In this issue of Weather

Abstract

We start this month’s issue with the annual review of climate on p. 219. ‘Global and regional climate in 2016’ reveals the extraordinary warmth of last year – some 0.77 ± 0.09 degC above the 1961–90 mean – was possibly the warmest in records going back more than 167 years and similar to the exceptional level observed in 2015. John Kennedy and his co‐authors from the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research and the National Climate Information Centre also reveal that this had important effects on precipitation. The series has been published in Weather since 1995, and to mark this notable achievement, the whole series has been made available in a new virtual issue of the journal (see the Global and Regional Climate virtual issue).On p. 226, we re‐visit the developments in our knowledge of mountain waves, as revealed largely by German meteorologists in in inter‐war years in Richard Worthington’s ‘The atmosphere under the waves: forgotten meteorology from Nazi Germany’.Hurricanes are a notable mesoscale feature of the tropical oceans, but similar systems have been noted in the lower mid‐latitudes, developed when cooler air becomes unstable over a much warmer Mediterranean Sea. Now, in ‘Birth of the Biscane’, Michael Maier‐Gerber and his co‐authors present evidence of a similar development over the Bay of Biscay in September 2015 on p. 236.Our final paper for August is ‘Ten‐year meteorological record for an upland research catchment near the summit of Snake Pass in the Peak District, UK’ by Gareth Clay and Martin Evans on p. 242. The relatively cool and wet climate of this modestly high ground is clearly demonstrated, as is the close association of UK climates at lower altitudes, such as the mean wind direction and number of dry days. Although few people live even near the altitude of the Snake Pass observatory (506m), it is important that we know about both similarities and differences in climate with change of altitude. The difficulties of maintenance of high‐level observatories is also clear, where strong winds, rain, ice and snow, as well as remoteness, are significant issues.