Monthly talk: Sarah Bull – The work of the Met Office

This month our Guest Speaker was Sarah Bull from the Met Office.

Despite the slight delay due to Laptop to Projector issues (thanks to Miggie Pickton who saved the day, and the audience for their patience).  We were treated to some interesting facts about the Met Office and the Speaker herself.

Sarah developed an interest in the weather from a very early age. Having graduated from university, she started in Project Management in weather forecasting. 2018 saw her in the US to study severe storms and ways on how to improve and forecast severe storms, albeit storms in the US are at a far greater magnitude than in the UK. In 2019 Sarah went to South Africa with the focus moving from Weather Services to Climate Services. She then returned to the UK and joined the Met Office where she has held various positions and remains to this day.

Met Office Background

Originally founded in 1854 by Vice Admiral R Fitzroy, with the first Shipping forecast in 1859, the purpose of weather forecasts was and still remains to help us stay safe.

1861 saw the launch of the public weather forecast service.

In 1987, following what became known as the “Great Storm” the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS) was developed by the Met Office. This was a warning service based on the impact of the UK weather rather than the threshold of the weather itself.

Following the Cockermouth floods in 2007, the Flood Forecasting Centre was established.

In 2014 the first Space Weather forecasting service was launched.

2015 We began naming storms enabling people to remember individual storms.

Some interesting facts

• This year was the 170th anniversary of the Met Office.
• Breaking the Enigma Code gave the UK the edge to forecast DDay.
• A four day forecast is now as accurate as a one day forecast 30 years ago.
• To enable the most accurate forecasts, current super computers are capable of 14,000 trillion arithmetic operations per second.
• WEISER weather radar has delivered enforced access to weather and climate information to over 3.3 million households.
• The Met Office provides information and advice to the Government, Industry, Aviation and the Media.

Also, this year we have been treated to some rare Aurora Borealis Events the most recent one being seen by most areas of the British Isles. The reason for this is what is termed as the Milankovilch 11 year cycle of peaks and troughs. We are currently peaking hence the number of events seen.

The Space Weather forecast can give a guarantee of these happening.

Sadly we had to call an end to the talk with loads of questions following, we soon ran out of time and our tea was going cold.

A truly interesting talk and well attended by members.

Kate McCarthy