Rain and Wind Batter English Coast

by Stormchaser John

The British Met Office has issued flood alerts for the entire Devon and Cornwall coast amidst a storm that has reached the west coast of England and Wale and is expected to impact much of the U.K. over the next two days.



STORM WARNINGS
Storm warnings have been issued for the areas coloured in red on the map.

Rain and fierce winds are hitting parts of the UK, as what could be winter's worst storm moves in from the Atlantic.

Emergency services said trees had been uprooted and power lines brought down in south-west England, where winds have reached almost 80mph (130km/h). Severe flood warnings have been issued for the Devon and Cornwall coast. In St Brides, Newport, 170 people were told to evacuate a caravan park overnight.

Meanwhile, forecasters say central Scotland will see blizzards and snow.

The BBC has put together a satellite slide show of the approaching storm. Warnings have been issued by the Environment Agency to stay away from exposed coastline and to watch for floods in the effected areas:

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'The Warm Air is Very Active This Year'

by Janet Ritz

Cross-posted on USAToday

"The warm air is very active this year." So says Li Weijing, deputy director-general of China's National Climate Center, in reference to the massive snowstorm that has paralyzed his country.

The cause for the Chinese storms has been ascribed to the La Niña weather pattern, as forecast by the British Met (Meteorological) Office. La Niña is a cooling pattern that is influenced and enhanced by warming trends:

La Nina enhances Arctic weather systems and causes a cold winter in Asia, including in China. As warm and moisture air from the south meets cold air in the north under freezing temperatures, snow forms.

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2008 Temperature Prediction

by Stormchaser John

The University of East Anglia (UK), in conjunction with the British Met Office, has made its annual temperature prediction for 2008:

2008 is set to be cooler globally than recent years say Met Office and University of East Anglia climate scientists, but is still forecast to be one of the top-ten warmest years.

Each January, the climate scientists at the university work with the British Met Office to forecast the expected temperature, taking into account conditions such as El Niño and La Niña, greenhouse gases, industrial aerosols, particulates, ocean trends and solar impact.

The assessment for 2008 is that there will be a "strong La Niña" event in the Pacific, which will limit the warming trend for the year (whilst still being one of the warmest years):

During La Niña, cold waters upwell to cool large areas of the ocean and land surface temperatures. The forecast includes for the first time a new decadal forecast using a climate model. This indicates that the current La Niña event will weaken only slowly through 2008, disappearing by the end of the year...

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