0:00:00 > 0:00:00In around ten minutes you can see Newswatch.
0:00:00 > 0:00:05But now on BBC News, it's time for Click.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33If it feels like the weather is getting weirder, well,
0:00:33 > 0:00:35that's because it is.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38In many parts of the world, meteorological records seem to be
0:00:38 > 0:00:39tumbling virtually year after year.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42And as gets more erratic and extreme, the need for accurate
0:00:43 > 0:00:47forecasts becomes vital.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51This is the BBC's Weather Centre at New Broadcasting House.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55This is where they take their best guess at what the next two days
0:00:55 > 0:00:58will look like.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01We kind of take it for granted, these days, but as you would expect,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04there's an awful lot of numbercrunching that goes on,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06which is what Ben is doing right now.
0:01:06 > 0:01:07Hi, Ben.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09You might recognise Ben, he's on the telly!
0:01:09 > 0:01:14Ben is taking raw data from the Met Office on this screen
0:01:14 > 0:01:20and turning it into something more akin to what we see on the TV.
0:01:20 > 0:01:27It all goes to make up that familiar weather map that we know and love.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30And for the UK, each 4km square gets its own individual
0:01:30 > 0:01:31forecast from the Met Office.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Other services can provide an even more granular forecast.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37But swing around to Africa, and it's a very different story.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Here we're working at much lower resolution.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42The squares here are only 25 kilometres across.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45One of the reasons is because data is particularly thin
0:01:45 > 0:01:51on the ground here.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Now, over the coming month or so, we're going to be looking at how
0:01:55 > 0:01:57technology is changing this continent.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59And to start our journey, Dan Simmons has travelled
0:01:59 > 0:02:02to Tanzania to meet a chap who used to work here,
0:02:02 > 0:02:03but who is now on a mission to improve the forecast for Africa.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Sub-Saharan East Africa is lush.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15The soils are rich.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18It's the end of a very wet rainy season.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Too wet for some farmers, who saw their crops rot.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Angus and Asha farm in Lushoto.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30They tell me climate change has made it difficult to predict the seasons.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32They've gone from drugs to flood in recent years,
0:02:33 > 0:02:37and lost harvests in both.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Next door, Peter's been planting a type of runner bean which can take
0:02:41 > 0:02:49as little as six weeks to grow.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51In September to October, the rainfall are very harsh.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53It rush the topsoil to down there.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56But last season, he lost his entire crop to sudden,
0:02:56 > 0:03:02heavy, early rains.
0:03:02 > 0:03:10The farmers here know what they are doing,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14they just don't quite know any more what the weather's up to.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Former BBC weather presenter and keen gardener, Peter Gibbs,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22wants to do something about that, and he's found a pretty neat way
0:03:22 > 0:03:24to explain it to me.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26I think you're like this, though.
0:03:26 > 0:03:27All right. The big reveal...
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Oh, wow! Oh my word!
0:03:29 > 0:03:30Look at this!
0:03:30 > 0:03:41Is that grand or what? That is huge!
0:03:41 > 0:03:46That goes on forever, doesn't it?
0:03:46 > 0:03:47It just... yeah.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50This gives you some idea of the scale of Africa.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53The drop here is about 1,000 metres from where we are.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56No, no, no, that is close enough! That's not...
0:03:56 > 0:03:58From the West Usambara Mountains, where we're standing,
0:03:58 > 0:03:59down to the Masai Plain.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02We're looking at hundreds of square kilometres.
0:04:03 > 0:04:04Lots of weather going on.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06You can see clouds building over in the distance.
0:04:06 > 0:04:14Most of its farmed as well... Exactly.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17There's lots of people living out there, but no weather station
0:04:17 > 0:04:21you can see.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24So how do you do a good forecast here without that information?
0:04:24 > 0:04:25That's incredible.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28You know, back in the UK, you would have, at least,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31half a dozen, perhaps 15 weather stations in that sort of area.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33So you can see the problem.
0:04:33 > 0:04:34So the satellites can't do it.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36Because we have satellites, don't be?
0:04:36 > 0:04:38The satellites can do some of it.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41The satellites can pick up some of the clouds we can see,
0:04:41 > 0:04:46but can't estimate the rain how much each cloud can produce.
0:04:46 > 0:04:47You need those measurements of the ground.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49Was the other parameters, like temperature, humidity,
0:04:49 > 0:04:50and pressure...
0:04:50 > 0:04:52You know, it's like any commuter programme -
0:04:52 > 0:04:53garbage in, garbage out.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Peter's advising a start-up, Kukua, that wants to pepper Africa
0:04:56 > 0:04:56with these.
0:04:57 > 0:04:58Fully automated, self-reporting low-cost
0:04:58 > 0:04:59weather stations.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02They can be monitored from anywhere, looking up to Africa's extensive
0:05:02 > 0:05:08mobile cell network.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Kukua placed their first station last year, and will have more
0:05:11 > 0:05:12than 100 operating by Christmas.
0:05:12 > 0:05:19So what do we get on our fully automatic weather station?
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Well, we've got a bucket up here, which measures the rainfall.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24There's a little seesaw device in there which goes backwards
0:05:25 > 0:05:36and forwards for every drip that comes through.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38That tells us how quickly the rain is falling,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40as well as how much rain is falling.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44An anemometer a bit of giving us the wind speed and direction
0:05:44 > 0:05:46by the vane there at the very, very top.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49This is the solar panel, which powers the whole thing
0:05:49 > 0:05:50and is also rather cleverly used
0:05:51 > 0:05:53to tell us how much sunshine we're getting.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Just behind it in this hive kind of affair is the temperature gauge.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00It also measures humidity and it's stuck in there
0:06:00 > 0:06:04so it can't be affected by direct sunlight or more heat coming
0:06:04 > 0:06:08from the ground, which is dissipated by this housing.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10All of that data has to be collected by a panel
0:06:11 > 0:06:15round at the back, which is sent to this communications unit.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18It has a SIM card that works in every African country.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21What some of us would do for one of those...
