:07:07. > :07:14.Remember, that is per square inch. Multiply that by Swansea, Glasgow
:07:14. > :07:18.and London... Basically it is a lot of rain. Just a few miles from the
:07:18. > :07:24.seat and made up of deep valleys and high peaks, the Lake District
:07:24. > :07:30.does not stand a chance. You're almost guaranteed a soaking in the
:07:30. > :07:34.Lake District. On average, it rains on average 211 days in here! This
:07:34. > :07:39.is the highest peak in England and there is a little village which has
:07:39. > :07:45.the dubious honour of being Britain's wettest inhabited place!
:07:45. > :07:50.It is home to the Pratt family. Inhabitants of this cottage at the
:07:50. > :07:53.edge of the village, probably the wettest house in England! Where and
:07:53. > :07:59.when did you find out that you lived in the wettest part of
:07:59. > :08:06.England? We have always known. I was sat in geography the other day
:08:06. > :08:14.reading a text book and it said, the wettest place, and I thought,
:08:14. > :08:17.that is me! I felt really proud of myself! Why is it so wet? Befell
:08:17. > :08:24.Straw the clouds down and you get the different temperatures and you
:08:24. > :08:29.get the brain. Lots of it. What is the worst period you have ever had?
:08:29. > :08:34.Probably the floods in 2009. This is flooding on a scale few could
:08:34. > :08:40.have imagined. Everyone in Cumbria remembers the floods of November
:08:40. > :08:45.2009. I remember it been raining for about 48 hours, torrential,
:08:45. > :08:50.relentless. For three days, heavy rain fell on saturated ground,
:08:50. > :08:57.causing many of the county's rivers to break through flood defences.
:08:57. > :09:03.managed to keep it out of the house, just. On 20th November, Seathwaite
:09:03. > :09:08.alone was pounded by 2.4 inches of rain in just 24 hours. An unwelcome
:09:08. > :09:13.national record. We are OK, as long as we are here, we can protect the
:09:13. > :09:17.house. But if we are not, then usually we can't get home.
:09:17. > :09:24.water came with such speed and force that nothing could stop it.
:09:24. > :09:28.He in Cockermouth, 30 miles north, and water levels reached 2.5 metres.
:09:29. > :09:33.That is the main street. It is the river! As emergency services
:09:33. > :09:37.struggled to rescue 500 people, PC Bill Barker tragically lost his
:09:37. > :09:44.life when the bridge he was warning motorists not to cross was swept
:09:44. > :09:48.away. Have you ever seen anything like this? Never, ever. It was
:09:48. > :09:51.described by the Environment Agency as a once in a thousand-year
:09:51. > :09:57.weather event. There has been reassurances that the worst has
:09:57. > :10:01.passed. But four days ago, half the average rainfall for July fell on
:10:01. > :10:07.parts of Cumbria in 24 hours, proving yet again that the power of
:10:07. > :10:12.the great British weather should never be underestimated. It just
:10:12. > :10:17.shows how serious rain can be. I want to show you a scene 30 miles
:10:17. > :10:22.away from here. A little village called Great Corby. Imagine this
:10:23. > :10:30.village, turning into a lake. Imagine going on a night out and
:10:30. > :10:35.that is exactly what this family I am just about to introduce you with
:10:35. > :10:43.were greeted to when they got 10. Good evening! You are just about
:10:43. > :10:46.smiling! What happened? We were at the cinema and we got a frantic
:10:46. > :10:50.phone call from the neighbours saying, come home quick, the house
:10:50. > :10:54.is filling up with water, so we got in the car as soon as possible and
:10:54. > :10:58.we were overtaken by two fire engines on the way and we joked
:10:58. > :11:04.that they were probably going to our house and they were! What was
:11:04. > :11:08.your initial reaction? I expected to turn up and tried to rescue my
:11:08. > :11:12.shoes and make everything OK but of course, we were greeted with a
:11:12. > :11:17.torrent of water, it was like a river in full spate, quite a
:11:17. > :11:22.spectacle to behold. I bet. Your family are safe but you were
:11:22. > :11:26.worried about a couple of things? Chickens? I was just a bit scared
:11:26. > :11:34.that because my chickens were just in no pain, I was scared they might
:11:34. > :11:42.not be able to breathe. Are they OK? Yes. The thank goodness. I am
:11:42. > :11:46.looking at you, how many trousers have you got left? Three pairs of
:11:46. > :11:51.trousers. It will probably be six or eight months until we get home.
:11:51. > :11:58.Are you keeping this lot to get the? Yes, it is a bit of an
:11:58. > :12:07.adventure! We are fine. I just want to show you a happy face down here.
:12:07. > :12:12.Honour. He was this? Jessie. And it is a new one. The because sadly the
:12:12. > :12:16.old one was washed away. Our thoughts are with you. Please take
:12:16. > :12:20.care. I love it when people have a stiff upper lip in this weather
:12:20. > :12:26.because you really need it when it starts pouring down. I will now
:12:26. > :12:29.hand you over here. Nice to know! Nice cat! This
:12:29. > :12:35.country have some of the most sophisticated whether tracking
:12:35. > :12:39.technology in the world. The Met Office is seen as the creme de la
:12:39. > :12:43.creme of forecasting but maybe they don't know everything. Maybe there
:12:43. > :12:47.are some four-legged forecasters who are a bit better. Tom mine is
:12:47. > :12:51.heading to the countryside to find out if an animal is better at his
:12:51. > :13:01.job then he is. When it comes to forecasting the
:13:01. > :13:01.
:13:01. > :13:06.weather, there is someone new in town. Cowls. Really, the myth that
:13:06. > :13:11.they lie down before it rains has been around for centuries. I have
:13:11. > :13:14.come to Abergavenny in Wales to settle this once and for all. As a
:13:14. > :13:19.meteorologist, I am pretty sceptical when it comes to the
:13:19. > :13:28.theory that cows can predict the weather. I am certainly more used
:13:28. > :13:34.to satellite images and big, powerful computers of --. Yet these
:13:34. > :13:38.farmers, Jim and Kate, are convinced I am wrong. Some people
:13:38. > :13:41.say they pick up on the pressure beforehand which can affect their
:13:41. > :13:45.digestive system and they lie down and chew the cud because they know
:13:45. > :13:49.they will not be grazing for a while. Other people say they like
:13:49. > :13:57.de because they want to keep a dry patch. I am not sure about that.
