Author Archives: michaeldcranston
RAINS: Radar Applications in Northern Scotland
The past two months have brought significant rainfall across much of Scotland resulting in some severe disruption due to the impacts of flooding. Impacts have been seen in early December with Storm Desmond, through to Storm Frank which brought major … Continue reading
The 2005 Teviot floods: then and now
As previously reported Storm Desmond caused severe flooding over the weekend of the 5th and 6th December in parts of the country including the Teviot Valley. The River Teviot in Hawick recorded its second highest river flow on record and … Continue reading
Decision making in times of uncertainty: the crying wolf
Nikéh Booister presents the second and final part of this series on decision making in times of uncertainty. “The forecaster has to be the expert on knowing what uncertainties are and where they come from as we could have read … Continue reading
Decision making in times of uncertainty: the forecaster
In a two-part feature, we cover various roles involved in decision making at times of uncertainty. The first is provided by Paul Ryles, Senior Scientist and operational flood forecaster at SEPA. “Flood prediction is a science, especially in challenging situations such … Continue reading
Flood forecasting: current challenges and future aspirations
How can flood forecasting best rise to the challenges and opportunities that communities and partners face; at what point does effort in flood forecasting become less effective than local adaptation; and what are the aspirations and capability of our future … Continue reading
The July Perthshire floods: hydrometeorological predictions
A major clean-up operation is underway following flooding that affected some Perthshire communities on the 17th July 2015. Villages such as Bankfoot were affected and surface water flooding was seen across much of the road network; however the flooding impacts were most … Continue reading
Hydrology of Scotland: some hydrometric perspectives
Dr. Andrew Black contributes the final piece of our two-part feature on the climatology and hydrology of Scotland. It’s rare to be invited to offer some personal perspectives on matters hydrological, but gives a useful chance to reflect. It’s almost 20 … Continue reading
The Climatology of Scotland – four seasons in one day?
Martyn Sunter contributes the first of a two-part feature on the climatology and hydrology of Scotland. Having worked for the Met Office in Scotland since 1994 I have experienced the challenges of monitoring and forecasting our interesting weather and climate. Here … Continue reading
Natural hazards: prediction and early warning on various scales
The 2015 General Assembly of the European Geoscience Union provided an opportunity to share challenges and innovation in the prediction and early warning of natural hazards. Although flooding was a key topic area, other hazards featured which all have synergies across the … Continue reading
Game over?
Article by Peter Buchanan, Met Office On Tuesday 15 July 2014, the Met Office implemented ‘ENDGame’ physics into the dynamical core of its global atmospheric forecast model. This was the culmination of many years of research and development and two … Continue reading
Scottish Flood Forecasting Service 