are very unhappy about it. thank you very much. the time is almost four 30p. let's take a look at the weather forecast now. falk has been causing trouble once again in southern and central and eastern parts of england, and it will open with further tonight, we expect further disruption to travel, slow on the roads, further delays at the airport so if you are on the move bbc local radio should keep you up—to—date, the fog will be worst in the south—eastern corner but also in anglia, the midlands, wales as well, and will be cold in the southeast, two, three degrees, around about nine, ten for glasgow, belfast, a south—westerly breeze, but also some wet weather in northern scotland, and a cold front that will slowly slip south through new year's eve, getting into northern ireland during

the afternoon, head of that, dry weather, but great again, fog lingering for some, nine or 10 degrees will be the top temperatures for many through new year's eve afternoon, the evening, the weather front heads south, by midnight that is across northern england, parts of wales, the south—east, a lot of the mild and dry, turning much colder from the north, that will take us on into 2017. this is bbc news. the headlines... president putin says he will resist calls to retaliate against america's expulsion of 35 russian diplomats. the us has accused the kremlin of hacking the emails of senior democrats and then publishing them during the american presidential campaign. mr putin also said that positive developments in relations between russia and the uk would be mutually beneficial. a postmortem examination into the cause of george michael's death has proved "inconclusive the singer was found dead by his partner at home on christmas day. the only survivor of a boat that capsized off kent on tuesday has

told how he clung on to the hull for 11 hours. one of his crewmates is feared drowned after he was swept away, while a second was rescued but later died. a nationwide ceasefire appears to be largely holding in syria, although some clashes have been reported. islamic state fighters and militants linked to al qaeda are not part of the deal. now on bbc news, weather world — this time nick miller is finding out how the snowdon railway keeps running despite extreme weather. this time on weather world, we are going up in the world — literally into the mountains of north wales, and our method of transport may surprise you. it is good to be quite a ride. also: extreme storms and the battle to survive them, as global temperatures set new records. winterfights back in the usa,

but not in the arctic. it is still not cold enough on top of the world. plus, wild winds, how not to get caught out in extreme weather. i will be here at this nature reserve in kent, taking a look at how the weather impact of migratory birds, from a quiet blue sky day here in kent to the hazards of a hurricane in the atlantic. and why everything in this welsh field is not as it seems. the new type of sheep and what it can tell us about the weather. welcome to weather world. this time, we're in the north wales, in snowdonia, about to claim the highest peak in wales, mount snowdon. now i am up for a bit of climbing, i am fairly fit, dressed for the part,

but i have got an easier option in mind. we are about to take a ride on the historic snowdon mountain railway. if you know anything about this part of the world, you will know that this railway is actually closed in the winter. but i have got a special ride lined up on the train, because i'm going to find out how this railway copes with the harsh mountain weather. when you're ready! this railway has been taking people to the summit of mount snowdon since 1896. an estimated 12 million people have made thatjourney since then. the trains normally run from mid—march until november, but it is the weather that dictates the schedule, and the toll the weather takes the mountain railway means for the maintenance teams, winter is the busiest time of year.

you are the senior engineering manager of the railway here, and already we are getting a sense of the climb we have started. yes, the railway follows the mountain, maximum gradient is one in 5.5, we havejust come up one in 6.2, it alters as we go over the terrain, but it is a steep railway. and we're going 4.95 mph. mountain railway weather. they too must clash a little bit. they do. obviously, wind, rain, snow, they all impact on our maintenance activities. even throughout the year. what is the worst element? in the operating season? wind. we have wind limits for operating trains.

and in the winter it is heavy rain, and the lower mountain, and snow on the upper reaches. so you are doing a lot of maintenance and i will see some of that take place, and hopefully get stuck in myself? the more hands, the merrier. looking forward to it. winter has arrived in snowdonia but there is no doubt that the main weather story of 2016 has been heat. record heat. hurricane matthew slammed into haiti in october, killing hundreds as it cut a path from here to the south—east united states. a massive storm, fuelled by warmer than average ocean water. in the pacific, in september, taiwan feels the force of the strongest typhoon since 2013. in october, in south korea, cars are swept down flooded streets in the strongest cyclone there in four years. rescues in spain, in december, animal, and human, as torrential downpours lead to flash flooding. but in south america, rivers run dry.

