Episode 4 The Great British Weather

We are coming to you tonight from the imagine jistic Stirling Castle

in the heart of Scotland. The UK maybe a small island but that

doesn't mean we don't count. Welcome, we are coming live from

Stirling Castle in Scotland. Now today the weather was glor cushion

but it looked like this last year. A huge storm rageed from May 23rd

and lasts for several days. Scotland is the windiest part of

Scotland, and the UK is one of the windiest places in Europe. We have

come to tonight's show. It is all about wind.

What has blown in from here, hello, how are you. A sturdy band of

Braveheart, are you fit and well? Good, anyone remember the storms in

May. I do. I'm from Falkirk. What happened? My tree fell down in my

garden, still there. Two months later! Yeah. You need it cleared up.

How about you at the back there? I'm from Stirling, I was doing a

walk, and I got home and my fence had blown down. How about you, do

you remember May? Yeah. Was it really windy? Yes. Really, really,

really windy? Yeah. Good job the hats weren't blown off.

The audience looks slightly sun burnt, looking great. We want to

hear from you, were you caught out in the storm in May, or maybe the

one we all remember back in 1987, or have you experienced a tornado

firsthand, we want your stories. E- mail us at the number and I dress

below. Tweet us either.

Have you actually given as you photograph yet Zander? No, I can't

multitask, I'm hosting the show. I haven't got a camera. That is no

excuse. We expect one before the end of the show. If you have been

watching over the last few week, you will know the drill by now. We

are looking to fill this map completely with your weather

pictures, where you are, right now. We really want to know the weather

where you are sitting right now. It is an important night.

I have been handed a card with breaking news as regards with the

weather. The highest temperature was in Gravesend in Kent, 30

degrees, that is hot. Scattered storms in central and eastern

England because of a convergence zone, you remember what that is, it

is where we have the clashing of two winds coming from different

direction, that happened today. Heavy and thundery showers across

Humberside and eastern England, a lot of rainfall. That giving us

plenty of scope. Dark cloud clouds, thunder, lightning, any frogs and

fish. We have a fish. Michael Fish will be here later. I can't believe

I'm saying this, there is only one place we have never heard from in

the entire series, that is southend-on-sea, anybody there,

send us a photograph. We really want to end to, because tonight is

our last show. E mail us on the - e-mail us on the

addresses. Coming up on tonight's show: hl -

Chris takes on a 100 mile an hour wind.

Did a wind make a Chinese sky appear in the sky from nowhere. How

the Spanish Armada were stornai surrender by British weather.

EastEnders rogue unveils the history of a classic, an umbrella.

Last week we asked Bill Michael and John to predict the weather in

Stirling tonight who is the champion forecaster. Find out at

the end of tonight's show. I'm looking forward to that. All

three of the gents will be with us very soon to discuss that storm. If

you are wondering what I'm doing here? I have Anam mom ter measuring

the - Anna mom metre measuring the wind. We get lots of wind this side

of Europe, hang on to your hats ladies and gentlemen, a storm is

coming. Our green and pleasant land, rarely

too warm, and rarely too cold. The great British weather gives us a

temperate climate, which, like us, is a little reserved.

Well, not all the time. The trouble s the UK is at the mercy of the

Atlantic Ocean. Conditions are deteriorating by the minute.

too often massive storm fronts rumble across her waters, and reek

havoc across the country. Hearing apart all in its path. That car

flew across. The Atlantic brings us severe weather events. Debris and

trees scattered over cars and gardens. You would assume it would

happen anywhere but here. 43 years ago that assumption met a

lethal challenge. On January 13th 1968, a cold front near Bermuda

began a journey towards central and southern Scotland. It is a

travelled, it developed into a large area of low pressure, and

severe gale force winds were on their way.

It wasn't until about 3.00am, when just all hell let loose. Former

weather presenter, Penny Tranter was six years old when the storm

reached the Ayrshire coast, and her home town. It sounded like a train

rushing towards us all the time. It was one of the scariest moments of

my life. You could feel parts of the house shaking, the wind was so,

so strong. The 90 mile-an-hour winds moved into Glasgow, buildings

were ripped apart, and 20 people lost their lives. I had never

experienced a storm like that, I didn't realise that the weather

could be as severe as that, and cause so much damage, and also kill

people. But strong gales are the least of our worries. Just last

week a tornado swept through this village. She did say tornado.

