Understanding the Weather of 2018

Weather-wise 2018 was a globally memorable year. The tropics saw examples of record intensity tropical cyclones including the USA and, perhaps more unusually, Oman and Yemen. Massive flooding occurred in Kerala, India, some Chinese provinces, parts of the Philippines and in Japan. At the other end of the scale, record drought was experienced in parts of Europe, Argentina and Uruguay, India and Sri Lanka, all of which suffered significant impact on agricultural productivity.

Intense, record-breaking cold spread across parts of the USA and Argentina and Uruguay and of course was associated with Arctic-style wind chill over the UK and Ireland in late February and early March.

In stark contrast, the UK experienced a markedly hot summer on a par with three other, mainly recent seasons. June and July in particular were notably warm and very dry, particularly in the South-East. They were also very sunny, making for a memorable period. In association with the hot, dry conditions, record wildfires wreaked havoc in California and other parts of the western USA and western Canada, Greece, Portugal, the UK and, more rarely, Sweden into the Arctic Circle.

This meeting will outline many of these events, ranging from the global picture to the details of Reading’s observations. It will also involve the impact of weather on the UK’s pollen year and on the nations rivers, concluding with a discussion on the interpretation of the summertime extreme temperatures.