Uk Weather Hazards

• UK's climate


  Mild, seasonal - cool, wet winters and warm wet summers
• Factors affecting UK weather

  • Continentality
  • North Atlantic Drift
  • Air masses
• Continentality


  • Coastal areas are warmer in winter and cooler in summer
  • Seas take up the heat in the summer, cooling the surrounding land
  • During the winter, the heat is released, keeping the coastal land warmer
• North Atlantic Drift


  • Ocean currents bringing warm waters from the Caribbean to the west coast of the UK
  • This keeps the west coast of the UK warmer than other regions of the UK
• Air masses


  • Arctic or Polar cold air
  • Tropical warm air
  • Maritime wet air
  • Continental dry air
• UK's Air Masses


  • Polar Maritime (Cold and wet)
  • Arctic Maritime (Very cold and wet)
  • Polar Continental (Cold and dry)
  • Tropical Continental (Warm and dry)
  • Tropical Maritime (Warm and wet)
• Depressions


  • Bring very wet and windy with unstable, low-pressure weather
  • Form over the Atlantic Ocean, then move east over the UK
  • The strongest winds and heaviest rains are in the autumn due to sea waters releasing summer heat and meeting colder Polar air
• Anticyclones


  • Bring very cold or very hot, stable, high-pressure dry weather
  • Also, form over the Atlantic Ocean and move east over the UK
  • Winter anticyclones bring long periods of cold, foggy weather
  • Summer anticyclones cause periods of hot, dry, clear weather
• UK weather hazards


  • Rain
  • Wind
  • Heatwaves
  • Thunderstorms
  • Hailstorms
  • Drought
  • Snow and ice
• Flooding


  • Causes damage to homes, possessions, disrupts transport networks etc.
  • Costs for recovery can cost millions of pounds
• Strong gales


  • Damage properties and cause general disruptions
  • Uprooted trees and debris can injure or kill
  • Winds are strongest in coastal areas - particularly the west coast and upland areas
• Heatwave


  • Long periods of extremely hot weather cause breathing difficulties, death and heat exhaustion
  • Pollution is held in the air as there is no wind to move it
  • Roads can melt and rails buckle under the heat, which disrupts transport
  • Tourism may benefit from good weather
• Thunderstorm


  • Heavy rain, lightning and strong winds
  • Most common in summer in the south and east of the UK
  • Lightning strikes can kill and can also cause fires and damage properties and the environment
• Hailstorm


  • Hailstorms usually occur with thunderstorms
  • Make driving difficult and can break windscreens
  • Can damage property
  • Destroy crops
  • Can kill if the hailstone is really large
• Drought


  • Water supplies run low
  • Causes economic impacts through loss of crops, death of animals, loss of wildlife etc.
  • People are affected by hosepipe bans and restrictions on water supplies
• Snow & Ice


  • Causes injury through slips and falls
  • Death through the cold
  • Schools, transport and business are impacted by closures
  • Cold snaps damage crops and wildlife
  • Farm animals can be killed in snow drifts
• Extreme weather


  • Weather that is unexpected, unusual, severe, unseasonal, significantly different from the normal pattern, not normal to a particular area
  • Weather (event) that can cause a threat to life
  • Weather (event) that can cause damage (to property)
• The UK's weather is becoming more extreme
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that temperatures will increase during this century
• Global warming increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events through increased evaporation and rainfall
• Since the 1980s extreme winter rainfall has increased
• UK temperatures have increased by about 1°C since 1980
• Examples of extreme weather in the UK

  • More frequent and heavier rainstorms, particularly in the autumn
  • Gales
  • Flooding
  • Heatwaves
  • Droughts
  • Thick fog
  • Heavy snowfall
• Unusually cold winters occurred in 2010-11 and 2014-15
• Temperatures fell to -10°C with frost destroying crops and killing livestock
• Over 17,000 trains were cancelled in 2014 due to the freezing conditions and flights were delayed
• Frequent, heavy rainfall in autumn is followed by major flooding
• The UK is regularly hit by depressions which bring heavy rain to the west coast of the UK
• During the winter of 2013/14 there were prolonged Atlantic storms, with persistent rainfall and gale-force winds