The Times - UK (2021-12-22)

the times | Wednesday December 22 2021 59

We a t h e r

Channel Islands

NORTH

SEA

CHANNEL

IRISH

SEA

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Aberdeen

Glasgow Edinburgh

Carlisle

Newcastle

York

Manchester

Liverpool

Hull

Llandudno

Shrewsbury Nottingham

Sheffield

Norwich

Cambridge

Oxford

Bristol

Swansea

Cardiff

Plymouth

Exeter

Southampton

Brighton

London

Londonderry

Belfast

Galway

Dublin

Cork

Birmingham

CELTIC

SEA

Orkney Shetland

16

Christmas Day

8

3

10

11

Aberdeen

Aberporth

Anglesey

Aviemore

Barnstaple

Bedford

Belfast

Birmingham

Bournemouth

Bridlington

Bristol

Camborne

Cardiff

Edinburgh

Eskdalemuir

Glasgow

Hereford

Herstmonceux

Ipswich

Isle of Man

Isle of Wight

Jersey

Keswick

Kinloss

Leeds

Lerwick

Leuchars

Lincoln

Liverpool

London

Lyneham

Manchester

Margate

Milford Haven

Newcastle

Nottingham

Orkney

Oxford

Plymouth

Portland

Scilly, St Mary’s

Shoreham

Shrewsbury

Snowdonia

Southend

South Uist

Stornoway

Tiree

Whitehaven

Wick

Yeovilton

Around Britain

Key: b=bright, c=cloud, d=drizzle, pc=partly cloudy

du=dull, f=fair, fg=fog, h=hail, m=mist, r=rain,

sh=showers, sl=sleet, sn=snow, s=sun, t=thunder

*=previous day **=data not available

Temp C Rain mm Sun hr*

midday yesterday 24 hrs to 5pm yesterday

Noon today

1 B 0.0 0.0

4 DU 0.0 0.0

4 DU 0.0 0.0

-3 DU 0.0 0.0

8 B 0.0 **

4 C 0.0 **

6 DU 0.0 0.0

5 C 0.0 **

6 DU 0.0 0.0

5 DU 0.4 **

5 DU 0.0 0.0

7 B 0.0 0.0

6 DU 0.0 0.0

2 DU 0.0 0.0

0 DU 0.0 0.1

2 M 0.0 0.0

5 DU 0.0 **

6 C 0.0 0.0

4 DU 0.0 0.0

5 DU 0.0 0.0

6 DU 0.0 **

6 S 0.0 0.0

3 C 0.0 **

1 PC 0.0 0.3

2 C 0.0 **

5 SH 2.0 **

2 DU 0.0 0.0

4 DU 0.0 0.0

4 C 0.0 **

6 C 0.0 0.0

4 C 0.0 0.0

4 DU 0.0 0.0

** ** 0.5 0.0

7 DU 0.0 **

3 C 0.0 **

3 DU 0.0 0.0

5 B 0.0 0.0

6 DU 0.0 **

7 C 0.0 **

7 DU 0.0 **

7 DU 0.0 **

5 C 0.0 0.0

5 DU 0.0 0.0

1 S 0.0 **

6 C 0.0 0.0

6 DU 0.2 **

5 DU 1.2 0.0

7 DU 0.0 0.0

1 DU 0.0 0.0

2 PC 0.0 **

6 DU 0.0 0.0

The world

All readings local midday yesterday

Alicante

Amsterdam

Athens

Auckland

Bahrain

Bangkok

Barbados

Barcelona

Beijing

Beirut

Belgrade

Berlin

Bermuda

Bordeaux

Brussels

Bucharest

Budapest

Buenos Aires

Cairo

Calcutta

Canberra

Cape Town

Chicago

Copenhagen

Corfu

Delhi

Dubai

Dublin

Faro

Florence

Frankfurt

Geneva

Gibraltar

Helsinki

Hong Kong

Honolulu

Istanbul

Jerusalem

Johannesburg

Kuala Lumpur

Kyiv

Lanzarote

Las Palmas

Lima

Lisbon

Los Angeles

Luxor

Madeira

Madrid

Malaga

Mallorca

Malta

Melbourne

Mexico City

Miami

Milan

Mombasa

Montreal

Moscow

Mumbai

Munich

Nairobi

Naples

New Orleans

New York

Nice

Nicosia

Oslo

Paris

Perth

Prague

Reykjavik

Riga

Rio de Janeiro

Riyadh

Rome

San Francisco

Santiago

São Paulo

Seoul

Seychelles

Singapore

St Petersburg

Stockholm

Sydney

Tel Aviv

Tenerife

Tokyo

Vancouver

Venice

Vienna

Warsaw

Washington

Zurich

17 PC

5 S

10 PC

23 PC

25 S

30 S

29 PC

12 PC

6 S

17 R

1 B

2 B

20 SH

6 S

1 S

-2 S

2 PC

33 S

14 PC

20 S

27 S

30 S

5 B

0 B

14 S

19 S

27 S

5 B

16 PC

9 B

2 S

1 B

16 B

-13 S

16 R

27 PC

6 PC

11 SH

21 B

33 PC

-10 B

