Why our turbulent weather is getting even harder to predict [1]

The Guardian - 4/06/13, Robin McKie (The Observer)

The cold snap, fingers crossed, is about to end. But extreme weather – snow, floods and drought – is the new norm.

Britain's weather [2] excelled itself last week. It produced an Easter Sunday that was the coldest on record in the UK. Temperatures stuck below zero in many regions; freezing conditions continued to disrupt transport; and experts warned of increasing threats to animals and birds already struggling to survive loss of habitat and climate change [3]. The start of British Summer Time last Sunday night was marked in Braemar by temperatures that fell to -11C. For good measure, an unappetising April looks likely to follow this misery.

The persistence of the spring's grim weather is particularly striking for it comes after a series of other extreme meteorological events in recent years. Last winter, a severe drought triggered stern warnings by the Environment Agency that water rationing and hosepipe bans would soon have to be introduced – until several months of torrential rain produced widespread flooding.

To read the rest of this story, visit The Guardian [4].