not enough rain has caused bolivia to declare a state of emergency, facing its worst drought in 25 years. israel, in november, fighting the flames as a two—month drought and arson led to wildfires. australia, and beach—goers in melbourne struggle against strong winds whipped up by approaching thunderstorms. several people died from rare thunderstorm asthma in november, after suffering breathing problems from pollen carried by the wind. in the uk, the first named a storm of the autumn, angus, struck in november. winds in the irish sea were so strong this ferry was stuck there overnight until it was safe enough to dock. not ideal if it is your maiden voyage. my first time on a boat. we were on there overnight

until it was safe enough to dock. not ideal if it is your maiden voyage. we were on there for 24 hours. sleeping. it was lumpy and it made you feel sick. but i am glad i am off! it is impossible to link one whether extreme to a warming world, but scientists say that extreme events are more likely and well before the end of 2016, the year was labelled odds on to become the warmest on record. we have just stepped off the train to see the first piece of work happening on the line. mike, what are you doing? this is a storage facility for tools, equipment for the railway. to make it safe we are building a platform and a storage area on the left, and another platform on the right—hand side. and this all needs to happen fairly quickly, doesn't it? because you have time and weather to think about. we are open again in march and we cannot have any work on the railway from march. it is obvious we quite mild at the moment but we have had freezing temperatures, and we cannot lay concrete in freezing temperatures, when it is heavy rain at all wash everything out. can i get stuck in? by all means, nigel needs a hand. ok, let's go and find him. nigel, what do you want me to do?

if you just grab hold of that were there, please, mate, and over the top the... that way? i had it upside down? that there's a good start! while i try to get the hang of cement work, sarah looks back at the atlantic hurricane season. here i am at the faversham nature reserve in kent, it is a great spot for capturing a glimpse of wintering birds that are just settling into their home now for the winter season. later in the programme, we will have more analysis about how the weather impacts migratory birds. earlier this year, there was some incredible radar footage of songbirds that appeared to be

trapped right inside the eye of hurricane matthew. hurricane matthew was of course the strongest and the most deadly storm of the season. it initially formed off the west coast of africa before moving across the atlantic and strengthening, for a time, to a major category five hurricane in the caribbean. it has been a particularly active hurricane season this year, partly down to the declining el nino effect and the return to more neutral conditions in the pacific. let's take a look at how the el nino southern oscillation has affected this year's hurricane season, and why it has been so intense, especially compared to recent years. in the year up to may 2016, the ns0 was in the el nino, all warm, phase. the warming of the equatorial pacific often lead to stronger vertical wind shear in the atlantic. wind shear refers to the changing wind speed, and/or direction, with height in the atmosphere. stronger wind shear leads to weaker hurricanes and makes landfall less likely. however, since the pacific has been cooling, becoming more neutral, and is now entering a week phase, or a cool place. producing the wind shear and hence promoting stronger and more frequent hurricanes.

another major factor in the summer was a big blocking area of high pressure, feeling warm and moist air over the western atlantic and warming the waters there, by as much as four or 5 degrees compared to the average. these warmer waters have provided the fuel to power these huge, formidable hurricanes, that have formed in the region this year. so the very act hurricane season of 2016 has now come an end. join me later in the programme where we will take a more detailed look at some of these migratory birds and just how the weather affects their journey. this railway carries more than 130,000 passengers a year towards snowdon summit. but some people get there the hard way — on foot. however you choose to go high, you need to respect the weather, and be fully prepared. climbers battled fierce winds in the scottish highlands,

in footage released to showjust how wild the weather can get. this high, this exposed, it is too late to simply turn back. we have just stepped away from the railway and we can see the snowdon peak, here in the snowdonia park warden's office. you are one of the wardens, rhys roberts, and you are going to show me exactly what i need to be fully prepared to attack a hill ora mountain? so you know, mountains are quite cold, you need warm layers, preferably a base layer first, then a mid—layer, something like a fleece, maybe even two, it is quite cold, and some

