out doing last—minute shopping. sean farrington there in penarth. now it's time for a look at the weather. we can cross the newsroom to simon king. hello. quite a cold start to the uk, frosty first thing this morning, but lots of sunshine around at the moment, across the northern half of the uk, except for a few fog patches lingering on across parts of western scotla nd lingering on across parts of western scotland and the glasgow area. a bit fog for the midlands and eastern parts of england, but there will be brighter skies developing here, thick cloud in the south—western still some spots of rain and drizzle, temperatures up to eight celsius for many, but up to 12 in the south—west. through this afternoon and into the evening, fog will form quite quickly across eastern areas of england, and that could linger on into christmas day. it will be a mostly dry day on christmas day, any rain or drizzle limited towards western areas,

especially around the west of scotland. that fog as i mentioned could linger on across the east into the afternoon, but really for most it is dry, a fair amount of cloud, the best of any brightness in the north—east of england and scotland, maximum temperature 7—12dc. goodbye. hello, this is bbc news with julian worricker. the headlines... rescue teams are trying to reach remote parts of the indonesian coast, where it's feared there are more victims of a deadly tsunami. officials say more than 280 people have died. there are warnings that eruptions at the volcanic island of anak krakatoa could trigger further deadly waves. the queen will use her christmas message to urge people to treat one another with respect — even if they harbour strongly opposing views. delays on the roads and disruption for rail passengers is expected as people head home for the festive period. now on bbc news it's

time for a christmas edition of weather world. nick miller and sarah keith—lucas report on the awesome power of wind from the destruction caused by hurricanes, to its huge potential to power the planet. on one of the windiest days of the year we have come to one of the windiest places in the uk. which is just as well, this is the uk's biggest onshore wind farms. hold onto your hats. this is where the world. we will be getting up close to find out how these wind turbine works and how much power they can generate on a stormy day like this. it's opposite to how a fan operates. afan it's opposite to how a fan operates. a fan will plug into electricity and use it. the turbines do the opposite. also on whether world, the

yea r‘s opposite. also on whether world, the year's august storms. the floods that rage with unimaginable force. cyclones so powerful they transform a coastal paradise into piles of rubble. and amid warnings of climate catastrophe to come, wildfires reach new scales of size and devastation. and i'm at imperial college london, where they make their own wind to research how to keep the public safe. the wind turbine, it's the modern incarnation of human‘s attempt to harness the air that blows for our own needs. the use of this cleaner

renewable power sources expanding across the world reaching new heights in servicing energy demands. while the side of these turbines is not to everyone's likings as more of them appear across the countryside, them appear across the countryside, the growth goes on. uk's wind energy industry estimates offshore wind capacity is set to nearly double in just the next day kate. when it comes to onshore wind farms in the uk they don't come any bigger than this. 215 of these turbines in an area ten miles across. we are in scotland, this is quietly near glasgow and i tell you what, every one of these turbines is going like the clappers today, it's windy and sarah, it's getting windier. that's right, the wind strengthening during the course of our visit today and more and more power is being generated as a result. later on we will look at how much energy has been produced during our visit but peter, you are the area supervisor.

is it peter, you are the area supervisor. isita peter, you are the area supervisor. is it a prime dave or energy reduction? it's an excellent day. the site is pretty much running at full power, just over 530 megawatts of power. that scene not energy to provide electricity to rant about 300,000 homes. on a day like this what sort of percentage of scotland's energy can be produced by wind power? the amount of wind power in scotland, there is every chance 100% of the country's electricity could be provided. what makes the location so prime? geographically it's the highest point between the coasts, it's very exposed, as you can feel from the wind, it's an ideal location to put a wind farm, maximise wind yield. thank you. later on peter will take me for a dry around that site to talk about the management of the turbines and to getan the management of the turbines and to get an idea of the sheer scale of this wind farm. and with this