Emergency services were stretched as the tornado ripped through parts

of south Birmingham. The UK experiences more tornados than any

other country in Europe. All these Ricks started hitting the door, I

ran out screaming. Their exact cause remain as mystery, but when

severe storms hit the UK, winds can converge beneath the clouds

creating a lethal spiral. It was like The Wizard Of Oz. Dorothy is

one of the few people in the UK to know what it's like to be right in

the eye of one of these unique events. Still in the firing line

tonight, the town of Bognor Regis, where yesterday evening a tornado

wrought trail of destruction and mile-and-a-half long. Before it

struck Dorothy was at home with a friend in her caravan. The next

minute something hit the caravan, and we began to rock, the rocking

got quicker and quicker, and the noise of chains being stretched,

and all of a sudden they must have snapped. I didn't realise we were

going up in the air, it seemed like hours, but it must have only been

seconds. Trees were torn up in the whirlwind, which lifted one caravan

into the air and dumped it on another. Can hear myself screaming,

sheer terror. But heavy tornados are nothing next to a gigantic

storm front in the Atlantic 24 years ago. Southern Britain is

clearing up after the worst night of storms since records began

almost 300 years ago. The infamous storm of October 1987 can't be

classed officially as ature cane, as it didn't occur in the Tropics.

The weather forecasters admit they got it wrong. Its 122 mile an hour

gusts were every bit as devastating, millions of trees were flattened.

graphic example of the power of the storm. Half a million homes lost

electricity. Large areas of London and the south-east had power cuts.

22 people lost their lives. emergency services said they had

little or no warning. The damage was an estimated �7.3 billion.

West End took a battering, some department stores had their shop

fronts blown out. The UK had rarely experienced a weather event like

this. A ferry blown aground near Folkestone. When we get hit by the

next won is entirely up to the Atlantic Ocean.

That was 1987, one of the greatest events in British his tree, three

men were we eye of the storm, Michael Fish, Bill Giles and John

Kettley. Please welcome the legends of weather. I like that, you need

to go on the road with that one. Bill, I was reading at the weekend

that you finally came clean and said talking about the storm in

1987 that the forecast mistake was your's? It was mine, and the

computer's, of course, we both got it wrong. I said it would be breezy

up the channel, but I let Mike take the blame. Which was it so

devastating? Because it came over that part of England, densely

populated, it was very wet, the ground was wet, the roots of the

trees were up, there were a lot of leaves on the trees. It is like a

ship in full sail? It happened at night, so most people were tucked

up in bed so, had it happened in the day it would have been a

completely different story. Michael, some good has come from

it? Lots of things over the years, more observations in the south west

approaches, a brand new warning system that is continually being

updated. We have a new computer eventually with new software going

in t in fact, as it turned out, the next time it happened in 1991, it

was absolutely spot on the forecast. It was 1990 he doesn't get it right

every time. You have a fantastic afterdinner speaking career on the

back of it? Look at the quality of his sweater! John, the trees, I

read that 15 million trees were taken down. I didn't count them all

myself, they did say 15 million came down. There are more trees in

Scotland than England, I have been working it out on the back of a

forecast chart on the way up. 15 million across England, represented

1%. That says something straight away. Obviously nature does look

after itself in the end. It could have been a blessing in disguise,

the people who know more about trees than I do, did say it

improved the ecology of the woodlands and the forest. The

canopy was much less, and new species could go in and improve the

environment for the future. These three will be exploring which

region in the UK gets the best weather and why. You will find out

which one had the most accurate prediction of the weather here in

Stirling tonight. I'm looking forward to that Zander.

No storms here, I'm glad to say in the Queen Anne Garden, in the

middle of Stirling Castle, it is lovely, and tranquil and quiet.

Thousands of people were affected 24 years ago by the ferocity of the

1987 storm. A baby was born, thank baby is with us with her mum

tonight, Andrea and Julyy Pell, welcome. You were going into labour

on the night of the storm. You had a traumatic experience. We had to

set out at 1.00am as the storm was started. As we got further and

further, things started landing on the windscreen, and bits of trees

falling in front of us. It got worse and worse, we got frightened.

We had to stop because a tree had fallen in front of us and behind us,

we were trapped. What did you do? Luckily we were near to a phone box,

we phoned the hospital to let them know we were stuck. And they very

kindly said they would send an ambulance. That must have reassured

you? When did the ambulance arrive. It didn't come. They had to say

they couldn't send anyone out, the storm was too ferocious. They said

they might send a helicopter. We were relieved. Did it arrive?

rang back to say helicopters couldn't fly, far too dangerous and

the storm was widespread. All the telecommunications went down, we

were lost in the middle of the countryside and no-one to help us.

