Scientists predict a warmer summer for 2009

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After recent damp summers in the UK and Europe, scientists in America are predicting that 2009 will see a change for the better reports The Times.

Whilst predicting the weather this week proves tricky enough for forecasters, the Met Office has stuck its neck out and reckons that despite the colder-than-usual start to winter in 2008, there are tantalising signs that summer may be worth looking forward to.

The reason for this bold prediction lies thousands of miles away in the Pacific Ocean, where for the last two years the tropical warm waters there have turned unusually cool, a phenomenon called La Niña. 

This effect normally occurs every few years, and only lasts for one year, but global weather has been under the influence of this effect for the last two years, with the result being that the jet-stream winds have been blown off-course, delivering wet and windy weather to the UK and Europe.  Forecasters are now confident that 2009 will see the end of La Niña, paving the way to much calmer weather.

The US Climate Prediction Centre dares to look way ahead to next August and it sees a return to warmer, drier times for the UK and much of Europe.  There is more good news, in that the Gulf Stream which for the past few years scientists have feared was running out of steam and was even in terminal decline, has perked-up, meaning that Europe may not be about to turn into a frozen wasteland.

If that doesn't convince you to start stocking-up on sun cream, then there is further good news in the form of sun-spots, which are believed by some to have effects on our weather.  After undergoing the quietest sunspot episode for more than 50 years, a new cycle has begun, and some believe that this activity will bring warmer and drier weather.

The Times says that it could be the perfect time to take a holiday in Britain, but we'd argue that you've a better chance of catching some sunshine on the Poitou-Charentes coast, which receives over 2000 hours of sunshine per year, no matter what La Niña brings!