The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an
executive agency
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
and
trading fund A trading fund is an executive agency, government department or often simply a part of a department, that enables the department to handle its own revenues and expenses separately from overall government finances and more like a business, as opposed ...
of the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...
and is led by CEO
Penelope Endersby, who took on the role as Chief Executive in December 2018 and is the first woman to do so.
The Met Office makes meteorological predictions across all timescales from weather forecasts to
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.
History
![Robert_Fitzroy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Robert_Fitzroy.jpg)
The Met Office was established on 1 August 1854 as a small department within the
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
under
Vice Admiral Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...
as a service to
mariners. The loss of the passenger vessel, the
''Royal Charter'', and 459 lives off the coast of
Anglesey
Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
in a violent storm in October 1859 led to the first gale warning service. FitzRoy established a network of 15 coastal stations from which visual gale warnings could be provided for ships at sea.
The new
electric telegraph
Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...
enabled rapid dissemination of warnings and also led to the development of an observational network which could then be used to provide synoptic analysis. The Met Office started in 1861 to provide weather forecasts to newspapers. FitzRoy requested the daily traces of the photo-
barograph
A barograph is a barometer that records the barometric pressure over time in graphical form. This instrument is also used to make a continuous recording of atmospheric pressure. The pressure-sensitive element, a partially evacuated metal cylinde ...
at
Kew Observatory
The King's Observatory (called for many years the Kew Observatory) is a Grade I listed building in Richmond, London. Now a private dwelling, it formerly housed an astronomical and terrestrial magnetic observatory founded by King George III. T ...
(invented by
Francis Ronalds
Sir Francis Ronalds FRS (21 February 17888 August 1873) was an English scientist and inventor, and arguably the first electrical engineer. He was knighted for creating the first working electric telegraph over a substantial distance. In 1816 ...
) to assist in this task and similar barographs and as well as instruments to continuously record other meteorological parameters were later provided to stations across the observing network. Publication of forecasts ceased in May 1866 after FitzRoy's death but recommenced in April 1879.
Connection with the Ministry of Defence
![The Meteorological Office, Bracknell - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/The_Meteorological_Office%2C_Bracknell_-_geograph.org.uk_-_489065.jpg)
Following the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the Met Office became part of the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
in 1919, the weather observed from the top of
Adastral House (where the Air Ministry was based) giving rise to the phrase "The weather on the Air Ministry roof". As a result of the need for weather information for aviation, the Met Office located many of its observation and data collection points on
RAF airfields, and this accounts for the large number of military airfields mentioned in weather reports even today. In 1936 the Met Office split with services to the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
being provided by its own forecasting services.
It became an
executive agency
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
of the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
in April 1990, a quasi-governmental role, being required to act commercially.
Changes of ministry
Following a
machinery of government
The machinery of government (sometimes abbreviated as MoG) is the interconnected structures and processes of government, such as the functions and accountability of ministry (government department), departments in the executive (government), exe ...
change, the Met Office became part of the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
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, logo = Department for Business, Innovation and Skills logo.svg
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, logo_caption =
, picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG
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on 18 July 2011, and subsequently part of the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...
following the merger of BIS and the
Department of Energy and Climate Change
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busin ...
on 14 July 2016.
Although no longer part of the MOD, the Met Office maintains strong links with the military through its front line offices at RAF and Army bases both in the UK and overseas and its involvement in the Joint Operations Meteorology and Oceanography Centre (JOMOC) with the Royal Navy. The
Mobile Met Unit (MMU) are a unit consisting of Met Office staff who are also
RAF reservists who accompany forward units in times of conflict advising the armed forces of the conditions for battle, particularly the RAF.
Locations
![Ukmo-exeter-panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Ukmo-exeter-panorama.JPG)
In September 2003 the Met Office moved its headquarters from
Bracknell
Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...
in Berkshire to a purpose-built £80m structure at
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
Business Park, near junction 29 of the
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
. The new building was officially opened on 21 June 2004 – a few weeks short of the Met Office's 150th anniversary – by
Robert May, Baron May of Oxford
Robert McCredie May, Baron May of Oxford, HonFAIB (8 January 1936 – 28 April 2020) was an Australian scientist who was Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, President of the Royal Society, and a professor at the University of Sydne ...
.
It has a worldwide presenceincluding a forecasting centre in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, and offices in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
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, image_map2 = Gib ...
and on the
Falklands. Other outposts lodge in establishments such as the MetOffice@Reading (formerly the Joint Centre for Mesoscale Meteorology) at
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
in Berkshire, the Joint Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Research (JCHMR) site at
Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and there is a Met Office presence at Army and Air Force bases within the UK and abroad (including frontline units in conflict zones).