Did you have the baby there? decided to try to get home. It was

three miles away. We walked, and we had to climb over all the trees in

the way. Great big oak tree, still in full leaf, it is difficult to

climb through the branchs and over the trunks. And eventually had the

baby Andrea. What is your middle name? It is Gale. What a lovely

scene it is in the garden. Let me show you round Stirling Castle.

Look at this spectacular view over there. Isn't that absolutely

stunning. Right in the distance can you probably see some wind turbines.

That is how man uses the wind, but how do we measure it? Let's have an

idea, in 1987 the storm technically had winds of hurricane force, but

when does a gust become a gale? There is a method, that is tried

and trusted, it is being used for centuries. It is invisible, it can

be really powerful, and on its day really impressive. What am I

talking about? I'm talking about the wind, if you get the right day

you can fly a kite! But not today, not a breath of wind, thanks

Katherine. Don't worry it will get a lot breezyer later on. Wind was

the driving force behind the growth of the British Empire and the

sucess of our Navy. Perhaps it is not surprising that Admiral

Beaufort, an English naval officer came up with a way of measuring T

he designed a 13-teir wind scale, 0-12, hurricane. It allowed sailors

to judge the strength of the wind based on hoim sails a ship could

put up. Force six, a strong wind, you could carry the top gallant

sails. Ever since the Royal Navy adopted the scale, the categories

have stayed the same, but descriptions have changed. This is

because in 1921, meteorologist, Sir George Simpson, modernised it,

measuring on how things on land were effected, using trees and

umbrellas even. What does the wind measure today. Let's consult the

Beaufort Scale, light wind, wind on face, leaves rustling. All yes,

that has a force, they say of 2, that would go at speeds of 4-7

miles per hour. What about a bit of modern technology, my anamometer.

Quite accurate, not bad at all. This is the sort of wind we get all

the time. What is it like to be in a force nine, ten, or even 12.

I'm going to find out. Normally used to test the

durability of roof tiles, gutters and television aerials, this Baron

Windrush tunnel at the British Research Establishment, will test

the durability of me. It is man versus machine, Mr Beaufort, give

Well, I have to saying, so far this is a breeze. We have moved from

force one to five in a matter of minute, it is gentle at best. Let's

see what force six has to offer. According to the scale it should be

hard to hold up an umbrella. Let's give it a go.

Yeah, I would say yeah. Now we're talking windy, we're up

to force nine, according to the scale, tiles and chimneys could be

thrown off the roof. Watch this! As we move from 50 miles an hour to 60

miles an hour, this is the point where a strong gale starts to

become a storm. OK, we're up to 11 now, and

according to the scale, Wight spread damage to buildings. Wow.

It's so strong. We're up to 12 now, you don't often see this in the UK,

but we did, back in 1987. Hurricane force. This is really, really

frightening. But, if I'm going to experience the full force of the UK

wind, I can't stop there. Because on Burns Night, 1990, it was even

stronger. This is petrifying, I really can't

stand up. Thank goodness I had the warn nas on, because the wind was

so strong - harness on, because the wind was so strong it swept me off

my feet. My investigation of the Beaufort Scale, very nearly blew me

away. How fast was that gust at the end.

It was 100 miles an hour. I'm not putting it on, that was frightening.

Imagine what that was like. That is off the scale? Believe it or not,

that is not the fastest or strongest wind we have had in the

UK. The mountain range of Cairngorms 173 miles an hour.

was a gust in the Cairngorms? You can imagine up in the mountain

ranges, but down, ground level, we had, in Fraserburgh, in Aberdeen,

100 miles from here, we had 142 miles an hour. OK, 142mph. Imagine,

going shopping, that could cause major damage. You would be foolish

to go out in that sort of condition. You thought I was brave going 100

miles an hour. Yes. I have arranged something for you. He's a bit

nervous, give him encouragement. Not one, but two harnesss, one for

me and one for...you! We went 100 miles an hour, that was frightening.

We will try to beat 100 miles an hour, with you and me there. You

won't be in there, because you will be in real trouble. We need a

special device, here t it is the machine of a supersonic hovercraft

a powerful one. That is big fan. That will hopefully reach speeds of

over 100 miles an hour. You are scared about this? I'm petrified, I

have been 100 miles an hour, over scares me. I will do that. Who will

be operating it? Carol Kirkwood, I have been in a car with Carol

Kirkwood, we will go way over00 miles an hour.

