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With projected climate change, it is increasingly important to understand the current role of weather in everyday life and how it may change in the future. This paper evaluates two qualitative research approaches for their ability to generate insight into weather-related experiences and everyday practices. As these mundane day-to-day weather interactions often escape memory over time, the paper calls into question the ability of conventional methodological approaches that rely on recall to accurately excavate these events. The research examined serial one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with an adapted short-term focus, and daily diary-photographs. Each approach was applied to one of two Australian cities with sharply contrasting climates - Melbourne and Darwin. Both approaches were able to generate insight into weather-related experiences and practices. However, both presented problems. In interviews, these problems related to retrospective accounts beyond 'yesterday', where physical experience recollections became limited. For diary-photographs, inspiring participants to continually complete and submit contributions proved problematic. I argue that interviews are better for documenting routine practice and generalised experiences, while diary-photographs are better at showing fine-grained detail of physical experiences. Where both aspects are sought, as in this study, a combination is possible. However, using dual methods increases the risk of participant fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first part of this paper existing evidence (mostly from earth and atmospheric sciences) on global climatic changes and their dependence (and effect) upon human action is briefly reviewed. Reference is made to existing major international programmes of research focusing on these climatic changes. The main part of the paper concentrates on the study of global change within the framework of the social sciences. Five psychological characteristics of global environmental change are explained which would account for the human inability to respond adequately without the supportive means of information presentation and processing. Future research on psychological dimensions of global change should explore these in greater detail and study modes of social communication that will become instrumental in implementing such support systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cut-off low pressure systems (COLs) are defined as closed lows in the upper troposphere that have become completely detached from the main westerly current. These slow-moving systems often affect the weather conditions at the earth's surface and also work as a mechanism of mass transfer between the stratosphere and the troposphere, playing a significant role in the net flow of tropospheric ozone. In the first part of this work we provide a comprehensive summary of results obtained in previous studies of COLs. Following this, we present three long-term climatologies of COLs. The first two climatologies are based on the conceptual model of a COL, using European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analyses (1958–2002) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (1948–2006) reanalysis data sets. The third climatology uses a different method of detection, which is based on using potential vorticity as the physical parameter of diagnosis. This approach was applied only to the ECMWF reanalysis data. The final part of the paper is devoted to comparing results obtained by these different climatologies in terms of areas of preferential occurrence, life span, and seasonal cycle. Despite some key differences, the three climatologies agree in terms of the main areas of COL occurrence, namely (1) southwestern Europe, (2) the eastern north Pacific coast, and (3) the north China–Siberian region. However, it is also shown that the detection of these areas of main COL occurrence, as obtained using the potential vorticity approach, depends on the level of isentropic analysis used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding of how best to support those most vulnerable to climate stress is imperative given expected changes in climate variability. This paper investigates local adaptation strategies to climate variability, focusing on agricultural decision-making in a communal irrigation scheme in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Research done through interviews, surveys and participatory methods demonstrates that adaptation strategies within a community are socially differentiated and present differing objectives and priorities. These results highlight the need for intervention and policy that support a heterogeneous response to a wide range of stresses. Evidence for climate change is clear and the need for adaptation is urgent. However, adaptation measures have to be sensitively integrated with ongoing development pathways to ensure they are sustainable and relevant to local priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in climatic change has never been greater and it is inevitable that the search for periodicities in the climatic record should be a popular means of attempting to unravel at least some of the complexities of the atmospheric system. This paper reviews aspects of the methodologies of spectral analysis and takes the example of the Barcelona precipitation series (1850–1991) to illustrate how both spectral analysis and other statistical analyses can provide information on climatic evolution as expressed through the medium of this one variable. Copyright © 1999 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This month’s issue focuses on the meteorological effects of solar eclipses using data collected in the UK on 20 March 2015 and the USA on 21 August 2017. We begin with Edward Hanna’s examination of data from stations run by amateur enthusiasts, most of them in the Climatological Observers’ Link network. ‘Meteorological effects of the 20 March 2015 solar eclipse over the United Kingdom’ on p. 71 builds on the observations made at Met Office stations, published in Clark ( ) and Hanna et al. ( ). The observations show a high degree of consistency and the reduction in solar radiation had a strong signal in all parts of the UK, even where there were cloudy skies in most southern, as well as many northern and eastern areas. It also adds to the effects reported in this journal, following the eclipse of 11 August 1999 (Hanna, ). Bob Bourton’s short contribution ‘The thermal effects noticed at Heathrow Airport during the partial solar eclipse of 20 March 2015 ‘on p. 81 looks at the effects of the 2015 eclipse at Heathrow Airport. The range of instruments available across the airport and in roads leading to it gives further insight into the temperature and radiation changes during the obscuration of 85% of the sun’s disk in the west of London. On p. 90, we move to the observations made in the USA under the swathe of total or near‐total eclipse on 21 August 2017 in ‘Meteorological impacts of the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017’, as reported by Stephen Burt. The data from sites run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, ) are supplemented by observations made by Stephen Burt near Jackson, Wyoming. Because the path of this eclipse crossed much of the USA and could be observed at least partially in all parts of the country, this was probably the best observed eclipse in history. Under clear skies, falls of about 5 degC were seen, accompanied by a fall in wind speed, now known from observations on both sides of the Atlantic to be a significant effect of this short‐duration phenomenon. We also include a seasonally‐appropriate look at the effects of year‐to‐year weather on plants and animals on p. 86. Ian Strangeways’ paper ‘Phenology: plants and animals as meteorological sensors’, gives us an overview of this subject, which used to be one of the activities of the Royal Meteorological Society. He includes the history of its development in the UK, as well as its value in weather science and our knowledge of the effects of changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]