THE PICTURE ABOVE SHOWS A SATELLITE VIEW OF THE WEATHER AROUND THE WORLD AT 06:00UTC THIS MORNING.
It was obtained from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. To obtain the latest image of this type, click here.

UTC: the international standard
Please note that UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) is used in MetLink reviews.
UTC replaced GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) as the international time standard some years ago. For practical purposes, there is no difference between UTC and GMT.
The official international way of writing times is to use the 24-hour clock and to put a colon between the hours and minutes. Thus, to give an example, 2.30pm is 14:30. Mid-day in the UK is 12:00UTC.

WHAT DO THE COLOURS SHOW?
The colours show temperatures. To find out how temperatures relate to colours, look at the scale beneath the picture. Land temperatures are indicated by the part of the scale above the caption “Synoptic obs”. Sea temperatures are indicated by the part of the scale above the caption “Sea surface”. Ice is shown in white. Clouds are shown in shades of grey. A scale is provided just above the words “Cloud top” (bottom right of the picture).
TODAY:
Dark blue to purple over the northern half of Asia, the far north of Canada and a small part of Antarctica – indicating temperatures below about minus 20°C. The area of Antarctica with such low temperatures is remarkably small. Even though early February is summer-time in the Antarctic, temperatures are normally much lower. The green colour indicates temperatures between about 0°C and minus 15°C. The temperature at the South Pole at 06:00UTC today was minus 40°C.
Yellow – indicating temperatures between 0°C and +10°C over most of western Europe, which is higher than of late in this region. A broad band of yellow to orange across Asia and North Africa, indicating temperatures in the range about 10°C to about 20°C, which is lower than of late.
Dark brown over northern Australia – indicating temperatures up to 35-40°C. The temperature was 39°C at Alice Springs (central Australia) at 07:00UTC today (mid-afternoon locally).
White – indicating sea ice, i.e. ice formed by the freezing of sea water – on the Arctic Ocean, the waters off Labrador, Newfoundland and eastern Asia and the waters around Antarctica.
Pale blue – indicating sea-surface temperatures 25°C or more – in low latitudes. Notice that the waters on the eastern sides of the South Pacific, South Atlantic and South Indian Oceans are cooler than those on the western sides. This is because of upwelling, the process whereby prevailing winds – in these areas south-easterly trade winds – drive waters away from coasts and water wells up from 50-100m depth to replace it.

WHICH ARE THE SUNNIEST PARTS OF THE WORLD?
This satellite view shows that cloud amounts tend to be greatest in middle and high latitudes and near the equator. Amounts tend to be much smaller in the tropics and sub-tropics.
The clouds in middle and high latitudes are mostly associated with weather systems called depressions and anticyclones. The weather in the anticyclones of middle and high latitudes is generally fine and quiet but sometimes rather cloudy. The weather in the depressions of middle and high latitudes is generally cloudy, wet and windy.
The cloud near the equator is associated with a climatic feature called the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which brings cloud and heavy rain. This feature generally extends right round the globe but can be weak in some regions. The ITCZ migrates northwards to reach its most northerly position in July/August and then migrates southwards to reach its most southerly position in January/February. The rain falls mostly in the form of heavy showers.
TODAY:
The ITCZ was weak today over Africa, Indonesia, northern Australia, the Atlantic Ocean, the eastern Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean. It was trong only over South America and the western South Pacific.
There were, as usual, many mid-latitude depressions over the Southern Ocean and there were many depressions and fronts over the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, Scandinavia and the eastern half of Europe.
A broad band of cloud extended from north-east Brazil to Morocco.

WHERE WAS THE BEST PLACE TO BE TODAY?
Do let the MetLink team know where in the world you wanted to be today, and why. To do so, click here.