velopments over northwest Russia are almostinvisible round the bend. The Telegraph has notgone so far down the comic cuts ro~d, and ~he

Independent and Guardian also avoided ~omgso, though their charts are on the small Side.

It is true that TV presenters, particularly,are not given much time by the BBC but theytoo often waste it nattering about what theweather already has been. If lucky Lerwick waswarmest, almost no one is interested except itsinhabitants, and they already know it waswarm.

On radio some forecasters give a logicalpresentation, but others leave the listenerbemused as to whether 'south' is SouthScotland or whether we are now back is SouthEngland; and recently one used the word'today' seven times in his brief forecast for theday. It would be helpful to always have futureprospects preceded by the word outlook; andcan we not finally stop wasting time withFahrenheit?

The media forecasters and pictogram ar­tists, with their not infrequent assumption thatthe public are ignorant or uninterested, should,perhaps, remember that, until 50 years ago,public forecasts were rare and everyone had tobe their own forecaster. Now, excellentsynoptic charts are produced daily by the Met.Office. Why are they increasingly denied by themedia to the many thousands of people whoneed them for their safety, quite apart fromincreasing their chances of making good use ofa brief sunny interval?

Media forecasts

Ingrid Holford and G C Jackson areabsolutely right (Weather 42(4) and 42(1)respectively) in asking for an improvement inforecasting from the media. They have givenmany good reasons, but I would like toemphasise the needs of those people whodepend on forecasts to carry out their chosenoutdoor and often challenging activities withthe minium of unnecessary risk. They includesailors, aeroplane and glider pilots, scubadivers, parachutists, mountaineers, sea anglersand cavers; and they total many thousands.

What these serious users need are straight­forward well presented synoptic charts of theAtlantic to Russia. They well understand howto extract a lot of information from them, andthey want to be able to assess for themselveswhen they are at sea or in the air how theforecast or its timing is worked out. They do nothave the Met. Office facilities to deal with theraw data, but equally they do not want somethird hand interpretation in the form of akindergarten pictogram.

Increasingly, there seems almost a con­spiracy to prevent the serious weather userfrom studying sensible charts. On TV thepresenter stand firmly in front of what isdeveloping out in the Atlantic; also in anaverage 16 second display there is no time tocount the isobars from the fleetingly showncentral pressures.

The Times used to have good charts but isnow changed to a pseudo-satellite bald headprojection in which a single isobar canobliterate Iceland and anticyclonic de-

FarnhamSurrey

ANN WELCH

REVIEW OF SPRING 1987 OVER THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

The oceans off north-west Africa and south-east of Newfoundland have becomewarmer than usual during spring while the North Sea remains colder than the seasonalaverage. Elsewhere in the Atlantic ocean temperature anomalies are small. In the Pacificthe weak EI Nino (anomaly about + I degC to +2 degC) continues but the north centralPacific is notably colder than usual. In general global ocean temperature anomalies arepositive but the southern hemisphere anomalies are more positive than those in thenorthern hemisphere.

MARCH

On the monthly mean 500 mbar chart there were strong positive anomalies extendingfrom the Bering Strait across Canada and the Atlantic to Iberia and north-west Africawith another large area of positive anomaly covering the Barents Sea and north-westUSSR. There was a marked trough at 200E to 25°E over eastern Europe and the easternMediterranean but over north America and the Atlantic the jet stream was weaker thannormal and displaced northwards.

Monthly mean surface pressure was above normal almost everywhere north of 35ON

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4.4 °C (- 1.2 degC)86mm, 146 per cent

1O.5°C (+2.5 degC)67mm, 116 per cent

(except over the Pacific). These circulation anomalies resulted in a cold month over thewhole of Europe from Scandinavia to Greece where monthly mean anomalies of- 4 degC to - 5 degC occurred. In many parts of Greece it was the coldest March forabout 45 years. There was snow in Athens on five out of six days at the beginqing of themonth and snow fell as far south as the island of Rhodes. Weather was also exceptionallycold in Turkey with up to 3 metres of snow in Istanbul early in the month.

Over north America mean temperatures were generally well above normal withanomalies ofup to + 5 degC near the Great Lakes. Only in Florida and north-east Canadawere mean temperatures below average. The Sahel area of Africa was also ratherwarmer than usual as were north-western areas of the USSR.