For that he will be doing 242 miles an hour, when I get my hands on

those controls. Later on in the show, we will be investigating some

of the most bizarre weather phenomena that appear throughout

the world. But first, we're going to begin right here in the UK. With

your brilliant weird weather pictures. So, if we have a quick

look at some of them, that one, number one there is from Jane in

Chelmsford in Essex. And it is a sun halo. This is a solar halo,

formed as sunlight travels through the clouds. When sunlight strikes

ice crystals in the cloud, most of the cloud is reflected, producing a

completely white halo. Next one is from Chris in Seaford in East

Sussex, this one is of propi skr, ular ray, appearing when the path

of sunlight is made appear as rays scattering the light. The third one,

another gorgeous picture, is from Dave in Ayrshire. That is a fog bow,

that occurs when sunlight strikes water droplets in had fog. It is

normally colourless, because the water droplets are so tiny they

don't shows the droplets as well. The weather has played a pivotal

role in history, when Elizabethan England faced dark hours it was the

weather that played a part. This is the life a nice long lunch

a bit of a siesta, and tapas before I go out for the evening. The

Spanish really know how to live. If it hadn't been for our pesky

British weather, patatas bravas, could have been our national dish.

432 years ago, England faced a pivotal moment in its history. One

which we were barely prepared for. But Philip II of Spain had been

planning his Armada for three years. It was to be sent to invade England,

a Catholic crusade, to overthrow the Protestant Elizabeth I. I'm

trying to imagine how big the Spanish Armada is? It is 134 ships,

on those ships there are 30,000 men. When they put the ships flank, to

flank, they stretched two miles. As soon as the massive fleet was

assembled in the port of Lisbon, it was the weather that made the first

move. It goes horribly wrong immediately, they were struck by

high contrary winds, heavy rains and hail storms before leaving

Spanish waters, for three long weeks they are delayed in port,

they can't go anywhere. The Armada finally set sail to invade England,

and run straight into strong head winds. After two long weeks they

made barely any progress and have to dock at Curunia to take on fresh

supplies. When they get there, they are hit by a huge south-westerly

gale. If I was captain, I would have said this isn't going to

happen this summer, let as turn back. Did any say that to the king?

Absolutely, that is what the campaign said, he wrote to the wing

and said this clearly isn't going to work, Philip was having none of

it. Finally the weather broke, and the fleet were ordered to leave the

port to execute Philip's massively ambitious plan. His Armada was to

sail to France to collect soldiers fighting in the Netherlands, and

ferry them across the channel to invade England. The only way of

stopping the Spanish would be at sea. Seven weeks after leaving

Lisbon, the Armada was spotted off the coast of Cornwall. Two days

later, the English engaged. But the opening battles near

Plymouth, did little to concern the Spanish. But then the weather

turned again. Prevailing south-westerly winds

began to blow hard up the English Channel. The Armada were forced to

shelter in Calais earlier than planned. The troops they were

supposed to collect hadn't arrived. Incredibly, it was this change in

weather that enabled Sir Francis Drake and the English fleet to

change the course of history. were suddenly sitting ducks,

because the English had managed to get the weather gauge, they had

managed to get the advantage of the wind, and so pinned the Spanish

between them and the shore, and so the English had a plan. They

decided to send in fire ships. midnight on July 28th, Drake

ordered eight ships, packed with gun powder to be sent drifting on

the south westly winds towards the anchored Armada. So the Spanish

were terrified, because fire could destroy their whole fleet, guns

going off everywhere, ships on fire. They were in, in their panic,

cutting at their anchors just to get away, then they are at the

mercy of the wind. After 70 days at sea, the Spanish were battered and

bruised, they were down, but not out. They decided to move north-

east along the coast of England. Short journey, should be OK,

because in July, the weather is terrific. It is in Spain!

Pursued by the English, the Armada had to abandon all hope of picking

up their army. While all this was happening you still have the south

westly wind blowing, everybody is slowly drifting out, northward into

the North Sea. It is a one way valve, with the wind blowing, you

can't get back. All the Spanish could hope to do now was sail

around the British Isles, but as they attempted to head south, down

the west coast of Ireland, the weather made its final move.

A big Atlantic low system, these are the tail ends of tropical

storms in the Caribbean. They rumbled their way on the Atlantic

above the gulfstream, and they end up as wet, windy, soaking systems

here. These massive North Atlantic storms of September 1588 smashed

the Armada against the rocky Irish coast. Out of the original 134

ships, just 67 ships made it home. 20,000 men had been lost. Of his

defeat Philip II declared, I sent the Armada, against men, not God's

wind and waves. Or as I would like to put it, don't mess with the

British weather. Just shows you, we would all be

tuning into Strictly Flamenco, it is good news, we have what we have.

