Weather in the NEWS

'summer is a comin' in....'

The end of March saw the arrival of the vernal (Spring) equinnox and the change to 'British Summer Time' (28th March).

The spring equinnox occurs as the overhead Sun passes across the Equator in a northerly direction. On this day there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nigh (equi - equal - nox - night). From now on, the Sun will appear overhead at increasing northerly latitudes until its maximum northwards progress is reached at the Summer Solstice on June 21st.

At the very end of March, Britain's clocks went forwards one hour to British Summer Time, designed to provide longer hours of daylight working conditions. Evenings are now much lighter with clear skies giving reasonably light conditions until 8 o'clock. Over the next few months the evenings will lengthen towards mid-summer when northern skies will still appear light late into the evening; in the far north as late as 11.00pm.

This year, the beginning of April coincided with Easter - and for many, the beginnings of the holiday season. With good weather forecast, many thousands took to the roads heading for the coast - and the south and west of England. Long delays built up as heavy traffic poured into Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

The Easter period is seen as the start of the 'season' along the south coast. Camp sites in the New Forest opened for the first time this year and were soon filled with tents, caravans and campers. Along the beaches of Bournemouth, the sea front concession stands opened for business.

The early promise of the forecasters soon gave way to rain as frontal systems moved in from the south west bringing light rain on Easter Saturday. With warm mild air from the South West, temperatures were high and conditions, although damp, were not unpleasant.

Clouds cover the Balkans: 28th March 1999

A succession of frontal systems over Southern Europe posed considerable problems for NATO aircrews engaged in ground attack missions over Serbia and Kosovo. Heavy cloud cover made it difficult to 'spot' targets with precision laser guidance systems leaving the crews with the possibility that bombs and rockets would miss their intended military targets and strike civilians instead - giving rise to unwanted 'colateral' damage. Many missions were aborted with aircraft returning to bases in Italy without dropping their 1000 kg 'Paveway' laser guided bombs.

Synoptic chart: 29th March 1999

Problems occured because low cloud covered targets, making it impossible for weapon systems to acquire a good 'lock' on to their targets. Aircraft flying in to attack targets fly in pairs - one 'illuminates' the target with a high power laser system. Light is reflected from the target and detected by the weapon carried on the second aircraft. Guidance fins direct the weapon towards and onto the target. But - in bad weather, it becomes difficult for the weapon system to lock onto the target (and for the spotter to see the target to direct the laser sight) as the light energy is scattered in the clouds.

Unable to pinpoint the targets with the accuracy required, the flight crews decided to return home without releasing their bombs.

With the weather providing problems over many days, the US Dept. of Defense decided to deploy its B1 Lancer bombers from Ellsworth AFB to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. The B1s carry sophisticated satellite navigation systems that allow them to target ground sites through heavy cloud cover. The Balkans conflict is the first combat deployment for the B1 - B52 Stratofortress bombers flying from Fairford began the bombing raids on 24th March.

Balkans action links

• Ministry of Defence (UK): KOSOVO - News, Background and Resources
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office - Home page
• NATO Official Homepage
• DefenseLINK - Official Web Site of the U.S. Department of Defense
• US State Dept. - Situation in Kosovo
• BBC News - Kosovo special reports
• Pristina news agency (Kosovo)
• Kosovo Liberation Army site
• Serbian Ministry of Information
• Federal Government of Yugoslavia