In this issue of Weather

Abstract

A great variety is presented on the pages of Weather this month. We begin with an investigation of a severe thunderstorm in Ankara, Turkey. Many readers will know that Turkey is prone to thunderstorms, in part due to its high ground and the additional lift given to airstreams crossing the country. Severe thunderstorms are a particularly significant aspect of the weather, in particular, to aviation, because of their association with large hail, lightning strikes and turbulence, both within and around cumulonimbus clouds. Tuncay Özdemir and Ali Deniz clearly explain the synoptic situation that led to the case they describe in ‘Severe thunderstorm over Esenboğa International Airport in Turkey on 15 July 2013’ illustrated by a range of observed data and ending with a summary of consequences in and around the Turkish capital.In recent decades, there has been significant evolution of our knowledge of the weather systems that lie along the boundary of warm moist air from the south and cooler drier air to its north and there has been considerable discussion on the pages of this journal. The perception that the current method used to show these weather systems leads to many misconceptions has led Bob Owens to write our next paper ‘Fronts – who needs them?’ A provocative piece, this should lead all readers to think about many aspects of our science, including education and the communication of ideas.Next we move onto a study of ‘The general features of tropical Sumatra squalls’ by Jeff Lo and Thomas Orton. These mesoscale features form in periods of relatively light winds, bringing heavy rain and thunderstorms to Singapore and the trade route through the Malacca Strait, affecting the population and shipping through the area, as well as aircraft using Singapore International Airport. This little‐studied phenomenon will add important detail to our knowledge of local weather in the humid tropics.This month's issue concludes with ‘Long‐term observations of increasing snow cover in the western Cairngorms’ by Christopher Andrews, Stephen Ives and Jan Dick. As the authors state, it might be thought that, in a warming world, snow cover might diminish, in particular in areas where snow is ephemeral. However, the trend in the western Cairngorms (but not reflected everywhere in the Scottish Highlands) in the years since 2002 has been an increase – by a substantial margin – and the time between the first day of snow and the last has increased in this area.