On Jan 26, 9:49*pm, Graham Easterling
wrote:
On 26 Jan, 20:51, John Hall wrote:





In article
,
*Graham Easterling writes:

On 26 Jan, 20:14, Len Wood wrote:
On Jan 25, 4:31*pm, Nicholas wrote:

I have just seen it advertised by Channel 4 that they are showing a
programme called Britain's Big Freeze tonight at 8pm. Channel 4 did
exactly the same thing last year despite last winter been only
slightly below average temperatures.
I think they are exaggering this winter a bit, even though it has been
cold, where I live has escaped most of the snow although many other
parts of the country haven't.
It should be worth watching and recording. However. if it is a similar
programme to last year it may not be worth recording as I think
Channel 4 exaggerated last year's winter.

Nicholas

Quite a good programme with some nice pics from previous severe
winters.

Alex Hill was raising the excuse for dodgy seasonal forecasts on
probabilities. Nice cop out. Of little interest to the public of
course. Perhaps they should only issue a forecast in that case, if the
probabilty is going to be greater than 80% for warm/cold , or wet/dry.

I have another gripe:
Sarah Davies (Met Office) churned out the old chestnut:
'Britian is kept warm most winters because we have the Gulf
Stream....so for our latitude we are quite mild compared with the rest
of the world'.
Mostly untrue.

Britain is kept warm because we are downwind of the relatively warm N.
Atlantic. Labrador at the same lat. on other side of the ocean is
downwind of the cold N. American continent.
It is the prevailing westerly winds that keep us warm. The Gulf Stream
plays only a small part in comparison.

Len Wood
Wembury, SW Devon

mmm. . .
Isn't most of the N. Atlantic warm because of the Gulf Stream / N.
Atlantic Drift?

Of course the N. Atlantic Drift & prevailing westerly winds are so
interlinked it is really the combination which keeps us mild. (Not
today though)

Didn't see the programme, so can't comment further!

The difference in temperature at our latitude between the continental
interiors and the oceans is surely much larger than the difference
between ocean with a warm current (roughly 10C) and ocean with a cold
current (roughly 0C).

Yes, I would agree. The ocean has a moderating effect on climate
irrespective of the currents.

The trouble is that the interlinking of prevailing
winds and ocean currents is such that I don't think there's anywhere at
our latitude where the prevailing wind is onshore from an ocean with a
cold current, so that there aren't any direct comparisons that can be
made to help establish the relatuve importance of the two factors.

I'd agree with that as well. But, if we compare Cornwall with say
Oxfordshire, the temperature range is much less, due to the oceanic
influence, but the difference is almost entirely down to the mild
Cornish winters.
From 1977 to 1990 I lived in Wiltshire (near Swindon) and whilst
winter temperature were several degrees lower than Cornwall, the
average Summer temperatures were very similar (though of course the
diurnal range was greater). I think this indicates the effect of the N
Atlantic Drift. Certainly, the effect is very marked once you get up
to the Scottish Islands.

It's an interesting area, prevailing winds, currents & SSTs, and I
think to rule 1 element out is extremely rash.

Graham (Geography degree as it happens! )
Penzance- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You are not surely claiming Graham that it is milder in Cornwall
compared with Swindon in winter because of the N.Atlantic drift?!
It is simply because of Cornwall's proximity to the N.Atlantic and is
surrounded by sea that it is milder!

No one is ruling out all contributions as I have pointed out in my
above post.
It is just a matter of which are the major ones.

Len (Physics degree as it happens! That is, less arm waving type
reasoning)