The Weather Station Thread

[Domestique]

I just had a ride via the local bridalpath and noticed the farmer ploughing over planted crops 
Now just seen on the news wheat crops are not looking good 

[Wowbagger]

According to the Grauniad, that was the hottest April on record. The mean temperature (which I think means half-hourly readings) was 10.2°C. Our weather station recorded a mean of 13.3°C.

                 TEMPERATURE (C), RAIN (mm), WIND SPEED (kph)

                            DEP.    HEAT    COOL
          MEAN  MEAN        FROM    DEG     DEG                          MAX   MAX  MIN   MIN
 YR  MO   MAX   MIN   MEAN  NORM    DAYS    DAYS     HI DATE   LOW DATE >=32.2 <=0  <=0  <=-17.8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 01    7.6   3.1   5.4   0.0   725.3     0.0   13.2  16   -0.3  30      0    0    2    0
2011 02    9.6   5.2   7.3   0.0   551.2     0.0   15.7  25   -1.3   1      0    0    1    0
2011 03   11.3   3.6   7.4   0.0   605.8     0.0   18.1  31   -1.7   8      0    0    4    0
2011 04   19.1   8.6  13.3   0.0   242.3     0.0   26.1  23    5.5  11      0    0    0    0
2011 05   13.9   6.9  10.9  -0.4    57.0     0.0   15.5   1    3.0   4      0    0    0    0


                            PRECIPITATION (mm)

                  DEP.    MAX         ---DAYS OF RAIN---
                  FROM    OBS.                OVER
 YR  MO  TOTAL    NORM    DAY  DATE   0.254  2.54   25.4
---------------------------------------------------------
2011 01   97.7     0.0   19.5   18      13      8      0
2011 02   41.5     0.0   12.0   19       7      4      0
2011 03   10.1     0.0    4.1   18       5      2      0
2011 04    4.1     0.0    2.0   11       2      0      0
2011 05    0.0     0.0    0.0    0       0      0      0



                              WIND SPEED (kph)

                              DOM
 YR  MO    AVG     HI   DATE  DIR
----------------------------------
2011 01    5.1   38.6     8     W
2011 02    6.1   49.9     4    SW
2011 03    5.1   43.5    31    NE
2011 04    4.8   37.0    30    NE
2011 05   10.1   41.8     2   ENE


Rain on the way after UK's hottest April on record, says Met Office | Science | The Guardian

[Wowbagger]

Our weather station has just recorded the 200th mm of rain to fall this year. That's pretty damned dry.

[Wowbagger]

September's up. Warmer than July in terms of mean max and overall max, the same mean min, but 0.1 degree lower in terms of overall mean. That's only because the sun spends less time in the sky.



                   ANNUAL CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for 2011


NAME: Wowbagger's House       CITY: Southend-on-Sea       STATE: Essex               
ELEV:   20.1 m    LAT: 51.5 N    LONG:  0.7 E


                 TEMPERATURE (C), RAIN (mm), WIND SPEED (kph)

                            DEP.    HEAT    COOL
          MEAN  MEAN        FROM    DEG     DEG                          MAX   MAX  MIN   MIN
 YR  MO   MAX   MIN   MEAN  NORM    DAYS    DAYS     HI DATE   LOW DATE >=32.2 <=0  <=0  <=-17.8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 01    7.6   3.1   5.4   0.0   725.3     0.0   13.2  16   -0.3  30      0    0    2    0
2011 02    9.6   5.2   7.3   0.0   551.2     0.0   15.7  25   -1.3   1      0    0    1    0
2011 03   11.3   3.6   7.4   0.0   605.8     0.0   18.1  31   -1.7   8      0    0    4    0
2011 04   19.1   8.6  13.3   0.0   242.3     0.0   26.1  23    5.5  11      0    0    0    0
2011 05   19.2  10.4  14.6   0.0   196.3     0.1   24.4   6    3.0   4      0    0    0    0
2011 06   20.9  11.9  16.1   0.0   128.0    25.4   33.3  27    8.2  11      1    0    0    0
2011 07   21.3  12.9  16.8   0.0    76.0     6.6   26.4   5    9.7  30      0    0    0    0
2011 08   21.9  14.0  17.5   0.0    55.5    35.0   29.3   3   10.2  19      0    0    0    0
2011 09   21.6  12.9  16.7   0.1    82.6    26.2   28.5  30    8.6  18      0    0    0    0

[Wowbagger]

I've noticed an annoying glitch in the software we are using to write the web page.