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
weather forecasts are generally provided by naval officers, not Met Office personnel.
Forecasts
Shipping forecast
The
Shipping Forecast
The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. ...
is produced by the Met Office and broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
, for those traversing the seas around the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
.
Weather forecasting and warnings
The Met Office issues Severe Weather Warnings for the United Kingdom through the
National Severe Weather Warning Service
The National Severe Weather Warning Service (shortened to NSWWS) is a service provided by the Met Office in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this service is to warn the public and emergency responders of severe or hazardous weather which has ...
(NSWWS). These warn of weather events that may affect transport infrastructure and endanger people's lives. In March 2008, the system was improved and a new stage of warning was introduced, the 'Advisory'.
The Met Office along with Irish counterpart
Met Éireann
Met Éireann (; meaning " Met of Ireland") is the state meteorological service of Ireland, part of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
History
The history of modern meteorology in Ireland dates back to 8 October 1860, wh ...
introduced a
storm naming system in September 2015 to provide a single authoritative naming system for the storms that affect the UK and Ireland. The first named storm under this system,
Abigail
Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...
was announced on 10 November 2015. In 2019, the Met Office and Met Éireann were joined by
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
national weather forecasting service the
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
, nativename_a =
, nativename_r =
, logo =
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture = FS IMG 8907 KNMI.jpg
, picture_width = 250px
, picture_caption = KNMI headquarters in De Bilt
, for ...
(KNMI).
Weather prediction models
The main role of the Met Office is to produce forecast models by gathering information from
weather satellite
A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ge ...
s in space and observations on earth, then processing it with a variety of models, based on a software package known as the
unified model The Unified Model is a numerical weather prediction and climate modeling software suite originally developed by the United Kingdom Met Office, and now both used and further developed by many weather-forecasting agencies around the world. The Unif ...
. The principal weather products for UK customers are 36-hour forecasts from the operational 1.5 km resolution
UKV model covering the UK and surroundings (replacing the 4 km model), 48-hour forecasts from the 12 km resolution NAE model covering Europe and the North Atlantic, and 144-hour forecasts from the 25 km resolution global model (replacing the 40 km global model). The Met Office's Global Model forecast has consistently been in the top 3 for global weather forecast performance (in the decades up to 2010) in independent verification to WMO standards. Products for other regions of the globe are sold to customers abroad, provided for
MOD
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
operations abroad or provided free to developing countries in Africa. If necessary, forecasters may make adjustments to the computer forecasts. Data is stored in the Met Office's own
PP-format
The PP-format (Post Processing Format) is a proprietary file format for meteorological data developed by the Met Office, the United Kingdom's national weather service.
Simulations of the weather are performed by the Met Office's Unified Model, whi ...
.
Flood Forecasting Centre
Formed in 2009, the
Flood Forecasting Centre The Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC) is a joint venture between the Environment Agency and the Met Office to provide improved flood risk guidance for England and Wales. The FFC is based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office headquarters in Exet ...
(FFC) is a joint venture between the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
and the Met Office to provide flood risk guidance for England and Wales. The Centre is jointly staffed from both parent organisations and is based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter. In Scotland this role is performed by the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service, a joint venture between the
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA; gd, Buidheann Dìon Àrainneachd na h-Alba) is Scotland's Environmental regulation, environmental regulator and national flood forecasting, flood warning and strategic flood risk management au ...
(SEPA) and the Met Office.
Seasonal forecasts
The Met Office makes seasonal and long range forecasts and distributes them to customers and users globally. The Met Office was the first climate and weather forecast provider to be recognised as a Global Producing Centre of long range forecasts by the
World Meteorological Organisation
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.
The WMO originated from the Internatio ...
and continues to provide forecasts to the WMO for dissemination to other national meteorological services worldwide.
Met Office research has broken new ground in seasonal forecasting for the
extratropics and has demonstrated its abilities in its seasonal predictions of the
North Atlantic Oscillation
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is a weather phenomenon over the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of atmospheric pressure at sea level (SLP) between the Icelandic Low and the Azores High. Through fluctuations in the ...
and winter climate for Europe and North America.
Supply of forecasts for broadcasting companies
One of the main media companies,
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
produce forecasts for
ITV Weather
ITV Weather is the national and regional forecast shown on UK terrestrial network ITV, and is provided by the Met Office (except the Channel Islands forecast, which is provided by the Jersey Meteorological Department). Bulletins are usually broa ...
using the Met Office's data and animated weather symbols.
