SPEAKER | Edward Graham (University of Highlands & Islands) and Jonathan Webb (TORRO)
ABSTRACT | The NCEP/NCAR, NOAA-CIRES Twentieth Century Reanalysis 2 and MÉRA climate model reanalyses were used, together with upper air observations, to determine the severity of the of 27 February–1 March 2018 cold pool event within the context of previous events affecting Great Britain and Ireland. When the combination of extreme low 1000-500hPa thicknesses, areal extent, and longevity of a cold pool are considered as a single measure of ‘severity’, the event of 2018 ranks highly in terms of winter severity, with only the January 1987 event being more severe within the past 70 years. An extraordinary radiosonde 500hPa air temperature of −46°C was measured over northern England on 28 February 2018 – this is nearly matched by the reanalyses values of −44°C to -45°C at the same time, these being the lowest in the entire reanalysis record back to 1948.