example of the power of wind we start the weather review of 28 team in the netherlands. injanuary. wind so in the netherlands. injanuary. wind so strong it close people off their feet. these are some of the strongest winds ever recorded here. this story that strikes the us city of boston injanuary is dubbed a bomb cyclone, combining wind with snow and flooding and then this. as temperatures plummet, the flood freezes, into mean dozens of cars in eyes. in the uk the first day of spring looked like this. the infamous beast from the east had arrived. snow like that large swathes of the british isles giving the march day on record. but if there is ever an example of keep calm and carry on, it's from this stripe and her quick reactions in scotland. the big freeze covered

much of europe giving rome its biggest snowfall in decades. so of course that means a mass snowball fight in st peter's square. the cold start to spring was soon a distant memory as the uk went on to experience its warmest april day since 1919 and the hottest early may holiday weekend on record. but by summer, holiday weekend on record. but by summer, a holiday weekend on record. but by summer, a severe multi—continent heatwave was under way. this is japan. temperatures rose above 41 celsius for the first time here. and by early august parts of iberia are in the grip of extreme heat. this is portugal, temperatures broke the 46 celsius mark. back in the uk the driest start to summer on record turns the land from green to brown. wildfires rage on the melange of

northern england, they are some of the worst in living memory and the scale of the devastation is hard to believe. summer 2018 goes on to become the uk's joint hottest on record. but proved as if we needed it, that the seasons are unstoppable and early snowfalls smothers the hills of southern england at the end of november. when it comes to early snow, morocco takes the prize. these scenes from the end of october, the first snow of the season arriving two months ahead of schedule. i'm in a place where they make their own wind. here at imperial college london at the department of aeronautics they have two wind tunnels which they test regularly. i'm joined by professor peter, an emirate is recessed here, explain what you do. this is a very large loose bead went on all which we flow

around road vehicles, we look at wind energy devices, turbines, how efficient they are and we look at flow around buildings including looking at the comfort around buildings for pedestrians, cyclists, for the wind effects. it's a little loud, you mention you use these to test the effects on things like vehicles, and built up areas. yes, investigating the wind environment and how it is modified when a new building is planned to be put up. it is much better at the ark attacked or consulting engineer to know at this stage, the early—stage, what changes might need to be made to improve pedestrian comfort. later in the programme will come back and talk more about the impacts of wind on. areas and high buildings. peter andi on. areas and high buildings. peter and i are taking a dry around the

wind farm. you can get a sense of the scale, how massive this wind farm is. how long has it been in operation here? whiteley has been in operation here? whiteley has been in operation for about ten years now, it opened officially in 2009, currently in our tenth year of service on the turbines. looking out at the turbines they cover a distance of about ten miles and they are widely spaced, why aren't they closely packed together? we could pack them together but as the wind passes through the rotors and its by the blades, it causes a kind of vortex. at that or text hits another turbine it would inhibit the production of the turbine and the turbine may actually stop for vibrations. he have to be quite widely spaced in order to let the wind set up as it passes through one rotor, from one to another. we had a look at the broad scale of the wind farm, nick is about to get better acquainted with a wind turbine, taking a closer look at the details

of how they operate. this is the closest i've ever been toa turbine, this is the closest i've ever been to a turbine, the obvious thing is the size. the other thing which i hadn't realised is the sound of the blades whizzing through the air and another thing, when you see these from a distance, it seems like the blades aren't going round very fast but when you are right next one, they whizzing through the air and you get the sense of the energy being harnessed. the owner is a project manager here at whiteley, bottom line these, how do they work? we are generating renewable energy by taking the wind passing through the turbine blades, the blades battering the kinetic energy and that's what allows them to spin and it spins a shout inside the cell, generating and converting electrical energy, the opposite of how a fan operates. if unplugs into electricity, using electricity to generate wind, these turbines do the