It is time to find out what the great British weather map can tell

us about the weather. We have had a few problems with our internet.

However, it is now sorted, we will get as many pictures on to the map

as we can. We have already started there some belters on there. There

is growing thunder in the west Midland, that is from Aiden. The

rain has already arrived in Yorkshire by the bucketload.

Yorkshire we have reports of flash flooding. The opportunity for lots

of different kinds of pictures tonight. I have one here from the

Isle of Skye, this is from Denise, and it is a beautiful picture.

There is goes. Keep them coming in. It is the last show of the series.

Au, u. Pressure son to get the map as - Awww. The pressure is on to

get the map as full as possible. Later on, Chris and I will subject

ourselves to 100 miles an hour solid wind. Stay tuned. Still to

come on tonight's show. We investigate the spectacularly

weird phenomenon of ball lightning. Don't try that at home. Wind, where

it comes from, what it does, and why we get so much of it. And which

region gets the best weather in Britain. Bill, Michael and John

reveal their number one choice. They have been with us for at least

2,000 years, we have so many, there is 75,000 lost each year on the

buses and underground alone. I'm talking about the brolly. Larry

Lamb charts the history of our most popular rain accesssory.

During my time on EastEnders, I felt the heat on more than one

occasion. Any last words. experienced a few downpours as well.

When I got chance to find out about the history of the umbrella I

couldn't say no, especially as I thought I could do some sightseeing

along the way. It starts here in the land of the Pharaohs. Cut, we

should be in China. In China, all right, well, much

nicer than dreary old Albert Square, and fancy the BBC flying me all the

way out here to China. Cut. Actually that might not be right.

Have we got ancient Greece. Greece, are you kidding.

To be honest, the origin of the umbrella is a little bit ambiguous,

there is evidence to suggest it originated in the sun drenched east,

either in Egypt or China, around 3,400 years ago. No-one really

knows for sure. What we do know is the word

umbrella comes from the Latin root word "umbra" mean shade or shadow.

Earlier versions may have been made from tree branches, they may not

look rain proof, but in those days they were used to protect you from

the sun rather than the rain. In Ancient Egypt, it was seen as a

symbol of religious importance. In ancient Greece, it was commonly

used by women as a fashion accesssory because of its

decorative nature. The umbrella only became really popular to the

western world around the 16th century, especially in rainy Europe.

To tell me more, I have enlisted the help of Jeffrey Breeze, an

expert in antique umbrellas. How did it become so popular in

Britain? They were used as portable sin shoulds in Italy and Greece,

and the English girls wanted them as well. In Britain they are more

useful as a defence against rain than the sun. But, did you know it

was the Chinese who first started waterproofing umbrellas to protect

against the rain, and then the rest of the world followed their example.

In the same way there was one man who popularised the use of an

umbrella amongst men. It was done by John Hanway, a noted traveller

and philanthropist, he dared to walk the streets of London to

protect his powered wig. He had to put up with the London mob shouting

insults, like his stick has petty coats on. How would have carried

it? Try it for yourself. Can you hit the pose and get the angle.

That came a little too easily, I think. You feel the rain, up it

goes and raise it to an elegant angle. And looking good. Thank you

very much, very kind of you. In 1852, the brolly advanced

further, when Samuel Fox designed the first steel rig designed in the

UK. He made them from steel stays, the same as used in corsets. How

did things compare from then to today, one thing is for sure, we

buy a lot more umbrellas, around 18 million a year, at a cost of �130

million. One person who has had more than her fair share, is Her

Majesty the Queen, the man keeping her try for 30 years, is

manufacturing Nigel Fulton. This is the one we supply the Queen. This

is her favourite umbrella. royal umbrella. It has a PVC see-

through cover, she can see out and people can see in. Great choice,

your majesty. There you have, it carried by everyone from kings and

queens to the common man. All of us keen to protect ourselves from

whatever the great British weather has to throw at us.

Larry is with us here tonight. Larry, welcome.

Lovely to have you here. What lovely applause on this beautiful

evening. Larry's an actor? So is he, he keeps telling me. Actors have a

tough time with weather? We spend a lot of time waiting and waiting and

waiting, sit anything caravans, waiting for the weather to change.

What about EastEnders? It is a disaster, if you film outside and

it rains you have to go inside, and then somebody else has to go

outside and you sit and wait for the weather to change. The worst

thing was the mastive snow dump, the whole thing went down like a

line of domino, they shot stuff without snow, then three inches of

snow, everyone clearing it, got the cameras back on and the snow came

down again. Your first break in television was a show called

Triangle? The first time I was ever in a long-running attempt at a soap

opera was Triangle, but I had been knocking around a few hours before

that. Tell us about that, it must have been beset by the weather?

