Join the 'Great Weather Experiment'

For a new website designed to engage the public on all things meteorological, the soon-to-launch theWeather Club is arriving at an especially opportune time, says Dr. Liz Bentley, head of communications for the Royal Meteorological Society and the new club’s founder.

With this year’s late spring expected to lead to a late-arriving autumn, theWeather Club aims to enlist the help of a virtual army of Britons to document fall’s arrival and see whether that prediction actually comes true. Dubbed “The Great British Weather Experiment,” the effort will invite schoolchildren and interested adults to take photos of trees, plants and other things in nature to document autumn’s arrival across the UK.

“Some interesting things could happen,” said Bentley, who has also worked as the chief instructor of forecasting at the Met Office College and manager of the BBC Weather Centre. “The more regionality we get, the better.”

While the Great British Weather Experiment is just being taken for a test drive, theWeather Club — being formed by the Royal Meteorological Society to promote an appreciation and understanding of the weather — itself will be here to stay. Bentley says it’s an initiative that’s long overdue, considering the large community of British gardeners, sailors, walkers and others who have reason to be interested in the weather. Where the US has long had the Weather Channel to meet that need, “the UK doesn’t really have that,” she says.

“It’s a big void at the moment,” she says.

Set to officially launch on 14 September, theWeather Club site is already live, although it will feature much more content after its formal debut. During the launch week — “Weather Club Week” — Bentley herself will be out on tour around the UK with a great big blue “theWeather Club” camper van and a 4×4 vehicle loaded with weather instruments that the public can check out.

In addition to providing lots of insights, information and a public forum for discussing the weather, theWeather Club will also carefully tackle the subject of climate change. Bentley said she and others had “quite a bit of discussion” regarding how to handle the topic, which she acknowledges is “still a little bit of a hot spot.”

Ultimately, theWeather Club’s official stance is “to focus on education and to allow discussion to take place … theWeather Club will address the science and impacts of climate change, but will not be a campaigning body or take a political stance.” Sceptics will be able to have a voice in the forums, Bentley says, although she adds theWeather Club will take care not to let any discussion get hijacked.

While the media have, for the most part, moved on since the drama of “Climategate” late last year, public opinion has not yet fully rebounded, Bentley acknowledges.

“It could be a few years for the British public to get back to where it was,” she says.

For more information, visit theWeather Club at http://www.theweatherclub.org.uk.