23 PC

22 PC

18 B

17 R

17 PC

16 S

20 PC

11 B

17 S

17 PC

15 PC

24 PC

19 C

27 B

5 M

31 B

-8 C

-16 SN

30 S

-1 PC

19 C

12 B

11 DU

2 PC

9 B

18 PC

-6 B

2 S

29 S

0 S

2 PC

-7 SN

27 PC

23 S

13 PC

12 B

31 S

24 PC

6 S

29 PC

31 B

-14 SN

-6 S

28 S

11 SH

20 R

11 PC

1 PC

6 B

3 PC

-4 S

4 S

0 DU

The Times weather

page is provided

by Weatherquest

Five days ahead

Unsettled with spells of

rain, sleet or snow with

the coldest temperatures

over northern Britain

Today Rather cloudy with rain, sleet or snow in the north and west but dry elsewhere. Max 12C (54F), min -2C (28F)

Tides

Tidal predictions.

Heights in metres

Today Ht Ht

Aberdeen

Avonmouth

Belfast

Cardiff

Devonport

Dover

Dublin

Falmouth

Greenock

Harwich

Holyhead

Hull

Leith

Liverpool

London Bridge

Lowestoft

Milford Haven

Morecambe

Newhaven

Newquay

Oban

Penzance

Portsmouth

Shoreham

Southampton

Swansea

Tees

Weymouth

03:02 3.9 15:06 4.1

08:50 12.0 21:12 11.7

00:37 3.2 12:58 3.6

08:34 11.4 20:58 11.1

07:21 5.3 19:42 5.0

00:32 6.3 12:41 6.1

01:02 3.7 13:19 3.9

06:55 4.9 19:13 4.6

02:06 3.3 14:06 3.7

01:02 3.8 13:26 3.7

12:03 5.4 --:-- -.-

08:00 6.8 20.03 7.0

04:18 5.1 16:29 5.2

00:35 8.6 12:47 8.7

03:21 6.6 15:41 6.8

11:22 2.3 23:25 2.5

07:50 6.5 20:11 6.3

00:45 8.6 12:57 8.8

00:38 6.3 12:45 6.2

06:41 6.6 19:02 6.4

07:16 3.8 19:43 3.6

06:18 5.2 18:35 5.0

01:11 4.5 13:12 4.4

00:40 5.9 12:45 5.8

00.03 4.2 02:48 4.2

07:58 8.7 20:20 8.4

05:23 5.0 17:30 5.2

08:13 2.0 20:40 1.7

Synoptic situation

A broad area of high pressure

across Europe and into England

and Wales will bring mainly

dry conditions with sunny

spells. Low pressure in the

Atlantic will push a complex

set of fronts into Ireland and

Scotland, bringing a milder air

mass and extensive amounts of

cloud with rain and snow. Low

pressure will dominate Britain

and Ireland into the weekend.

Highs and lows

24hrs to 5pm yesterday

Warmest: St Mary’s,

Isles of Scilly, 8.9C

Coldest: Braemar, -9.3C

Wettest: Baltasound,

Shetland, 3.8mm

Sunniest: Aberdaron, 1.4hrs*

Sun and moon

For Greenwich

Sun rises:

Sun sets:

Moon rises:

Moon sets:

Third quarter: December 27

Hours of darkness

Aberdeen

Belfast

Birmingham

Cardiff

Exeter

Glasgow

Liverpool

London

Manchester

Newcastle

Norwich

Penzance

Sheffi eld

15:57-08:17

16:29-08:15

16:25-07:47

16:36-07:46

16:41-07:44

16:15-08:16

16:25-07:56

16:23-07:34

16:21-07:53

16:10-08:00

16:12-07:35

16:52-07:49

16:19-07:50

General situation: Mostly dry with

sunny spells across England and Wales,

but cloudy elsewhere with outbreaks of

rain, sleet and snow.

Cen S Eng, SE Eng, E Anglia, London,

Midlands, E Eng, Cen N Eng, NW Eng,

NE Eng, Channel Is: Frosty at fi rst

with any freezing fog patches clearing

to bring a dry day with sunny spells,

although rather hazy with cloud

tending to increase. Light to moderate

southerly wind. Maximum 6C (43F),

minimum 0C (32F).

Republic of Ireland, N Ireland: Cloudy

with outbreaks of heavy rain spreading

northeast, turning lighter with some

patchy fog during the afternoon.

Moderate to strong southeasterly

wind. Maximum 12C (54F),

minimum 5C (41F).

