25/12/2011 The Weather Show

serious problem. A leading think tank says net

migration to the UK will continue Hello and welcome to the weather

Show. Coming up - we look back at the weather in the past 12 months.

A good year for some but not so good for many others. How the

weather affects animal migration and out shortages of forcing

governments to improve their water distribution. Close your questions

and some fantastic pictures. But first the weather from a round the-

world. Nick Miller takes a look at what 2011 threw at us. 2011's world

of whether was marked by El Nino in the Pacific. It had affects on the

weather right across the world. The year started with some serious

flooding as warmer than usual water in the western Pacific that greater

amounts of moisture into the rain clouds and then they moved around

and drop their contents. In January Sri Lankan the Philippines were

deluged with water as well as Queensland. Over in Sri Lanka or

the strong easterly trade wind created by only meal stops the

north east monsoon from clearing the way so it kept it in place and

as a result yet more rain was dumped on the country. In America

that a fault was a record-breaking month for traders. An estimated 600

struck that months, beating the previous record. And beating the

previous all-time monthly record of 542. Between April 25th and the

28th there were an estimated 305 tornadoes across 14 states. The

largest single outbreak of the largest single outbreak of the

tornadoes in history. So why it's where they are so many tornadoes?

High pressure in the Artic pushed cold air further south than usual

and that was met by exceptionally warm air flowing up from the Gulf

of Mexico where temperatures were at their third highest on record in

April. When the warm air meets the cold air it rises sharply then

reads the jet stream higher in the atmosphere and that causes the air

to spin, of producing tornadoes. The jet stream runs along the

border between the warm and the cold air and thanks to a menial it

was displaced unusually further east. Some states were getting

pounded by Tony Gale's and others got virtually none. 2011 has been a

hot and dry year in taxes. It produce the worst drought for a

century. Many temperature records were smashed including the number

of consecutive days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Across America

is not the only place suffering from drought. In East Africa many

thousands are dying as one of the worst droughts for 60 years has led

to severe famine. The reasons for the trout are complicated both

politically and in wider terms. But one contributing factor is El Nino.

It produces higher than usual pressure up in the eastern Pacific

but relatively low pressure over Australia. The emeralds from high

towards low pressure towards Australia. But the low pressure

over Australia means that the air flows towards it from East Africa

across the Indian Ocean. Normally you have easterly winds bringing

moister and rain towards East Africa from the sea. But because of

El Nino, since the middle of last year, this situation has been

reversed. This episode ended in May but a new one of formed in October.

Between July and December Thailand was inundated with gigantic floods.

It is thought El Nino enhanced the usual monsoon rains through the

warmer than usual quarters on the western side of the Pacific, adding

to the rain clouds and even heavier rain. On to the Atlantic hurricane

season which was relatively busy. There were 19 storms due in part to

El Nino. That displaced the US jet stream away from developing

hurricanes in the Atlantic. And without those a strong winds and,

of more of them were free to go on and mature into tropical storms.

After passing through the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean

hurricane Irene became the first to make landfall along the east coast

of America since 2008. The current annual it -- coming year is

expected to last until the beginning of 2012.

Some interesting whether there. And here is the proof with the

selection of some appear fantastic pictures from around the world. --

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds

Lovely pictures. Keep them coming in. Now this interesting where

there is not always good for plants and animals. Went diseases arrive

earlier or later than usual, wildlife needs to cope with the

changes. And sometimes they do not always manage as Peter Gibbs found

out. Most of us cope with the onset of

winter by granting up the heating and tucking into comfort food. But

wildlife does not have the option of popping in to the nearest fast

food joint or turning up the thermostat. To get around it some

birds have evolved a strategy of seasonal migration. They do not

just fly off for the warm weather but also to give the extra food and

shelter that provides. Birds do not get weather forecasts of course so

they need some other clues to know when it is time to leave on their

global migration. If the weather changes and they lead to early or

too late, it may be that the place they are heading to mind not be

ready for their arrival. The British Trust for Ornithology is

one of the world's leading research groups studying how the climate

affects wildlife. At the reserve I met with the head of porn

photography to discuss how climate change is affecting migrating birds.