                   MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for OCT 2011


NAME: Wowbagger's House       CITY: Southend-on-Sea       STATE: Essex               
ELEV:   20.1 m    LAT: 51.5 N    LONG:  0.7 E


                   TEMPERATURE (C), RAIN (mm), WIND SPEED (kph)

                                         HEAT   COOL         AVG
      MEAN                               DEG    DEG          WIND                  DOM
DAY   TEMP   HIGH  TIME    LOW   TIME    DAYS   DAYS   RAIN  SPEED   HIGH  TIME    DIR
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01    19.4   28.8  13:57   12.1  07:06    0.0    3.8     0.0  0.1     8.0  19:30   S
02    19.9   28.7  14:33   12.8  06:26    0.0    4.4     0.0  2.4    19.3  15:30   SW
03    19.9   26.6  14:05   15.8  07:25    0.0    5.2     0.0  5.9    24.1  12:00   SW
04    17.6   19.2  14:37   16.0  23:58    1.3    0.0     0.0  7.0    33.8  01:30   WSW
05    17.8   21.3  13:49   15.4  02:10    0.0    0.1     0.0  9.3    38.6  23:30   SW
06    14.2   17.7  00:42   10.9  23:45    7.2    0.0     3.0 10.3    38.6  00:30   WSW
07    11.6   16.2  14:23    8.6  01:44   10.7    0.0     1.6  6.2    40.2  01:13   W
08    11.9   14.2  23:02    9.4  02:14   11.8    0.0     0.6  4.7    20.9  06:30   W
09    17.0   21.6  15:35   13.6  02:11    1.3    0.0     2.4  7.6    37.0  14:30   WSW
10    17.9   21.3  15:44   16.1  07:22    0.0    0.7     0.0 13.0    48.3  15:00   WSW
11    17.5   20.2  13:20   15.6  23:22    0.8    0.0     0.0 11.3    43.5  09:30   WSW
12    16.8   20.7  15:38   15.2  01:18    0.7    0.0     0.2  6.0    30.6  01:30   W
13    14.8   16.4  00:00   14.1  07:09    5.6    0.0     0.2  3.2    20.9  09:00   NE
14    13.5   15.6  14:19   11.9  22:48    8.2    0.0     0.0  2.9    22.5  10:30   ENE
15    11.9   15.6  14:42    7.2  08:07   12.5    0.0     0.0  1.3    14.5  13:00   SSE
16     9.7   17.6  14:08    4.6  05:51   13.0    0.0     0.0  1.9    16.1  15:30   SSW
17    15.9   17.7  14:30    9.4  07:00    8.6    0.0     0.0 10.7    35.4  22:00   SW
18    10.6   14.7  00:01    7.9  05:43   12.7    0.0     3.9  9.0    37.0  02:30   WSW
19    10.3   14.2  14:59    5.8  23:58   15.0    0.0     0.0  5.5    24.1  13:19   W
20     7.7   14.3  15:18    3.5  06:59   17.0    0.0     0.0  3.1    17.7  11:00   W
21    10.1   15.9  13:58    5.8  04:11   13.5    0.0     0.0  3.5    24.1  17:00   SW
22    10.7   13.4  13:44    8.6  07:39   13.2    0.0     0.0  3.0    22.5  17:39   S
23    13.8   18.2  15:26   10.8  00:00    6.9    0.0     0.0  2.9    27.4  11:30   S
24    12.8   14.8  14:39   10.9  07:54    9.9    0.0     0.0  3.4    25.7  13:30   E
25    13.6   17.4  14:32   10.8  23:44    7.5    0.0     1.8  1.9    20.9  18:01   S
26    11.2   14.1  14:17    9.5  07:24   11.8    0.0     5.7  2.8    24.1  16:00   SSW
27    12.6   14.1  21:18   11.5  08:29   10.0    0.0     0.8  1.4    17.7  00:00   SE
28    12.6   13.6  00:00   10.9  10:16   10.9    0.0     0.4  1.8    12.9  04:30   NE
29    13.8   15.9  15:22   12.7  03:33    7.2    0.0     0.0  4.2    24.1  14:30   SW
30    15.0   17.3  12:57   13.5  00:00    5.3    0.0     0.2  5.9    30.6  10:30   SW
31    13.6   13.7  23:00   13.6  23:33    8.5    0.0     0.0  3.7    19.3  23:00   S
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      14.1   28.8     1     3.5    20   231.1   14.0    20.9  5.0    48.3    10    SW

That claims that 31st October had a temperature range of only 0.1 °C. The daily report for 31st Oct shows otherwise.

