Snow

With snow due to sweep in tonight and through the course of Monday we will be looking at this in year 8 lessons. The cold airmass is heading in from Russia and picking up moisture over the North Sea. We have discussed in some classes before how weather coming from this direction often brings snow in Winter. Monday also sees the launch of the BBC's new weather pages, we will give this a try in lessons to see how long the snow will last and the processes behind it. It was interesting to see on the BBC news that they had recorded thunder and lightning during the snow (see previous entry on Thundersnow). I'm off now to look out of my window to see if any more snow is falling...

Weather: Thundersnow!

It's always exciting having a storm, though of course they can cause great damage. Tonight a storm is forecast that could include something called thundersnow! You can read about this here. This is the kind of thing those of you studying the weather in year 8 need to keep an eye on as you could include it in your project work.

Weather

Just to remind those of you in Year 8 who are studying the weather about the helpful sites out there. The Met office is a good place to start and of course the BBC's new weather pages (select the Beta link) are a great place to catch up on what's going on with our weather now. More weather links are available here. Also for some weather webcams you can look here.

Hurricane Gustav

Welcome back to all for the new term. Some of you in Year 8 have just started studying for the Weather topic and I'm sure you will have noticed Hurricane Gustav heading towards New Orleans in the USA. Some of you will remember the last time this happened and will realise why so many are keeping a careful eye on it. You can see a stuning picture of this storm on the NASA site. Why not keep a track of the Hurricane in Google Earth by switching on the weather layer or check out the latest details on the National Hurricane Center website. It is worth remembering that Hurricanes get all their energy from the sea and you can see how passing over Cuba last night took a lot of the force out of Gustav from this loop. A lot now depends on the temperature of the sea between Cuba and New Orleans. Worth looking at this over the next 24 hours.

Google Earth Update Leicester

After the improvement to Leicester's coverage in Google Earth we were still left with imagery that was seven years old. Now this has been updated with images that are just a couple of years old. You can now clearly see the blue roof of the school(still under construction) and Bradgate Park in the distance. Notice the sky now has clouds, this is because Google Earth has a new weather layer which is updated in near real time, but much more detailed than the overlay we have used in class. Could be useful for the year 8 weather benefits and hazards project.

Weather Hazards

Warnings of a big storm surge in the North Sea tonight. Those of you in year 8 doing your weather benefits and hazards projects will want to keep an eye on this. Notice the causes. Lets just hope we don't now see the effects. For more details the BBC website reports on this here.

Floods

Now that the floodwater is going down in the North it is a good time to reflect on what has happened and look at the effects of our wet June. Ajp on the sln geography forum has posted an excellent presentation on slideshare, have a look and see what you think. It feels like a good time to live in the Midlands even if the weather outlook is for more rain. Those of you in year 7 bear in mind that this will make a great study for your weather benefits and hazards project in year 8.

Lightning in Google Earth

We don't normally feature Google Earth layers on this blog, but this one has to be mentioned since we have now had 2 days of lightning in the past week. Its a layer from GuiWeather.com that shows you live lightning updates worldwide. As lightning swept across Leicestershire tonight from the south I was able to watch its arrival on Google Earth as it homed in on the Bushloe summer concert (being held outdoors). To get the layer just make sure you have Google Earth installed and click on this link for the KML file.

Tornado rips apart Alabama High school

Tornadoes have killed at least 17 people in the southern US states of Alabama, Georgia and Missouri.

Victims included at least five people killed when a tornado ripped through an Alabama school building, and two dead when a hospital was hit in Georgia.

For those of you in Year 8 who have recently completed your
"Weather benefits and hazards" project this story may be of particular interest.

For an animated guide to how Tornadoes happen click on this picture link.

We told you it would snow!

Well we tracked the snow today as it swept its way northwards. Those of you in Mr. Batchelor's classes had the chance to see the snow around the country on the weather cams. Sadly as you can see from the photo of the school Leicestershire only got a thin covering. Watch out tonight as plunging temperatures bring freezing fog! Remember to keep track of the weather here and check out Leicestershire in the snow here.

Snow Joke!

Some of you may have heard about the forecasts of severe weather for Thursday and the weekend. To find out the real story keep in touch using this link.

Latest UK Weather and Flood Warnings thanks to the BBC

Thursday 8 February WEATHER WARNING Wales, Midlands, southern and southeast England: Snow will become heavy during the early morning and may fall for as long as 6 hours at any one location. Typically 5cm of lying snow can be expected with as much as 15cm possible in some areas. Snow will move further north during the morning and afternoon. Valid until 1100GMT
Click here to check out weather web cams from around the UK, can you see any snow yet?

Geography images, be a school photographer.

Are you a top photographer? The great thing about Geography is that pictures tell a thousand words. As the holiday season approaches and you get to travel far and wide, how about bringing us back some of your digital images of weather, landscapes or other interesting features! Just not your dad buried up to his neck with the tide coming in Ehh!! Best ones will be included online in our Flicker collection

General: It was windy today!

You may have noticed it was windy today. The Holiday Inn next to the Walkers Stadium had it's roof blown off and reports have come in from around the city of damage caused by the winds. If you have heard of any damage where you are why not add a comment? Also you may have noticed that as well as a warmer Winter and Autumn we seem to be having a stormier one as well. Do you think this is just a one off or part of a bigger trend, perhaps connected to global warming? Perhaps post a comment on this as well.