BBC had a deal to go on a ship in the North Sea, with the BBC,

watching the budget, it was at the cheapest time of year, that was

because nobody travels because the North Sea is full of storms in

October and December. We have a clip from Triangle? All we did was

run backwards and forwards through How do you do? Are you a passenger?

This is a private area, here, you know, it is the cruise deck,

officers and crew only. Get her to stand up, you fool. Well how else

can he move her. The glamour! We were talking about the storm of

1987, do you have any memories of that? The storm of 1987, I had

started work on a film called Buster, Phil Collins walked in and

said, do you know what, I lost 80 trees last night. I said, Phil, my

heart bleeds, 80 trees is that all. You get a lot of drum sticks out of

that. I think he got a life time supply from one storm. Where is

your favourite place in Britain weather-wise? From being a kid,

going to the Isle of Wight, that is about it, it was about as far south

as you can go on the south coast, I think the Isle of Wight. I can

remember lovely holidays in Ride, and being in places like Shanklin.

I think the Isle of Wight for a beautiful place in the sunshine.

Carol are you an EastEnders fan? am and not the only one. Who else?

Did you know some of the crew from EastEnders used to phone up where I

work, the BBC weather centre to find out what the weather would be

like if they were doing a big outside broadcast. Not many people

know. That some of the amazing spectacles the weather can create

around the world. You don't have to look far in this country to find

weird weather. Our resident meteorologists, Tomasz,

investigates how a small Scottish town experienced one of nature's

most mind boggling phenomena. I have travelled 600 miles north of

London to get to the bottom of a weather mystery, that is both

terrified and fascinated for many years. The north-east coast of

Scotland, rugged, wild, weather beaten and beautiful, nestled on

the cliff top overlooking the Moray Frith, is the sleepy fishing

village of Port Knockie. Just 1200 people live here. Most earn their

living from the sea. There is just one pub, and life is peaceful.

is a quiet little village we live here. Fraser Milton is at home with

his wife and daughter, it is Sunday, the 23rd January, 2007. It was just

a normal day, like any other here. It was overcast, the clouds were

quite low, I felt then we were going to have a thunder storm.

Marie Watson is on her way to the pub. There was quite a heavy hail

storm going on at the time. I was sat in the computer in the other

room. Ail lean was in the kitchen. It was 9.00pm. I was walking along

here and there was a really loud crack of thunder. I fell to the

ground, I don't know if it was the ground was shaking or because it

was so loud it frightened me. computer went blank. There was this

almighty blue flash and a bank, like something I had never heard

before. Then there was like a blue light that came from the field just

there. That shot straight through, it was

hot, it had burned the back of my neck. The force of power must have

been incredible, the socket exploded off the wall. Lightning

struck the chimney pot of the next door neighbour, the ceiling

collapsed. It was the fear not knowing what it was. The Met Office

said this sort of weather event was extremely rare and they would

investigate further. So what did happen on that fateful night, could

there be a rational explanation to this? It was a suggestion it was St

Elmo's Fire. That is a rare natural phenomenon, that presents itself as

an every vesent blue light. - efervesent. It was named after a

previouser kept preaching after lightning struck the ground on him.

Sailors were inspired by his bravery, and took him as their

patron saint, believing when St Elmo's Fire gathered around the

mast he was there to guide them through. But away from the myth,

there is a scientific explanation. During a thunder storm, nitrogen

and hydrogen molecules are ripped apart by the high-voltage

conditions, creating something called plasma, the fourth state of

matter, neither a gas, liquid or solid. The intense electric field

present during thunderstorms, over 1,000 volts per centimeter, caused

the hydrogen andate tro begin molecules to light up with a neon

light. Slightly curving obts will attract the fire. - objects will

attract the fire. It is a bigger version of one of these, plasma

ball. These days it is often witnessed when using a more modern

mode of transport. As this amateur footage demonstrates. Today's

equivalent of the ship's mast are the wings or front of a passenger

jet. Sometimes when we are flying we fly through cloud and get static

charge on the aircraft, that normally leaks away harmlessly, if

we get large static charge, we start seeing the small lightning

strikes running across the windscreen, they are blue in colour,

and they dance around at random, they can be one or two or intense.