--Timestamp---   Temp   Chill   HIndex   Humid   Dewpt    Wind    HiWind   WindDir   Rain    Barom   Solar    ET      UV
--------------   ----   -----   ------   -----   -----   ------   ------   -------   -----   -----   -----   -----   ----
20111031 00:00   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   5   14   225   0.0   1015.8   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 00:30   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   3   14   225   0.0   1015.7   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 01:00   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   3   10   225   0.0   1015.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 01:30   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   13   225   0.0   1015.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 02:00   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   8   225   0.0   1015.3   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 02:30   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   8   225   0.0   1015.0   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 03:00   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   10   225   0.0   1014.8   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 03:30   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   10   225   0.0   1014.6   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 04:00   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   11   202   0.0   1014.7   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 04:30   14.7   14.7   14.7   95   13.9   2   8   225   0.0   1014.6   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 05:00   14.6   14.6   14.6   95   13.8   3   11   225   0.0   1014.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 05:30   14.6   14.6   14.6   95   13.8   2   10   225   0.0   1014.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 06:00   14.6   14.6   14.6   95   13.8   2   8   225   0.0   1014.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 06:30   14.6   14.6   14.6   95   13.8   2   11   225   0.0   1014.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 07:00   14.6   14.6   14.6   94   13.6   2   10   225   0.0   1014.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 07:30   14.5   14.5   14.5   94   13.5   2   10   202   0.0   1014.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 08:00   14.6   14.6   14.6   94   13.6   3   11   202   0.0   1014.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 08:30   14.5   14.5   14.5   94   13.5   3   14   225   0.0   1014.7   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 09:00   14.4   14.4   14.4   94   13.4   3   13   225   0.0   1014.6   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 09:30   14.6   14.6   14.6   93   13.5   3   13   225   0.0   1014.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 10:00   15.0   15.0   15.0   91   13.5   3   13   225   0.0   1014.3   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 10:30   15.4   15.4   15.4   88   13.4   5   14   225   0.0   1014.1   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 11:00   16.0   16.0   16.0   85   13.5   3   14   202   0.0   1013.8   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 11:30   16.5   16.5   16.5   82   13.4   3   21   225   0.0   1013.2   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 12:00   16.2   16.2   16.2   82   13.1   3   16   225   0.0   1012.9   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 12:30   15.8   15.8   15.8   83   12.9   5   14   202   0.0   1012.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 13:00   15.5   15.5   15.5   82   12.4   3   18   202   0.0   1012.1   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 13:30   15.4   15.4   15.4   81   12.1   2   11   202   0.0   1011.7   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 14:00   15.2   15.2   15.2   82   12.1   3   18   202   0.0   1011.3   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 14:30   15.0   15.0   15.0   80   11.6   3   18   225   0.0   1011.2   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 15:00   14.8   14.8   14.8   82   11.8   3   18   225   0.0   1010.9   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 15:30   14.7   14.7   14.7   82   11.6   3   18   202   0.0   1010.8   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 16:00   14.6   14.6   14.6   81   11.3   3   16   225   0.0   1010.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 16:30   14.4   14.4   14.4   82   11.4   3   13   225   0.0   1010.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 17:00   14.1   14.1   14.1   83   11.2   3   14   202   0.0   1010.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 17:30   13.6   13.6   13.6   85   11.1   3   14   202   0.0   1010.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 18:00   13.3   13.3   13.3   86   11.0   2   8   202   0.0   1010.1   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 18:30   13.0   13.0   13.0   88   11.1   0   5   225   0.0   1010.0   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 19:00   12.9   12.9   12.9   89   11.2   0   5   202   0.0   1009.8   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 19:30   12.8   12.8   12.8   90   11.2   0   5   68   0.0   1009.5   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 20:00   12.9   12.9   12.9   89   11.2   0   6   112   0.0   1009.3   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 20:30   12.9   12.9   12.9   90   11.3   2   8   202   0.0   1009.0   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 21:00   13.0   13.0   13.0   89   11.2   2   8   202   0.0   1008.9   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 21:30   12.9   12.9   12.9   90   11.3   0   6   202   0.0   1008.7   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 22:00   12.9   12.9   12.9   91   11.5   0   11   202   0.0   1008.4   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 22:30   13.3   13.3   13.3   90   11.7   2   10   202   0.0   1008.1   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 23:00   13.7   13.7   13.7   89   11.9   3   16   225   0.0   1007.7   -100000   0.000   -100000.0
20111031 23:30   13.7   13.7   13.7   89   11.9   3   19   202   0.0   1007.6   -100000   0.000   -100000.0


I'm concluding that the 25-hour day on Sunday has somehow buggered up the necessary recording and it's taken the final hour of 31/10/11 to represent the entire day.