I asked how they go about gathering their data. We have a lot of

volunteers out there who put metal rings on birds. So if someone finds

that bird we know how long it has lived and where it has moved. Last

winter was a bad one for the bar and I'll. More than twice as many

as usual were found dead because we had snow cover and they could not

get to their food. Then in the summer of the barn owl were able to

raise bigger groups because they had plenty of food because they had

not eaten the bowls in the winter. What else can affect the migration

of birds? Wind direction can be important. If they're flying into a

high wind they could use too much energy. So they may have to stop

and feed again before they can move on. So they could actually run out

of fuel's effectively, yes. They have to decide then that they have

to go down and get more fuel to complete their journey. Any other

impacts as a result of the changing climate? One thing we are seeing is

problems during the breeding season. As the climate gets warmer we have

the trees producing their leaves early and so the caterpillars

feeding upon them by their earlier. The birds which feed their young on

the caterpillars are having problems because when they are

young in the nest it needs to be the time when the most caterpillars

are there so they can grow quickly. It is the problem for the birds

resident here and also from those coming from a great distance

because they have to time their migration to try to arrive year

earlier. What we are seen is the birds which are able to arrive

earlier, their populations are doing well. Those that have not

been able to change their arrival date as much are not doing so well.

Simply to survive drugs and ice ages, wildlife has also always had

to adapt to the changing climate. But today it has been fascinating

to see some of the details of how that process works. We have also

seen that for some birds the changing climate can be just too

vast and they are the ones who could be left behind.

While we saw how wildlife is putting up with the infusion

climate. What better time to look at the mother of all confusing

climates as we look at the UK weather in 2011.

2011 was the year of topsy-turvy seasons. Some very warm, as some

disappointment cold. But there was one consistent message and that was

rainfall. Towards the north-west of the UK for much of the year it was

wetter than average but for the south and east rainfall amounts

Whinnerah the average. That was because for much of the year we had

high pressure close to the south- east, blocking the rain bearing

weather systems from getting towards the south-east and pushing

the reign of towards Scotland and Northern Ireland. This has led to

drought conditions in some areas. Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, parts

of Northamptonshire and West Norfolk are still in drought as the

dry weather continues. Water levels remain low. After a snowy December,

January and February were less eventful but overall it was a cold

winter with the average temperature at 1.3 degrees below the average.

Spring on the other hand was exceptionally warm and sunny. That

was the warmest spring on record and able was especially sunny.

Thousands flocked to the beaches on the warmest ever Easter weekend.

The temperature reached a sizzling 27.8 degrees. The 23rd was the

warmest April days since 1949. By contrast the summer was

disappointed me cold. The go there since 1993. At the lights were

especially in chilly. In Scotland the temperature dropped to minus

not 0.8 degrees. The warm spring followed by that cool summer led to

many autumn crops like apples and blackberries appearing early. Just

to confuse matters even further, after that cold summer, in order

made warmed up again. It was our second warmest autumn on record

with a maximum temperature of 14.2 degrees. And the 1st October saw

the UK's hottest October day on record. The end of autumn saw the

end of the blocking weather pattern which had been with us for so much

of the year and we finally opened the door to Atlantic weather

systems to bring the wind and rain to our shores. And in December we

saw several of these storms coming Scotland was hit by strong winds. A

gust of 165 mph was reported, not far off the UK's record. After all

of this topsy-turvy weather in 2011, what will 2012 bring? You will have

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds

to stay tuned to the forecast to As always, you have inundated as

with your questions, and we have the people with the answers. Here

they are. Clouds are vital to life on Earth.

There is plenty of water on Earth, but most of it is in the seas and

oceans, and most of us live on land. In order to get the water on to

land, the sun shines on the surface of the ocean, which heats up the

surface and causes evaporation. Water lifts into the form of clouds,

and then those can get carried across land to give us rain fall to

enable us to sustain life on Earth. Enough rain runs off into rivers

and streams, which then flow back into the oceans and seas.

The Brockham spectre is a ghostly apparition that came about its name

because it is commonly observed around the broken peak of the

heart's mountains in Germany. It was observed by climbers and hill-

walkers as they climbed above mist and low cloud at the base of the

mountain. When they looked back down they saw what appeared to be a

ghostly dark figure moving. What they've actually looking at was the

shadow of themselves with the sun behind them casting a shadow on to

the face of the mist or cloud. It is magnified by a trick of the

light, and also the fact that it seems to move is because the cloud

and mist is rolling underneath them. Ghostly apparition was nothing more

than just a shadow. Send your questions to the weather

Show. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was prepared, and we got to see how