:13:57. > :14:02.don't think so. I genuinely think they pick up on something. It is
:14:02. > :14:06.time to break out the big guns. This is the weather station. It is
:14:06. > :14:11.measuring all sorts of weather conditions. We will see if we can
:14:11. > :14:20.find a link between the cow sitting down and any sort of weather, one
:14:20. > :14:27.of which is rainfalls. They don't stand a chance! I will also be
:14:27. > :14:33.measuring wind speed, temperatures, and air pressure. It is their
:14:33. > :14:38.instincts verses there might of meteorological science. I can see
:14:38. > :14:41.shower clouds heading our way but probably not for a while. I don't
:14:41. > :14:45.think it is heading this way because they are standing up. We
:14:46. > :14:52.will test your theory now. When they are spaced out like this, they
:14:52. > :14:58.are quite sure doubt. The cloud is not coming year. A you reckon?
:14:58. > :15:03.LAUGHTER. And they were right. It stayed dry, my state of-the-art
:15:03. > :15:06.weather station also recorded little change in wind and pressure.
:15:06. > :15:14.That rain cloud that you said was heading this way and the cows said
:15:14. > :15:20.no, it wasn't. It is 1-0 to the cows. They predicted it will stay
:15:20. > :15:29.dry. I have just been expecting the rain cloud to go over us. 5 hours
:15:29. > :15:39.past. The stubborn animals were refusing to predict any rain. But
:15:39. > :15:46.
:15:46. > :15:56.as soon as I am about to give up, One by one, the herd of cows makes
:15:56. > :15:56.
:15:56. > :16:01.its move. I think it is pretty much all but one that are lying down.
:16:01. > :16:06.Five minutes pass with no rain. The wind is picking up but really, all
:16:06. > :16:10.I can see his little fluffy clouds and blue skies. I can't see any
:16:10. > :16:20.reason for their predictions. Scientific forecasting looks set to
:16:20. > :16:20.
:16:20. > :16:30.win this one. THUNDER. We are getting a real
:16:30. > :16:38.
:16:38. > :16:42.It looks like they got up during the reign, walked to the trees to
:16:42. > :16:50.try to shelter themselves but before it actually started to rain
:16:50. > :16:55.they were sitting down. Why are they so accurate. The latest
:16:55. > :16:58.scientific thinking is that cows are highly sensitive to local
:16:58. > :17:01.variations in wind speed and air pressure if they feel the rain is
:17:01. > :17:07.approaching. It seems they make the most of the car before the storm by
:17:07. > :17:12.resting up and chewing the cud. -- calm before the storm. It is only a
:17:12. > :17:18.very small shower. I think we had a rubber mm of rain. It was quite
:17:19. > :17:22.heavy for a time. -- we had about a millimetre. The cows knew the rain
:17:22. > :17:27.was coming whereas I failed to predict it, even though I had a
:17:27. > :17:32.weather station to help me. It did show an increase in wind speed but
:17:32. > :17:35.this was not enough to convince me it was going to get wet.
:17:35. > :17:40.Clearly Major can sense something coming and that it will change
:17:40. > :17:44.their behaviour -- nature can sense something. He did the question of
:17:44. > :17:54.how reliable it is. You can say that about a weatherman?
:17:54. > :18:00.
:18:00. > :18:05.Cows are not the only animals to know how to predict weather, here
:18:05. > :18:12.to talk about t and our top three weather-predicted animals is our
:18:12. > :18:16.guest. We discovered cows sit down when it
:18:16. > :18:20.is about to raifpblt we know that animals have a very acute sense of
:18:20. > :18:26.things. We possibly, once upon time might have been sensitive to it as
:18:26. > :18:30.well. We know about the elephants before the tsunami, they all ran
:18:30. > :18:36.into the hills. It is not a surprise, when you think about how
:18:36. > :18:38.they communicate with elephants, they communicate with low freakcy
:18:38. > :18:43.rumablities. Any rumablities created by tsunami or earthquake,
:18:43. > :18:49.they see as out of the ordinary and try to get away from it. It is
:18:49. > :18:53.logical in that sense. Do you have personal experience of that?
:18:53. > :18:57.see it a lot in the field. We mentioned the cows earlier on,
:18:57. > :19:00.flying around those cows heads, we expect to see swallows if the rain
:19:00. > :19:07.is coming. They are feeding on the insects close to the ground, they
:19:07. > :19:15.are also getting out of the way of that air movement going on,
:19:15. > :19:18.disturbed air on the sky. They want to get near the boundary level.
:19:18. > :19:23.Swallows flying low also an indication on the storm. They are
:19:23. > :19:27.feeding on insect, insects, of course, that weird stagnant air
:19:27. > :19:30.before a storm is perfect for flight and all sorts of things.
:19:30. > :19:35.This is also something you would observe at this time of year, in
:19:35. > :19:44.those sexy, sultry, sticky evenings, I'm getting carried away! That's a
:19:44. > :19:51.good cue For the nuptial flights of ants. The mile high club for ants!
:19:51. > :19:57.It is a big aerial orgy that occurs. Ants at each colliery need to meet,
:19:57. > :20:01.the males and the future Queens need to meet. The triggers are
:20:01. > :20:08.pressure, atmosphereic, they get it on, they go up and mate and fall
:20:08. > :20:15.back down. What is the other one? The sharks are the recent one, a
:20:15. > :20:19.recent study. Scientists tagged the sharks, before one of the
:20:19. > :20:23.hurricanes that arrived she disappeared, she thought it was her
:20:23. > :20:27.equipment, and before another hurricane hit they disappeared
:20:27. > :20:31.again. If you are sensitive, if a storm hits, you are living in
:20:31. > :20:37.washing machine, it makes sense to head to the deeper water. That is
:20:37. > :20:45.the weird and wonderful world of animal, do you know animals and
:20:45. > :20:51.pets of predicting the weather. Last week we asked you to send in
:20:51. > :20:53.the cloud photo, we have been absolutely inundated with the
:20:53. > :20:56.response. We received an astonishing 500 pictures, we can't
:20:56. > :21:06.show you them all tonight. Everyone in the audience has a different one.
