oops!

In the Independent on 20 March 2000 there was the headline: “Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past”. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”

The Telegraph online 29th December 2009 nearly ten years after we were told snow was to become a thing of the past.

“The mercury is set to drop to 28°F (-3°C) in most of England and Wales on Thursday night, New Year’s Eve, and 17°F (-8°C) in Scotland, with widespread snow showers also predicted. New Year’s Day will also be chilly, with the northern half of Britain’s struggling to get above freezing during the day, while London will do well to reach 39°F (4°C). The forecast follows a spell of snow, sleet and ice which has gripped Britain for more than a week but relented in most parts over recent days.”

It is so good to see in The Independent that the CRU is living up to its justly acquired reputation for accuracy.

This “very rare and exciting event” also happened a lot in 2008, that October snow fell in London for the first for that month in the capital in over 70 years.

I guess the moral of this story is that climatologists really shouldn’t try to predict the weather.