The whole windscreen is the light being lit up continuously with the

small lightning strikes arking across the wint screen. This

phenomenon - the windscreen. This phenomenon occurring on dry land is

incredibly unlikely. After investigating the Met Office in

Aberdeen concluded the sheer intensity of the electrical storm

in January 2007 could have included the presence of the amazing St

Elmo's Fire. So that happened right here in

Scotland. That is not all. Joining me is Marty Johnson. We talk about

weather phenomena, everybody talk about a rainbow? Everyone everyone

has seen them and they are the most common. What you have, there is

some pictures. You have got rain dops - rain drops in front of you,

the sn behind it, the sun goes into the rain drops and bounces off the

back, as it comes through, it splits, it is auld refraction, and

comes out as several colours. What you see in is all the rain drops

creating a single little dot in the rainbow, that means that every rain

do you is different. Your rainbow is different to mine. If you shut

one eye, and open the other, you have different rainbows for

different eyes. We have our own different rainbows? That is why you

can never get to the end of it. Carol says she has seen a full

rainbow from a plane is that possnbl Yes. You get the - Is that

possible? Yes. You get a double rain bou. You have

a primary and secondary. All that happens there is the light is

bouncing inside the rain drops twice coming out at a different

angle. The secondary one is back to front.

What I have always wanted to know is about mirage, I have seen them

in the movies, guys scrambling across the desert and he see as

swimming pool, and dives in and it is sand. We have all seen them,

when you go across a hill on a hot day and looks like there is water

on the road, that is a mirage, what is happening is the light from the

sky is coming down, hitting the very hot air just above the road

surface. That makes it bend. Refraction again, as it bends, it

comes down, it doesn't hit the road but your eyes. You are seeing a

reflection of the sky. This could explain what I'm going to show you

next. This is absolutely extraordinary, this happened in

east China on June 11th 2011. Eyewitnesses reported on Chinese

news that a City appeared above the river. A city that isn't there

appeared. It is a mirage, it is effectively the same thing. But the

other way up. What you have is layers of air in the atmosphere

which are of different temperatures. Very calm day, and what happens is

the light from the city, a distant city is being bent by the

atmosphere, and bounced back down to you, so that you are seeing a

reflection off the surface up there of another city. It is an

incredible thing, very unlikely to see that. Another thing that Zander

has been petrified about all day, ball lightning, calm him? Ball

lightning is an incredibly rare weather phenomena. We think it is

caused by strong lightning storms. This is an example filmed down

under. What happens is you get these, we think, balls of plasma

created by the electrical discharge. For reasons science can't explain,

the ball howevers around and floats around, sometimes it disappear,

sometimes it explodes with a big shower of sparks, we can't explain

it. It is like a UFO? A lot of UFO sightings may be ball lightning.

Absolutely brilliant. Keep your eyes to the skies and you

might see that yourself. Over to my my Bute of Carol.

You're not so bad yourself despite what everyone else says. Thanks for

your e-mails. I have one here talking about ball lightning from

Paul from Barnsley, he tells us, when he was a child in Barnsley,

they had a big storm, suddenly they saw a ball of white shimering light,

there was a hissing sound, we thought it was a UFO, the neighbour

said it was a ball lighten, it was the size of a beach ball. Elaine

has a great story, she says she was at work three quarters of a mile

from the River Clyde in Scotland. During the last storm a squid fell

out of the tree. It would have been better if it was a quid. Janet

remembers the 1987 storm, she says she knew nothing was weird when all

our cats climbed on to her bed in the middle of the night. Animals

are savvy. Shirley remembers the 1987 storm, she lived down a lane

in Kent, they saw countless flashes in the sky, and assumed it was

lightning all round, when she woke up next morning and trees were

blocking every which way, she fed the men folk sasauges, cooked on a

bash kue. Some amazing stories there showing what the wind can do

at its best. Why does the UK get so much of it?

It may not always feel like it, but the UK is one of the windiest

countries in the whole of Europe. The average wind speed here, rarely

dips below 12 miles an hour. Our nearest neighbour, France, can only

muster a sluggish seven. And for me, the breezy British Isles has become

a bit of an occupational hazard. Good morning, still very windy here

in Plymouth. Heavy snow and also strong winds. You but what is this

unstoppable force, gentle enough to dry our washing, but fierce enough

to blow us off our feet. Put simply, it is what we feel as the air in

our atmosphere moves around areas of high and low pressure. The

bigger the pressure difference, the faster the air will move, and the

stronger the winds will be. And it is this movement of air that

is critical to the life of our planet.

Transporting weather systems around the world, and eroding and shaping

our landscape. When wind passes over land, it

weakens as it strikes obstacles like trees, buildings and hills.

