Sunday, March 11, 2007

Weekends really are wetter than Mondays

If weekend sunshine seems a rare treat - that's because it is. Clouds and rain really do tend to arrive with the weekend, to be replaced by better weather on a Monday as most of us head back to work, a study has shown.

Analysing 14 years of weather data from 12 sites, researchers found that the weather is colder, wetter and less sunny at the weekend on average.

Monday and Tuesday are the sunniest days, statistically, while Saturday is the most humid and least sunny. Scientists found this to be the case in industrially developed regions, and have blamed it on "aerosols" - tiny particles from traffic and industry suspended in the air.

The particles, which reflect sunlight back into space and increase cloud production, build up during the main working days and affect the weekend weather.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research in Karlsruhe, Germany. They said the findings offered more evidence that human actions could be affecting the climate.

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