Pennines Rain Shadow

[SheffieldFolk]

Greetings all,

 

I'm in the process of researching the rain shadow that's casts over Sheffield and its Eastern plains by the Peak District.

 

I was hoping for direction to where I can find out more about this phenomenon? - resources/documentation

 

 

I have lots of other questions also, for now two pressing ones I have are:

 

How does the rain shadow effect change with the seasons? or more specifically

How pronounced is the effect through spring and into the summer? 

 

I know someone out there can help me....

 

 

[The PIT]

I think it could well be worth looking at the radar archives as they may well help you in this aspect. There should also be a difference between west and east Sheffield as well. Not only in rainfall but also in snowfall. For example my sister lives further west than me and is lower down but has had snow lying in her garden while I haven't had any due to the showers actually reaching her while the remintens have just reached me and have been sleet or wet snow.

Another more recent phenomena I've noticed is Thunderstorms approaching from the South, South West have failed to make it beyond the Dronfield bypass. Fizzling out either altogether or just end up being weak rain showers. As to why I don't know. Whether there's been any change on the vegetation so there's less moisture to draw on  I don't know either or it's just a temporary change.

[SheffieldFolk]

Can I access radar archives through the Extra portal with a subscription?

 

I would definitely have though there'd be a difference between east and west Sheffield given that the hills fade out towards the east.

 

I was thinking that the rain shadow might be less pronounced during the summer? - given that the weather usually remains stable (in states of little cloud) for longer in the summer

Do you know if there's any records or documentation of Sheffield's rain shadow? 
Or is this something I'm going to have to dig into the archives for?

[The PIT]

You can access the archives through net weather extra. Dunno if there''s a way to get them free.

I would have thought the rain shadow effect would have been more pronounced in Summer. As for records I'm not aware of any.  It will be a case of collecting data from station around the region. Just found this though which may be off use http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1477-8696.1968.tb03019.x/abstract

[SheffieldFolk]

I'm more than happy to pay for access to such a valuable resource.

 

What's your reasoning for the rain shadow being more pronounced in the summer?

[Terminal Moraine]

I'm more than happy to pay for access to such a valuable resource.

 

What's your reasoning for the rain shadow being more pronounced in the summer?

I would say the opposite was true as the orographic effect is reduced in the warmer months due to a greater emphasis on convective rainfall.

The mean rainfall at Buxton is 68% greater than that at Sheffield in December and 64% greater in January whereas in May it's only 43% greater and just 19% in June; the percentage rises to 57% and 53% in July and August respectively, still a good deal lower than in winter.

[Summer of 95]

Not sure about the Pennines but the Welsh mountain one is definitely weaker in the summer, in fact it virtually disappears a lot of the time. A front from the west in December and January will usually not produce much rain here, often nothing at all: quite often we have sunny spells while places like Capel Curig record 20mm or more of rain. We get much more in winter from Cheshire Gap setups or lows passing to the south than a standard Atlantic westerly.

 

In summer though fronts, rain and cloud come over the mountains as though theyre not there at all, westerly setups can be very cloudy (July 2010) and wet (August 2008).

 

On the MO averages, Shawbury gets about a third the rainfall of Bala from Dec-Feb, but about 70-80% from June-Aug, incredible.