TECHNICAL U P D AT E
Steven Davey Met Office sport, leisure, industry and infrastructure manager
WHY FOCUS ON WEATHER?
Everyone is disappointed when games are called off due to adverse weather, so the key to getting surfaces and stadia prepared is to plan as far ahead as possible using some of the world’s best weather forecasting tools
A
wide range of weather can have implications for a grounds team’s operations: excess rainfall can lead to ground saturation; no rainfall may require up to 15,000 litres of water (around 2mm of rainfall) to water a pitch; snow and lightning bring health and safety issues; wind can affect the stability of equipment and assets around the event; and frost can be particularly frustrating, making pitches without undersoil heating unplayable. We have seen numerous effects of the weather on sports over the past few seasons. The question is, could these events have been foreseen? With the right support from the Met Office, the answer is most probably, yes. With the right forecast, clubs can help prevent people driving hundreds of miles without seeing a game, and forewarn staff and fans when challenging conditions occur. Potentially, it is possible to make late cancellations a thing of the past.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Weather forecasting has come a long way over the past five years. The way the Met Office records data, from observation stations, radar, satellite and even commercial aeroplanes, to the way the forecast is presented, is world leading. The developments allow the Met Office to bring the UK industry operationally critical weather information by: New Met Office supercomputer – one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, leading to more detailed forecasts for precise geographical locations. 28 THE GROUNDSMAN August 2017
TO O L S & GUIDANCE
What can we learn from the weather in August 2016? page 46
This can attribute a piece of data to every grain of sand on the planet More innovative and accurate automated weather stations across the UK, including the upgrade of 15 ‘dual-polarisation’ radar stations, giving far more accurate rainfall and snow information across the UK New weather visualisation and analytical tools for planning, decision making and alerting around locationspecific events – namely, the VisualEyes service. VisualEyes is the Met Office’s location-specific weather alert system. It contains a range of weather layers and a long-range view out to 14 days, using
WHAT IS THE MET OFFICE? The Met Office is a Trading Fund within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). It provides weather and climate forecasts so people in the UK and around the world can be safe, well and prosperous. Its aim is to be an accessible expert partner to UK plc, including supporting the British sport industry. The World Meteorological Organisation ranks the Met Office as one of the top operational services in the world. It is one of the world’s most trusted weather providers working at the forefront of weather and climate science, helping people make decisions based on the weather, based on the forecasts produced.