[Wowbagger]

Looking at the Southend forecast for the rest of November makes it pretty certain that this month will be frost free with plenty to spare. No idea about November records for warm weather, but the mean temperatures for the month is currently at 10.8. It could well end up being higher than this.

At 31mm it's also been a pretty dry month, and 450mm so far for the year is probably close to average for this area. For the past 60 years or so, Gt. Wakering (5 miles away) has been pretty much the driest place in the UK with about 19 in rain. 450mm is 17.7 in. Of course,  if December's as wet as January or June were, then we'll be considerably wetter than average.

It's worth bearing in mind that it was this time last year that the snow started. Nothing like that round here yet.

[Wowbagger]

I've just had a look at the daily data in which our weather station recorded frosts this year.

So far in 2011, of the 16,272 half-hourly temperature readings recorded, only 46 of them have been at or below 0°C. That breaks down to 2 hours' frost in January (30th/31st), 7.5 in Feb (all on 1st Feb) and 13.5 hours in March, over 4 days (5th, 7th, 8th, 19th). I'm confident that the recordings are accurate: we almost invariably follow within a degree or so the met office reading from Landwick, (Wakering/Shoeburyness) with the exception of hot days. The more exposed, coastal and rural setting of the official site I'm sure keeps its temperatures down. I suspect that very cold winter weather might also give variance, but we haven't had any yet.

Unless what's left of this month throws something dramatic at us, I expect 2011 to be the most frost-free year ever recorded in SE England.

[Wowbagger]

Looking at the Southend forecast for the rest of November makes it pretty certain that this month will be frost free with plenty to spare. No idea about November records for warm weather, but the mean temperatures for the month is currently at 10.8. It could well end up being higher than this.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2011/autumn-warmth

This November and the autumn have been the second warmest on record in the UK, provisional Met Office figures show.

Statistics for November show that parts of the country have seen monthly temperatures of up to 3.0 °C above the long-term average.

Records that go back to 1910 show this November is ranked second warmest for the UK with an average temperature of 8.7 °C, just 0.1 °C off the record set in 1994.

The mild temperatures this November follow a relatively mild September and October, which were the 6th and 8th warmest on record respectively.

This has added up to a warm autumn, with provisional figures showing the UK average temperature was 11.2 °C - making it the second warmest on record, behind 2006 when the mean temperature was 11.4 °C.

The mean temperature for November was 10.7°C in my garden. For Sept, Oct & Nov the mean temperature was 13.5°C.

http://tickfield.thewalkers.org.uk/weather/NOAA/NOAA-2011-11.txt refers.

[Wowbagger]

I was thinking about buying the UV sensor and solar radiation sensor for this weather station: I get a 15% discount if I buy them before 22/12/2011, the first anniversary of me buying the machine.

However, since these additions would set me back another £600 or so, the hours of sunshine will have to remain unrecorded.

[Wowbagger]

I've just been looking at a marvellous resource on the Met Office's website:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/ukmapavge.html

If you want to know the time of year when you are most likely to have good weather in Western Scotland, look no further! Whenever we've been there, Mrs. Wow and I have been told that the best time of year to go is April and May. This map makes it official.

[Wowbagger]

and



illustrate perfectly why it is that you should take your holidays on Scotland's west coast in May rather than July.

[mcshroom]

Same for Cumbria. Our weather data at work shows the same with regard to rainfall as well

[psd]

Just stumbled upon this rather excellent thread. Mr Bagger - are you aware of Climatological Observers Link? http://www.colweather.org.uk/

I've no personal involvement but I used to supply data to them at one time.

psd (ex amateur and one-time-professional met observer).

