Max (Celsius)

Min (Celsius)

Rainfall (mm)

AIRHEAD

29.3

22.4

0.4

TRAVELLERS

29.9

21.4

7.9

RESIDENCY

24.3

n/a

22.0

GEORGETOWN

31.0

22.0

0.0

ST. HELENA

23.7

15.4

6.6

FALKLANDS

22.1

3.7

0.2

UK (Brize Norton)

9.2

-3.0

19.2

UK

Bands of cloud, rain sleet and snow affected many parts of the UK during the start of the week, with snow into Devon for example on Monday night. Snow closed Edinburgh airport for a time mid-week, but it did become a little milder in southern England. It became unsettled by the weekend with rain in England and Wales and snow in higher parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Falklands

Another very dry week at Mount Pleasant Airfield. Much of the week was dominated by high pressure, but a cold front brought noticeably cooler air in time for the weekend with temperatures 10 degrees centigrade colder on Saturday compared to Friday.

Ascension

One or two showers at times, although the weekend proved to be rather nice – especially Sunday with some good periods of unbroken sunshine. Rather humid early in the week with persistent low cloud and hill fog over Green Mountain and one or two of the other higher peaks.

St. Helena

Not a bad week overall. Some excellent periods of sunny skies last week. A wet morning on Monday (3^rd) and few sharp showers spoiled Sunday (9^th), otherwise it was a dry week with good visibilities.

British Airways recently announced the recent wintry period of weather in the UK cost their business around £50 million and they had a 12% reduction in capacity. According to BBC News, the operator of Heathrow airport is facing mounting pressure by Virgin Atlantic, who is now refusing to pay their fees to the British Airports Authority due to their slow response to the freezing weather situation leading to a runway closure in December 2010.

The weather plays a critical part in the safe operation of any airline or airport. At Ascension the UK Met Office maintains a full weather watch 24 hours a day 7 days a week and issues routine weather forecasts to aviators and ground crews. In particular, we warn of hazardous weather - like low cloud, poor visibility and heavy rainfall.