Britain, north-west Europe, Greece and west Iran were all wetter than usual. Incentral asian USSR torrential rain resulted in a dam near Sargozan bursting with the lossof 19 lives. By contrast dry weather predominated over north America except in Floridaand the USA west of about 95°W. Spain, northern Italy and southern France were alsorather dry.

There was a severe gale over much of England on the 27th with considerable damageto property and trees and as a result 12 people were killed.

Provisional valuesCentral England temperatureEngland and Wales rainfall

APRIL

Over Europe there was a considerable circulation change with the development onthe 500mbar monthly mean chart of a strong ridge at 0° to 100E from the Arctic to theSahel and a trough extending from central Asia to the eastern Mediterranean. Over thenorth Pacific the jet stream was stronger than usual but the positive 500mbar heightanomalies of March persisted across north America near 500N.

Over the whole of Europe except western Britain, monthly mean surface pressurewas above normal. Over Europe west of 25°E it was a relatively warm month but theeastern Mediterranean and the USSR between about 25°E and 900E were unusually coldwith anomalies down to - 6 degC in the Ukraine.

Despite a cool start it was the warmest April since 1943 in central England and thesecond warmest in the whole Manley Central England temperature series which starts in1659.

North America was again generally warmer than usual with anomalies up to+ 5degC in the midwest of USA. However, north Canada and some southern States hadnegative mean temperature anomalies.

Most of Europe was drier than usual though rainfall was above average over the UKand west France, and central USSR was also generally rather wet.

North America was again drier than usual except locally near the USA easternseaboard and also over Labrador and near the west coast of Canada.

The unusual warmth in Europe following the cold March resulted in manyavalanches in Austria and Switzerland and some loss of life. A major bridge collapsedin New York State following heavy rain and again there was loss of life. In Somalia(north-east Africa) the spring rains, which failed last year, arrived late resulting inconsiderable hardship, near-famine conditions and the loss ofmany animals. Bangladeshalso suffered from severe storms on the 13th with the loss of at least six lives.

Provisional valuesCentral England temperatureEngland and Wales rainfall

MAY

The mean 500mbar chart showed a major retrogression in the European/Atlantic

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1O.4°C (-0.9 degC)47mm, 70 per cent

8YC (0.0 degC)200mm, III per cent

sector compared with April. The notable ridge near lOoE retrogressed to 200W whilstthe Eurasian trough retrogressed to lOoE. The positive 500mbar height anomalies overnorth America persisted but moved southwards to about 45°N. Generally the 500mbarmean chart approached a four trough situation with troughs at 6QoW, 10oE, 1300E and150oW.The largest anomaly on the monthly mean surface pressure chart was + lOmbarat 200W associated with the upper ridge. This configuration resulted in a month with anunusual predominance of northerly winds over UK and Europe as far east as 25°E andcorrespondingly cold weather in these regions. Over western USSR to about 900E

milder than usual weather prevailed. The monthly mean pattern of temperature overnorth America was similar to that of April, most places except Canada north of about55°N being milder than usual. It was again wet over central and eastern Europe but theUK and western France had less rain than usual. Most of north America except the USAwest of 95°W and Canada west of the Rockies were drier than normal.

Central England temperature in May was lower than in April: this is about a once-in-70 years occurrence which last happened in 1894.

Provisional valuesCentral England temperatureEngland and Wales rainfall

SPRING AS A WHOLE

Most of north America, except for areas near the east coast and in the southernStates, had milder weather than usual in all three months. These conditions followedthree relatively mild winter months. Europe, however, continued the winter sequence ofvery 'variable' weather which balanced out to give mean temperatures near average buta rather wet season in many places.

Provisional valuesCentral England temperatureEngland and Wales rainfall

R. A. S. RATCLIFFE

WEATHER FORECASTERS***** CENTRALLONDON *****

NOBLE DENTON WEATHER SERVICES LTDis expanding its operations and is looking for experienced Forecasters.

An attractive salary plus a generous Shift Allowance is offered.

If you are interested then write, enclosing an up-to-date CV to:

Neil TalboysManager, Forecast DepartmentNoble Denton Weather Services LimitedNoble House131 Aldersgate StreetLondon EC1A 4EB

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