide, the first Test match in the series between England and Australia which begins today at Lord’s is unlikely to be rained off. Only seven days of Test match cricket have been washed out over the past 15 years. For truly atrocious weather during an England v Australia Test we have to go back much further. In 1905 it rained at Lord’s for more than a week before the match on June 15-17, when a remarkable run of thunderstorms struck each day. On August 27, 1968, a thunderstorm flooded the Oval so badly that spectators were invited to help in sweeping water from the pitch. One of the most spectacular bouts of weather was in 1975. On June 2 play between Derbyshire and Lancashire at Buxton was stopped by snow, though a blistering heatwave set in soon afterwards. At the England v Australia match at Lord’s on July 31-August 5, in the same year the temperature exceeded 30C (86F) — the hottest Test match on record. Australia held out for a draw without too much trouble. The location of a Test plays a big part in its weather, though. Over the past 125 years the record for the most rain belongs to Old Trafford, Manchester, with 29 days lost to the weather. The driest Test match pitch is Edgbaston, Birmingham, with only 3 days lost. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS THERE was mayhem at a caravan park at Exelby, near Bedale, North Yorkshire last Wednesday. A whirlwind reared up in a nearby field, sweeping piles of hay into a funnel of swirling air 50ft (15.2m) high. The “mini tornado”, as it was described, charged into the caravan site, tossing umbrellas and other loose objects into the air and sending them crashing into cars and caravans. One man was knocked unconscious when the awning was ripped off his caravan and fell on his head, but he later made a complete recovery. This was no tornado. Violent storms are needed to create tornados, and the whirlwind in Exelby seemed to be conjured up out of thin air. It was a dust devil: a vortex generated by warm air spinning off hot ground, often in the afternoon when the surface of the earth has been baked under a hot sun. The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation has reported several other dust devils during the hot weather over the past fortnight. Most caused no more harm than scattering piles of grass or dust around, but occasionally they have been known to leave a trail of damage and even injuries. In May 2003 a medic with the British Forces in the deserts of Iraq was lifted 30ft into the air by a dust devil before crashing to the ground — suffering several broken bones. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS THE glorious hot sunshine of the past week was delivered by an Azores high. This is an anticyclone or high-pressure system which is often centred over the tiny subtropical islands of the Azores, about 1,300km (800 miles) west of Portugal. When a finger of the Azores high pushes towards the UK in summer it usually brings light winds and fine, warm weather. As air gently falls from a great height in this anti-cyclone it warms by compression — try putting your finger over the nozzle of a bicycle pump as you pump it and feel how hot it gets. In the Azores high, that warmth helps to dry the air, killing off most clouds and leaving skies largely sunny. If the anticyclone moves slowly over the UK it often brings us a long spell of hot weather. For the past several days the Azores high also became blocked in position as it diverted the jet stream — a ribbon of wind several miles high that steers depressions across the Atlantic. For Scotland that diversion of the jet stream was not far enough north, and a belt of rain swept through on Sunday. Sometimes blocked Azores highs bring exceptional heatwaves, such as the long, hot summer of 1976. Then there were 15 consecutive days, between June 23 and July 7, of scorching weather with temperatures hitting 32C (90F) or more somewhere in the UK. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS FIFTY years ago today, the UK’s greatest single day’s rainfall was recorded in Martinstown, Dorset. An intense thunderstorm stalled over Dorset, and the picture-postcard village of Martinstown was deluged with 279mm (11in) of rain in 15 hours, most of it falling in an intense four-hour burst. This was a deluge of biblical proportions, bearing in mind that the average rainfall in London is 610mm (24in) for the whole year. Torrential rains also fell over a surrounding area. Water cascaded down the steep slopes of the Ridgeway hills, setting off landslides and gouging massive holes in the ground. Flash floods struck nearby Dorchester, Weymouth and Bridport, smashing cars, and boulders were strewn across roads. Two people died. But the flooding could have been far worse. The porous chalk rocks in the area helped to absorb vast amounts of rainwater, like a sponge, although in Martinstown this led to a delayed-action flood as the small local river burst its banks the following day, leaving the village marooned. July 1955 had been sunny and warm, and temperatures the day before the storm had reached 29C (84F) in Dorset. But a depression sat over northern France, and on July 18 a storm crossed the coast, slowed down, stalled and then dumped its rain over one area. After the deluge the previous fine, sunny weather returned to Dorset. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS WHEN people think of natural dangers, most often phenomena such as floods, storms and tornados come to mind. But one of the worst natural hazards in Britain is at the seaside: rip currents. These are strong currents that run out to sea and can easily drag swimmers from shallow water out beyond their depth. They are particularly powerful in large surf, but are found also around river mouths, estuaries and man-made structures such as piers and groynes. Despite their name, rip currents are nothing to do with tides. They form when wind, wave and beach conditions together help to push up water on to a shore. When that water flows back out to sea a large volume can get squeezed into narrow passages such as a under a pier or a sandbar. Water can race out at 6ft (1.8m) a second or even faster, dragging sand, seaweed and much else with it. It is not always easy to spot a rip current. Watch out for debris floating out to sea, a rippled patch of sea or foam on the water surface. To get out of trouble, those caught in a rip currents need to keep calm and try to swim parallel to the shore to escape its grip. Do not swim into the current towards the shore because it is too exhausting. If it is possible to stand up, try to wade instead of swimming. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS THE Open Championship at St Andrews, Fife, had a surprise on Tuesday. Blazing sunshine sent temperatures soaring, with nearby Leuchars recording 29C (84F), the hottest place in the UK for the day. But an even-bigger surprise came around 4pm, when the wind shifted and a thick fog rolled in off the sea, sending the thermometer plunging to 18C (64F) in only 20 minutes. This time of year is notorious for coastal fogs in Britain. The surface of the sea is relatively cold, and warm air blowing across the sea can be cooled until its moisture condenses into droplets that we see as fog. If the wind is very light, a bank of fog can sit just offshore while beaches bask in sunshine — but a sea breeze will send the fog rolling into the coast. In eastern Scotland this sort of sea fret which sweeps in from the North Sea is called a “haar”, and it was this that saved Mary, Queen of Scots when she arrived near Edinburgh on August 19, 1561. As her ship sailed in, a group of English ships, commanded by Mary’s half-brother, James Stewart, was lying in wait to seize her. But a haar set in at just the right time: “The fog settled for miles along the shoreline, heavy and impenetrable,” said one account. Mary ’s ship was unseen, and she landed unharmed. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS COUNCIL road gritters in Cumbria and Co Durham have been sent out this week to stop roads melting in the hot weather. Bitumen road surfaces melt, rather like hot toffee, sticking to tyres and ruining roads. The gritters have sprayed roads with crushed rock dust to protect the surfaces. Our increasingly severe heat waves are causing other engineering problems. Trains have to be slowed down as rails buckle — safety standards demand that train speeds must be cut between 36C-40C (97F-104F), depending on the normal speed limits of the track. When the temperature goes over 40C (104F), the speed restrictions are even more severe. The building industry is concerned that most British houses were not designed for heat waves and many homes turn into ovens as indoor temperatures soar above 25C (77F), when people feel very uncomfortable. The fear is that more people will turn to air conditioning for a quick fix, leading to soaring power demands during the summer that could exceed those of winter, as happens in Australia. Air conditioning is inefficient, uses huge amounts of electricity and puts a strain on utilities. If that electricity is generated by fossil fuels, then the increased power demand will cause even more carbon dioxide to be pumped out. Carbon dioxide emissions from air conditioning have quadrupled in Britain over the past 20 years. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS WHEN Hurricane Dennis hit the US on Sunday it was far less damaging than had been predicted. Despite winds of about 190kmh (120mph), the centre of the storm was fairly small and fast-moving, limiting its damage, and as Dennis passed inland it weakened rapidly. But it was a close run thing. The hurricane killed more than 60 people across Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica before racing across the Gulf of Mexico to the US. Early on Sunday, Dennis exploded into a category 4 storm with winds reaching 230kmh (145mph). As it neared the coast of Alabama, though, the storm hit seas that had been churned up by Tropical Storm Cindy only a few days before. That churning dragged cool water to the sea surface, choking off the warm water that Dennis needed for its energy, and so weakened its winds. Also, the hurricane swung away from the city of Mobile at the last minute and hit a relatively unpopulated area. But this hurricane season is worryingly active. Dennis is the earliest-known category 4 hurricane and only the second major hurricane to strike America in July — the other one happened in 1916. Also, a record-breaking four “named” storms have hit this year and yet another, Tropical Storm Emily, is heading towards the Caribbean — and the peak of the hurricane season is still two months away. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS THERE used to be something very special about thunderstorms in Alaska. They were so rare that, on average, only one thunderstorm a year struck Anchorage, the largest city in the state. But for the past decade there has been a 60 per cent rise in the number of thunderstorms, and already this year seven thunderstorms have struck. The upsurge in thunderstorms also means more lightning, and that is causing big problems — lightning strikes are sparking off record numbers of forest fires. On the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage, there have been 13 fires sparked by lightning this year — that compares with 12 lightning incidents over the past ten years. This summer more than 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of forest and scrubland fires have been set ablaze along the south-central coast of Alaska, and fire services have been so stretched that firefighters had to be drafted from outside the state to help. To blame for the rise in thunderstorms is the increasingly warmer waters of the nearby sea and rising air temperatures across much of Alaska. Mean temperatures across the state have risen by almost 3C in summer and 4C in winter since the 1970s, one of the fastest temperature increases in the world. The driving force behind these rises is probably global warming. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS THERE is some excellent and surprising news from the US. For the first time since official records began in 1950, there were no deaths caused by tornados from April to June, the peak season. On average there are 52 deaths from tornados each year. The powerful thunderstorms that spawn tornados made relatively few appearances over “Tornado Alley”, the main spawning ground of the storms, which stretches across the Great Plains from Texas to South Dakota. However, unusual numbers of tornados did strike fur- ther north, along the Canadian border, and this is a clue to the reason for the low number of tornados this year. The jet stream — a ribbon of wind several miles high — is important for helping to stoke up the supercell thunderstorms. In winter the jet stream blows through the south, then slowly migrates northwards in springtime, sweeping over Tornado Alley and setting off the massive storms and their tornados. But this spring the jet stream migrated north towards Canada much faster than normal, hardly lingering over the Great Plains. Indeed, Oklahoma, in the heart of Tornado Alley, had no tornados this May. However, the hurricane season in the US is now under way, and these storms can also spawn tornados. Last year there were 300 tornados during the tropical storm season, and this year the number and intensity of hurricanes is expected to be just as severe. Link to Weather Eye source

BY PAUL SIMONS A HUNDRED years ago, strange lights appeared around Barmouth, West Wales. For several months there were dozens of reports of lights rising from the ground, often hovering in the air. They ranged in shape from spheres to triangles. Three vicars saw a large ball of fire rise from the ground and suddenly burst. Another account described a white and red light dancing around a moving car. A reporter from the Daily Mail started out a sceptic but then saw a ball of light hovering above the roof of a chapel. “It came from nowhere and sprang into existence instantaneously. It had a steady, yellow brilliance and did not move. It stood out with electric vividness,” he reported. Not to be outdone, a correspondent from the Daily Mirror reported: “A soft shimmering radiance flooded the road at our feet. As I looked up, the light was even then fading.” At the time, a divine explanation was sought for the sightings as a local religious revival was under way. More recently, geological faults in the area have been blamed. There was unusual seismic activity at the time, and only two years before a small earthquake had struck near by — so perhaps geological stresses had somehow created the phenomena. The Barmouth lights disappeared in July 1905 and remain a mystery. Link to Weather Eye source

Thanks Jackone, looks like Wales and NW England could be the places to be this weekend