[Wowbagger]

                   ANNUAL CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for 2011


NAME: Tickfield House       CITY: Southend-on-Sea       STATE: Essex               
ELEV:   20.1 m    LAT: 51.5 N    LONG:  0.7 E


                 TEMPERATURE (C), RAIN (mm), WIND SPEED (kph)

                            DEP.    HEAT    COOL
          MEAN  MEAN        FROM    DEG     DEG                          MAX   MAX  MIN   MIN
 YR  MO   MAX   MIN   MEAN  NORM    DAYS    DAYS     HI DATE   LOW DATE >=32.2 <=0  <=0  <=-17.8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 01    7.6   3.1   5.4   0.0   725.3     0.0   13.2  16   -0.3  30      0    0    2    0
2011 02    9.6   5.2   7.3   0.0   551.2     0.0   15.7  25   -1.3   1      0    0    1    0
2011 03   11.3   3.6   7.4   0.0   605.8     0.0   18.1  31   -1.7   8      0    0    4    0
2011 04   19.1   8.6  13.3   0.0   242.3     0.0   26.1  23    5.5  11      0    0    0    0
2011 05   19.2  10.4  14.6   0.0   196.3     0.1   24.4   6    3.0   4      0    0    0    0
2011 06   20.9  11.9  16.1   0.0   128.0    25.4   33.3  27    8.2  11      1    0    0    0
2011 07   21.3  12.9  16.8   0.0    76.0     6.6   26.4   5    9.7  30      0    0    0    0
2011 08   21.9  14.0  17.5   0.0    55.5    35.0   29.3   3   10.2  19      0    0    0    0
2011 09   21.6  12.9  16.7   0.0    82.6    26.2   28.5  30    8.6  18      0    0    0    0
2011 10   17.8  11.1  14.1   0.0   231.1    14.0   28.8   1    3.5  20      0    0    0    0
2011 11   13.3   8.2  10.7   0.0   409.6     0.0   17.4   3    3.0  20      0    0    0    0
2011 12    9.5   4.7   7.2   1.0   626.0     0.0   13.4  22   -0.5  19      0    0    2    0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          16.1   8.9  12.3   0.1  3929.6   107.4   33.3 JUN   -1.7 MAR      1    0    9    0


                            PRECIPITATION (mm)

                  DEP.    MAX         ---DAYS OF RAIN---
                  FROM    OBS.                OVER
 YR  MO  TOTAL    NORM    DAY  DATE   0.254  2.54   25.4
---------------------------------------------------------
2011 01   97.7     0.0   19.5   18      13      8      0
2011 02   41.5     0.0   12.0   19       7      4      0
2011 03   10.1     0.0    4.1   18       5      2      0
2011 04    4.1     0.0    2.0   11       2      0      0
2011 05   15.6     0.0   11.8   26       4      1      0
2011 06   99.1     0.0   24.2    6      16     10      0
2011 07   60.9     0.0   20.8   21      11      7      0
2011 08   51.8     0.0   16.9    4      13      5      0
2011 09   17.3     0.0    4.3    6      11      3      0
2011 10   20.9     0.0    5.7   26       9      3      0
2011 11   32.1     0.0   14.0    4       8      2      0
2011 12   52.0    23.6   10.8    1      19      6      0
---------------------------------------------------------
         503.1    23.6    24.2 JUN     118     51      0


                              WIND SPEED (kph)

                              DOM
 YR  MO    AVG     HI   DATE  DIR
----------------------------------
2011 01    5.1   38.6     8     W
2011 02    6.1   49.9     4    SW
2011 03    5.1   43.5    31    NE
2011 04    4.8   37.0    30    NE
2011 05    5.7   41.8     2   WSW
2011 06    5.2   38.6    22    SW
2011 07    4.0   37.0     6    SW
2011 08    4.1   35.4    10   WSW
2011 09    5.1   45.1    12    SW
2011 10    5.0   48.3    10    SW
2011 11    3.6   43.5    27   SSW
2011 12    7.7   53.1     8   WSW
----------------------------------
           5.1   53.1   DEC   WSW


Only 9 air frosts in 2011 in my garden. That's remarkably few, fewer than half the annual average for the 30 years 1971 - 2000.

Year records:

Highest temperature of 33.3°C on 27/6/11, the second consecutive year that the highest temperature has fallen on that date. This exceeded the Met Office's official highest, which was 33.1°C in Gravesend on the same day. Minimum temperature was -1.7°C on 8th March, probably the highest annual minimum temperature of my life. The hottest spell was from 29th Sept to 3rd Oct, with all 5 days recording maxima in excess of 26.5°C (80°F). Gravesend (again) recorded the highest ever UK October temperature on 1/10/11 - 29.9°C.  I recorded 28.8°C.