seriously or not World governments and took climate change. In South

Africa at the end of 2011, a new agreement was prepared. Richard

Black looks at the results. It was a busy end of the year for

anyone connected with climate change. Scientists from the

climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia found

themselves under fire once again. Two years ago, a batch of hacked e-

mails released on the internet had raised questions about their

integrity. They had been largely cleared by three inquiries. In

November, more e-mails from the same hat were released, prompting

some of the same questions. Examination of the latest batch

found little of note, certainly nothing to cast doubt on the

scientists main conclusion, that the Earth has warmed markedly over

the last century or so. The deal also saw a major new piece of

evidence on climate change. A group of American researchers, some of

whom had been sceptical about global warming, a release their own

analysis of data from weather stations across the world. It

differed very little from existing analyses, confirming that the Earth

really is warming and the warming has not stopped. December saw

politicians trying once again to respond to the science. The annual

UN climate summit convened in Durban, South Africa. It saw a

major redrawing of the political map. Scores of small developing

countries from Gambia to ERM er joined forces with the European

Union to press for a road map leading to a new deal that will, in

time, restrict every country's greenhouse gas emissions. The fact

that we are able to show today that there are so many countries that

are back in this road map, that want clear results when it comes to

climate change, we have calculated more than 120 of the 193 countries

represented here want what we are standing up for today. Those

opposed to moving quickly on the road map included Canada, Japan,

India and, perhaps inevitably, that the United States. It is completely

off base to suggest that the US is proposing that week delay action

until 2020. Campaigners pushed for progress,

with school children even coming together on a Durban beach are too

raw for a deal. Eventually, a day 1/2 p on the scheduled closing time,

they got one. In seeing no object and, it is so decided.

Sir David Attenborough has been showing audiences at the marvels of

the natural world for half a century. But, in the last edition

of his most recent series, Frozen Planet, he expressed concerns that

some of those marvels might not survive the rising temperatures.

This penguin is the most southerly nesting of all penguins. Like a

polar bear, up and the North, their lives are dependent on the sea ice.

The fact is that we know these changes are happening. The evidence

is incontrovertible. As far as we can see ahead, if they go on they

will have catastrophic effects on the human race.

The message coming from Sir Dave it, the scientists at the University of

East Anglia, and many of the politicians in Durban, is that the

climate is changing because of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions.

The question, as it was at the beginning of the deer, is whether

humanity is going to do anything about it. -- beginning of the year.

A lot of us take our water supply for granted, but a lot can't.

According to UN figures, the US uses 4,000 litres of water per day

per person. The UK is 500 metres, and Singapore, 250. We look at how

a small island is solving its own water shortage problem.

Despite its covering 70% of the planet, getting hold of clean water

is still a problem for a lot of people. As the needs of

manufacturing and populations grow, demand is outstripping supply. If

your corn of the world has plenty of rain or rivers, this natural

water is all you need. But sometimes you have to make usable

water out of waste or sea water, and this side of water technology

is developing fast, solving a shortage problem faced by many

cities. Right now it is more than 50% of the population that live

like this, and it is increasing, with about 70 million people each

year. 800 million of those live in slum areas. We know that in cities

in general about 25% do not have access to sanitation. So, we know

that this has affect when it comes to the health of people living in

areas like this because disease is spreading. It is a challenge for

cities to keep up with investments, building infrastructure. We know

that re-used water is more in expensive to produce than a new

water from any other source. There is a large potential in that.

It is water recycling that Singapore has focused on. This is a

densely populated island. 5 million people are sharing just over 700

square kilometres, with very little natural water. While we have a lot

natural water. While we have a lot of rain fall - about 2,400 mm of

rain every year, being so small, we do not have enough land area to

capture every drop that falls. So, what we have done is look at

alternative sources of water. Right now we have built up what we call

for a national tax strategy. We have water from four different

sources. We have water from our local water catchments, we also

import water. We have decelerated water, and finally, here we have

high-grade recycled water, something we turn new water. New

water is one of the pillars of our water supply strategy.

Singapore uses about 380 million gallons a day, and that is expected

to double by 2016. To sell the idea of conservation

and the positive aspects of recycled water to the public, the

Government has built this visitors' centre with lots of interactive

exhibits and games. But ultimately, demand will always increase.

Although, here in Singapore, they are proving that technology, at

least for the time being, has the answer.

Well, that's it for this time. If you want to see the show again, and