mike Meehan

My favourite time is around the summer solstice on the rare occasions we get an HP at this time of year with great crystal blue skies, warm temperatures with the long light evenings with a wonderful afterglow continuing for about an hour or so after sunset

Yes but it warmed up a bit crossing the Atlantic.

I agree the continent is still too warm at the moment - it appears that winter proper has only got as far as the Urals - if there is a cold spell to come, I would say the end of Jan beginning of Feb - there is just enough time for the near continent to cool down and perhaps we could be treated to some nice dry continental snow - I hate the slushy stuff but the weather gods have their own mind and there is little we can do to affect it.

Though it needs to cool down a tad in Scandinavia, central and northern Europe to get the best benefit.

There is a possibility that the Scandy Spitzbergen high could grow and extend to the SE once that low gets out of the way but time will tell. I would be looking more towards the end of the month rather than the middle for more wintry weather down here at Watford.

Not a twin in my view - I just wonder whether the fact that the parent is a red dwarf caused it to produce a system similar to our but in miniature.

Life is more about than following every fad going in a determined effort to break longevity records. It is also about enjoying one's life, so my view is that the quality is far better than the quantity. I am also a firm believer that a little of what you fancy does you good, so I wont be knocking barbies on the head - I will still enjoy them on warm summers' evenings with a glass or two of wine and some good company. Come to think about it, the salmonella egg scare put out by Edwina Curry some years ago did not detract from my consumption of eggs, neither did the BSE or the horsemeat scandal put me off eating beef. We have to take some risks in life - we may not necessarily live any longer through avoiding them - it will just seem that way

From seeing some of the posts just lately on the models I would be tempted to call them CAS - clutching at straws Still we all have dreams, me included.

Never mind, perhaps it will be our turn 2014/15

I believe the current theory is that the universe will continue to expand and as it does so the stars and matter will become so widespread that the matter will not be able to form a mass sufficient to form new stars as what happens today - in the meantime the stars in existence will reach the end of their life cycle, so the ultimate will be a multitude of widely spaced cold bodies. This depends on the belief of there being dark matter and dark energy, both of which we don't really know anything about and can only infer its presence through gravitational observations. However what is there to say that there is not more exotic matter than this about. We believe the universe as we know it today came into being from the big bang which was a singularity but where did the matter come from in the first place - was it from a previous universe which had contracted into this singularity? To an extent this makes sense and although we have an expanding universe at the moment, can we be sure that this state will continue to exist or might some other trigger come into play to reverse this process? Until we are able to identify the properties of the dark matter and energy we can't really begin to understand but I suppose if we were to take a look at the rest of the physical world, it does seem that things occur in cycles. The only thing we can say for certain is that since this is going to take say a million to the umpteenth power years to play through none of us will be here to see it.

It looks like Accu Weather are in agreement Nick, these are Jan '14 dates for Watford, however still a long way off and much can change. 12 Variable cloud, a shower7° Lo -1°Hist. Avg. 6° Lo 2° 13 Low cloud4° Lo -1°Hist. Avg. 6° Lo 2° 14 Decreasing cloud2° Lo -3°Hist. Avg. 6° Lo 2° 15 Sunny spells and patchy cloud1° Lo -4°Hist. Avg. 6° Lo 2° 16 Sunny periods1° Lo -5°Hist. Avg. 6° Lo 2° 17 Decreasing cloud and cold0° Lo -4°Hist. Avg. 6° Lo 2° 18 A shower in the afternoon3° Lo 2°

Hasn't anybody some nice charts to look at?