NE Scotland, Moray Firth, Aberdeen,

N Isles: Mainly dry with rather cloudy

skies but some showery rain over

the Northern Isles. Light south or

southeasterly wind. Maximum

3C (37F), minimum 1C (34F).

SW Eng, Lake District, SW Scotland,

IoM, Wales: Dry with bright intervals

at fi rst, then turning cloudy with

outbreaks of rain. Light to moderate

southeasterly wind. Maximum

10C (50F), minimum 1C (34F).

Edinburgh and Dundee, Cen Highland,

Glasgow, NW Scotland, Borders, Argyll:

Dry and frosty at fi rst with some

patchy fog, then cloud increasing to

bring rain, freezing rain or snow. Light

southeasterly wind. Maximum

4C (39F), minimum -2C (28F).

Tomorrow

10

5

12

11

Christmas Eve

8

5

10

11

Boxing Day

5

2

5

10

Monday

5

2

6

8

32

f Ireland N Irela

23 18

20

oooo

23

22

30

19

12

neyney Sh

5

7

3

3

1

4

1

1

2

1

3 3

3

3

6

8

2

9

10

7

1

6

r

ih

L

k

F

95

86

77

68

59

50

41

32

23

14

5

C

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

-5

-10

-15

Wind speed

(mph)

Temperature

28 (degrees C)

34

Sea state

Calm

Slight

Moderate

Rough

Flood alerts and warnings

At 17:00 on Tuesday there were no

fl ood alerts or warnings in England,

Wales or Scotland.

For further information and updates

in England visit fl ood-warning-

information.service.gov.uk, for Wales

naturalresources.wales/fl ooding and

for Scotland SEPA.org.uk

Cold front

Warm front

Occluded front

Trough

LOW

HIGH

LOW

LOW

HIGH

LOW

LOW

1056

10401048

1032

1024

1024

1016

1016

1016

1008

1000

1000

992 984

976

968

Cloudy with spells of heavy rain across

central and southern England, Wales

and southern Ireland, turning wintry

in northern England and the north of

Ireland. Wintry showers over Scotland.

Max 11C, min -5C

Mainly cloudy with outbreaks of rain

spreading northeast across Britain and

Ireland, especially heavy and perhaps

wintry in northern areas. Turning

brighter and milder in the south.

Max 12C, min 0C

Wintry showers in northern Scotland.

Mostly dry in northern and eastern

England with sunny spells. Cloud and

rain will spread into Ireland, Wales and

southern England.

Max 11C, min -4C

Mainly cloudy with outbreaks of

showery rain over England, Wales and

Ireland, turning wintry in northern

England and the north of Ireland.

Isolated wintry showers over Scotland.

Max 10C, min -5C

Wintry showers in Scotland and parts

of Ireland. Rather cloudy over England

and Wales with showery rain, turning

heavy near the south coast.

Max 8C, min -5C

08.03

15.53

18.49

11.11 Thu

8

A

16-year-old boy from the

tiny island of Tiree in the

Hebrides has become one

of the youngest surfers of

the mighty waves of

Nazaré on the west coast of

Portugal. Ben Larg had regularly

surfed the waves at Tiree, the most

westerly and windswept island of the

Inner Hebrides where Atlantic

waves and ocean swells crash on to

the beaches. But even by Tiree’s

standards, the waves at Nazaré are

monsters that can reach 100ft high

in winter and have attracted surfers

from all over the world. In 2017 the

Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa set a

new world record when he rode a

wave measuring 80ft, although

more recently the Portuguese

surfer António Laureano claimed to

have surfed a 101ft wave but this

remains unofficial.

Ben Larg has tackled waves 40ft

high, and a documentary film called

Ride The Wave charts his surfing

career over four years as he

prepares for a career as a

professional — the film will be

shown at the Glasgow Film Festival

in March, before going on general

release in cinemas.

Nazaré owes its skyscraper waves

to a rare undersea feature. Just off

the coast is the biggest underwater

ravine in Europe called Nazaré

Canyon, that starts 125 miles out in

the Atlantic. At its deepest point the

canyon floor is an abyss more than

three miles deep, before rising

steeply to a canyon headwall just off

the coast of Praia do Norte beach,

where the monstrous waves emerge.

The waves start from huge winter

storms and ocean swells in the

North Atlantic. These waves don’t

just sit on top of the ocean, though,

because their energy extends as far

as 500ft deep and as the waves move

into shallower waters closer to

shore, the ocean’s bottom pulls and

drags on the waves, they slow down,

get closer together and grow taller.

As the waves rush through the

canyon they also become deflected

towards Nazaré and eventually grow

so tall they become unstable. This is

when they rear up like monster

walls of water and break as their

crests spill over towards the shore.

Weather Eye

Paul Simons