With the settled weather, and clear skies, thoughts at this time of year turn to the forthcoming Messier Marathon season. This year, 2019, the best observing times will be from 3rd – 9th March. If you aren’t familiar with what a Messier Marathon is, here’s a simple definition: A Messier […]

A total lunar eclipse is when the Moon passes into the Earth’s total shadow, or umbra. Lunar eclipses occur on a full Moon night when the Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned in a straight line or almost straight line in space. Anyone on the night-side of the Earth at […]

With the threat of snow ever present in the tabloids, it helps to stay informed and bypass the sensationalist headlines. Check out the Snow RADAR, forecasts and Model forecasts on the pages below.

Reports coming from south west Ireland over the weekend in the news media indicate that a bright meteor possibly broke up as it entered Earth’s atmosphere early on Friday morning. For more information, check out the BBC News report where local expert at the Armagh Observatory, Apostolos Christou, spoke to […]

The annual Perseid meteor shower is coming. The shower begins, gently, in mid-July when Earth enters the outskirts of a cloud of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Dust-sized meteoroids, hitting the atmosphere, will streak across the night sky, at first only a sprinkling, just a few each night, but the rate […]

With many thanks to WANSTEAD METEO for this fantastic insight into the last 70 years of winter snow in London. Follow Wanstead Meteo on Twitter. I first wrote this blog in December 2013 not realising that the following winters were going to turn so mild. Winter 2013/14 ranks the worst of […]

There’s nothing more British than a conversation about the weather, and with winter fully underway it’s often a moan! Whether it’s too cold, too dark or even too warm to snow, it seems we’re never quite happy with what’s going on outside. Some of us, however, have more reason to […]

With the heat, humidity and thunderstorms over the UK, I thought I’d share some facts about thunderstorms. Click below to watch a playlist of lightning videos posted today from England, 26th May 2017 storms.  How do thunderstorms form? Thunderstorms develop when the atmosphere is unstable – this is when warm […]

How do snowflakes form? A snowflake begins to form when a water droplet freezes onto a pollen or dust particle in the sky. This creates an ice crystal. As the crystal falls to the ground, water vapour freezes onto the “primary” crystal, building new crystals which become the six arms […]