Understanding all the ways to talk about the weather
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Weather Watch by Keith Banks
Today modern weather study, known as meteorology, is a specialised science involving physics, mathematics, and the earth sciences.
This convoluted and challenging discipline is full of difficult concepts and complex terminology that, understandably, can be discombobulating and perhaps even intimidating to the public.
In the media, the word “low” is commonly used for a low pressure area. However, the word “depression” may be used as being synonymous with low.
The circulation of winds around a low is called “cyclonic”. This term is used in the shipping forecast, to describe the winds that are rotating around the centre of a low.
However, the word “cyclone” is a potentially confusing term used by meteorologists to define tropical depressions that are not sufficiently vigorous enough to be classified as hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones.
The acknowledged “pecking order” of tropical disturbances is hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones, followed by tropical depressions and tropical waves respectively.
The correct names for middle latitude cyclones are wave cyclones, extra tropical or frontal depressions.
The antithesis of low or depression, is the “high”, or the “anticyclone”. The term anticyclone, can be used for high pressure areas, regardless of latitude, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The circulation of winds around a high is called “anticyclonic”.
“Fronts” or “frontal zones”, are well marked areas that separate air masses of different origins.
The word “forecast” was first used in a meteorological context by Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy, who was in charge of the Meteorological Office when the first “weather forecast” was issued in 1861.
The word “report” is frequently used by the public to mean forecast. However, to the meteorologist the word “report” is deemed to be the same as the actual weather that is occurring or that has occurred.
Finally, the terms, “veering and “backing” that mariners and fishermen in particular are familiar with, describe the change in wind direction when the wind changes in the same sense as the hands of the clock in the first instance, and against in the second. The terms are used in exactly the same way in both hemispheres, hence this means that the winds will back ahead of an approaching front in the northern hemisphere and then veer behind the front. In the southern hemisphere the wind will veer ahead of a front and back after it has passed.
September 2021 was Wick’s warmest since that of 2016. Perusal of the town’s historic record for mean air temperature for a series of Septembers commencing in 1910 revealed that September 2021 was the third warmest.
In terms of precipitation September 2021 was the wettest since 2017 and is the 30th wettest in a series stretching back to 1910.
Wick’s mean air temperature for September 2021 was 13.18C (55.72F). The long term average for September, in terms of the averaging period 1981-2010, is 11.45C (52.61F).
Wick’s average maximum daytime air temperature for September 2021 was 15.87C (60.57F), 1.47C higher than the current long term average for this parameter for September.
Highest maximum air temperature was 23.0C (73.4F) recorded on September 7. This is presently Wick’s second hottest day for any September since 1910.
A reading of 22.4C (72.3F) on September 8 was also an outstanding temperature for the town. Lowest maximum was 10.1C (50.2F), noted on September 27.
Wick’s average overnight minimum air temperature for September 2021 was 10.49C (50.88F). The long-term average for the town is currently 8.50C (47.30F). Highest overnight minimum was 16.0C (60.8F), on September 7.
In the context of overnight minimums for September, this value proved to be a new record for the town. Lowest minimum air temperature was 3.4C (38.1F), on September 4.
Lowest temperature at 5cm over the grass was 0.4C (32.7F), observed on September 4.
The rainfall total for September 2021 was 87.2mm (3.43 inches).
The wettest day was September 26. The quantity recorded for the 24 hours commencing 9am (GMT) was 25.8mm (1.02 inches).
There were no “days of gale” witnessed during the month. The strongest wind velocity was logged on September 23 when a force 6 west-north-west wind gusted up to 48.3mph/42.0knots, severe gale force 9 on the Beaufort scale.
Electrical storms occurred during the early hours of September 9.
