It was close to midnight when I received a phone call from my sister telling me that our parent’s house was under water. Neither she nor they really knew what…Read More >
meteorology
Severe storms from tropics reach Europe once every five years on average – new research
An unusual and devastating storm struck Ireland in the early hours of October 16, 2017. Record-breaking gusts of up to 119mph left 360,000 homes without electricity and, sadly, three people…Read More >
Antarctica’s ice shelves are trembling as global temperatures rise – what happens next is up to us
Images of colossal chunks of ice plunging into the sea accompany almost every news story about climate change. It can often make the problem seem remote, as if the effects…Read More >
Climate change is making extreme cold much less likely, despite the UK plummeting to -23°C
The UK, along with large parts of northern Europe, is in the grip of an unusually cold period of weather thanks to a flow of cold easterly winds from Siberia….Read More >
Why a green electricity grid depends on weather forecasts improving
Boxing Day 2020 was so blustery that more than half of the UK’s daily electricity was met by wind power for the first time. Just over a week later, the wind died…Read More >
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme Showcase 2020
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) offers undergraduate students the chance to gain hands-on research experience on projects covering all disciplines across University. These projects take the form of a…Read More >
Monsoon flooding in Bangladesh: how forecasting can help protect lives and livelihoods
The impacts of the 2020 monsoon floods in Bangladesh were devastating with more than 5 million people affected, 41 deaths and tens of thousands of people from low-lying areas being…Read More >
Weathering the storm – masterclasses in Meteorology
European winter weather is dominated by the action of synoptic-scale systems, such as cyclonic “storms” and the anticyclonic “blocks” that can stop their progress. From cold-snaps such as 2018’s Beast…Read More >
Cold war nuclear tests changed rainfall thousands of miles away
It’s difficult to imagine quite how alarming it would have been for the world’s meteorologists monitoring the atmosphere during the nuclear tests in the 1950s and early 60s. The radioactivity…Read More >
How much do clouds weigh?
Torben, aged 10, from London wrote to The Conversation to ask ‘How much do clouds weigh? Dr Rob Thompson from the Meteorology Department responded, explaining how maths coupled with information…Read More >