42 replies to this topic

[March Blizzard]

Let's pretend that the MO announced that they were establishing a new official observation station, and they allowed you a completely unrestricted choice on where it would be placed, where would you put it, and why?

I, personally, would put mine in a high altitude valley, preferably sheltered to the north, somewhere in the North Pennines. As a fan of cold winter nights i think such a place would throw up some interesting results to say the least!

Second choice would be a similar location somewhere in the Cairngorms, for the same reasons. I would love to see if this Island of ours could crack -30C on the coldest of nights.

[Alza]

I'd place mine on the roof of the Freeman Hospital as I'm just round the corner and this would give me very accurate results for my location!

[Aaron]

I'd put the weather station in a valley somewhere in the Pennines, such as the Aire Valley, there's probably many, many undiscovered frost hollows in northern England that probably get seriously cold.

If I was being totally selfish I'd place it just outside my back yard, this area is usually colder then elsewhere in Leeds on cold, clear nights so I'd like to see the official readings

Edited by Aaron, 18 February 2012 - 23:11 .

[Harve]

Aaron, on 18 February 2012 - 23:09 , said:

I'd put the weather station in a valley somewhere in the Pennines, such as the Aire Valley, there's probably many, many undiscovered frost hollows in northern England that probably get seriously cold.

Yup, in December 2010 I saw -14c, 15c and -17c on a car thermometer (as inaccurate as they can be) near Dovedale, not too far from me, on three separate mornings. In contrast, I don't believe it dropped below -10c at the nearest Met Office station in Leek in December 2010. The dales here are really quite steep and narrow compared to most other 'frost hollow' locations and some north-south orientated dales receive no sun until early afternoon in the winter, so I've often seen temperature differences between the tops and dales being as much as 11c on sunny spring mornings. Again, that's according to the car.
There was once a Met Office station further down the valley as I remember the date record being broken on a day in December 2010, the location of the original record being Mayfield, Staffordshire set sometime in the early 20th century. I've got no idea what's happened to the station though.
The nearest frost hollow station is all the way over in Shawbury, Shropshire. I'm quite sure it's often colder in local valleys here, alas we'll never know for sure.

[Weather Ship]

And the point of all this is what?

[Stormmad26]

weather ship, on 18 February 2012 - 23:32 , said:

And the point of all this is what?

An interesting discussion? bit like most threads on forums really...

Two places I might put mine would be at the highest point on Dartmoor or the fields behind my house, to see how it compares to my station and if the temps get lower there right on the valley floor or next to the river than the back of my garden.

I used to think we could do with a station closer than Dunkeswell and lower down as it's pretty high up, but there is now a MetO station at Exeter Airport that reported an impressive -16.5C last December.

[Isolated Frost]

A very interesting topic

Selfishly, the bank of the river wear, about 1km from my house but at the bottom of a valley.

Central London would be very interesting- right next to Charing Cross or Covent Garden- right in the center of the UHT. Probably very mild and pretty frostless in winter- and very hot in summer.

But I'd like one station on a oil and gas platform in the north sea- I would love to see the temperatures and effects that breezes and precipitation have, as well as if there are many 'hot' and 'cold' days there, considering they are surrounded by water.

[weather09]

Putting aside any bias (lol), I'd like to see one set up in nearer to Birmingham. Can't have London and Kent hogging all the glory when it comes to temp. maximas everytime there's a nationwide heatwave event. The nearest station to here, currently, is located in Coleshill, N Warks - which lies near the border of the West Midlands county.

Interestingly, on 1st October last year, when Gravesend recorded 29.9C, Coleshill recorded a temperature of 29.4C.

I've noticed during most widespread heatwave events that the west Midlands region, particularly towards the south and east, is never really far away from eastern and south-eastern England when it comes to daytime maximas.

Highest temperature on record from a station closest to Birmingham is 35C, which was recorded back in July 2006. I would be interested to know what the temperature was within Birmingham itself during that event.

[Backtrack]

I would place it right on the summits of Mount Snowdon - it would be seriously interesting to see the temperatures & indeed windchill on the highest mountain in England & Wales during a winter storm.
It would also be great to do a comparison of the Met Office forecasts compared to the actual weather taking place.

[Terminal Moraine]

I'd put it on Kinder Scout in the Peak District as, to my knowledge, there's never been a complete met' station there, only raingauges read monthly.
If the Peak Park would grant planning permission for an eco-friendly dwelling up there ( and a pig might fly in front of a blue moon) I'd also volunteer to live there and man the station free of charge; in fact I'd pay them a nominal fee for the pleasure of it.
Thinking about it further, if they'd allow me to live there I'd provide the station.