The BBC used to use Met Office forecasts for all of its output, but on 23 August 2015, it was announced that the BBC would be replacing the Met Office with
MeteoGroup
MeteoGroup was a private weather forecasting organisation based in Europe, with offices in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kin ...
, a competing provider, as part of the corporation's legal obligation to provide best value for money for the
licence fee
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...
payers. The BBC still uses some Met Office data for certain forecasts, particularly severe weather warnings and the Shipping Forecast.
World Area Forecast Centre
The Met Office is one of only two World Area Forecast Centres or WAFCs, and is referred to as WAFC London. The other WAFC is located in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, and known as WAFC Washington. WAFC data is used daily to safely and economically route aircraft, particularly on long-haul journeys. The data provides details of wind speed and direction, air temperature, cloud type and tops, and other features.
Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
As part of its aviation forecast operation the Met Office operates the London
Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
A Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) is a group of experts responsible for coordinating and disseminating information on atmospheric volcanic ash clouds that may endanger aviation. As at 2019, there are nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers located a ...
(VAAC).
This provides forecasts to the aviation industry of
volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used t ...
clouds that could enter aircraft flight paths and impact aviation safety. The London VAAC, one of nine worldwide, is responsible for the area covering the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, the north east Atlantic and
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
. The VAAC were set up by the
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sc ...
(ICAO), an agency of the United Nations, as part of the International Airways Volcano Watch (IAVW).
The London VAAC makes use of satellite images, plus seismic, radar and visual observation data from
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
[Overview of VAAC Activities presentation]
/ref> the location of all of the active volcanoes in its area of responsibility. The NAME dispersion model developed by the Met Office is used to forecast the movement of the ash clouds 6, 12 and 18 hours from the time of the alert at different flight levels.
Air quality
The Met Office issues air quality
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
forecasts made using NAME
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...
, the Met Office's medium-to-long-range atmospheric dispersion model. It was developed as a nuclear accident model following the Chernobyl accident
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nu ...
in 1986, but has since evolved into an all-purpose dispersion model capable of predicting the transport, transformation and deposition of a wide class of airborne materials. NAME is used operationally by the Met Office as an emergency response model as well as for routine air quality forecasting. Aerosol dispersion is calculated using the United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosols model The United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosols (UKCA) is a community Chemistry-Aerosol-Climate model which are research runs of the Met Office's operational Unified Model. It runs within the Hadley Centre example with multiple flavours of varying horizo ...
.
The forecast is produced for pollutants and their typical health effects are shown in the following table.
IPCC
Until 2001 the Met Office hosted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...
working group, chaired by John Houghton, on climate science. In 2001 the working group moved to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
.[ Pearce, Fred, ''The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming'', (2010) ]Guardian Books
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, , p. XVI.
High performance computing
Due to the large amount of computation needed for Numerical Weather Prediction
Numerical weather prediction (NWP) uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of computer simulation in th ...
and the Unified model The Unified Model is a numerical weather prediction and climate modeling software suite originally developed by the United Kingdom Met Office, and now both used and further developed by many weather-forecasting agencies around the world. The Unif ...
, the Met Office has had some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. In November 1997 the Met Office supercomputer was ranked third in the world.
Customer service
Since 2012 the Met Office Contact Centre (known as the Weather Desk) has been part o
Contact Centre Panel's
'Top 50 Companies for Customer Service' programme.
In 2015 the Met Office won awards in the following categories:
* Rated 1st Overall for Combined Channels
* Most Improved Overall for Social Media
* Rated 2nd Overall for Call Service
* Rated 1st Overall for Email Service
* Best in Public Sector
* Best Extra Small Centre
Weather stations
Reports (observations) from weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...
s can be automatic (totally machine produced), semi-automatic (part-machine and part manual), or manual. Some stations produce manual observations during business hours and revert to automatic observations outside these times. Many stations feature "present weather" sensors, CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
, etc. There is also a network of 'upper air' stations, using radiosondes
A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calcula ...
. The six main radiosonde stations in the UK are Camborne, Lerwick, Albemarle, Watnall, Castor Bay and Herstmonceux.
Some stations have limited reporting times, while other report continuously, mainly RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
and Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps:
* Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army
* Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941)
* United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...
stations where a manned met office is provided for military operations. The "standard" is a once-hourly reporting schedule, but automatic stations can often be "polled" as required, while stations at airfields report twice-hourly, with additional (often frequent in times of bad weather) special reports as necessary to inform airfield authorities of changes to the weather that may affect aviation operations.
