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I found this in the paper this morning - should I have bought a storm jib rather than a cruising chute for Christmas?
"Britain has become twice as stormy in the past 50 years as climate change has forced the deep depressions that used to hit Iceland further south, it was revealed yesterday. In a second disturbing discovery, the Hadley Centre for climate prediction and research in Exeter added that pressure changes in the atmosphere had caused storms to become more intense.
While low pressure areas which bring high wind and rain are getting deeper, the high pressure areas which bring calm, settled periods are getting stronger. The increased gradients between the two make for more dramatic weather - and for insurance companies, expensive.
According to the classic weather model, there was high pressure over the Azores and low pressure over Iceland, with British weather in between the two. Peter Stott, the Hadley scientist who carried out the study, said the high pressure over this country was around 1,030 millibars, and the low pressure 970.
But over the past 50 years, the high pressures have increased on average by three millibars and the lows have deepened by the same amount. This has led to an increase in the winds and in wind damage.
A collaboration between Britain, Canada and Australia established anomalies across the globe but nowhere were they greater than over northern Europe and particularly the UK. A telling graphic produced by the researchers of the observed storm track - the line between high and low pressure belts - shows England just to the south of the main track and northern Scotland right in its path.
Because the instruments used to measure wind speeds were unreliable and liable to be moved from time to time, Dr Stott said, scientists had used an alternative method to measure storms. "Out at sea what fishermen and all sailors have learned to dread is a sudden drop in pressure. If the barometer drops 10 millibars in three hours... it means there will be a gale or worse. Examples of that happening in the UK weather record have doubled over 50 years. That is very significant statistically." "
More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1103629,00.html
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"Britain has become twice as stormy in the past 50 years as climate change has forced the deep depressions that used to hit Iceland further south, it was revealed yesterday. In a second disturbing discovery, the Hadley Centre for climate prediction and research in Exeter added that pressure changes in the atmosphere had caused storms to become more intense.
While low pressure areas which bring high wind and rain are getting deeper, the high pressure areas which bring calm, settled periods are getting stronger. The increased gradients between the two make for more dramatic weather - and for insurance companies, expensive.
According to the classic weather model, there was high pressure over the Azores and low pressure over Iceland, with British weather in between the two. Peter Stott, the Hadley scientist who carried out the study, said the high pressure over this country was around 1,030 millibars, and the low pressure 970.
But over the past 50 years, the high pressures have increased on average by three millibars and the lows have deepened by the same amount. This has led to an increase in the winds and in wind damage.
A collaboration between Britain, Canada and Australia established anomalies across the globe but nowhere were they greater than over northern Europe and particularly the UK. A telling graphic produced by the researchers of the observed storm track - the line between high and low pressure belts - shows England just to the south of the main track and northern Scotland right in its path.
Because the instruments used to measure wind speeds were unreliable and liable to be moved from time to time, Dr Stott said, scientists had used an alternative method to measure storms. "Out at sea what fishermen and all sailors have learned to dread is a sudden drop in pressure. If the barometer drops 10 millibars in three hours... it means there will be a gale or worse. Examples of that happening in the UK weather record have doubled over 50 years. That is very significant statistically." "
More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1103629,00.html
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