Thanks for dropping in and welcome to my website. I am the face of weather on BBC television's regional news programme, Points West.
The idea behind this website is to promote and expand on issues you may have seen on the weather forecast, for which on-air time just does not allow. Is tomorrow's weather a product of global warming? What's happening in the night sky? What's the weather like in other parts of the world?
All views expressed are mine, and mine alone and are nothing to do with my employers.
There is a saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin that, "Whilst some people are weatherwise, most are otherwise." Hopefully, this site will help you become a little more weatherwise.
15th July
It has been a while since I updated the site. Sorry about that. No excuses. Just lazy. It was announced last week that the Met office had won the contract to supply the BBC with weather services for the next 5 years. It wasn't reported too prominently. You may have missed it altogether. Strange that, when the prospect of the contract being won by other bidders was plastered all over the likes of the Daily Telegraph. Anything to do with the fact that the Telegraph just loves taking pot shots at the Civil Service in general and the Met Office in particular? Surely not.
25th June
The music at Glastonbury hasn't even begun and already more than 500 people have been treted for sunburn and dehydration. I really do wonder why we bother with UV warnings.
Enjoying the Glastonbury sunshine
Hopefully most of the punters will take a more sensible approach and a warm and sunny Glastonbury with such a great line-up will make it a Festival that they will never forget.
14th June
Good to see such a large turnout at the BBC's Festival of Nature on Saturday.
1st June
There were some spectacular cirrus formations above Swindon on Sunday evening moving ahead of the incoming frontal system. This is a view of the cirrus:
Cirrus Cirrus with trailing virga above Swindon (Picture: Renu Angwin)
But with the sun setting sun there was also what is known as a circumzenithal arc, also known as Bravais' Arc:
A circumzenithal arc as seen from the Link, Swindon at 2015 on Sunday (about 3cm from the top of the image) Picture: Renu Angwin
31st May 2010
What a shame. Swindon's hopes of a place in the Championship were dashed by Millwall at Wembley on Saturday. I'm not a supporter (there's only one team in red as far as I'm concerned) but I was really disappointed that Town couldn't at least get an equaliser and take Millwall into extra time. (Poor Charlie Austin's moment of glory was denied by a playing surface that is nothing short of a scandal.)
At Wembley Way
It wasn''t to be but it was good to see such support for the town (small 't') as I suspect many there were not regular visitors to the County Ground.
And one consolation was the fact that victory for Millwall meant that because their fans were too busy celebrating inside the ground, they weren't in the mood for a good riot. I started going to football matches back in the '70s when football hooliganism was near its peak. Trust me, these were the roughest, ugliest, and meanest group of supporters I have ever seen. The Championship - you're welcome to them!
Nice ground - shame about the pitch. Wembley anticipates kick off
27th May
I'm back! Despite the best efforts of Eyjafjallajokull, Willie Walsh and Unite, we made it back to the UK after our trip to the States. We went to Boston for a few days. I wish it could have been longer. Boston is a lovely mix of the old and the new. The city has retained a surprising amount of its colonial architecture, despite occasional fires and, more recently, the best efforts of the developers.
Boston was home to the comedy show 'Cheers' for many years
It is surprisingly traffic-free, the result of 'The Big Dig' a project designed to remove the six-lane flyover that cut through the heart of the city and replace it with a ten lane superhighway under the city. With lots of parkland, some dating back to the 17th century, the river and the coast it is vaguely reminiscent of London, only cleaner!
We toured the city on the trolleybuses and also took a whalewatching trip on a catamaran. The hour-and-a-half outbound trip was rewarded with sightings of a mother humpback and its calf.
A A mother humpback heads for the deep off Boston
After Boston we flew to Dallas for Renu's cousin's wedding. I can't say I was too impressed with Dallas although the JFK Texas Book Depository Museum was well worth a visit. (And when you look out the 4th floor window, getting off three shots would have been no problem for a trained marksman!)
5th May 2010
As long as you don't have a flight booked any time soon, it was good to see the return of the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. It knocked Clegg, Cameron and Brown off our screens for a while and I, for one, never tire of watching volcanic eruptions.