Some stations report only CLIMAT CLIMAT is a code for reporting monthly climatological data assembled at land-based meteorological surface observation sites to data centres. CLIMAT-coded messages contain information on several meteorological variables that are important to monitor ...
data (e.g. maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall totals over a period, etc.) and these are usually recorded at 0900 and 2100 hours daily. Weather reports are often performed by observers not specifically employed by the Met Office, such as Air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
staff, coastguards, university staff and so on.
* Eskdalemuir Observatory
The Eskdalemuir Observatory is a UK national environmental observatory located near Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Built in 1904, its remote location was chosen to minimise electrical interference with geomagnetic instruments, wh ...
* Lerwick Observatory
* Penkridge weather station
Penkridge weather station is a weather station at Penkridge in Staffordshire, England, operated by the Met Office. It is situated on the site of Rodbaston College.
The station is 101 m above mean sea level.
Below are the 1981-2010 avera ...
* Prestatyn weather station
Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085,
History Prehistory
There is evidence that th ...
* Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is centred on Stonyhurst College, occupying the great house, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish ...
* Sutton Bonington
Sutton Bonington () is a village and civil parish lying along the valley of the River Soar in the Borough of Rushcliffe, south-west Nottinghamshire, England. The University of Nottingham has a site just to the north of the village: Sutton Boni ...
* Wye weather station
* RAF Benson
Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, use ...
* RAF Brize Norton
Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney.
The station ...
weather station
* RAF Coningsby
Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and hom ...
* RAF Cottesmore
Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the ...
* RAF Cranwell
Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...
weather station
* RAF Kinloss
Royal Air Force Kinloss or RAF Kinloss is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north east of Scotland.
The RAF station opened on 1 April 1939 and served as a training establishme ...
weather station
* RAF Leeming
Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...
weather station
* RAF Leuchars weather station
* RAF Linton-on-Ouse
RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army).
The station opened in 1937. With the ...
weather station
* RAF Little Rissington
RAF Little Rissington is an RAF aerodrome and RAF station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows.
Built during the 1930s, the station was opened in 1938 and closed in ...
weather station (supported by RAF Brize Norton
Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney.
The station ...
)
* RAF Lossiemouth
Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland.
Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...
weather station
* RAF Lyneham
Royal Air Force Lyneham otherwise known as RAF Lyneham was a Royal Air Force station located northeast of Chippenham, Wiltshire, and southwest of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transpor ...
weather station
* RAF Marham
RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia.
It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...
weather station
* RAF Northolt
("Ready to carry or to fight")
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, pushpin_label = RAF Northolt
, pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London
, coordinates =
, type = Royal Air Force station
, code =
, site_area =
, height =
, owners ...
weather station 51.55 N 0.417 W
* RAF Odiham
RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Chinook, and of the King’s Helicopter Flight (TKHF) . I ...
weather station
* RAF Shawbury
Royal Air Force Shawbury, otherwise known as RAF Shawbury, is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Shawbury in Shropshire in the West Midlands of England.
History The First World War
The station at Shawbury was first used for military ...
* RAF Waddington
Royal Air Force Waddington otherwise known as RAF Waddington is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located beside the village of Waddington, south of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England.
The station is the RAF's Intelligence Surveillance Target A ...
weather station
* AAC Wattisham weather station
* RAF Valley
Royal Air Force Valley or more simply RAF Valley ( cy, Llu Awyr Brenhinol Y Fali) is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides both basic and advanced fast-jet training ...
* AAC Middle Wallop weather station
Meteorological Research Unit and the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM)
Meteorological Research was carried out at RAE Bedford
RAE Bedford was a research site of the Royal Aircraft Establishment between 1946 and 1994. It was located near the village of Thurleigh, north of the town of Bedford in England and was the site of aircraft experimental development work.
In the ...
with instruments being carried by barrage balloons until the RAE facility closed in the 1980s.
The Met Office association with Cardington continues by maintaining a Meteorological Research Unit (MRU). This is responsible for conducting research into part of the atmosphere called the boundary layer
In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is the thin layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface formed by the fluid flowing along the surface. The fluid's interaction with the wall induces a no-slip boundary condi ...
by using a tethered balloon which is kept in a small portable hangar.
FAAM
The Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM), part of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science
The National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) is research centre dedicated to the advancement of atmospheric science, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). NCAS is one of the NERC's six research centres, and was formed i ...
