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Sources: BBC, National Weather Services, Intellicast, Space Science and Engineering Center, the Met Office, Yahoo! Weather
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
TODAY’S EXTREMES
Hottest: Pretoria Boys’ High School, South Africa, 34°C
Coldest: James Gibbons School, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, -30°C
Windiest: Richard Lander School, Truro, Cornwall, UK, 67 km/h
Driest: Pasadena City College, California, USA, relative humidity 18%
TODAY’S REVIEW OF METLINK OBSERVATIONS
Have you looked at today’s weathercams? If not, click here.
Did today’s weather warnings prove accurate? To read the warnings, click here.
To view today’s observations in the database, click here.
To find out how your observations compare with the average for January, click here.
We are sorry that a technical problem caused observations from about ten schools to be unavailable when the review was written. These observations are now in the database and we hope the problem will not recur. A review of these observations appears below, in a section called LATE NEWS.
AUSTRALASIA
Today’s first two entries in the database came from Indonesia, from the Jakarta International School and the Medan International School, both for 00:00 GMT (7 am Local Time in Jakarta, 8 am in Medan). At both places, the weather was rather cloudy and humid with temperatures above 25°C. "Muggy and a bit hazy" at Jakarta. "Cloudy, warm and humid" at Medan. Minimum temperature at Medan 24°C, maximum 29°C. Temperature also close to 30°C (actually 29°C) at 00:00 GMT (8 am Local Time) at the Singapore American School, where, at the time, there was "hardly any sun but it was still hot outside". The weather was quite different in New Delhi, at Springdales School, where, at 06:20 GMT (11:50 Local Time), the temperature was only 13.6°C, which is fairly low for the time of year. The minimum temperature recorded was 6.6°C and the maximum 20.6°C. Thus, it was colder in northern India last night than in southern England! "Cold at night but nice and sunny in the day" was the report from Springdales. Only one okta of cirrus cloud and a relative humidity of only 58%.
AFRICA
Sunny weather in Pretoria, South Africa, today, with no cloud at both 04:56 GMT (6.56 am Local Time) and 09:30 GMT (11.30 am Local Time). "Very hot and uncomfortable", said the students of the Pretoria Boys’ High School. A maximum temperature of 34°C recorded and the temperature already up to 31.1°C by 09:30 GMT. Warm, too, at the Highbury Preparatory School, KwaZulu-Natal, where the temperature was 21°C at 05:30 GMT (7.30 am Local Time) and the relative humidity almost 100%. "Hot and humid" was the description given by the students. Sky partially covered with cumulus clouds (4 oktas). Only a degree cooler (20°C) at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, at 05:30 GMT (7.30 am Local Time), but here this temperature was considered cool. The students expected hot and humid weather later in the day; and the temperature indeed rose to 30°C on 20 January. Humidity quite high (81%) at the time of the observation (05:30 GMT). Only one other observation received from Africa today, from Kampala in Uganda, where the temperature at 10:00 GMT (1 pm Local Time) was 26°C. "Hazy and warm" was the description given by the students. No rain reported by any of the schools in Africa today. Satellite pictures show that there was very little cloud over North Africa today, or over southern Africa south of about 20°S. In between, from about 5°N to 20°S, there was quite a lot of cloud over Africa, some of it towering cumulonimbus clouds which gave heavy bursts of rain. A vigorous storm called a tropical cyclone was today heading towards Madagascar. At 12:00 GMT, the centre of the storm lay 440 km east of Réunion, an island that is often struck by tropical cyclones at this time of year. Some huge falls of rain have occurred there: as much as 160 cm in 24 hours on one occasion.
EUROPE
The weather over Finland was very cold today, with Vörå the coldest place overnight. Here, the temperature fell to —10.1°C and was still as low as —9.2°C at 11:10 GMT (1.10 pm Local Time). The temperature at Jyväskylä was -9.8°C at 11:00 GMT (1.00 pm Local Time) and not much higher at Mikkeli and Vasa (-7.8°C at Mikkeli at 9.00 am Local Time and -7.1°C at Vasa at 3.40 pm Local Time). Snow fell at Jyväskylä, Vörå and Vasa, and the students at Mikkeli said it was a "typical winter day, with no wind; a nice day for skiing"! The roads were slippery at Vasa, the students reported. At Bor School, near Värnamo, in southern Sweden, the temperature was above 0°C and drizzle was falling. Here, at 07:40 GMT (8.40 am Local Time), the thermometer read +4.5°C. At Oslo, in southern Norway, the temperature was just above freezing (+1.0°C) at 11:53 GMT (12.53 pm Local Time). There was, however, "frozen snow on the ground" (to quote the students). Over almost all of Scandinavia today, the wind was very light. The weather was breezier in Romania, where, at Carmen Sylva High School, Constanta, the wind speed was about 25 km/h this afternoon. This school sent in four observations today, observations which show it was a day to wrap up well against the cold. Though the temperature was not as low as in Finland (+1.6°C at mid-day Local Time and only a degree or two higher this afternoon), the wind chill effect made it feel as cold. At Bozen (Bolzano), South Tyrol, northern Italy, the temperature at 15:00 GMT (4 pm Local Time) was 4.6°C, the wind calm and the sky only partly cloudy. Sounds a very pleasant day to be in this mountainous area.