Don't forget the rogue asteroid

If we take into account the vastness of just our galaxy and the number of stars and the potential number of Earthlike planets, I believe it is possible that there could be quite number of those which there are technologically advanced life forms but alas our current knowledge of science has not reached the stage where it would be possible to travel across the galaxy, 100,000 light years across and 1,000 light years deep, so it's not quite the same as popping out to the local corner shop. Some theorists postulate that it may be possible for matter to be transmitted via wormholes, should we ever be able to find one but they may well prove to be an unsatisfactory transportation system for the human frame and it may well be that these wormholes are far too small. At the same time if we consider how much scientific knowledge and technology has advanced in the last 100 years we can't even begin to envisage all the likely advances which would be made in the next 1,000 years, even more in 10,000 years, so it is not something I would rule out altogether. Failing that, I would expect it quite likely, should mankind still be around in 2 or 3 million years time when the expansion of the sun will start to make life a little difficult on Earth I could envisage, first of all settlement of some suitable moons of the gas giants and thereafter the construction of a self supporting vehicle which could sustain human life for many generations whilst a new suitable habitat is found. I would not expect mankind to take the prospect of being frizzled by our sun starting to morph into a red giant lying down and would expect that such an attempt would be made; as to whether it is successful or not, who knows? If we accept this, then it is reasonable to consider that other intelligent beings in other parts of the galaxy could come up with the same idea but they could be as far as 100,000 light years from us and that long ago, as a species, we were still in a primitive stone age era, so I am not holding my breathe until we make contact with them but it is interesting to conjecture and let our imaginations run riot. What I will say and it is something we have found on this planet, is that wherever it is possible for life to start and this covers a remarkable range of habitats from the thermal vents under the sea to glaciers, some existing with oxygen and some without, it will start and with the right circumstances, evolve.

We've been very fortunate at Watford - the worst we had was the fish pond overflowing during the early hours of Christmas Day but by the morning it was back to its normal level, mainly due to us incorporating an overflow system. Flooding should not really be a risk to us because of our local topography. The rainfall last night appears to have been less than the previous storm, so we were ok with this one as well. Obviously not good at all for those who have been flooded out, sustained storm damage, power cuts and the relatives of those who have lost their lives. The other thing I was afraid of was the safety of ships at sea but a quick look for possible ships in distress was a Russian vessel trapped in the Antarctic ice and arrangements are at hand to release this with a Chinese ice breaker. No doubt many stayed in port, or found the best place to ride the storms out, though I did notice that the Isle of Wight Ferry was still running for at last part of the time. I did hear that a number of flights got diverted fro Heathrow and Gatwick on Christmas Eve, many did not attempt a take off but I understand there were one or two exceptions. So all in all an interesting couple of days or so - I don't think I can recall anything quite like that before - a single storm like October 1987, yes but not where they keep following one another quite to this extent - it's all down to those nasty jet streams - I'm going to tell Santa so they don't get a present next Christmas Perhaps after this little lot a change will be on the way.

My understanding of it is that the colours relate to kph at 950 millibars and the arrows with the fleches, or barbules, relate to knots - these normally denote 5 knots for a half fleche, 10 knots for a full one and 50 knots for a triangular fleche. Noeuds is knots in French.

Happy Christmas and a great 2014 for everybody

The ultimate is that without plant life, we have no oxygen to breath - the amazing thing is that for ages past, the earth has managed to keep us to a 20% ratio of oxygen in the air and I can't help thinking that if too many forests are destroyed that ratio will drop. Not only that you chop down the trees of the Amazon etc where the land is being variously used for logging, cattle pastures and cash crops it is going to upset the balance and these areas will get drier and if we are not careful we will cause a tipping action. If we have any sense at all we should be replanting these areas as quickly as we can and try to extend the area of forests where possible, otherwise to put it in the words of Fraser, 'We are all doomed Mr Mainwaring, I tell ye we are all doomed'.

You too will get to my age - alright Albedo then, slip of the keyboard and mind

Surely a rise in temperature would mean less ice sheet in the Arctic and as such this would decrease the Albino effect, thereby giving the warming more impetus by increased warming of the sea and subsequently the land areas.

Bootiful 'ere today - wall to wall blue sky and not too much wind

Whatever - I like it and have added it to my favourites

This is all because they have a high bringing in N easterlies which travel mostly overland with little to warm them up - the same sort of thing happened in the US not so long ago and didn't Houston get some unseasonably cold weather? and that is virtually on the Gulf of Mexico. In the meantime we have been getting southerlies, making it mild for the season - you just can't trust those damned jet streams at all.

During the early hours we are likely to see an apparition of a sled being towed by 6 reindeer with a large fat white bearded man on board shouting out, Ho, ho, ho.' Then during the day fresh W to NW breeze - sunny periods & rain showers - Max +6C Min +3C and no snow for Watford. In the mid pm there are likely to be gusts of wind but this will be due mainly to the brussel sprouts with an alcoholic mist setting in late evening.

Storm winds break sound barrier