:21:06. > :21:09.
:21:09. > :21:15.Let's have a look at them. I can see that's come Louis cloud, they
:21:15. > :21:21.are fine weather clouds, they are the puffy one, like cotton wool
:21:21. > :21:31.puffs. There is fine examples here. Who is this from? Any Nick flcher,
:21:31. > :21:34.
:21:34. > :21:39.a photo of Whi - Fletcher, a photo of Whitby Abbey. This is a cumulous
:21:39. > :21:46.one. Who is this one from? From John Short. Great photo, a typical
:21:46. > :21:51.towering cloud, you can just see the rain underneath falling down.
:21:51. > :21:57.Finally who is that one from? a photo of Brighton and Hove Albion
:21:57. > :22:03.Football Club stadium. That is the base of a very well developed
:22:03. > :22:08.cumulous cloud, that means rain is not too far away. Just a few
:22:08. > :22:16.wonderful photo, stick around, in a few minutes time you will see me
:22:16. > :22:20.fly inside one. Have you ever done that? I'm seldom out of a cloud.
:22:20. > :22:24.All day Chris and I have worked on a prob ject, I will show you how to
:22:24. > :22:28.make - project, I will show you how to make a cloud in a bottle. This
:22:28. > :22:36.is science. First of all, we need a bottle like this, what is the main
:22:36. > :22:45.constituent element of clouds? is moisture, water. That is the
:22:45. > :22:55.moisture in the air. What we are needing, is the condensing nuke cli.
:22:55. > :23:05.
:23:05. > :23:09.The word coagulate, I will ask you to light a match.
:23:09. > :23:19.Condensation nuclei there. We have to put in changing pressure. I will
:23:19. > :23:21.
:23:21. > :23:25.ask you to pump as if your life depends on it. Now look, high
:23:25. > :23:32.pressure, no cloud at all, high pressure typically in the
:23:32. > :23:37.summertime, no clouds at all, when it changes to low pressure, that,
:23:37. > :23:42.look at that (applause) That my friend is a cloud. Nothing
:23:42. > :23:46.underneath, that is cloud in there. But it is only in a bottle. A bit
:23:46. > :23:53.later on ladies and gentlemen, and everybody at home, I will make the
:23:53. > :23:59.biggest cloud, ever seen on British television, it is a big claim, I
:23:59. > :24:03.have to say, It can't be done. need a few risks to be taken, it
:24:03. > :24:06.might not happen in this atmosphere. It better be good. We saw her
:24:06. > :24:13.showing off, you will see Carol 4,000 feet in the air, flying right
:24:14. > :24:23.into the heart of a cumulus cloud. Carol, the weather presenter is
:24:23. > :24:27.going where no weather presenter has been before We can see clouds
:24:27. > :24:31.float across the skies. We can all too often feel the effect of the
:24:31. > :24:41.huge amounts of water they contain. So, if they float, but are full of
:24:41. > :24:42.
:24:42. > :24:44.water, that begs a question, how much does a cloud actually weigh?
:24:44. > :24:49.Unfortunately there is only one answer to that.
:24:49. > :24:53.We are going to fly above the clouds, isn't that dangerous?
:24:53. > :24:58.depends what sort of cloud you fly through. By their very nature they
:24:58. > :25:02.are formed by huge volumes of air, they can go up to heights of 50,000
:25:02. > :25:11.feet, where you get huge problems of lack of oxygen, obviously and
:25:11. > :25:16.very, very cold temperatures, which you can't withstand. The coldest I
:25:16. > :25:20.have taken on is minus 60 degrees, my eyes froze shut and it gave me
:25:20. > :25:29.frostbite on my face, to try to break a world record. You will be
:25:29. > :25:32.all right though! You are having a laugh! As long as we survive the
:25:33. > :25:36.cold, we will try attempt to fly through a cloud carrying one of
:25:36. > :25:42.these. It measures temperature, relative humidity and pressure.
:25:42. > :25:48.Here we have a GPS antenna, this atracts the position of the radius
:25:48. > :25:53.on it. Dr Jeremy in the Met Office research team's theory is by
:25:53. > :25:57.carrying it through the cloud wrecks can transmit GPS and
:25:57. > :26:02.humidity data to the computer, which will enable him to weigh the
:26:02. > :26:06.cloud. Pre-flight check, leg loops, your's, mine, helmet done up,
:26:06. > :26:16.reserve is checked. Centralised weight. Take up slack, take up
:26:16. > :26:28.
:26:28. > :26:33.slack. Hold very, very tight. Here we go. It is a fabulous view, it
:26:33. > :26:35.makes you feel a wee bit dizzy. When it is near the surface, the
:26:35. > :26:42.wind gets interference from the trees and the buildings and the
:26:42. > :26:46.general friction from the ground. So that's why it is bumpy.
:26:46. > :26:53.But there is plenty of time for more bumps. The wind is getting
:26:53. > :26:59.stronger as we get obviously higher, much stronger up here. We have at
:26:59. > :27:05.least a kilometer to travel to hit the clouds upwards. Now the view it
:27:05. > :27:08.beautiful. It is spectacular, the sun is out, we can see some cumulus
:27:08. > :27:18.clouds. You will never feel the power of the weather as strongly as
:27:18. > :27:22.when you are flying in hand glider. 3,500 feet still climbing.
:27:22. > :27:26.haven't been this high without an aeroplane behind me, I'm keeping my
:27:26. > :27:30.eyes open, just, it is very scary. I'm still too scared to look down.
:27:30. > :27:37.Oh gosh. Much colder now. You can feel it
:27:37. > :27:41.against your cheeks and your skin. They have just hit the inversion
:27:41. > :27:45.now. Usually as you hit altitude the air gets colder. Because of a
:27:45. > :27:49.phenomenon called inversion, once you get to certain height in our
:27:49. > :27:53.atmosphere, it actually starts to get warmer. This warm air stops our
:27:53. > :28:00.clouds from rising. That's why you can often see a flat blanket of
:28:00. > :28:05.cloud beneath you, when you look out of a plane window.
