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Businesses
are beginning to realise that the weather can have an enormous effect
on their activities and profits and there is no doubt now that weather
is big business in itself.
Big
money contracts
The
Met office has multi million pound contracts with the Civil Aviation
authority and provides forecasts for supermarket chains to enable
them to plan which foods to stock.
They
even issue ground frost warnings to coffee buyers in Brazil so they
can hedge against the price of coffee rising if frost damage occurs
to crops - the list of customers is endless.
Even
the insurance industry is getting in on the act.
Weather
& insurance
According
to datamonitor, weather related claims on household insurance policies
soared by 26% in 2002 - accounting for nearly half of the total
claims by value.
The
increase was largely due to storm damage claims. Insurance companies
can hedge against bad weather, and make provisions for such payouts.
For
example, although it is impossible to predict when and where a hurricane
will strike weeks or months in advance, it is sometimes possible
to predict how active the particular hurricane season will be.
Often,
this is tied into whether or not it is an El Nino year.
So,
if the Met office predicts a very active season with, say five or
more hurricanes, insurance companies can make provisions for claims
and even, in theory, increase premiums accordingly.
It's
all a long way from the days of Bert Ford giving a forecast of sunshine
and showers for the next 24 hours!
Sunny
May
Fortunately
there were no hurricanes in May, indeed it may surprise you that
the month was actually warmer, drier and sunnier than normal.
This
is probably due to the distribution of showers across the region
(the figures quoted below are for Sheffield Weston park) some parts
of the region suffered more frequent and heavier showers.
How
could we have a month without breaking a record! In fact this month's
accolade goes to Fylingdales, high up on the North York moors, which
recorded its highest ever May temperature - 27.8C (82F) on Saturday
31st May.
Data
from Sheffield Weston Park
Temperature 16.8 deg C (average 15.7 deg C)
Rainfall 43mm (Average 56mm)
Sunshine 197hrs (Average 185hrs)
Paul
Hudson
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May saw a wapping 197 hours of sunshine.
