dryfie

Cracking day today with exceptional visibility and able to sit out in shorts etc. I feel sincerely sorry for our southern friends with all they have to put up with. Don’t think I could possibly return, and not sure how they tolerate the appalling climate.

Most airports have two sets of readings; One is for aircraft purposes, with temperatures only needing to be accurate to one degree celsius. In addition they are then rounded to the nearest whole degree. The measuring equipment has been known to be in the ATC car park! My reckoning is that the reported whole degree value could be up to 1.5c incorrect, but still acceptable for aircraft requirements. You can tell these because the temperature is reported without a decimal value. Messages might also include the ICAO indicator for the site, such as EGLL for Heathrow. Some airports may also have official Met Office equipment. This is regularly inspected and checked for accuracy, the requirement being accurate to 0.1c. The equipment would be installed above a grass surface, hopefully well away from tarmac or exhaust. You can tell these because they report the temperature to the nearest decimal point, and therefore give a more accurate reading. The message might also include a WMO number, such as 03772 for Heathrow.

A Original post: https://community.netweather.tv/topic/99056-model-output-discussion-mid-summer-onwards/?do=findComment&comment=4934270

Unplanned drive up to Inveraray this afternoon to help my niece try to make her first home habitable again. Moving stuff upstairs, lifting carpets and starting to remove skirting etc. In my 75 years I’ve had few sadder days.

A

Looking at the SEPA rainfall totals for the past 36 hours, here's my rough assessment: NW of Ardnamurchan to Black Isle <60mm NE of Fort William to Fife >70mm (large areas consistently around 75mm) S of Forth Clyde <50mm S of Girvan to Canonbie <15mm Large area centred approx Inverary >100mm Highest totals: Hazlewood Cottage (south of Oban) 158mm Loch Restil 153mm Inveruglas 146mm Rest and Be Thankful 145mm Some others: Dunstaffnage 124mm Killin 126mm Strathyre 110mm Dalmarnock 43mm Edinburgh RBG 49mm Peterhead 32mm Dalbeattie 6mm Apologies for brevity

If the WCML floods then it’s often in this area, so watch out for Carlisle/Lockerbie warnings. No problems today with mainly light/drizzle stuff. South of the main area of disruption.

Interested to note how the temperature difference across the front has been steadily increasing through the day. It is now over 5c between Hawick (10.2) and Eskdalemuir (15.8), only about 12 miles apart. To the west it varies from 12 at Tarbert to 16 at Macrihanish. Just over the border it's 19 in Newcastle and 11 in Morpeth!

Away, that’s the Lammermuirs, ya silly Gloucester.

Anybody old enough to remember the old BSM adverts, where the map of Scotland, England and Wales was a driver. Argyll was the face, the steering wheel was the Rhins, the knees were Pembroke, the back was basically the east coast, and the foot pedals were in Devon (or was it Cornwall, always mix the two). Remind me which bit was Kent?

I’ll leave it to others to discuss the decimal point accuracy of forecasts this weekend, and ask a question. How many sources forecast that Northern Ireland would be the warmest part of the UK today, even yesterday?

Have to note that the Achfary reading was around 2am, so obviously no insolation. Remember reading that it wasn't a normal fohn in that the air wasn't lifted up a mountain, and then down again, but was already present from being carried from the central Atlantic. As the air in those regions seems to be warming too, then why not 20c?

No mention on BBC lunchtime news. Why might that be? ITV Border news near tears.

My gut reaction is to hang the perpetrators from the branches. Totally OTT I know, but that's what I feel. Used to travel the military road quite frequently, so always looked out for it. Very sad.

Really seems a bit of a non-event again, with less rain than expected last few days, and just a few Zephyrs ( and Zodiacs) this evening. No audible wind, which is my measure of strength.

NW quarter? You’re barely in the northern half.

Hope he’s not got his future in Tata!

Interesting to read the posts with claims of how cold and grey it is in the north. Sad but interesting. Anyway, how is this month shaping up for sunshine? Oh, I see that sunniest to date is Leuchars in Fife, with 112 hours. And second is Aberdeen with 105. Actually that's pretty much how it's been for the past four months. Sometimes the lead has been shared with the likes of the Isle of Tiree, Stranraer, Northumberland, the Isle of Man, and Anglesey. The good old north south divide.

In the 1800s, Alexander Buchan, Scots Meteorologist, produced lists of warm and cold spells that often applied to Scotland: Cold 7-14 Feb, 11-14 April, 9-14 May, 29 June - 4 July, 6-11 Aug & 6-13 Nov Warm 12-15 July, 12-15 Aug & 3-14 Dec Even allowing for spatial difference, I can't see much alignment with other folks lists.

I too have a theory that certain dates bring similar spells of weather and temperature each year. I’ll publish it once I’ve written The 39 Steps.

Thankfully it doesn't happen very often, but just occasionally the Solway gives us a taste of what our friends on the east coast have to put up with more routinely. Haar/fret/local name? has crept northwards overnight and we have the misty, low cloud conditions so often described. Luckily there is very little wind to advect fresh stuff in, and the base appears to be rising, so optimistic that the cloud may break up. Despite all this the temp is a very acceptable 20c, so can't gwumble.

Fairly heavy shower and one roll of thunder 1110.

Fairly heavy shower and one roll of thunder 1110.

Here's the first five days sunshine for official sites. Notable majority of coastal sites, but difficult to understand why there is only one English site. Cleaner air? Leuchars and Dyce won't have fared so well today due haar. Top 10 courtesy Starling's Roost Leuchars 55.8 hours Hawarden Airport 50.9 hours Aberdaron 49.6 hours Jersey: Airport 48.6 hours St Athan 48.6 hours Dyce 48.3 hours Ronaldsway 48.1 hours Weybourne 47.6 hours Kinloss 47.0 hours Prestwick, Gannet 46.7 hours

Heathrow is the official Met Office site 03772. It is used as the climate station and has thermometry regularly checked to be within 0.1c. Heathrow airport is the NATS site EGLL, near the control tower. The thermometers here are checked less frequently and only need to be within 1.0c for aviation purposes. It's for this reason that non Met Office readings should not be given much credence.