I have just received a response to a News item from 18 months ago – see www.sis-group.org.uk/news/moon-and-jet-stream.htm … It seems the article written by Clive Best in collaboration with Roberto Madrigadi was rejected and not published – see www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acp-2015-300/#discussion
The status of Madrigadi is disputed by Fabio Polenghi in an email. He says Madrigadi is not a climatologist or a meteorologist and relatively uneducated – yet he was a collaborator with Clive Best, who is. Not sure what to make of this – and why a news item from so long ago has been flagged up. The point of the post was Piers Corbyn and his claim of an upcoming 'heat wave' in the last couple of weeks of August 2014. The rest was padding. Corbyn, however, claims to use solar and lunar data in his methodology (which is not actually outlined in detail as he is a commercial weather forecaster keen to maintain an edge on other forecasters). Corbyn has been criticised many times for claims that have not materialised – or have occurred elsewhere rather than in the UK. Weather can change by the hour, let alone by months (which is what Corbyn forecasts) and in many cases his methodology comes out right – but whether that includes lunar tides influencing the jet stream is unclear. That is what Best and Madrigadi claim – and I provided links to Best's blog rather than the article itself (which occurred in a comment at Tall Blokes Talk Shop). It was secondary to the main focus of the News item. We do know that the jet stream meandering affects climate in NW Europe, and even in Russia and elsewhere. I don't know what mainly affects climate in Italy – or the Mediterranean region. Never looked at it. It's the place to go for a holiday as you can guarantee sunshine in the summer months. Even the Met Office and weather forecasts on Auntie show up the meanderings of the jet stream – but still cling to radiative forcing in the long term. Let's just say there are two parties here – one that promotes climate anomalies with solar affects and another party that opposes such a situation. Is Madrigadi on the first side and Polenghi on the other? I don't know.
I like feedback and welcome responses such as that of Fabio Polenghi but it should be pointed out that none of the news items represent SIS views. It is merely an organ to direct people to interesting points of view – from mainstream and outside of mainstream. New research is especially important as the old can always be overturned by somebody with a keen eye for detail – and a brain that refuses to accept the consensus line. I know that many times the links are not always to feasible ideas but that is the nature of the beast (scepticism is the name of the game). However, it is worthwhile pointing out that Madrigadi is not a qualified climate scientist or a meteorologist and that Clive Best might have been foolish in associating himself with somebody with a proletariat background – rather than with the elite point of view.Whatever, Madrigadi is an amateur and in the true spirit of the Corinthian he may know a lot more than your average Joe in climate science. Amateurs usually have a broader base of understanding. In other words, climate scientists are not famous for being knowledgeable when it comes to lunar tides and coronal mass expulsions – but some amateurs do have some knowledge of these things (and a rudimentary knowledge of climate science).
It is fair for Fabio Polenghi to point out the limitations of Madrigadi – and point taken. However, the link provided was not to the article in question but to the blog of Clive Best (another kettle of fish and not one I want to take a sniff from). I don't normally visit Best's web site so I am not sure of his point of view on climate – which appears to lie somewhere between the extremes and the opposite fringe, a sort of hedge sitting pose. Not only that I can't remember if there was a heat wave in the latter end of August. I think the forecast didn't really materialise – as far as the heat was concerned. We may have had a week or so of good weather but nothing to write home about. Does anybody have a better memory of August 2014?
Having said that the links on the News item of 6th August (above) provide some material worth looking at again – especially the post from https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/jaime-jessop-climate-wars-co2… … and http://clivebest.com/blog/?p=5937 … but bear in mind I don't personally have an opinion on what Best says (and neither does SIS). He said it and he is a climate scientist. The fact that he wrote an article that was rejected is not unusual in the grand scheme of things – but obviously the subject did not please the reviewers (for whatever reason).