comfortable, warm trousers as well. i have gotjeans on, they are not necessarily the right thing are they? not the best, they get cold when they are wet and they are reasonably uncomfortable, so something that will keep you warm when you are wet is preferable. you also need waterproof layers. jackets, trousers, i would also take some hats and gloves with me just in case i get wet. good idea, the right footwear? in summer, you would have those boots, at the end there, just generic walking boots. and these are winter boots, they have a stiffer sole. they can support crampons as well which gives you more grip on the ice, they have an essential bit of kit for any snow on the mountain. and if it is very snowy i would need one of these? another essential piece of kit. an ice axe. it provides some sort of support walking up the mountain and if you slip it can help stop you. i want to know where i'm going but i am ok because i have those lovely maps on my phone. they are a start, but you want a proper map and a compass like this. a phone can run out of battery or signal and become useless. that will never fail you. and it sounds obvious, but you need something to eat and drink on the way? fuel is very important, so make sure you pack your lunch and maybe your dinner,

and someone drinks if it is cold. and check the weather forecast. it sounds obvious, but the weather at the top of the mount is often very different from the weather when you set off. absolutely yes, it can be ten, 15 degrees colder on the mountain than done in the valley, and check the mountain forecast as well because it can be very different to the generic forecast. if i come back and climb in snowdonia i will, get you as my personal guide, and i promise i will not wearjeans. still to come: fake flock. what electric sheep can tell us about the weather that real sheep cannot. captured on camera by bbc weather watchers, the building of the queensferry crossing in scotland through the changing seasons. in november, weather watch celebrated its first anniversary and the number of sky snappers now totals more than 130,000. for many, it is about the beauty of the sky and the scenery around them, and sharing its online. many people just walk along with their head down,

and they don't look up, they don't see the cloud, they don't see the sunrise, the sunset, the rainbows, and they thanked me for that, and i think that is probably the most rewarding thing. and you can become a weather watch by signing up. we are taking a look at how the snowdon railway copes with the amount of weather. we've stopped here at the rocky valley platform, it is about two thirds towards the summit, the elevation, about 680 metres. already we are above some of the cloud, and you can tell how the weather has changed, it is cold, windy, and of course, all of the track has to cope with these conditions, the heavy rain, the heavy snow, and of course the big change in temperatures from one season to the next. further up, mike is taking

a look at how this piece of track is faring up. so, mike, how are we doing this? with the system here, a measuring trolley, we will put it on the track, this is going to tell me the distance between the two rails, it is going to tell me the cross level, the height of one rail to the other, and it is going to tell me the twist and the difference. shall i help you out with that? you can push. all right. i willjust gently edge it down the track. this is a fairly exposed piece of track so it must get a fair battering. this is one of our sections of track which requires constant maintenance. in the spring, this will have moved, and we will come back and do some more maintenance, lifting and packing. we have moved down this short but, let's take a look at what you have learned. this is telling me we travelled 12.75 metres from where we started, that is a slight twist to one side. does the track need any work? no, the instrument is telling me it is always tolerant. very good.

go and check some of track line. thank you very much. we're going to get back on the train back on the move and just a moment, but before we do that it has been a cold start of the winter here in snowdonia, but in that direction, a long way in that direction, there is a part of the world that should be very cold, but there is a problem. the frozen antarctic. records here show that sea ice has not suffered to the same degree as its northern counterpart. if you start removing the reflective sea ice cover than the ocean

absorbs the heat instead. so what you see and instead now as winter comes, the arctic is very one, part about this because now the ocean has to release heat again during the summer, back to the atmosphere before the ice can form. the frozen antarctic. records here show that sea ice has not suffered to the same degree as its northern counterpart. but even so, national snow and ice data centre scientists say that antarctic sea ice shrank november low. a warming world does not mean the end of winter weather. in the usa in december, snow and ice caused damage and brought disruption to millions of people. then there is the occasional wintery surprise. such as here in tokyo. which had its first november snowfall in more than half a century. and this, from siberia, what looks like rocks on the shore, thousands of natural snowballs. formed from small pieces of ice rolled over large by the wind and water.

