How does the Met Office Hadley Centre model compare with other models?

The HadCM3 model used in the UKCP09 projections ranks highly in the most recent comparison of climate models with observations.

In detail

The footnote to paragraph 2.4.1 of Climate change projections report points out that the HadCM3 model ranks highly in the most recent comparison of climate models with observations. The most recent Met Office Hadley Centre model compares somewhat better, but its higher resolution would have drastically reduced the number of ensemble members which could have been run, and hence given a less comprehensive measurement of uncertainty. The methodology which generates PDFs in UKCP09 also includes data from 12 other international climate models.