An Ipswich man has won a prestigious weather forecasting competition, beating top experts.
Aaron Readle, 25, from Ipswich won the fantasy league style weather forecasting game run by the University of Reading.
In the competition experts and novices alike were asked to predict specific weather conditions such as temperature highs and lows, rain levels and amount of sunshine at different locations across the globe.
The annual competition is usually only open to staff and students from the university with this year marking the first time that members of the public could get involved.
Mr Readle was ranked the top guest player in the competition beating over 100 others from around the world.
He also placed 5th out of 235 players in the overall competition, beating scores of experienced international researchers.
Mr Readle is set to study a Masters course in meterology this September at the university and decided to sign up to the game to learn more about forecasting.
“Weather impacts our daily lives.
“My hobbies include sailing, mountaineering and flying, where understanding the evolution of weather is of particular importance,” said Mr Readle.
“This definitely piqued my interest in finding out how different measurements are taken in meteorology and the instrumentation used for forecasters.”
By using different forecasting reports from various sources Mr Readle was able to spot patterns and anomalies to help him better understand what the weather might do next.
Despite all his hard work Mr Readle was still amazed by how he had ranked in the final standings.
“I was surprised,” said Mr Readle. Knowing that actual meteorologists and researchers were taking part and I was at the top.”
For winning the guest competition Mr Readle was awarded a copy of the book 100 Years of Reading Weather, written by University of Reading meteorologists Stephen Burt and Dr Roger Brugge.
Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, head of the department of meteorology at the University of Reading, said: “We were hugely impressed with the accuracy of the predictions as players took on the infamously difficult task of weather forecasting.”
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