118 replies to this topic

[noggin]

I just found this http://www.metoffice...images/map6.gif .....is it any use?

PS It can be "bigged-up" for the short-sighted. Like me!

Edited by noggin, 27 July 2009 - 15:56 .

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Biggin Hill



At least, I don't think that's a UFO.

Edit -
Thanks noggin, that is useful. Helps me place names.

Edited by AtlanticFlamethrower, 27 July 2009 - 16:06 .

[johnholmes]

Shiny_Bottom_1, on 27 July 2009 - 15:26 , said:

Just so i'm clear AFT, as i'm perhaps not reading this right, but the purpose of the thread/research?

me too

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Is this a weather station?



Cambridge Airport.


Edit: the purpose of this thread is to locate UK weather stations. We refer to these stations in statistics everyday, so let's have a look at them. I'm already amazed at some of the variety... these days much more than a stevenson screen, that is, if these are in fact weather stations.

Edited by AtlanticFlamethrower, 27 July 2009 - 16:26 .

[Solar Sausage]

Shiny_Bottom_1, on 27 July 2009 - 15:26 , said:

Just so i'm clear AFT, as i'm perhaps not reading this right, but the purpose of the thread/research?

johnholmes, on 27 July 2009 - 16:16 , said:

me too

And me?

[noggin]

AtlanticFlamethrower, on 27 July 2009 - 16:24 , said:

Is this a weather station?

Edit: the purpose of this thread is to locate UK weather stations. We refer to these stations in statistics everyday, so let's have a look at them. I'm already amazed at some of the variety... these days much more than a stevenson screen, that is, if these are in fact weather stations.

I'm no expert, but it doesn't look anything like the Westonbirt one, which I see several times a year, so I'm a bit iffy about it.

Oh and BTW I am enjoying the scenery on this armchair tour of weather stations. Let's keep it up and try to get them all!

[Essan]

Well at least it showing that they're better situated than a few of the US ones

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

noggin, on 27 July 2009 - 16:40 , said:

I'm no expert, but it doesn't look anything like the Westonbirt one, which I see several times a year, so I'm a bit iffy about it.

Yeah, we need an expert on weather stations to help out identifying what they look like and where they are likely to be (particularly when it comes to airfields).

I'm pretty sure there was nothing like the Westonbirt one around Cambridge airport. On the grass on the airfield or around the edge. Likewise Biggin Hill.


This search is something anyone can do using bing maps and google maps. The latitude and longitude markers should be a helpful start.

[johnholmes]

the question has been asked by 3 of us AF-why do you want to do this?
The UK met O is the official keeper of what/where/how any official weather station must be sited and operated.
Their web site has the details on these factors

so why do this?

[noggin]

I found nothing at Cambridge Airport, either.

However, the link that I provided shows whether the stations are automatic or manual (blue=automatic and white=manual). The manual ones need physical access and should, therefore, have a visible path like the Westonbirt one.

Bearing this in mind, I went back to my link and checked Cambridge. There are 2 stations in Cambridge, one of which is manual (National Institute of Agricultural Botany!) I found out the postcode of the NIAB and put it into Googlemaps and came up with this

http://maps.google.c...ps?hl=en&tab=wl

That looks like it may well be one of the two Cambridge stations.

I have missed my vocation in life and should have been a detective.

It'll take ages to find them all, but I am at least determined to find that other Cambridge one! Have to dish up the tea now, though.

[Solar Cycles]

johnholmes, on 27 July 2009 - 17:39 , said:

the question has been asked by 3 of us AF-why do you want to do this?
The UK met O is the official keeper of what/where/how any official weather station must be sited and operated.
Their web site has the details on these factors

so why do this?

The sighting of these stations is a contentious issue, and the purpose of this thread is to gather imformation as to whether or not these stations results, are being influenced by a third party, such as air conditioning units etc etc.

[noggin]

johnholmes, on 27 July 2009 - 17:39 , said:

the question has been asked by 3 of us AF-why do you want to do this?
The UK met O is the official keeper of what/where/how any official weather station must be sited and operated.
Their web site has the details on these factors

so why do this?

John, I know your question is to AF, but where is the harm in us finding them and posting pictures? Some of us may enjoy it and find it very interesting. If others find it pointless then they can just bypass the thread, surely?

PS It's a nice station at Westonbirt.....always tidy and neat. Someone looks after it very well!