[johnholmes]

Terminal Moraine, on 19 February 2012 - 13:59 , said:

I'd put it on Kinder Scout in the Peak District as, to my knowledge, there's never been a complete met' station there, only raingauges read monthly.
If the Peak Park would grant planning permission for an eco-friendly dwelling up there ( and a pig might fly in front of a blue moon) I'd also volunteer to live there and man the station free of charge; in fact I'd pay them a nominal fee for the pleasure of it.
Thinking about it further, if they'd allow me to live there I'd provide the station.

I take it your wife would remain in your relatively sheltered current location TM?

Goku, on 19 February 2012 - 13:38 , said:

I would place it right on the summits of Mount Snowdon - it would be seriously interesting to see the temperatures & indeed windchill on the highest mountain in England & Wales during a winter storm.
It would also be great to do a comparison of the Met Office forecasts compared to the actual weather taking place.

already is one there

[Alza]

On second thoughts, I'd also like to place it deep in the Eden Valley in Cumbria - the nearest station is Newton Rigg near Penrith. That station recorded -17.7°C in December 2010, but a wall thermometer where I was 5 miles away read -23°C one morning, and the car thermometer read -22°C. It sounds too low, but I know there are some seriously cold frost hollows in that area. The whole Eden Valley is like one giant frost hollow sometimes, but there are also small pockets which are even colder.

EDIT: An unofficial weather station in Penrith itself recorded a low of -13°C and a high of -7°C on December 21st, the max of -7 is very cold but -13 isn't that unusual for the area so I'm sure it was recording high. On the 8th December 2010 it recorded a maximum of -9°C as well!

Edited by Alza 2, 19 February 2012 - 18:05 .

[sn0wman]

weather ship, on 18 February 2012 - 23:32 , said:

And the point of all this is what?

And the point of you being so rude is? Seriously, why do you even bother posting on this forum, when all you do is mock people.

[Suburban Streamer]

Of course my response is entirely IMBYfied but I live in a bit of a grey area for official weather stations....the nearest to me is northolt which is 15miles from me and much lower asl. So I'll have one on or near to barnet church pls! Or failing that the roof of my house will do! But I will have to abstain from any maintence.....I dont do heights!

[Terminal Moraine]

johnholmes, on 19 February 2012 - 17:53 , said:

I take it your wife would remain in your relatively sheltered current location TM?

Yes John, I'm afraid although the good Mrs Terminal loves walking up there she would be thinking of practical matters like' how would we do the shopping' and how to get the cats to the vet' .
Perhaps, after all, it's as well the Met' Office aren't likely to be offering me the post in the near future.

[Suburban Streamer]

weather ship, on 18 February 2012 - 23:32 , said:

And the point of all this is what?

Actually can I be greedy and request another weather station right on top of weather ship's keyboard?

[Aaron]

I'd love a weather station to be put here!

[Weather Ship]

sn0wman, on 19 February 2012 - 21:47 , said:

And the point of you being so rude is? Seriously, why do you even bother posting on this forum, when all you do is mock people.

I wasn't aware that I always mock people. Can you give some occasions when I've actually done this?

[Blizzards]

weather09, on 19 February 2012 - 13:07 , said:

Putting aside any bias (lol), I'd like to see one set up in nearer to Birmingham. Can't have London and Kent hogging all the glory when it comes to temp. maximas everytime there's a nationwide heatwave event. The nearest station to here, currently, is located in Coleshill, N Warks - which lies near the border of the West Midlands county.

Interestingly, on 1st October last year, when Gravesend recorded 29.9C, Coleshill recorded a temperature of 29.4C.

I've noticed during most widespread heatwave events that the west Midlands region, particularly towards the south and east, is never really far away from eastern and south-eastern England when it comes to daytime maximas.

Highest temperature on record from a station closest to Birmingham is 35C, which was recorded back in July 2006. I would be interested to know what the temperature was within Birmingham itself during that event.

Indeed, the West Mids is often up there with the higher temps usually. I would place a new Met Office station in the City of Birmingham somewhere. Surely it must be hotter than Coleshill with some sort of Urban heat effect.

[March Blizzard]

Aaron, on 19 February 2012 - 22:39 , said:

I'd love a weather station to be put here!

Looks perfect! Do you know where that actually is, Aaron?