opposite. there is other kit on these turbines, monitoring whether it so they can work at their maximum potential. that's right, there is a wind vane that measures direction that allows the turbines to face into the wind and there is an anemometer which allows them to pitch in turn to the prevailing wind and give the best from the aerodynamics. can it be too windy, can the weather be so bad they will not work properly? can sometimes, it's not too frequent, the turbines tend to be available almost 100% of the time, some weather events the turbines would switch off automatically but it's not for a long of time, usually forced ten conditions and above. today is usually as good as it gets. it's perfect, 40—50 miles an hour wind, perfect, 40—50 miles an hour wind, perfect for generating renewable electricity. we'll find out just perfect for generating renewable electricity. we'll find outjust a metallica city is generated when the head of the control centre a bit later. and now, in praise of

beautiful sunsets, here's a selection of your weather watcher pictures from october, some stunning exa m ples pictures from october, some stunning examples could be seen across the uk. as the sun sets its light travels through a greater depth about the spear, watch of the blue and green light scattered, but not the red, this becomes the dominant colour bc. you can become a weather watcher online by signing up online. still to come... freak floods and tropical cyclones. more of 2018's biggest storms. and this wind tunnel can generate wind speeds of up to 100 miles an hour. i'll be finding out how research can help kate —— keep pedestrians safe. we are in scotland and the uk's biggest onshore wind farm, off whiteley. we've been outside to see the turbines, we've found out how they work, now we are

inside to where they are monitoring the energy the turbines produce. it's the control centre and mark as the manager here. it's a good day for you, you have known about this windy day for quite some time, tell me about the weather information you get. we do, the wind is extremely important to us, it's our business, some of the models were used, we have a system we have developed with the met office and that was made a number of years ago and provides us with a 1k day number of years ago and provides us with 814 day this book weather forecast for all of our sites across the uk, that's for rain, snow, fog, many varying elements as well badly used to operate our business. you can look at how much energy is generated but you can tie it down to an individual turbine. i was a turbine 55 earlier, how is that doing today? we can look on the system, turbine 55 at the moment is roughly about 70 metres per second when, about 35 miles an hour, at the

moment producing its maximum megawatt energy that it can produce, around 1300 homes can produce in the year. from that one turbine? that one turbine. quite incredible stop you see everything is glad i today. ludlow today, we are providing some balance and services for national grid but we have produced the marker we are expected to. also wind farms across the uk are monitored fire. they monitor and control a0 wind farms from here from northern scotla nd farms from here from northern scotland to cornwall, ireland to off the coast of germany, with 1000 wind turbines. now, the weather review of 2018 continues with huge waves smashing into seafront apartments in tenerife in the canary islands in november. amazingly no one was injured. but the toll was much greater in the worst flash floods ever to hit the spanish island of

majorca. three times the october average rainfall came in just majorca. three times the october average rainfall came injust a pure arabs, 12 people were killed. in japan, historic flooding swamped large areas of the country injuly. killing around 200 people. the worst flooding disaster here since 1982. flash floods come with tremendous force. this is tunisia in september after what was said to be its heaviest till huge in almost 25 yea rs. heaviest till huge in almost 25 years. jordan in november, this video capturing the moment a flash flood pours into the ancient city of petra after weeks of heavy rain in the country. this bus is no match for the sheer power of the monsoon flooded river in the indian state of kashmir in september. in southern india this area is hit hard by a monsoon, the worst flooding in a century killing hundreds. and

breathtaking scenes from turkey in may. a man links to the bonnet of a car as it is swept away after torrential rain in ankara. several people were injured. it's been another year of intense tropical cyclones. this is a typhoon hitting hong kong in september as the most powerful ever recorded here. fiji in april, feeling the force of a second cyclone in as many weeks. fiji's prime minister says the pacific island nation is in a fight for survival as climate change brings almost constant deadly cyclones. the atla ntic almost constant deadly cyclones. the atlantic hurricane season was dominated why two storms that it usa. first florence in september, stalling over the carolinas and dumping massive amounts of rain, the wettest tropical cyclone ever recorded in this part of the usa. worse was to come in october. there it goes. michael became the most