:28:05. > :28:09.Can you see this beautiful cloud. We are up level with the clouds. Oh
:28:09. > :28:15.my goodness. Wow, look at that. But now that we have gained enough
:28:15. > :28:23.height, there is no time to admire the view. OK I'm going to release
:28:23. > :28:26.now. What do I do? Relax. That's it, it's done. Oh Judy! It feels like
:28:26. > :28:31.we're diving. It is all right. are running out of time to find a
:28:31. > :28:41.cloud to weigh. That cloud looks like it is decaying to me. This one
:28:41. > :28:56.
:28:56. > :29:06.We are completely in a white out situation now, all you can see is
:29:06. > :29:07.
:29:07. > :29:11.clouds. It is very windy in this clouds. It is a huge one. You can
:29:11. > :29:16.feel the clumps and bumps. When we were in the cloud, it didn't feel
:29:16. > :29:24.moist. It did feel very windy. I felt quite scared in that cloud, to
:29:24. > :29:27.be honest. It is always different and exciting, it is the best view
:29:27. > :29:32.of the planet. I love how much you learn about the weather.
:29:32. > :29:37.hopefully with all the data we have gathered for Dr Jeremy and his team.
:29:37. > :29:42.We are nearly there. We are nearly at ground level, hanging on for
:29:42. > :29:51.dear life, eyes closed. There we go, lovely. We're about to learn
:29:51. > :29:54.something very new. That was brilliant. I am in awe of
:29:54. > :29:58.you, that was brilliant. In a minute we will find out why this
:29:58. > :30:03.summer's weather is so bad and how long it will go on for, I will look
:30:03. > :30:08.forward to finding that out. Carol, that, extraordinary, you were up
:30:08. > :30:12.5,000 feet in the air, with just a truss to hold you up. How did it
:30:12. > :30:18.feel? It was amazing. Flying into that cloud, wow, everything is
:30:18. > :30:24.completely white. It's cold, it's windy, and the smell of t I can
:30:24. > :30:29.only equate it. You were in the middle of a cloud? When you open a
:30:29. > :30:32.deep freeze door for example, and you get that waft of icey smell,
:30:32. > :30:36.that was what it was like. Incredible. What I really want to
:30:36. > :30:43.know, can you tell me how much did that cloud, it was a cumulus cloud,
:30:43. > :30:49.how much did it weigh? What do you think a little cumulus cloud would
:30:49. > :30:53.weigh. 200 weight! I don't know what that is. It was 137 tonnes.
:30:53. > :30:57.Now that is the equivalent to 14 double-decker buses. And yet it
:30:57. > :31:03.floats up in the air, much in the way that 14 double-decker buses
:31:03. > :31:07.don't. I didn't see any dubl decker buses while I was up there.
:31:07. > :31:12.Incredible, exciting, informative and brave. Chris, beat that.
:31:12. > :31:15.taking my hat off to you, Carol, fantastic, well done. Pretty much
:31:15. > :31:19.loads of cloud at the moment. Thank you very much everybody who has
:31:19. > :31:22.been sending in photo, look at the map, already a little image
:31:22. > :31:25.developing here. Congratulations to Inverness up here. We have a
:31:25. > :31:31.photograph of the weather up here, that is the furthest north, I can
:31:31. > :31:34.tell you we have the furthest south. This is from Olivia, wander, from
:31:34. > :31:41.the Isle of Scilly, it is all the way down here. Look at that, it
:31:41. > :31:45.looks really lovely down here. And Carol, Kirkwood, talking about
:31:45. > :31:49.clouds. I have some stonkers here, the Isle of Man from Colin, it is
:31:49. > :31:52.looking rather nice, nice and sunny. One of the few place that is saw
:31:52. > :31:58.sunshine today. Another one from Richard in Cumbria. As we know, we
:31:58. > :32:04.have had a lot of rain today. And that shows rather a lot of stratus
:32:04. > :32:09.there. You wanted a fundamental cloud, I have one. Good - A funnel
:32:09. > :32:12.cloud, I have one. This is from Carol from Leamington Spa, she has
:32:12. > :32:16.shown me a funnel cloud. Thank you very much. We want loads of stories,
:32:16. > :32:24.weather stories, plus, we have been talking about songs, haven't we.
:32:24. > :32:31.have. Loads about rain, loads about sun, but I can't think of any about
:32:31. > :32:35.cloud. Fortunately I can, Bryan Adams, Cloud Number 9. You have 20
:32:35. > :32:39.minutes goat your photos to us, take a picture - to get your photos
:32:39. > :32:42.to us, take a picture where you are, and send it to us on the website.
:32:42. > :32:47.Including your name, town and postcode.
:32:47. > :32:52.I can't believe you brought Bryan Adams into the show. Still to come:
:32:52. > :32:56.Carol puts us in the picture with her essential guide to the clouds.
:32:56. > :33:02.We step back in time to see how weather took centre stage on our
:33:02. > :33:05.teles. In about 20 minutes time, Chris has
:33:05. > :33:10.been boasting about it all night, but will he make the biggest cloud
:33:10. > :33:13.ever seen on British TV, stay tuned in to find out. We are slap bang in
:33:13. > :33:18.the middle of July, huge parts of the country are grey and miserable
:33:18. > :33:23.and soaking wet. Why on earth do our summers always end up like this,
:33:23. > :33:28.it is a burning question, one with a very soggy answer, let the truth
:33:28. > :33:33.be revealed. The great British summer. Long lazy
:33:33. > :33:39.days on the beach, sun soaked picnic, and week after week of warm,
:33:39. > :33:42.wonderful weather. If you think all that's too good to
:33:42. > :33:49.be true, that's because it is. Statistics prove that the British
:33:49. > :33:55.summer is a bit of a washout. In June, July and August, on
:33:55. > :34:01.average, it rains 43 days out of 92. That's just 12 days less than in
:34:01. > :34:09.the winter months. In fact, in the summer, it rains nearly every other
:34:09. > :34:13.day. To begin explaining why parts of the UK are wet for the summer,
:34:13. > :34:16.I'm afraid I will have to get my kit off. In the summer we
:34:16. > :34:23.experience much higher temperature, sometimes sweltering, that means
:34:23. > :34:29.the air around us is much hotter, and warm air holds much more
:34:29. > :34:33.moisture than cold air. And when air gets warmer, the molecules in
:34:33. > :34:38.had the air start moving more quickly. Which means the air itself
:34:38. > :34:42.takes up more space. And bigger air means bigger clouds in the summer,
:34:42. > :34:52.they can be a whopping 10,000 feet taller than in the winter, and
:34:52. > :34:55.bigger, thicker clouds, mean, yeah, you've guessed it, more rain.
