Category Archives: Weather prediction
The challenges of the mountain environment to flood forecasting
In the penultimate account in a series of articles on how the mountains of Scotland influence our approach to monitoring and flood forecasting, Mike Reading from the Met Office writes about the challenges of mountain forecasting. “In Scotland, we face … Continue reading
World Meteorological Day 2019
Happy World Meteorological Day! Saturday 23 March is World Meteorological Day 2019 and this year the World Meteorological Organisation has named the theme – ‘The Sun, the Earth and the Weather’. In the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service (SFFS) the weather services are provided … Continue reading
Storm Frank-Short Range Forecast Performance
On the 30th December, 2015, new maximum peak levels were recorded on the Rivers Cree, Dee and upper Tweed due to rainfall which fell overnight from the 29th to the 30th December associated with Storm Frank; an unusually deep area … Continue reading
Storm Frank – how was the medium range flood guidance?
The rainfall associated with Storm Frank on 30 December 2015 caused some of the most severe flooding seen in Scotland for many years, particularly along the river Dee in Aberdeenshire and the rivers Cree and Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, … Continue reading
Storm Desmond – Scotland’s first red flood risk
Over the weekend of 5 – 6 December 2015 Storm Desmond – the fourth UK named storm of the winter season – brought damaging winds and heavy rain across Scotland, which experienced its most severe flood event since the advent … 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
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
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
Radar coverage and suitability for flood forecasting in Scotland
Radar is a powerful tool for observing rainfall over large areas in real time. It is also used to produce nowcasts (short range forecasts for the next 6 hours) which are used to provide flood warnings for rapidly responding catchments such … Continue reading
Extreme(?) rainfall in the West Highlands – a flood forecasting challenge
Over the past few days the forecasting service has faced an interesting challenge. Large amounts of rain were forecast to fall in north west Scotland, caused by warm moist air being driven by gale force winds over the high ground … Continue reading
Scottish Flood Forecasting Service 