[Red Raven]

Solar Cycles, on 27 July 2009 - 17:50 , said:

The sighting of these stations is a contentious issue, and the purpose of this thread is to gather imformation as to whether or not these stations results, are being influenced by a third party, such as air conditioning units etc etc.

They maybe contentious when you compare one site with another but it makes no difference to trends whether the station is placed on tarmac or grass or is a metal box or wood. They all react and measure the same increase or decrease in temperature relative to their own site. So surely the question that needs to be asked is has the relationship of the station to site changed? If it hasn't where's the problem?

[Solar Cycles]

Red Raven, on 27 July 2009 - 17:58 , said:

They maybe contentious when you compare one site with another but it makes no difference to trends whether the station is placed on tarmac or grass or is a metal box or wood. They all react and measure the same increase or decrease in temperature relative to their own site. So surely the question that needs to be asked is has the relationship of the station to site changed? If it hasn't where's the problem?

Your quite right, it makes no difference if the placement of them, was clear of any third party obstructions which could effect the results.

[Shiny_Bottom_1]

noggin, on 27 July 2009 - 17:57 , said:

John, I know your question is to AF, but where is the harm in us finding them and posting pictures? Some of us may enjoy it and find it very interesting. If others find it pointless then they can just bypass the thread, surely?

PS It's a nice station at Westonbirt.....always tidy and neat. Someone looks after it very well!

Hi Noggin.
I think the reason why John, Pete and myself (and before we're asked, no, its not a conspiracy ) asked AFT, is that he is the thread author.
We were all just wondering if there was a purpose, or if it is indeed, a thread to observe the beauty of weather stations.

Plus, take into account its been posted in the Climate Change thread, rather than General Weather, I think its a genuine question

Edited by Shiny_Bottom_1, 27 July 2009 - 18:38 .

[Solar Sausage]

Solar Cycles, on 27 July 2009 - 18:27 , said:

Your quite right, it makes no difference if the placement of them, was clear of any third party obstructions which could effect the results.

Don't you think that, should an A/C unit be suddenly placed beside a sensor, the resultant step-change in readings would be instantly picked-up by the relevant software?

[Solar Cycles]

Pete Tattum, on 27 July 2009 - 18:37 , said:

Don't you think that, should an A/C unit be suddenly placed beside a sensor, the resultant step-change in readings would be instantly picked-up by the relevant software?

It's well documented in the US, of such things. Over on these shores, I'm not to sure to tell you the truth Pete.

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Fast reply: I answered the question above in an edit. I'm sorry you didn't read it and so thought I had ignored you.

Quote

Edit: the purpose of this thread is to locate UK weather stations. We refer to these stations in statistics everyday, so let's have a look at them. I'm already amazed at some of the variety... these days much more than a stevenson screen, that is, if these are in fact weather stations.

[chionomaniac]

As a general fascination thread this is interesting, perhaps you may even find Terminal Moraines station. But as an exercise to prove that the sites have flawed positioning, I think it may be futile. That is unless you find on the google earth zoom in, that Grey Wolf is standing next to one with a fan heater!

[Chris Knight]

Pete Tattum, on 27 July 2009 - 18:37 , said:

Don't you think that, should an A/C unit be suddenly placed beside a sensor, the resultant step-change in readings would be instantly picked-up by the relevant software?

A/C is not on all the time - apparently some US citizens have had not had to turn them on at all this summer, the weather has been so pleasantly cool! I would bet that they are also thermostatted.

A/C outputs distribute heat more in the hottest weather, heating up surrounding walls and surfaces, even if shaded, and extending into the evening since the interiors of the A/C'd building still need cooling.

So no step change - just hotter hot days and nights, and of course moderated by breezes or still weather, so the hottest still days measure an even higher temperature than without the A/C contribution.

Here's Durham University observatory, with a continuous weather record going back to 1840. I wonder what AWS they used then, and if it was always on the roof?


No, that was a scurrilous fiction:

Quote

The meteorological station is located on a gently sloping south-facing lawn in front of the Observatory building, on a ridge less than one kilometre southwest from Durham Cathedral, at 54º 46’ 06” N, 1º 35’ 05” W and 102 metres above sea level; the general situation of the site has changed little over the years. At no time has there been need to move the meteorological station, as has happened in many other cities, so that Gordon Manley could be especially proud to create a temperature series based on the second longest continuous record at one site at a university in Britain, after that of the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford (where the record dates from 1766).

Edited by Chris Knight, 27 July 2009 - 19:39 .