:34:55. > :35:00.I think traditionally we try to look back at the summer when we
:35:00. > :35:03.were children and have kind of fond memories of how summers were
:35:03. > :35:09.traditionally dry and warm and sunny. If you look at climbology,
:35:09. > :35:13.that almost tells the truth that we don't get very many, over the last
:35:13. > :35:21.few years of dry, warm summers. is not just the amount of rain that
:35:21. > :35:24.ruins all the weeks off school. nature of rainfall when it is
:35:24. > :35:28.warmer, is the surface tension of the rain drop is slightly less.
:35:28. > :35:31.They can form into slightly bigger rain drops than they would if the
:35:31. > :35:35.weather was colder. If you are ever out in a thundery shower in the
:35:35. > :35:38.summer, you will notice the rain drops bigger than in the winter
:35:39. > :35:45.time. So, more cloud, full of more rain, and now that rain is even
:35:45. > :35:52.bigger than normal. How could it possibly get any worse. If you look
:35:52. > :35:56.back historically over the last 100 years, we have something called the
:35:56. > :35:59.European monsoon. It turns out some meteorologists have always
:35:59. > :36:04.considered our summers to be a season that is fairly wet. This is
:36:04. > :36:08.normally what we call bad weather. The European monsoon brings that
:36:08. > :36:12.rain in earlier to bring the monsoon June weather. As
:36:12. > :36:16.meteorologists we call it the return of the westerlies.
:36:16. > :36:19.prevailing winds from the west can go quiet up to May, and come the
:36:19. > :36:24.start of what should be the summer, they are ready to return. We get to
:36:24. > :36:27.the end of spring, things start to dry up, as we get into June, we get
:36:27. > :36:32.the return of the westerlies. Bring anything wind and rain off the
:36:32. > :36:36.Atlantic. And we start to see a prolonged spell of more unsettled
:36:37. > :36:44.weather. Temperatures start to drop away as well.
:36:44. > :36:51.Yes, but that doesn't stop us Brits from being famously optimistic and
:36:52. > :36:55.planning 645 music festivals, 10,000 garden feths, millions of
:36:55. > :37:01.barbecues and millions of sporting events in the shadow of the
:37:01. > :37:06.European monsoon. Wimbledon is one of the classic events in the summer
:37:06. > :37:09.that always seems to be affected by short, and sometimes very long
:37:09. > :37:13.showers. 17 Wimbledon championships over the years have had to be
:37:13. > :37:17.extended to a third week because of the weather. And only five of them,
:37:17. > :37:21.in history, have been rain-free. soon as it rained during Wimbledon,
:37:21. > :37:25.you know, all the players would say, point to me and say how bad is the
:37:25. > :37:28.weather here and it always rains. So I felt like I had to take
:37:28. > :37:34.responsibility for a lot of things, when it was the weather I knew I
:37:34. > :37:41.was up against it. In 2001, rain is said to have
:37:42. > :37:48.wrecked the prospects of Britain's number one. Poised to become the
:37:48. > :37:53.first man to reach the Wimbledon final in 50 years, after three
:37:53. > :37:58.frustrating days with three days of interruptions it was Ivanisevic who
:37:58. > :38:01.went through to the final and won the championship. In an ideal world
:38:01. > :38:05.you wouldn't want interruption, but it is a lot easier for us, we go
:38:05. > :38:11.straight back to court and straight to locker room and plenty of places
:38:11. > :38:17.to go, if you have 15,000 in the crowd it is much harder for them to
:38:17. > :38:22.find shelter and keep themselves entertained.
:38:22. > :38:28.Don't you worry about that, Tim, a lifetime of soggy Wimbledons is has
:38:28. > :38:32.taught us all to be prepared. Stand up, plee, and show me what's
:38:32. > :38:36.behind you. This is - please, and show me what's behind you. This is
:38:36. > :38:39.what you need in Britain, plastic bags on chairs, because they are
:38:39. > :38:42.soaking wet. That combined with our endless optimisim, means we can
:38:42. > :38:50.always enjoy the great British summer, for what it really is, and
:38:50. > :38:53.this year that's wet. I have to say it has been an
:38:53. > :38:58.absolute scourger today. You know, this is what British summer is all
:38:58. > :39:02.about, isn't it, plucky spirit, yes, come on.
:39:02. > :39:06.Yes, we Brits enjoy the good, hearty summer, don't we in Britain.
:39:06. > :39:10.But I have to say, I have been to all the great sporting events this
:39:10. > :39:16.summer, and there's a common theme, first of all, Wimbledon, what was
:39:16. > :39:23.the weather like, what did we have? Rain! Royal Ascot? Rain. What about
:39:23. > :39:27.the Open Championship? Rain! Queen's championship? Rain! Who has
:39:27. > :39:31.had enough of the rain? Of course, later on we will have the legendary
:39:31. > :39:34.Bill Giles coming up, he has the answer to the million dollar
:39:34. > :39:38.question, is this rain ever going to end, and will we have a barbecue
:39:38. > :39:42.summer. We don't like the clouds and rain. But I know a group of
:39:42. > :39:46.people who absolutely love it. Let me introduce you to them, they are
:39:46. > :39:50.the cloud appreciation society! A big round of applause.
