WWI ships to chart past climate

WWI ships to chart past climate

This article from the BBC website details a fantastic project that anyone can get involved in - one that could provide reams of historical data and insight. I've signed up and already I'm hooked!

Although I remain sceptical about certain aspects of global warming and climate change, the reasons for which I shan't go into here, there is more than simply historical weather monitoring about this endeavour. It does, as the article mentions, provide fascinating detail of the movements and experiences of the Royal Navy in the First World War. One can get a small idea of the day-to-day routine as well as more out-of-the-ordinary occurrences by following one or more of these ships which were dotted about the globe. I've only been involved for a couple of days and already I feel a sense of "belonging", for want of a better term, to the ships I'm following. Maybe it's also because my grandfather was in the Navy during the Second World War.

Despite my misgivings about the whole climate change debate I can still see the meteorological value in the collating of near-100-year-old weather reports in order to help further the long-distance forecasts of today and am more than happy to be involved. Maybe it'll help the Met Office get something right for once too!