The wettest day was in June (6th) as was the second wettest - 28th - when more than 22mm fell in under 90 minutes, 15mm of that in 30 minutes. Although the annual rainfall in the above table is given as 503.1mm, the base station actually recorded about 6mm less than this. Rounding errors have been introduced by the free software, which is American and takes the data in metric (which is the default output for the station), converts it to Imperial / US and then, because we choose to display it in metric, then converts it back again. Just under 500mm, or 19.5 inches, is a very typical year for SE Essex, one of the driest areas in the country. NB in 2011, the midlands were quite a bit drier than this.

I don't think the barometric pressure did anything especially spectacular and the recorded wind speed will have been kept low by adjacent buildings and trees.

[bobb]

Peter, how far back does your weather data go? I was thinking about this the other day - in the winter of 2004/5 I commuted most days and rode pretty much every Saturday and Sunday too. I remember getting wet only 3 times* that winter! It seemed to be perpetually dry (if a little cold) all winter! I'd be interested in stats for Essex in that period if you have them.

*Properly wet as opposed to a bit damp from a passing shower

[Wowbagger]

Peter, how far back does your weather data go? I was thinking about this the other day - in the winter of 2004/5 I commuted most days and rode pretty much every Saturday and Sunday too. I remember getting wet only 3 times* that winter! It seemed to be perpetually dry (if a little cold) all winter! I'd be interested in stats for Essex in that period if you have them.

*Properly wet as opposed to a bit damp from a passing shower

Sorry, bobb, my records go back to 22/12/2010! I was delving around the Met Office thread and there was a page which I stumbled across with quite a lot of records on it. It'll probably take a bit of finding again but there was some useful stuff there.

[mcshroom]

Just confirmed that this December 2011 was on average 2.56 m/s (5.73 mph or 46%) windier than the mean windspeed since 2005 round here. Thought it had been a bit windy

Also 2.57^oC (50.7%) warmer than mean temperature for the same period.

[PeteB99]

Anyone interested in helping Climate research may be interested in the OldWeather project.

http://www.oldweather.org/

Esentially the Royal and other navies have been recording weather observations from ships worldwide for hundreds of years. Oldweather in the first phase has taken declassified logbooks from around WW1 and released them for volunteers to transcribe the observations into digital form to be used for climate modeling. The side benefits include the digitising of the historical information the logbooks also contain, a lot of us will have ancestors who lived and worked in these ships.

Be warned - some of the logbooks are badly written and long periods go with nothing much happening. It can be addictive though.

 

[Wowbagger]

                                TEMPERATURE (C)

                            DEP.    HEAT    COOL
          MEAN  MEAN        FROM    DEG     DEG                          MAX   MAX  MIN   MIN
 YR  MO   MAX   MIN   MEAN  NORM    DAYS    DAYS     HI DATE   LOW DATE >=32.2 <=0  <=0  <=-17.8
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 01    7.6   3.1   5.4  -0.9   725.3     0.0   13.2  16   -0.3  30      0    0    2    0
2012 01   11.0   7.0   8.9   2.6   185.0     0.0   12.4   1    3.9   6      0    0    0    0


There's a comparison of last January and this month, to date. 2012 is currently running at more than 3°C higher than last year, and I thought Jan 2011 was pretty mild.

Could all change pretty quickly of course, and there is colder weather forecast for the next few days.

[Cudzoziemiec]

What exactly do "Heat deg days" and "Cool deg days" measure?

[Wowbagger]

It's something to do with the amount of fuel you have to use to heat / cool a building to an acceptable temperature for work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heating_degree_day refers. I think it's a USAnian thing.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Thanks. Potentially useful, but only if you have a particular building with known insulation values etc to relate it to. I shall ignore.

[Wombat]

What exactly do "Heat deg days" and "Cool deg days" measure?

Its a chartered institute of building services engineers (CIBSE) thing.  Widely used to get a feel for much heat/cooling demand there has been in a given period.

[recumbentim]

I use the Traffic Scotland Weather stations for temp and Wind , on line .
I got to fix them  too when they are broken?

[Wowbagger]

Quite a white frost in the park this morning, even though our weather station told us the temperature was 7°C. The park is in a valley and is a bit of a frost pocket. There has been hardly any wind today.

At 11 a.m. our reading was 6.9°C whereas in Shoebury the official one was 6.6°C.