0:06:21 > 0:06:24And then it uses this transmitter to send it all back to base.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27That goes back to Europe, and then from the guys in Europe,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30they will produce a model, which will give people back
0:06:30 > 0:06:32here a more accurate weather forecast.
0:06:32 > 0:06:40It's already making a difference.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Farmers like Peter get daily text alerts, giving them a steer
0:06:43 > 0:06:44as to what to expect.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48And this farmer told us his texts have helped him decide when to add
0:06:48 > 0:06:51fertilizer and pesticides.
0:06:51 > 0:06:52We can actually make a massive difference
0:06:53 > 0:06:54to the farmers themselves.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Up to 80% yield increases.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01That makes the difference between eating to stay alive
0:07:01 > 0:07:03and sending your children to school.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08And it's not just the personal impact.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Health agencies can use improved forecasts to better predict
0:07:11 > 0:07:12outbreaks of malaria or cholera.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16And insurers want to know if they need to pay out on policies.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19This information gap is holding the continent back.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21The Coco Belt in West Africa is shifting.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Multinationals want to know which way and by how much.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27And it'll be selling on the big data that Kokua collect
0:07:27 > 0:07:29that will help pay for what is looking
0:07:29 > 0:07:31like a pretty big job.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38Well, across the whole of Africa at the moment,
0:07:38 > 0:07:39there are around 500, just 500, reliable
0:07:40 > 0:07:43reporting weather stations.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45To get good coverage, you need to get up
0:07:46 > 0:07:51to something like 20,000.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55From my point of view, after my years in meteorololgy,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58I think it's fantastic, to me, that I feel I can make
0:07:58 > 0:07:59use of that experience,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01to actually make a difference to people's lives.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06That was Dan Simmons with Peter Gibbs in Tanzania.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08We will have more reports from the African continent
0:08:09 > 0:08:12later this month on Click.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Microsoft boasts its new XBox one X is the most powerful games console
0:08:19 > 0:08:27in the world!
0:08:27 > 0:08:30They've stopped short of calling it the most powerful console
0:08:31 > 0:08:34in the galaxy, I suspect they're saving that accolade for the machine
0:08:34 > 0:08:37comes after this one.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40But there's good reason for all this talk of power,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44and that is down to what lurks under the hood of this console.
0:08:44 > 0:08:54It has an eight core processor running at 2.3 gigahertz,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57a six teraflop GPU, 12gb of memory and a 4k Blu-ray player
0:08:57 > 0:09:02thrown in as well.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06This means that the machine can throw out 4k 60 frames per second
0:09:06 > 0:09:07graphics in HDR.
0:09:07 > 0:09:07Stunning...
0:09:07 > 0:09:10What those numbers and specs mean is that this box is capable
0:09:11 > 0:09:13of producing much sharper, richer and more detailed graphics
0:09:13 > 0:09:18than the old XBox One S, which had a maximum resolution
0:09:18 > 0:09:20of 1080p, which is eye-offending high definition, as it's
0:09:20 > 0:09:28probably now know.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33Look at this Porsche that I'm driving in Forza.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37I've managed to bump and scrape it of a couple of times,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41and you can see every single dent and ding that I've put in the car,
0:09:41 > 0:09:42every single bit of chipped paintwork.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44It really is very detailed.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47The One X can play games made for the older XBox,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50but some titles will be enhanced, like Rise of the Tomb Raider,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53which boasts upgraded 4k graphics and a higher frame rate,
0:09:53 > 0:09:54which makes everything look smoother.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56These enhancements won't be standardised, though.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58Microsoft says it is up to developers to choose how
0:09:58 > 0:10:06they will use the brunt the One X provides.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09This new digital virtuosity is great if you own a 4k TV.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13But if you are using a HD screen, the One X can give you a graphics
0:10:14 > 0:10:16bus, as well, making games look better than they would
0:10:16 > 0:10:17on the old machine.
0:10:17 > 0:10:26But how do they achieve this? Witchcraft?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Or more precisely, super sampling, a technique that allows
0:10:29 > 0:10:34all the detail and information in a 4k image to be scaled down
0:10:34 > 0:10:37to fit into a 1080p screen, which, I suppose, is a form
0:10:37 > 0:10:38of silicon sorcery.
0:10:38 > 0:10:48Apart from prettier visuals, the new machine should enjoy faster
0:10:48 > 0:10:51load times and, unlike its 4k console rival, the PlayStation 4
0:10:51 > 0:11:00Pro, the One X has a 4k Blu-ray play fitted as well.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03So the box does more stuff, but the X Box One is more
0:11:03 > 0:11:04expensive as well.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Microsoft is keen to see this in the world's most powerful
0:11:07 > 0:11:10console, but it is also the most expensive, at £449.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13And I think that might be the biggest hurdle that the XBox
0:11:13 > 0:11:15One X has to overcome, its price.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19And, as the games the machine plays are essentially the same as those
0:11:19 > 0:11:28on its least powerful older sibling, the One S,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31this console is probably appeal only going to appeal to those with spare
0:11:31 > 0:11:33cash burning a hole in their pocket,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35or those with a 4k TV
0:11:35 > 0:11:38on which to watch the prettier pictures the console produces.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40That casts gloom over everything, doesn't it, lads?
0:11:40 > 0:11:43What a drag he is!
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Thanks for watching and we'll see you soon.