Search site

11-member RCM Technical notes

  • Technical note on projections of lightning
Key findings for lightning projections by 2080s (Medium emission scenario):
  • Increase in the number of lightning days across the UK for all seasons.
  • Projected increases are largest in summer. There is a north-south gradient of change with projected increase greatest in Scotland and Northern Ireland and smallest in south east England.
  • Projected increases in autumn are largest over south England and Wales.
  • Projected increases in spring and winter are small in all locations.
Download the Technnical note on Future change in lightning [4Mb] in the 11-member RCM (pdf, 4.5 MB).
  • Technical note on snow projections
Key findings for snow projections by the 2080s (Medium emission scenario):
  • Mean of the ensemble shows reductions in snow days in all regions.
  • Largest reductions (typically >70%) occur in spring and autumn, with 40–70% reductions in winter.
  • Reductions are smallest for the highlands of Scotland.
  • The general pattern of heavy snow events shows large reductions but with greater intra-ensemble uncertainty.
  • For the whole of the UK the reductions in heavy snow events may be >80% for winter and autumn while reductions in spring may be >40%.
Download the Technnical note on Interpretation and use of snow projections [1Mb] from the 11-member RCM (pdf, 1.7 MB).
  • Technical note on fog projections
Key findings for fog projections by 2080s (Medium emission scenario):
  • Projected changes in Winter are for a decrease in fog of >50% in north Britain and north Wales with increases of 1–30% over south and central England.
  • Projected changes in spring are similar to winter in pattern but exhibit greater reductions.
  • Projected changes for summer show large reductions across the UK.
  • Project changes for autumn show reductions of 10–30% across the UK with greater reductions over the Scottish highlands.
Download a Technical note on the Future frequency of fog [3Mb] from the 1-member RCM (pdf, 3.6 MB).
  • Technical note on surface wind speed

To address the lack of wind speed data available directly from the initial results from UKCP09, the Met Office have provided a Technical note [1Mb] that looks at the 11-member RCM. (pdf, 10.6 MB).

Key findings for surface wind speed under the Medium emission scenario:

  • The 11-member RCM projections show lower than observed wind speeds over mountainous regions of Scotland and Wales, and higher than observed wind speeds over low-lying regions of England.
  • The 11-member RCM provides time series and distributions of daily wind speed which replicate observed characteristics more realistically than in their driving global climate model simulations.
  • Projected future changes in 30 year averages are relatively small within the RCM ensemble.
  • Seasonal changes at individual locations across the UK lie within the range of –15% to +10%.  

A supplement to the wind speed note [334kb] was added in October 2010. (pdf, 340 KB).