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Official News Blog

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Nasa Space Apps Challenge returns to Exeter

The Met Office will play its part in the world’s largest hackathon when it hosts NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge once again. Up to 150 participants will gather for the two-day event at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter on 5-6 October to take on challenges set by NASA on the theme of ‘the Sun touches everything’.  

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20 years on from Boscastle – how would things be different?

It’s now 20 years since a devastating flood swept through the small Cornish village of Boscastle. A month’s worth of rain fell in just two hours, causing two rivers to burst their banks and about two billion litres of water to rush straight into the village. Whilst rainfall was in the forecast that day, the intensity of that rainfall and its impact on the village was not predicted, meaning residents had little time to react.

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Assembling our capability for ensemble weather forecasting

The real world is neither black, nor white. It is made from shades of grey. The weather forecast can contain many possibilities, but forecasters usually try to distil it down to the most likely outcome. Why should a weather forecast try to determine a single ‘black’ or ‘white’ outcome, rather than present a more well-rounded picture of all of the shades of the weather that could possibly come?

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‘Significant’ impacts from Tropical Storm Debby in United States – will it influence UK weather?

Tropical Storm Debby – which made landfall in northern Florida on Monday as a hurricane – will continue to impact eastern and southeastern parts of the United States in the coming days.

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Better weather forecasts on Met Office website and app

We have made major changes to the weather forecasts on our website and app. Although you may not have noticed anything different yet, we’ve undertaken a significant upgrade to the data system that generates our seven-day forecasts throughout the UK and around the world.  

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Contrasting conditions in a cool and dull July

Contrasting conditions in July, with some cooler than average temperatures, rain, cloud and even a heatwave, combined to make July 2024’s weather statistics close to average for the UK.  

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Met Office celebrates 170 years of forecasting

Today, the Met Office celebrates its 170th birthday. Since its very beginnings on 1 August 1854, the organisation has been a pioneer of weather and climate science, and it is now one of the leading forecasting and research centres in the world.

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Our changing weather patterns: a tale of abrupt transitions

Our weather is notoriously changeable – that is partly what makes it one of the nation’s talking points. But peering through the statistics a striking pattern emerges: one where the weather oscillates abruptly between different and contrasting phases lasting for a while before the next phase in the sequence begins to dominate.

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A month of contrasts for January’s weather

January 2024 brought a month of contrasts to the UK weather, with three named storms, a significant spell of cold, wintry weather and finally a new UK daily maximum temperature record for January.

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Solar maximum in sight – but when will it be?

Throughout autumn and winter there have been a number of sightings of the Northern Lights, or the aurora borealis, in the UK. As 2024 continues, the question for many space weather experts is when we’ll see a peak in the Sun’s activity as part of this solar cycle.

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This is the official blog of the Met Office news team, intended to provide journalists and bloggers with the latest weather, climate science and business news.

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