, is based at Cranfield Airport
Cranfield Airport is an airfield just outside the village of Cranfield, in Bedfordshire, England. It is south-west of Bedford and east of Milton Keynes. It was originally a World War II aerodrome, RAF Cranfield. It is now used for business a ...
. It is a collaboration with the Natural Environment Research Council
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.
History
NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geogr ...
.[
The FAAM was established as part of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), itself part of NERC, to provide aircraft measurement for use by UK atmospheric research organisations on worldwide campaigns. The main equipment is a modified BAe 146 type 301 aircraft, registration G-LUXE, owned and operated by ]BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
on behalf of Directflight Limited.
Areas of application include:
* Radiative transfer
Radiative transfer is the physical phenomenon of energy transfer in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The propagation of radiation through a medium is affected by absorption, emission, and scattering processes. The equation of radiative tran ...
studies in clear and cloudy air;
* Tropospheric
The troposphere is the first and lowest layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, and contains 75% of the total mass of the planetary atmosphere, 99% of the total mass of water vapour and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From ...
chemistry measurements;
* Cloud physics
Cloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation, growth and precipitation of atmospheric clouds. These aerosols are found in the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere, which collectively make up the greatest ...
and dynamic studies;
* Dynamics of mesoscale weather systems;
* Boundary layer
In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is the thin layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a bounding surface formed by the fluid flowing along the surface. The fluid's interaction with the wall induces a no-slip boundary condi ...
and turbulence studies;
* Remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...
: verification of ground-based instruments;
* Satellite ground truth: radiometric
Radiometry is a set of techniques for measuring electromagnetic radiation, including visible light. Radiometric techniques in optics characterize the distribution of the radiation's power in space, as opposed to photometric techniques, which cha ...
measurements and winds;
* Satellite instrument test-bed;
* Campaigns in the UK and abroad.
Directors General and Chief Executives
* Sir William Napier Shaw 1905–1920
* Sir Graham Sutton 1954–1965
* Sir Basil John Mason 1965–1983
* Sir John Houghton 1983–1991
* Julian Hunt 1992–1997
* Peter Ewins 1997–2004
* David Rogers 2004–2005
* Mark Hutchinson 2005–2007
* John Hirst 2007–2014
* Rob Varley 2014–2018
* Penelope Endersby 2018–
See also
* Climatic Research Unit hacking incident
The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousa ...
* Climate of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom straddles the higher mid-latitudes between 49° and 61°N on the western seaboard of Europe. Since the UK is always in or close to the path of the polar front jet stream, frequent changes in pressure and unsettled weather are ...
* Climate change in the United Kingdom
Climate change in the United Kingdom is impacting the country's environment and human population in many ways. The country's climate is becoming warmer, with drier summers and wetter winters. The frequency and intensity of storms, floods, droug ...
* Burns' Day storm
* Eskdalemuir Observatory
The Eskdalemuir Observatory is a UK national environmental observatory located near Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Built in 1904, its remote location was chosen to minimise electrical interference with geomagnetic instruments, wh ...
* European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by most of the nations of Europe. It is based at three sites: Shinfield Park, Reading, United Kingdom; Bologna, Italy; an ...
* Great Storm of 1987
* Met Éireann
Met Éireann (; meaning " Met of Ireland") is the state meteorological service of Ireland, part of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
History
The history of modern meteorology in Ireland dates back to 8 October 1860, wh ...
, the Irish meteorological service, which separated from the UK Met Office in 1936.
* North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System
The North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System (NOOS) monitors physical, sedimentological and ecological variables for the North Sea area. NOOS is operated by partners from the nine countries bordering the extended North Sea and European N ...
* Winter storm naming in the United Kingdom and Ireland
References
Further reading
* Hunt, Roger
"The end of weather forecasting at Met Office London"
''Weather'' magazine, Royal Meteorological Society
The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthus ...
, June 2007, v.62, no.6, pp. 143–146
* Walker, Malcolm (J M), ''History of the Meteorological Office'' (December 2011
Cambridge University Press
External links
*
BBC Weather Centre
BBC Shipping Forecast page
Met Office (National Meteorological) Archive
MetOffice@Reading at University of Reading
Joint Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Research
Met Office news blog
*
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Atmospheric dispersion modeling
Climate of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Exeter
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Economy of Devon
Executive agencies of the United Kingdom government
Government-owned companies of the United Kingdom
Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe
Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Devon
Organizations established in 1854
Science and technology in Devon
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