:39:50. > :39:54.We will have a look at them in a minute. First of all, you are the
:39:54. > :39:59.governor of this society. What is it that you love about these
:39:59. > :40:03.clouds? Clouds, don't let the rain clouds give the others a bad name.
:40:03. > :40:08.Clouds are one of the nature's most beautiful displays, every day we
:40:09. > :40:13.have a new, natural, abstract art to look up at. If it was blue skies
:40:13. > :40:16.every day, relentlessly, day after day after day, life would be dull.
:40:16. > :40:21.This gang, members there, they have rather extraordinary implements on
:40:21. > :40:25.their face, what are these? These were sent into us by a student of
:40:26. > :40:30.the Royal College of Art, and they are sky glass, so you sort of wear
:40:30. > :40:34.them and you can see the clouds, it needs a slightly different cloud
:40:34. > :40:39.from today, you can see the clouds above you as you walk around. And
:40:39. > :40:44.we now wear nothing but these glasses. Because it is an enormous
:40:44. > :40:47.effort to do that, isn't it? Very, very big effort for us. It keeps
:40:47. > :40:53.the rain off your moustache. more final question for you, I will
:40:53. > :41:03.put my own in, no laughing. suits you. Name me your favourite
:41:03. > :41:05.
:41:05. > :41:11.cloud? It has to be the Lenticularus cloud. Noctolucuis.
:41:11. > :41:16.Come clues. Are we confused. Don't panic,
:41:16. > :41:21.because Carol Kirkwood is just about to explain it all.
:41:21. > :41:27.Above our heads, clouds inhabit the ten miles of atmosphere between us
:41:27. > :41:33.and space. They come in all shapes and sizes. For centuries they have
:41:33. > :41:41.baffled scientists and have always inspired artists. "I warnedered as
:41:41. > :41:46.lonely as a cloud that floats on high on vales and hails."
:41:46. > :41:52.That is one of the most famous opening lines in the English
:41:52. > :41:58.largeage, Wordsworth was a fan of clouds. I hope to see wonderful
:41:58. > :42:02.examples of appreciation of clouds in the national gallery. I'm no art
:42:02. > :42:09.critic, this is a weather forecaster's guide to the old
:42:09. > :42:14.masters. Bacchaus is offering himself as husband material, he's
:42:14. > :42:18.offering her the sky. Frankly, if I were her I would say no, first of
:42:18. > :42:23.all,'s not much of a looker, would you - he's not much of a looker,
:42:23. > :42:26.would you like the sky? A bit cheap look to go me. The sky doesn't look
:42:26. > :42:30.real, the blues are beautiful, the whites and yellows are beautiful,
:42:30. > :42:37.but it is not very realistic. Clouds were a complete mystery to
:42:37. > :42:42.these artists and those before them. All they were sure of is what they
:42:42. > :42:46.saw in the sky is the land of the gods, and they were depicting
:42:46. > :42:49.heaven. Look at the cloud the Cher rubs are
:42:49. > :42:54.sitting on, it is like a storm cloud, it is black and oppressive.
:42:54. > :42:58.It doesn't work because there is far too much fair weather cloud
:42:58. > :43:02.around it. Rubens kpwaim came back to this cloud - came back to this
:43:02. > :43:06.painting many times, I think he had the eye on the ladies rather than
:43:06. > :43:12.the clouds in the background. Artists were left to their own
:43:12. > :43:16.devices for another 200 years, in 1803 everything changed. A chemist
:43:16. > :43:21.amure meteorologists from Tottenham North London, named Luke Howard,
:43:21. > :43:26.wrote an essay on the formation of clouds, and caught to name the
:43:26. > :43:29.formations in Latin. He identified three basic types of cloud, and
:43:29. > :43:39.most of the other clouds are related to them in some shape or
:43:39. > :43:50.
:43:50. > :43:58.Cumulus. Cumulus means puffy like in appearance. Stratus were
:43:58. > :44:04.characterised by horizontal learning, and cirrus were the high,
:44:04. > :44:09.whizzpy clouds. This allowed for further sub speeies of cloud, in
:44:09. > :44:12.the classification system similar to that used for plants and animals.
:44:12. > :44:16.Howard's was a brilliant and simple system that caught on quickly
:44:16. > :44:22.around the world. Prompting artists and scientists alike to take a
:44:22. > :44:26.fresh look at clouds. What inspired the likes of the romantic poet
:44:26. > :44:29.Shelley and others, was that Howard had managed to map the land of the
:44:29. > :44:35.gods, and a fear mortal could now describe and paint heaven with a
:44:35. > :44:45.new confidence. Here is one artist that puts that
:44:45. > :44:49.
:44:49. > :44:52.new understanding to good effect? Our very own John Constable. John
:44:52. > :44:55.Constable was an artist keen to dedicate his life to capturing the
:44:55. > :44:58.truth of nature. Look at the clouds it looks like
:44:58. > :45:02.they have been building up during the course of the day, they have
:45:02. > :45:06.cumulus, they are still developing, we could yet see a shower before
:45:06. > :45:11.the day is through. It is being said that thanks to Howard's
:45:11. > :45:16.inspiration and dedication, Constable's skies are so realistic
:45:16. > :45:19.that they not only summarise the weather of the last few hours, but
:45:19. > :45:24.also provide a forecast of the weather to come. Look at those
:45:24. > :45:28.clouds, how realistic are they? We have the fair weather cumulus
:45:28. > :45:31.bubbling up through the day, you can see the fairweather, we have
:45:32. > :45:36.the blue sky coming through them. Look in the corner of the painting,
:45:36. > :45:38.something a wee bit more oppressive coming on here, we have the darker
:45:38. > :45:42.clouds, they may produce a shower, they may not. This is something
:45:42. > :45:49.that we are all familiar with, that we have seen on many occasions in
:45:49. > :45:55.the British Isles. This is just perfect. And that is
:45:55. > :45:58.just the tip of the iceberg, now look at that view looking down
:45:58. > :46:01.towards Patterdale, it is beautiful. In and out of cloud all day, and it
:46:01. > :46:06.is still rainy here. Thank you for all the brilliant pictures you have
:46:06. > :46:11.sent us in this week, helping us show how hugely varied the clouds
:46:11. > :46:19.around the UK are. We have a small selection of them here. This is
:46:19. > :46:23.taken in Wick in the north of Scotland, this is angelatus, look
:46:23. > :46:29.how spectacular it is, they are formed because of shaering winds,
:46:29. > :46:36.they have a wave-like look about them, they resemble the sea. This
:46:36. > :46:41.is from bash ba, from Hertfordshire, they are called momatis, also known
:46:41. > :46:47.as the mama cloud. They have been made by the low morning sun, and
:46:47. > :46:51.formed by descending air, many think they look like cows' udders,
:46:51. > :46:59.it is gorgeous. Another one too from Alan, this one was taken in
:46:59. > :47:03.Elgin in Scotland, these are noctolucent clouds, rare clouds
:47:03. > :47:08.seen in mid-summer nights, the highest clouds in the sky, with an
:47:08. > :47:12.estimated height of 45-52 miles. Next week the subject is the sun.
