Five meteorology talks in 4 countries in 2.5 weeks. Dr. Cohen’s “great capitals of the world” tour.
Before I could start my “great capitals of the world” tour, had to put in a full workday followed by teaching a three hour class; at least it was on my favorite topic, seasonal forecasting. From class I went straight to the airport and caught my late flight to London Heathrow. Then another three and a half hours by train to the UK Met Office/Hadley Centre in Exeter. As Janusz Eluszkiewicz told me, the Hadley Centre is a world leader in climate modeling research. I was nervous I would miss my own seminar but made it in time with an hour to spare. Began the seminar with one request, if I stop talking for an unusually long time would someone from the audience please give me a shove and hopefully I will start talking again. But despite sleeping for only an hour on the plane and a long trip, I held up pretty well. Even joked that the laser pointer the UK Met Office provided was fading much faster than I was.
My talk on using snow cover in seasonal predictions went well with positive reviews including “great,” “fantastic” and “very interesting” talk. Of course those who might have felt differently are less likely to tell me so to my face.
Friday morning I returned to the UK Met Office for more discussions, mostly with my host Adam Scaife, the head of Monthly to Decadal Predictions at the Hadley Centre, and his group. I am very pleased that we agreed to collaborate on two projects, including analyzing snow cover in their seasonal forecast model and improving a statistical model that they are developing for research purposes. My only regret is that the trip was too short. Anyway now I am en route to London to spend the weekend with friends before flying to Vienna to attend EGU where I present a talk on Tuesday. BTW It hailed on me in Exeter and again in London, the curse of the weatherman.
Cheers,
Judah
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Last week’s hail has followed me to London! Weatherman’s luck!