we saw earlier how to properly address for the great outdoors, especially, of course, in winter, very important for humans, but you would think that sheep, with their woolly coats, would be good to go, whatever the weather. but there is a unique experiment taking place here at the foot of snowdon which proves that they feel the weather also. just like this one. come on. let's find you a friend. you are a little bit heavier than i thought you would be. you may have noticed that this is not a real sheep. neither is this one. thankfully, that jones from banks university is a real human. why do you have fake sheep? they might be fake but they tell us a lot about real sheep and the environment experience ona farm. we have two things, we have our sheep, we also have a met station, and the station is measuring song, plus wind, plus ambient air

temperature, and those things together tell us how we she was feeling. so on a day like today when it is really windy that must have an impact on how the sheep feels. but how can you tell? it is absolutely so much colder when the wind blows, that is called wind—chill, and for warm blooded animals like us and toshiba maintaining the core body temperature in these conditions is increasingly hard as the wind blows so what we do with his sheep is we maintain them at 39 degrees, with... this array of heaters. and we also have a microcomputer. and what the computers recording is how much energy the sheep is using to keep that temperature in the prevailing conditions. so we will pop it back in and have a look in a minute to see how much energy she is using. if i was a sheep farmer, what difference does it make to me, this research here? ok, so, forfarmers, farming is essentially all about energy, we record the energy that is in that, the food that the animals eat, but there is also energy out of the equation, and whether it's a big part of that, keeping warming conditions uses an awful lot of energy.

can i do something on my farm to help my sheep keep one? planning your farm was whether in mind, providing shelter the form of trees and hedgerows which they are animals can use could take shelter from the wind especially, and that will reduce the energy used to stay warm. so in the last few seconds she has used a 37 watts just to stay warm. and as the winner gets stronger and the air gets colder there will be more and more energy use. thank you for showing me the project, i have become quite attached to my fake sheep. it must have a name. this is melon. nice to meet you, melon. now, weather and birds. here is sarah lucas again. welcome back to the nature reserve in kent, i am joined by graham madge of the met office and previously the rspb, so graham, this is a very idyllic and peaceful day in kent, it is hard to imagine some of the hazards of these birds face on the long journeys, including of course the weather, earlier in the year there were some

footage of some birds that appeared to be trapped right inside eye of hurricane matthew, is this a typical kind of hazard that birds face a migratoryjourney? the situation is that they are crossing the path, the exact track, that many of or against it, so it is quite likely the birds to get caught up in these weather systems. in fact, we know from the records of bird—watchers and northern europe that many birds are brought to european shores on the back of these cyclones, as they move up into the north atlantic, so it is a very big threat that these birds face, it is a very powerful hazard that these birds have to try and cope with them their lives. so i have heard some people say that birds can actually forecast the weather. is there any evidence or science behind this? it is a classic phrase, one swallow does not make a summer. i think the evidence

for but being able to forecast the weather is probably quite thin. but what we do know is that what we do know is that those are affected by the weather, so we all now that we get weather coming from different directions, and that very often can bring birds, associated with it, so we did birds from north america turning up, in europe, we can get those from the tropical atlantic, for all sorts of places, so although birds might not be able to forecast the weather, by seeing interesting and exotic birds, it gives you at least an insight into what the weather has been mike elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. thank you so much, graham for joining us. that is it from us here in kent, despite unique in snowdonia. we have come as far as we can go now on the snowdon railway, this is about three quarters of the way to snowdon summit, but we cannot get any further, because number one, there is essential track were taken place, and if we did go any further we were just encounter snow on the track anyway, but before we start heading back

down the mountain there is one more thing i want to show you, it is something that is crucial to the operation of the railway here, the reason i'm excited as i am a weatherman and i have found a weather station. nearly at the top of mount snowdon. mike, how important is this piece of kit for you and the railway? it is crucial, it gives us weather information, specifically wind information, for the operation of the trains in high winds we cannot operate. and how do you look at that information, when you are down in the office? this weather station brings data through a data link, we can pick this up on our computers down below, and we can get it graphically. and what is that telling you, from a screenshot of something earlier in the day? that is giving me the wind direction, the wind speed,