The ash cloud has entered Uk airspace once again, but the winds look set to push the emissions westwards into the Atlantic, at least for the next few days. But with the duration of this eruption something of an unknown quantity, this is a problem that could return intermittently for many months. And if the neaby Katla volcano should be sparked off by its angry, smaller neighbour then we could be looking at major disruption for months or even years.
With a desperate need to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions, could this be the opportunity to wean ourselves off our addiction to far-flung holiday destinations?
4th May 2010
A daytrip to London at the weekend and after lunch at gary Rhodes Brasserie at the Cumberland Hotel (not as expensive as it sounds, but very good) we rode on the Millennium Wheel.
As you can see, skies were quite grey in London by late afternoon and it was soon pouring down. But it was still worth it - you could see as far as Wembley Satadium to the north, plus Buckingham Palace, Horseguards Parade and the Houses of Parliament with the usual motley assortment of May Day protestors.
In the evening we saw Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre. Renu enjoyed it. I 'm not one for shows and have to confess I fell asleep.
20th April 2010
You can't win, can you? The ash plume has been well forecast by the Met Office yet the daily Telegraph is suggesting that the closure of UK airports was our fault! They have conveniently ignored the results from some of the research flights which showed significant concentations of volcanic particles at most flight levels across UK air space. And they also seem to think that the Met Office makes the decisions regarding fly/no fly decisions. We don't! NATS and CAA do that.
15th April
What a day! Don't you just love volcanoes - well, just as long as you don't have a flight to catch. Ill put an article up on site as soon as I have time - probably Friday. But here's some info:
1. With high pressure centred to the northwest of the UK the volcanic ash will continue to drift towards the UK whilst it continues to erupt. There may be some disruption to the airflow early next week.
2. If you are really interested the Met Office has a page on its website which you will fine useful:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/vaacuk_vag.html
3. The volcanic ash will have NO discernable effect on our weather. There is no evidence to suggest any great concentrations of sulphur-based gases which CAN affect the weather.
This is NOT a major eruption (yet). The Mount St Helens eruption in 1980 had very little effect on global temperatures. To live up to some of the doomsday scenarios now being penned in the press, would require an eruption at least 10 times bigger than Mount St Helens
4. The Health Protection Agency say that the ash is too high to have any effect on health.
5. Look out for spectacular sunsets over the next few days. The ash will bring out the red light.
satellite image showing the Eyjafjallajokull volcano near the southern tip of Iceland
13th April
What a lovely weekend. High pressure looks as though it will stay with us until the end of the coming weekend. These sunny shots were taken down in Cornwall which is hard to beat in such fine conditions:
In the sunshine at Porthleven harbour
Talk of cold weather next week is greatly exaggerated, by the way. The Daily Mail has produced a piece suggesting there's a sting in the tail of winter heading our way. Usual stuff. Complete nonsense. So we're goping to get a touch of ground frost - it's April, what do they expect?
1st April
Whilst we have seen our weather slowly warming up over the last couple of weeks after one of the coldest winters on record, we should remeber that the cold weather is still affecting regions such as China and Mongolia.
Here is an interesting link to a site which explains both the causes and effects of the cold winter:
http://sites.google.com/site/whythe2009winterissocold/
23rd March
Nearly three weeks without any entries. Sorry about that. But when I'm on holiday, I'm on holiday. No phone, no updating of the website. The only purpose of the web is to keep me updated on United's scores.
Where have I been? Well, I'll update the Holiday Album over the next few days, but here is a taster photograph:
At Bristol Cathedral with the brainy one of the family23rd June
I've been away for the last few days. Me and Mrs A took a long weekend in Bruges. Highly recommended. A town renowned for beer, chocolate and chips is all right by me.
So many beers to chose from...
I'd certainly recommend Bruges for a long weekend. Travelling via EuroTunnel was so quick (just 25 minutes crossing time) and driving through Northern France and Belgium is just so easy. And the Begians are so friendly and helpful. look out for some holidays photos on the site very soon.
Ah, the Orthel Samaranth, an excellent, if strong, choice
The harbour at Portscatho
31st March
If I look excited in the photograph above, that is because I was! On Friday night we went to see my all-time music hero David Byrne in concert at the Colston Hall. And if that wasn't good enough (and believe me he was VERY good) we went to see him again on Sunday night at the Birmingham Symphony Hall.
Before the rain reached Warwickshire
Hold your nose and in you go (Picture: Michael Satherley)