powerful hurricane to hit the florida panhandle and the fourth strongest to make landfall in the usa. there were fears it would cause catastrophic damage. but the reality of what the storm left behind was worse than could ever have been imagined. much of what used to be the city of mexico reach is destroyed. this is a scale model of the city of londonderry i'm back at the city of londonderry i'm back at the department of aeronautics in imperial college london with professor peter. why do designers and architects need to be concerned about the strength of the wind when they are looking at new buildings?‘ numberof they are looking at new buildings?‘ number of reasons. one is the wind going to destroy the building, have i needed strong enough? the point of these quite complex models that you see here is to look at what effect the building will have on the local wind environment at street level. is it going to make pedestrians very

uncomfortable, what we are doing in this tunnel is simulating the characteristics of the natural wind and so, the energy in the wind increases with height so the height hitting the top of the tall, neutral holding is going to be stronger than it is at lower levels. and also, it can avert some of that wind down to ground level. you have ramped up the wind, it's feeling stronger, you wouldn't normally use smoke, though, wouldn't normally use smoke, though, would you? we wouldn't normally and we wouldn't normally be kneeling in front of the model. we are using a lot of our own costs. you and i have become high rise buildings. we have. it's not recommended. how are you then monitor the strength of the wind, the gusts around these buildings? we have sensors embedded, coming through the floor of the model and they are measuring the

wind speed at the height of the typical pedestrian. peter, it's been fascinating being here today, thank you so much for your time. pre—monsoon windstorms in india are an annual feature of the weather but these in may at the worst in decades as they sweep across the north, flipping up dust from the dry months. over 100 people are killed. some storms gather sand and of them and roll it out over huge distances. this massive storm was caught on camera ina this massive storm was caught on camera in a chinese province in november, the sound from the nearby gobi desert. disaster in greece in july. strong winds caused the rapid spread of a wildfire through a north—east area of athens. the destruction left behind reveals only some of the horror unfolded here, more than 80 people died, many of them as sought safety on the beach. and it's been yet another year of

devastating wildfires in california. fanned by strong santa anna winds, this one in november sweeps towards the coastal homes of the rich and famous in malibu. it's the worst fire here in living memory, respecting neither the beautiful setting of the homes destroys nor at the wealth of their owners. but even this pales in comparison to this. virtually the entire town of paradise, lost to the deadliest, most destructive wildfire estate has ever known. apocalypse exceeds property heightened debate about the impact climate change could be having in california. more than 80 people died here. you have to go back 100 years to find a wildfire that killed more people in the usa. rains dampen the fire, and number of storms going into december, causing flooding and bringing fears of

mudslides. turnaround, the flash flood is right there. no one wants a repeat of this. get out, go. the moment a mudslide hit the californian town of montecito at the start of 2018 following major wildfires previous month. at least 20 people died in the destruction that followed. down under now and a multi—year drought here calling the big dry continues in the australian state of new south wales. these scenes in august showed farmers struggling to feed and water their cattle. since then there has been some rain, in fact flooding from the heaviest november rain in decades in sydney. but long—term, rainfall deficits remain. how many of you? last for nine days and now found. thailand into light. 12 boys and their food court are located deep within flooded case. setting off a

race against time and weather as monsoon rains could leave them stranded for months. it's a mission that captures the attention of the world and one that was complete just over a week later with all the boys brought to safety. in a year that our use of plastic and the impact of it on the world around us has risen in prominence, astonishing scenes from the lebanese capital beirut in september. a flood of rubbish and plastic after a torrential storm. from new warnings about the rate of the earth's warning, from the first rise in global carbon dioxide emissions in four years, this year saw a report after report highlighting the impact of living in a world with rising temperatures and in december, at a united nations client conference in poland renowned naturalist and broadcasters are david attenborough warned of a man—made disaster on a global scale. if we don't take action, the colla pse if we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisation is and

