Epping Weather Station shows influence of Global Warming in 2020

Epping’s own automatic weather station, run by Epping Town Council (and kindly donated by a local resident), has completed its first year of operation and already is showing that global warming is affecting us here in Epping. As there was a weather station in Epping from 1979-2013, we now have 35 years of data for comparison and 2020 emerges as the warmest yet, with a mean annual temperature of 11.5 °C, approximately 1.1 °C above the average. We’ve had a series of new records through the year. January and May were the warmest of those months in our records. We had the third warmest April and November, the fourth warmest February and June and we recorded our hottest July day (36.0°C) and our hottest September day (31.2°C).

We also had our wettest October on record and probably our wettest August, except that the storms on the afternoon of 16th flooded the Stonards Hill base and knocked out the power supply, so we missed data for three very wet days. It was our 6th wettest year overall and this despite a very dry April and May.

We stream live weather data to our website’s front page at www.eppingweather.org.uk so if you want to know the current temperature, wind, rain, air pressure and so on, it’s on your computer or smartphone just a click away. There’s also the past seven days, month to date and last month’s data online. The full analysis of 2020’s weather is available on the website and we also publish monthly reviews of weather data as ‘weather news’. All our data can be provided to anyone who needs it; schools are particularly welcome to use our data and to help write monthly weather summaries or provide photographs. Contact us through the website.

23rd April 2021

Fleeceware On The Rise

Competition

TIME! Art and Photography Competition for allages

Why not enter a piece of artwork or a photograph into our competition as part of the Epping Forest District Festival of Culture 2021?

To enter either take a photograph or make a piece of art – a drawing, a painting, a model, needlework, sculptureetc – provided its subject is anything to do with Swaines Green and it is made during 2021.

For an entry form and full details please go to our website www.swainesgreen.org.uk

The closing date is Sunday 3rd October 2021

The following classes are open: The classes are: ages 11 or under; ages 12 to 17; over 18

The submissions will be judged by a panel of local art expertswitha small prize beingawarded in each category.

Fleeceware is a recently coined term that refers to mobile applications that come with excessive subscription fees, and in March over 200 such apps were discovered being advertised on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

The applications attract users with the promise of a free 3-day trial, but once the trial is over, they are charged a recurring subscription fee - even if they have deleted the appuntil they cancel the subscription in their device’s app subscription settings. One app offers a short free trial followed by a $66 (£47.73) per week subscription, potentially costing the victim $3,432 (£2,482.19) per year unless cancelled. These fleeceware applications are actively advertised on major social networks.

How to avoid Fleeceware apps:

• Be wary of free trials of less than a week - make sure you understand how much you will be charged and that the app is worth the recurring fee

• Be sceptical of viral adverts for apps - the adverts for fleeceware are likely to have enticing messaging and images to attract users’ attention. They likely do not reflect the actual functionality of the application.

• Read the small print - a closer look will likely reveal the true price of the app. Pay close attention to the ‘In-app purchases’ section and be aware that even if it is a free trial, as there may be automatic charges thereafter.

• Secure your payments - ensure that your payment methods are secured behind a password or biometric check. This can also prevent accidental subscriptions by children.