Weather Stuff, Or Stuff the weather...

Ok in case you haven't Looked outside lately , The weather in England has been horrendous lately... Britain has always been on the aerial borderlines of hot and cold... At the lower layers of the Atmosphere the "troposphere" jet streams like  temperature borderlines....
As high winds shoot faster in between the weather fronts causing streams or strips of wind pathways over the lower atmosphere or 5- 7 miles up...
As the world turns and the different large air masses of varying temperatures try to move... The overall movement is fluid-like and a jet stream forms a 200 mile an hour roadway about a quarter of the way down from either polar regions and another in the tropic region... A polar vortex or the atmosphere above the polar region (about 30 miles high), can effect the Jet stream... A strong jet stream can bring in warmer weather from the west... But a weak polar vortex can weaken the jet stream and make it buckle... ( In theory north Atlantic current can weaken the polar vortex..)

In the case of this week, England is right under the jets stream that buckled in favor for High pressure... The jet stream wriggles or buckles around like a global sized snake sometimes covering most of England over the space of a week and then moving hundred miles or so away (especially during winter time)... The polar jet stream is a particular nasty global snake as it maneuvers the weather pattern to allow high pressure from Scandinavia... The high pressure spins clockwise which has a cold wind stream from Russia blowing into England...

As its still classed as winter, the Arctic blast made us all feel like we were in the film "Day after tomorrow..." Where The freak flash of cold made us prisoners of the Snow... Winter jet streams seem to get worst as world temperatures fuel the jet streams and creates more extreme temperatures at the boarders of high and low pressure fronts... Fortunately the low pressure from Portugal and the tropics seem to slowly push the Scandinavian high pressure away...

Most of you maybe reading all of this and think whats it got to do with me?... well most droners would prefer to go out in mild weather... But with spring around the corner when the weather transitions to warmer weather... The jet stream can prolong the bad weather a little longer until it swings around... Low pressure turning anti clockwise generally from the tropics will bring nice mild weather while this weeks high pressure turning clock wise scooped Russian weather... No wonder why they are miserable, the cold will make anyone sad...

As a general rule, high pressure ( cyclone) should bring nice clear skies and no rain... And low pressure (cyclone) brings the crappy wet weather Or sucks the warm moisture to build up ultimately as rain if collected enough water vapor to turn into a big cloud formation... Using a barometer will help to determine the likelihood of good or bad weather by seeing if its the left or right of the mid point of 1013.25 hPa the mean pressure at sea level... 

However weather fronts do overlap each other and in the example of this week the low pressure over the high has cause the rain to fall and to freeze and drop down as snow... Most people will see it as freak weather but to me its interesting as a huge continent sized vacuum or pressurized area can hold sway over whether or not I can fly my drone this weekend or not...



To help you can get the general weather from the met office or usual mobile apps for your phone... also I personally like to monitor the barometric pressure too... Go into your app store and search for barometer... As most phones have a electronic barometer  ( my iphone has one ) its always nice to see the changes in pressure over the week... These huge pressure areas can move slowly and with a bit of luck allow you to get ahead of the weather and possibly predict the weather over the week... Anyway lets hope for better weather next week or at the very least flyable weather...
Generally high pressure is needed for good weather but when you prolong the weather front as long as this past week during winter time, you end up with a short term nice sky before the clockwise rotation scoops in the cold from a colder country and makes a large corridor for the freezing air to blanket the country in low temperatures... Think of it as a party guest that's out stayed his welcome... Its ok in the summer when High pressure comes and stays as most global temperatures are warm and the weather pattern draws in another country's weather (hopefully from a warmer country)... But in the winter when the country adjacent leaves its cold clammy climate on your doorstep, then its a week long winter snow fest for the kids and probably a nightmare for the rest of us...