Try your hand at weather forecasting – can you beat the experts from University of Reading and beyond?
Calling all weather enthusiasts and wannabe forecasters! Following its successful launch to the public last summer, The Weather Game, run by the University of Reading is returning for another friendly competition round.
The game offers entrants the chance to try and predict the weather around the world and close to home. Points are awarded for correct weekly forecasts over six weeks, allowing people to take on their friends and try to beat the experts to top the league.
This activity gives school pupils and weather fanatics a glimpse at the science used on television forecasts or to monitor impacts of climate change. A number of high-profile TV weather forecasters like Laura Tobin and Tomasz Schafernaker made some of their first forecasts while they were students at Reading.
Forecasts from leading sources like the Met Office and BBC Weather can be used as a basis for predictions, but players are encouraged to follow their own intuition on where weather might differ from what is expected. For example, if changeable weather is certain or there is only a small chance of showers, going against the expert forecasts for sunshine and rain might earn you the points.
Entrants will make predictions on the temperature, precipitation and sunshine hours for three fixed locations: Reading, UK; Toronto, Canada; Hong Kong, China and also for another city that changes weekly. While travel is off the cards for most of us this year, experiencing the weather is something that connects us all.
Registration opens from Monday 7 June with entries due each Friday for six weeks at 19:00 London time.