:47:12. > :47:17.So please send us any beautiful shots you have of sunsets and sunny
:47:17. > :47:21.weather, ar for tips for weather photography, - and for tips for
:47:21. > :47:25.weather photography head to the website where you will find more
:47:25. > :47:29.pictures. I love sunset and sunrise pictures. What about you?
:47:29. > :47:32.I'm a fool for a sunset. Earlier on tonight we asked if your pets have
:47:32. > :47:37.any special way of knowing if it is going to rain. Loads of you have
:47:37. > :47:42.been in touch. We have had an e- mail from Abbey, who says she can
:47:42. > :47:52.tell it will snow because of magpie, they flock to the highest trees and
:47:52. > :47:53.
:47:53. > :47:58.jump between the branches. Up to 12 magpies do that.
:47:58. > :48:03.She said she has seen this happen many times and the snow always
:48:03. > :48:12.follows 12-48 hours later. Sally says she phones fell ponies and one
:48:12. > :48:16.time in showery - she owns fell ponies, one time in showery weather
:48:16. > :48:21.her pony would not go into a certain field and over a certain
:48:21. > :48:25.fence and the next day she found her bull dead in there. She thinks
:48:25. > :48:29.the pony saved their lives. The anniversary of the first weather
:48:29. > :48:32.forecast published in the Times newspaper in 1860 is coming round.
:48:32. > :48:36.You might think weather is a whippersnapper considering it has
:48:36. > :48:41.been around for 57 years, during that time it has changed
:48:41. > :48:47.considerably on the television. don't care what the weatherman says.
:48:47. > :48:51.The BBC has been broadcasting the weather for nearly 60 years. What
:48:51. > :48:55.we have tried to do is bring the weather to life, to tell the story,
:48:55. > :49:01.so that people have an impression of what we think is likely to
:49:01. > :49:05.happen. They have developed their own unique styles, from Michael
:49:05. > :49:09.Fish's colourful wardrobe, to Bill Giles's customary wink. The style
:49:09. > :49:19.of forecasting during that time has been distinctly changable. Let's
:49:19. > :49:20.
:49:20. > :49:25.step back in time. The first televised weather
:49:25. > :49:29.forecast was in January 1954. When the broadcasts were rather more
:49:29. > :49:34.formal affairs, compared to today's colourful bunch. Hello there, if
:49:34. > :49:37.you got wet today, you were decidedly unlucky. I certainly
:49:37. > :49:41.remember watching the weather forecasts in black and white. Not
:49:41. > :49:45.just black and white, but civil servants doing them. Let's go
:49:45. > :49:49.across and take a look at today's chart. They probably didn't
:49:49. > :49:53.volunteer to go on television, he was a civil servant and doing a Met
:49:53. > :49:59.briefing. Things got a bit more lively in
:49:59. > :50:04.1967 with the introduction of colour television. With that the
:50:04. > :50:06.BBC brought in a new range of weather symbols which were based on
:50:06. > :50:13.international standards. But they weren't that easy to understand.
:50:13. > :50:17.That, for instance, that blue triangle means shower. That, rather
:50:17. > :50:25.appropriate today, means a thunderstorm. And that, rarely used,
:50:25. > :50:29.means sunshine. 1974, and the first-ever female forecaster,
:50:29. > :50:35.Barbara Edwards, burst own to our screens. Outbreaks of sleet and
:50:35. > :50:40.Snowndown the country. She blazed trail for many others who have
:50:40. > :50:44.followed. Then the BBC introduced magnetic rubber symbols. We will be
:50:44. > :50:47.losing the sunshine in the southern and eastern parts. Viewers watched
:50:47. > :50:53.with awe as for the first time the forecaster could show the weather
:50:53. > :51:03.change anything front of our eyes. The magnetic symbols we had
:51:03. > :51:03.
:51:03. > :51:07.transformed the weather forecast. These BEEP things! Let's do it
:51:07. > :51:11.again. Then new toys to play with, computers. Brighter weather getting
:51:11. > :51:17.into the North West of Scotland here.
:51:17. > :51:20.We got a live feed from the Met Office computer in Bracknell,
:51:20. > :51:24.straight into the computer system and on to the air. Overnight you
:51:24. > :51:27.had so many wonderful things you wanted to show, such as radar,
:51:27. > :51:33.satellite pictures, you wanted to show everybody everything, and you
:51:33. > :51:37.didn't have the time to do it. was followed by the disappointingly
:51:37. > :51:41.low tech blue and green screens, some found it really tricky.
:51:41. > :51:43.Wfrpblgts he had to learn the whole technique, of looking at a screen
:51:43. > :51:47.and there is nothing there. Behind you when you are presenting the
:51:47. > :51:51.weather you can't see anything. When you turn around and run your
:51:51. > :51:55.finger down say a weather front, and you can't see it behind you but
:51:55. > :51:59.in the screen in front, when you hit it bang on the nose it is like,
:51:59. > :52:04.result. Then in 2005, in a deeply
:52:04. > :52:09.controversial move, the forecasts were updated with brand, spanking
:52:09. > :52:13.new 3-D graphic, but the public didn't like it. We had so many
:52:13. > :52:18.complaints about it, the angle of the map was such that the south
:52:18. > :52:22.coast of England looked enormous, but Scotland looked tiny at the top.