The shementered eastern - the sheltered eastern and central parts

of UK has wind of almost 9MPH, in Scotland it blows twice as hard. In

1986 the Cairngorms were battered by the UK's highest ever gust, a

staggering 173 miles an hour. Our predominant winds are the mild wet

westerlies, that is what is bringing the fog in. That is not

the only wind we get. Our easterly winds have travelled thousands of

miles across Eastern Europe, and transport some dryer conditions to

the UK. But they have to compete against westerly winds that have

moved across large masses of sea. Accumulating moisture, ready to

soak us when they hit our shores. Sor southerly winds act as a

vehicle for warm air, from places like North Africa and the

Mediterranean. They can be confronted by northerly winds, that

bring us freezing temperatures from the Arctic. Thanks to this amazing

variation, knowing which way the wind will blow, will tell us more

about the wind we are likely to get than anything else we can measure.

Tonight we are joined by three of the sharpest minds in meteorology,

they are Bill Giles, Michael Fish and John Kettley. Welcome back.

We have set you a couple of tasks tonight. The first one was we

wanted to know in your personal opinion which region in the UK gets

the best weather and why. Mine is north Cornwall. Because you

get some lovely weather if the weather is bad on the north coast,

you can very quickly get to the south coast. Michael? I would go to

the land of my birth, Eastbourne, bueltfully sheltered from Beachy

Head. And what's more, at my time in life,

there is some very nice comfortable OAP homes.

It is John? There isn't room to put it down here. Swanage and the

Jurassic coast is lovely. I would go back to my ancestoral home, way

before Yorkshire, I reckon Shropshire, shelter from the hills.

Second task, we take challenge. Earlier on Carol took a reading of

the weather using our great British weather station. I have an envelope

containing your predictions, I will read them out. Bill said you would

put money on it being dry on air strikes temperature 15 degrees.

the shade. We can expect a westerly wind at 10MPH with gusts of up to

20. Humid with temperatures of 19 degrees you said. A good deal of

cloud, outbreaks of rain. John Kettley, you went with temperature

18 degrees, light to moderate easterly winds, 10-13 miles an hour,

cloudy with showery bust bursts of rain. Four factors were taken into

account, wind direction, wind speed, temperature, and presiptation.

Based on that, Michael has won by just one degree in temperature

because he said it would be 19 degrees, John Kettley close with 18,

Bill was the only one who said it would be dry, you failed with wind

speed, direction and temperatures. 22 degrees, current wind direction

variable, north-east to south-east presiptation, zero present.

Now it is time toe reveal what the weather is like across - time to

reveal what the weather is like across the country. For the very

last time it is the live weather map.

I tell you what, we have budding Fishs and Kettleys across the UK.

We have been hearing about the weather today. Thank you very much

everybody in Southend on sea, we are now on the map. Also I can tell

you, we have, at long last, a picture of the Outer Hebrides from

Celia, and I can tell you it is absolutely chucking it down in

Peterborough, flash floods. Here in Stirling it is gorgeous,

but we have it coming up the Aberdeenshire coast. You have

things to do Chris. Chris is about to join Zander and subject

themselves to a 100 mph wall of wind. But before we join them, a

huge thank you to everybody who sent in photographs tonight. And

during all our other shows. You have helped make this a brilliant

TV first. The Met Office has said there has never been so much

information collated by so many people about the weather on

television. We have also loved hearing your stories too. Don't

forget if you head to our website for loads of useful facts and tips

to carry on with the weather watching. Now the time has come,

Chris and Zander are going to be subjected to 100 miles per hour of

solid wind. We saw Chris earlier on today standing up in just gusts of

wind of 100 miles an hour. How are you feeling boys? We are doing

already. We are prepared for the environment, warm hats and scaraves.

We are recreating a typical day in Fraserburgh. We are kitting

ourselves out. That will please everybody in Fraserburgh for that.

I tik your tam-o'-shanters. We are trying for over 100 miles an hour.

We have been told it could be 124 miles an hour, measured earlier

today. Good luck. Help me count the We got there, 126 miles an hour.

Well done. That is amazing. Your cheeks were flapping. Your scaraves,

your hats. You are not painting a lovely picture of us, are you.

did it feel, did you feel you could stand up? Quite scary. Could you

stand up? We have both rather large rears for low centre of gravity.

Low slung bottoms. Well done boys, and a huge thank you to everyone

who has watched the show in the last month. We have had fantastic

time making it. We hope you enjoyed making it. All around the country,