the temperatures, and crucially, the gust speeds. because obviously we have got an average speed here, and then we have got dust speed. a gust speeds can reach in excess 130 mph. talking wind speeds like that, the spring. let's get this weather station to bed then. as they get to work, and before we go, when is a rainbow not a rainbow? when it is a fog bow. this rare phenomenon was spotted in scotland in november. as they get to work, and before we go, when is a rainbow not a rainbow? when it is a fork bow. this rare phenomenon was spotted in scotland in november. water droplets in four car much smaller than raindrops and as the sun interacts with them

the result appears devoid of colour, more like a white rainbow. still not a rainbow as we know it, but closer, this rare moon boat was england in october, as moonlight, rather than sunlight, interacts with moisture in the atmosphere. and finally, the lighting up of the sky and an imagination, the super moon, seen around the world in the november, the closest the moon has been to the earth in nearly 70 years. which makes this lucky moment... there you go. an example of picture perfect timing. and that is it for this time on weather world. from snowdonia, thanks to mike, our driver, steve, and ever one of the snowdon railway, snowdon summit still awaits me, falk has been causing problems in eastern part of england in particular but we will see a change in the next 48 hours is this weather front sweeps south, behind it, much colder, cleaner air, which should get rid of the four problems going into new year. there has been some brighter weather today, this shop, weather watcher in northamptonshire, but for many places, like this, dense fog, lingering well on into the afternoon, that focuses on to thicken up again overnight tonight, then some places, we have seen

pretty slow conditions on some roads, delays at the airport, more the same, i suspect, if you are on the same, i suspect, if you are on the move, use your local radio will give you up—to—date with what you are and where you're going. at its worst across the south—east of england but there will be for telstra, the midlands, parts of wales as well, and it is also and we we re wales as well, and it is also and we were quite cold in the south—east, particularly rural spot, a touch of frost, but no fault of ross problems further north, because more of a south—westerly breeze, tempters in glasgow, belfast, aberdeen, roundabout 910 degrees, into the morning, stills and fog around, across many southern counties in england, could be dense in england in places, if you don't have the fog it will be a fair bit of club so one way or the other a pretty great start although northern england might see something brighter. it is relatively mild, ten, 11 degrees, but there is some wet weather to content with across the north and the west. likely dry start the day in northern ireland, but quite cold, we will eventually see the swell further south, it will be down to the central lowlands through the afternoon, and eventually will creep its way into northern ireland as

well, head of that, i think most little bit helicopter, david wright weather, generally a lot of cloud, ever bit less cold, come the afternoon, nine, 10 degrees, get ten 01’ afternoon, nine, 10 degrees, get ten or 11 afternoon, nine, 10 degrees, get ten or11 in afternoon, nine, 10 degrees, get ten or 11 in some parts of scotland and northern ireland, through the evening, however from northern ireland, through the evening, howeverfrom the northern ireland, through the evening, however from the ventricle is away from the central lowlands of scotland, clears away from northern ireland, and as we head toward midnight that remedy settling across northern england and parts of wales, then the fireworks start to go off across the country. towards the south and east of the weather front should be dry, fairly cloudy, a lot to the north, turning cloudy, cold and office and showers in northern scotland. this arctic air will be flooding south behind this band of rainfor flooding south behind this band of rain for new year's day, this band of rain may well get a bit stuck across east anglia and the south—east into the afternoon, so be rather dull and a a fair here, but elsewhere, brightening up, we will see a bit of sunshine, but it will feel cold in the northerly wind. this is bbc news —

i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at 5pm: president putin says he will not expel anyone in response to president obama ordering 35 russian diplomats out of the us for alleged hacking. mr putin also said that positive developments in relations between russia and the uk would be mutually beneficial. a post—mortem examination into the cause of george michael's death has proved "inconclusive" — further tests will now be carried out. drivers are told to take care in fog and freezing conditions, as a coach overturns on the m40 in oxfordshire injuring 17 people. also in the next hour:

the ceasefire in syria appears to be largely holding. there's been calm on the front lines, but there are reports of sporadic clashes and some air raids.