The weather was breezy but sunny and fairly warm on Malta, where, at Carmela Sammut Primary School, the temperature at 09:00 GMT (10 am Local Time) was 14°C and the wind speed 24 km/h. The weather was sunny today at Madrid, too, but frosty at dawn and still quite cold (+3°C) at 08:15 GMT (9.15 am Local Time). There was no wind, however, so the conditions were probably not unpleasant. Across the Pyrenees in Toulouse, south-west France, the weather was considerably warmer than in Madrid. The temperature at 11:00 GMT (12 noon Local Time) was 8.0°C. The dense fog which occurred this morning cleared to give a "bright, mild sunny day with light wind", which sounds very pleasant. The weather was mild across the British Isles, too, but rather windy, cloudy, damp and unpleasant in many places. In fact, the weather was considerably warmer than average for the second half of January, with temperatures of 12°C or more reported from several places (as high as 15°C in Dublin). "Blustery and feeling very mild", said the students of Pitsford Hall Weather Station, Northamptonshire. "A damp, cold, windy day", thought the children of Coed Cae Junior School in south-east Wales. "Blustery with slight drizzle causing a significant wind chill", said the students of Milford Haven School. Rain was falling at Lionel School on the Isle of Lewis at 12:20 GMT, Queensferry Primary School (Edinburgh) at 16:15 GMT and also at Farr High School on the north coast of Scotland at 09:00 GMT. The story was much the same in Ireland, with drizzle falling at Ennis at 09:20 GMT and showers occurring at Cashel, County Galway, at 10:30 GMT.
NORTH AMERICA
The lowest temperature in the MetLink world today was recorded at Edmonton, Alberta, where, at the James Gibbons School, the minimum was —30.0°C. Yesterday’s maximum was —10.0°C. At the time of today’s observation, 16:30 GMT (9.30 am Local Time), the temperature was —17.0°C, the cloud cover was 7 oktas and light snow was falling. At Moses Lake in Washington State at 19:00 GMT (11 am Local Time), the weather was, in the words of the students, "mostly clear and sunny, breezy, warmer than normal for late January". The temperature was 5.6°C and the weather was fine, with only one okta of cirrus cloud. The weather was fine, too, at Pasadena, California, where, at 19:22 GMT (11.22 am Local Time), the sky was clear of cloud, a breeze of only 9 km/h was blowing and the temperature was 20°C. Very pleasant! Quite a contrast to the weather of the British Isles today! On the other side of North America, at the Cardinal Gibbons High School, Raleigh, North Carolina, the weather was rainy for part of the day and then cleared up, so that, by 22:00 GMT (5 pm Local Time) the cloud cover was only one okta and the temperature 9.0°C, which was quite an improvement on the situation at 13:25 GMT (8.25 am Local Time), when the temperature was 40°F (4.5°C) and the sky overcast. At Fernley, Nevada, USA, the temperature at 22:15 GMT (2.15 pm Local Time) was 10°C and the relative humidity low (only 27%). There was very little cloud, but the students felt that a storm was approaching from the north-west.
TODAY’S ANALYSIS
NB On the so-called ‘visible images’ from satellites, what you see is more or less what you would see with your own eyes if you were in the satellite and looking in black and white. On the so-called ‘infra-red images’, the whitest areas are the coldest and the blackest the hottest. Thus, high clouds show as white areas. Medium-level clouds and very cold land areas show as grey.
AFRICA AND ASCENSION
A hot but cloudy and humid day at Two Boats School, Ascension, with the sky almost covered by cumulus and cumulonimbus cloud. Drizzle falling at 12:45 GMT (12.45 pm Local Time) and the temperature 28°C. Quite a breezy day, too, with a wind speed of 24 km/h. Also rather cloudy at Marondera, Zimbabwe, where, at Peterhouse at 06:00 GMT (8 am Local Time), the cloud cover was 6 oktas of stratus. The temperature was 21°C and the wind light. Very different at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where, at 08:00 GMT (11 am Local Time), the temperature was 25°C and the state of the weather was, to quote the students, "Intense sun, hot, dry, clear sky, pleasant breeze due to the high elevation".
The ITCZ affected both Ascension and Marondera today. Addis Ababa, though, lay well to the north of the ITCZ, under the subsiding air of a subtropical anticyclone (in the Hadley Cell circulation over North Africa and adjacent areas).
EUROPE
A large amount of cloud at Strasbourg at 07:30 GMT and 12:00 GMT (respectively, 8.30 am and 1 pm Local Time). The sky cleared, however, to give a "clear, calm evening" (to quote the observer). Much milder than in recent days. Temperatures in the range 0°C to —12°C last week. As high as +8°C today at 12:00 GMT and 16:30 GMT. Mild and breezy at the British schools whose observations were unavailable when today’s weather report was written. Drizzle in Edinburgh. "An overcast and grey day but very warm for January" at Westbourne House School in West Sussex (south-east England). "Dull morning with a threat of rain in the air; gusty winds" at Edgbaston in Birmingham. "Grey; overcast and miserable; gusty" at King’s Lodge Primary School, Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK. All consistent with mild south-westerly winds blowing across the British Isles on the eastern flanks of a depression centred to the west of the British Isles.
NORTH AMERICA
As at Pasadena, warm and sunny with light winds at Cantara Street Elementary School, Reseda, California.
NOTES
A school weather site that might be of interest to you is that made available by Scalloway School, Shetland, UK.
If you require information about climate on the web, click here. If you seek climatological data, click here or here.
