The Weather Book

A red sunset sky is usually caused by reflections from minuscule dust particles trapped high in the atmosphere by conditions that occur before fine weather.

don’t always get the weather forecast correct, but you can bet that when it isn’t spot on, there’s no one more frustrated than a Met Office forecaster!

Winds generally follow the isobars (lines joining points of the same pressure). When the isobars on a weather chart are close together, it means that there is a steep change in pressure – so you can expect a blustery day. Close isobars plus low pressure mean it’s going to be wet too.

Long before any talk of alternative green power, sailors were already using a source of natural energy to propel them across the seas: wind.

If one front follows another in fairly rapid succession, this can lead to changeable weather – as often happens in winter in Britain, for example, which is notorious for its unpredictable climate.

‘If you don’t like the weather in Buffalo, just wait five minutes.’

So if the forecast includes the words ‘high pressure’ you should be in luck because the weather is likely to be fine, clear and dry.

This explains why gliding birds usually only take to the skies in sunny weather, and why they generally become active only after ten o’clock in the morning, when the thermals have become strong enough to give them the necessary lift.

YOU MAY NOT be able to see everything that’s going on in the atmosphere, but there’s never a dull moment up there.

Here’s (a bit of) the science behind it all.