Weather guides
Short, plain guides to the ideas behind our forecasts: how to read one, how far to trust it, where the numbers come from and what drives UK weather.
How to read a weather forecast
How to read a weather forecast: what the symbol hides, what a rain percentage means, gusts versus wind, feels-like temperature and how far to trust it.
How accurate are long range forecasts?
How accurate long range forecasts are, day by day and week by week: why detail fades after a week and what a 30 day or seasonal forecast can tell you.
Weather models explained
Weather models in plain English: how a forecast model works, global versus regional models, what ECMWF, GFS and the UK model are, and why they disagree.
What is the jet stream?
What the jet stream is, why it moves north and south, and how its position decides whether the UK gets storms, heatwaves, wet summers or cold spells.