Edinburgh and L’viv to Monitor Global L’viving!

Scotland’s and Ukraine’s famously wet cities are pooling resources to track an underreported aspect of climate change. The process is called Global L’viving, due to the weather phenomenon common to the city in western Ukraine. “L’viv is very well known for having several independent rain storms in one day,” says Danylo Mokryi, head of meteorology for the city.

While global warming is a hot topic around the world, global L’viving is not despite the uptick in the number of cities reporting an increase in on-again, off-again rain activity. 

For Mokryi, the connection with Edinburgh came naturally during a tour of Scotland. “I was admiring Edinburgh Castle from a distance and thought that back home, I’d be getting my umbrella out, because if you can see the castle in L’viv, rain is on the way. Sure enough, I was drenched before I could react.”

How to monitor Global L’viving

Mokryi contacted Sandy Higgenbottom of the Edinburgh Castle Weather Report Authority to see how they could put his plan into action. They quickly agreed that satellite imagery would be a vital, and drier, way of collecting data than walking outside.

“We decided to call it Global L’viving, because it’s short enough for the Americans, but intricate enough to appeal to European sensibilities. Global L’viving is measured on the Edinburgh Scale, so that will keep our side in the limelight, as will the installation of Edinburgh Castles around the world. Not all cities in the world have been graced as bountifly as Edinburgh and L’viv with castles on hills for gauging the weather. By installing hills and castles, we can help people on the ground and satellite data users both to improve the accuracy of their short-term weather forecasting, “ says Jock. We believe that with enough uptake, the Edinburgh Castle can improve on the dreaded Irish pub as a fixture in cities everywhere.”