Note from the WOW team: This blog post has been
written by a member of the National Climate Information Centre (NCIC) based
within the Met Office. Observations for the UK, such as those entered into WOW by our
network of voluntary climate observers, are
essential to put recent weather into context and to detect variations and
possible long-term trends in UK climate. The author's thoughts and views below
are their own.
I work as a scientist in the NCIC team. Our work aims to
understand the UK’s climate in terms of trends, variations and extremes.
Absolutely critical to this are the observational data on which we rely.
Important aspects include spatial coverage (so all parts of the UK are
represented), continuity (so we can look at long-term trends), quality (so we
can have confidence in the integrity of our products), and timeliness (so we
can produce near real-time products using as large a network as possible).
Currently, official climate observations from the UK come
from a network of approximately 260 automatic weather stations, but these are
supplemented by the Volunteer Climate Network (VCN) of over 150 stations manned
by volunteer observers. The UK’s climate is highly complex and variable over
small spatial and temporal scales, and in reality any network will struggle to
capture the full details of the weather on a day-to-day basis. The number of
stations in the network is inevitably a compromise between what we would like
in an ideal world and what is realistically achievable. Nevertheless, the
additional VCN stations (over a third of the network) are an invaluable
contribution to our work and the integrity of our climate products. A recent
research project also made use of climate observations from all observers
submitting observations through WOW, to compare against results from the
‘official’ network.
So, what do I do on a day-to-day basis? My time is roughly
divided in three. Firstly: designing the software systems to use and extract
historic climate data from our archives and generate climate products (for
example, gridded data, time-series, maps). Secondly: analysing climate data to
try to understand the results in detail. Thirdly, disseminating information,
for example on the UK climate pages on our website, in reports, or for the
wider media. Overall, the NCIC team’s science output is used in a wide range of
applications, including helping fulfil our remit for the Met Office Public
Weather Service, providing climate data for the Hadley Centre Climate Programme
and external researchers, and products which can be used by businesses to
understand their risks associated with weather and climate. Examples of NCIC’s
UK climate products may be found on the Met Office website.
From this.... Stevenson Screen used to house thermometers in the field
To this... An example map showing the spatial distribution of daily minimum temperature across the UK on 15
October 2018.
To me, this seems like important work, particularly in the
context of all the current and future pressures on our world. The NCIC team
follow in the footsteps of many illustrious predecessors, such as George Symons
and Gordon Manley. To go back to the original question, let me quote Gordon
Manley on snow (Manley, 1969): “A great deal of needless romance has long been
attached in Britain to the subject of snow. I soon learnt to distrust the
exaggerated stories, bad reporting and general lack of knowledge, and I set out
to rationalise the available data.”
I hope you enjoy taking observations from your weather
station, whatever the instruments, whether ‘official’ or otherwise. I doubt
that future scientists in 100 years’ time will be interested in the current
work of NCIC, but they will undoubtedly be interested in our data, and yours. Thank
you for submitting your observations through WOW.
Manley, G. (1969), SNOWFALL IN BRITAIN OVER THE PAST 300
YEARS. Weather, 24: 428-437. doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.1969.tb03117.x
