At www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/posts/A-typical-British-summer-in-the-making
Paul Hudson, a BBC weather man, brought HH Lamb back into life last Monday, quoting his work. Lamb has been out of favour by the new brood of climate scientist but Paul Hudson is clearly impressed – comparing our summer this year to those recorded by Lamb, 50 to 60 years ago. Lamb discovered an empirical relationship between low solar activity and an increased probability of higher pressure in winters across northern latitudes – which leads to cooler winters. Another of his findings was that in the middle of June there were invariably a return of the westerlies – bringing changeable weather (just like this week). Areas of low pressure tend to move in from the west (the Atlantic) and depending on where the Jet Stream is located, where the very wet weather will strike. At the moment Germany is getting heavy rain and swollen rivers. In other words, Paul Hudson is saying that as far as British summers are concernedd, long spells of unsettled weather – with sunny spells the exception rather than the rule.