:52:22. > :52:25.That was addressed. Despite this half decade of progress, there is
:52:25. > :52:33.only one thing the viewers are interested in, that is whether or
:52:33. > :52:38.not the forecasters have it right. One man who was at the Vanguard of
:52:38. > :52:48.meteorology in this country is with us tonight, ladies and gentlemen, a
:52:48. > :52:51.
:52:51. > :52:56.warm welcome Mr Bill Giles. Lovely to have you here. On St Swithers
:52:56. > :53:03.day it will swain if it rains then, that was on Friday, it rained, so
:53:03. > :53:08.it is raining today. Are we in for another 38 days of rain? No, no, no.
:53:08. > :53:11.I'm not going to write off the summer at all. I can promise you
:53:11. > :53:14.fine weather. Not wall-to-wall sunshine, but there will be some
:53:14. > :53:19.good periods, one at the end of this week, for instance. One at the
:53:19. > :53:24.end of next month, into September. So some rain inbetween, but don't
:53:24. > :53:29.write it off. This is a nice long range forecast from you. The Met
:53:29. > :53:32.Office steers clear of these, I think it was the summer of 2009
:53:32. > :53:35.they said would be the barbecue summer. They should never have done
:53:35. > :53:40.that, that was a complete mistake. You don't feed journalists lines
:53:40. > :53:43.like that. It was big PR mistake. OK, but are you prepared to give us
:53:44. > :53:47.a long range forecast, do you think we will have some sort of decent
:53:47. > :53:51.summer? I think so. We will not give you wall-to-wall sunshine, but
:53:51. > :53:57.you will get these periods of four or five days, when the warm
:53:57. > :54:02.sunshine comes up, then you are back to the rain again. Last week
:54:02. > :54:08.we had your old friend Michael Fish on the programme, we had to discuss
:54:08. > :54:13.the storm of 1987. The best person to ask was Bill Giles, ask him next
:54:13. > :54:17.week, he was on duty. What do you make of that? I will let you into a
:54:17. > :54:22.secret, mind, as long as you don't tell anybody. It is just you and me
:54:22. > :54:27.here? I did the 9.25 broadcast on that evening, I said it will be
:54:27. > :54:32.breezy up the channel. And it was very breezy up the channel. But I
:54:32. > :54:38.have let old puffer fish. Why do you call him that? Didn't you see
:54:38. > :54:43.him last week, he has blown up out of all proportion. He's carrying
:54:43. > :54:46.exec timber, I will grant you that. - excess timber, I will grant you
:54:46. > :54:50.that. Thank you very much. You have sent in snaps of the weather over
:54:50. > :54:56.the last hour, we will reveal the results to the nation.
:54:56. > :55:00.Just take a look at our map. A big round of applause.
:55:00. > :55:05.Never before have we covered T I have an apology to make. Do you
:55:05. > :55:10.remember I showed you a funnel cloud from Leamington Spa and I
:55:10. > :55:14.said it was live. Carol sent it in this afternoon, Carol thank you,
:55:14. > :55:20.but sadly, it has to go. What I'm excited about. You know we have to
:55:20. > :55:26.get into the Highlands, we are in the Highlands. Then I thought,
:55:26. > :55:32.could we get in to the Orkney islands, and then I thought in the
:55:32. > :55:36.Shetland islands, we have, thank you very much.
:55:36. > :55:39.They were well worth waiting for, look at this map, it does show what
:55:39. > :55:44.has happened this evening. There has been a lot of cloud around,
:55:44. > :55:47.theres have pockets of sunshine, you can see - there have been
:55:47. > :55:51.pockets of sunshine, in Lancashire there has been sunshine, sunshine
:55:51. > :55:54.in the south as well. But look at that, some showers, and as we have
:55:54. > :55:58.been saying, some fundamental clouds as well. I have to tell you,
:55:58. > :56:01.we have just had an e-mail from the Met Office, never before has there
:56:01. > :56:05.been weather followed minute by minute followed on national
:56:05. > :56:11.television by so many people. The Met Office, it is official, are
:56:11. > :56:14.very excited. Hopefully that means a bonus for me? Dream on Kirkwood.
:56:14. > :56:18.Thank you very much for sending your photographs in tonight. Check
:56:18. > :56:20.out your website where some of them will be proudly displayed in the
:56:20. > :56:24.gallery. We are almost at the end of the
:56:24. > :56:27.shower, what is the weather looking like for tomorrow? Not as bad as
:56:27. > :56:31.today, tomorrow sunshine, cloud around, and one or two showers, the
:56:31. > :56:35.showers mostly in the south. So it could catch Lords. Very good. So
:56:36. > :56:38.ladies and gentlemen, the moment is here for Chris to show us his
:56:38. > :56:42.incredible cloud machine. Concentrate, this is very serious,
:56:42. > :56:47.get your safety equipment on. The white coat and gloves. While you
:56:47. > :56:52.are getting the gloves on, I will take the lid off my magic tricks.
:56:52. > :56:57.Just imagine, I'm going to try to recreate what is happening up there.
:56:57. > :57:01.Do you remember Kirkwood what is what is it up there? Cloudy, cold,
:57:01. > :57:07.wet. Kirkwood put that on, I didn't
:57:07. > :57:13.think that was the most difficult part of it. I will recreate the
:57:13. > :57:18.cloud using liquid nitrogen using minus 197 degrees. We are going to
:57:18. > :57:22.fill our magic tricky box, as you can see a little bit of cloud being
:57:22. > :57:30.made with the atmosphere already. That is not it is it? It is still
:57:30. > :57:34.looking good. Obviously we have lots of what up
:57:34. > :57:39.there? Moisture. You can see it in there, I want to increase the
:57:39. > :57:49.amount of moisture with some hot water. We should stand back.
:57:49. > :58:01.
:58:01. > :58:04.water, pressure, moisture, we have Plousplous Chris, you madman.