the extinction of much of the natural world, is on the horizon. applause we are back in the control centre at whiteley, the uk's biggest onshore wind farm and mark, we've been itching to know since the beginning of our visit how much energy has been produced. sarah today, we've produced six gigawatt hours, we expect across—the—board folio to produce around 3a gigawatt hours, today we are at a burger working day. a very product day across the uk and particularly here. we are ready at 30% of the uk's power produced by wind energy, is that figure going to increase, is it something you expect to grow? absolutely, the dry is to build more onshore wind, the cheapest form of energy, it's solar, otherstorage elements to and we want to capture that to provide the best energy links. thank you so much for having us links. thank you so much for having us here in showing us around your

operations. you are very welcome. thank you stop in fact, the day we found, strong winds across the uk helped to set a new renewable energy record with wind farms supplying almost a third of the uk's electricity needs. and now to one of the more unusual sights of 2018, and almost perfectly rectangular as berg watt than a kilometre across, flowing in the sea off antarctica in october. the clean lines and sheer ages proving its recent separation from an ice shelf and finally. the weather outside is frightful. not that these children it's not. their delight is because this is the first time they have ever seen snow. it's november in the canadian city of toronto, snow is hardly headline news here but for these eritrea children who have come from a refugee camp in sudan, it's reason to celebrate. but don't get too carried away. there is a lot of

winter still to go. let it snow, let it snow! and that's it with this time on whether world. sarah, i know it's a good thing to come to a win for can be go back inside?” it's a good thing to come to a win for can be go back inside? i will get you a warm cup of tea in a moment. the highlights from the previous programme, go to the website, lagarde or more whether world in 2019. until then, website, lagarde or more whether world in 2019. untilthen, keep checking the forecast. hello, good morning. isuspect there will be much wind energy produced today, a big area of high pressure across the uk, light winds really for many others. you will notice this weather front down towards the south—west of england. that is producing some outbreaks of rain but generally speaking, lots of cloud across the south and west. further north, one or two fog patches, plenty of sunshine, chilly start with some frost this morning. the fog could linger around the glasgow area, through parts of northern ireland, perhaps even north—west

england into this afternoon. there will be lots of sunshine across the north, brighter skies developing across the midlands and the east, down to the south—west remaining quite cloudy, some spots of rain and drizzle throughout this afternoon, temperatures reaching 6—12d. quite quickly through this evening and overnight, fog forming mainly across eastern areas, grabs a bid to north western parts of england as well. if rust developing across northern and eastern areas as well, towards the west, the one front moving through, milder towards northern ireland, wales and the south—west. for christmas day, the crew will be some fog around in central and eastern parts, which could linger. for most, dry, with a bit of drizzle across the west. the thicker cloud continuing across western scotland, northern ireland, the south—west of england, foremost on christmas day, going to dry, the fog lingering loss of lee in the east, some sunshine to the east of the pennines,

north—eastern scotland, maybe even the south—east of england. temperatures between 6—7d, towards the west quite mild, temperatures between 11—12d. this high pressure area still with us as we go into boxing day, you notice these weather fronts skirting around the north—west. that will bring outbreaks of rain to northern and western scotland on boxing day, but if you want to head out for a walk you are travelling, it's looking largely dry. again there could be fog first thing but some sunshine developing across southern areas and againa bit developing across southern areas and again a bit of brightness developing across northern england and scotland. temperatures a little higher across eastern areas compared to christmas day. for the rest of the week, high pressure still dominating things, against some patchy frost, patchy fog during the morning on thursday and friday, generally speaking quite cloudy, best temperatures between 8—10 or 11 degrees. fog the main thing you are worried about if you are travelling over the next few days but for most

of us quite quiet this christmas week. goodbye. this is bbc news. the headlines at 11.00am. rescue workers continue the search for survivors of the tsunami in indonesia, more than 280 people are now known to have died. there are fears the death toll could rise with warnings of more deadly waves triggered by volcanic eruptions. thousands of rail passengers face disruption over christmas because of major engineering works. respect and understanding — the queen uses her christmas speech

to deliver a message of goodwill to all. pakistan's, former prime minister, nawaz sharif is sentenced to seven years in prison term for corruption. chris evans bids a festive farewell to listeners as he hosts his final radio 2 breakfast show.