Possible 30c

[WBSH]

Yes I remember that Darren, but it still dosen't make up for what has been been a dysmal summer overall

It is astounding that some of us are getting excited about temps of 30c being broken.

Who would have thought that this is the kind of situation we would be facing this year.

I'm not too fussed that we are getting excited about the 30c mark being surpassed.

It's nice to have these sort of temperatures once a year maybe, but if it goes on all summer like 2006 it does start to get ridiculous.

It didnt reach 30c where I lived I don't think, however it did get to 29.2c in Gravesend today, I tend to use Gravesend values for my area because there is no proper data for Maidstone. I'm sure 30c must have briefly being broken in central London surely?

[West is Best]

By the way a stephenson screen should be located at 4ft or 1.3m. Not 2m.

As for LWC, I've never seen it as I would presume that 99% of people on here won't have seen it either, and you can bet it is far enough away from buildings, the right height above the floor surface etc, but being on a rooftop won't the equipment be sited over concrete/apshalt/whatever rooftops are made out of? And equipment shouldn't be sited above or next to a surface that absorbs and radiates heat.

Yes I imagine it's still on feet Paul. Everything you say is, I'm sure, true. It'll still officially be recorded as 30C anyway.

Anyway, aside from today's 30C I'm pretty sure we will see at least another 30C day this year. It's still only 5th August, and we've a long way still to go. Some synoptic signs further down the road looking good for another warm up in due course.

[nick sussex]

Here in West Sussex today and yesterday were what I'd call perfect proper summer days, hot and sunny . The outlook isnt shaping up too badly and thankfully the beeb have stopped peddling their misery forecasts, I've noticed recently the bias in terms of their outlooks, rather than stressing the positives like some nice sunshine in the coming week with a few showers its been like unsettled and cool, stressing the rain rather than the fact that for many there will still be some nice sunshine.

Back to todays possible 30c I wonder whether this was a proper one ie 30. something rounded down or a high 29 reading rounded up, 29.9 IMO is just that and not 30c. But seeing as the weathers been dumbed down so much in recent times perhaps they didnt want to confuse us all with using decimals!

[paul tall]

Mind you, they've probably got a garden on top of the LWC, wouldn't surprise me If so, then a stevenson screen sited at 4ft above the grass, in good airflow etc would make it a perfectly acceptable reading. I doubt the fact that it is atop a building would be relevant if the equipment siting meets all the relevant criteria.

[West is Best]

Back to todays possible 30c I wonder whether this was a proper one ie 30. something rounded down or a high 29 reading rounded up, 29.9 IMO is just that and not 30c. But seeing as the weathers been dumbed down so much in recent times perhaps they didnt want to confuse us all with using decimals!

Hi Nick - long time no chat. It was 30.3C

[PersianPaladin]

Mind you, they've probably got a garden on top of the LWC, wouldn't surprise me If so, then a stevenson screen sited at 4ft above the grass, in good airflow etc would make it a perfectly acceptable reading. I doubt the fact that it is atop a building would be relevant if the equipment siting meets all the relevant criteria.

Yep....better than having a Stevenson Screen stationed above concrete and near tarmac on a RAF station.

(Waits for Stratos Ferric to storm angrily into the thread)

[paul tall]

I wouldn't have thought they would site a screen above tarmac TBH, RAF bases have plenty of open spaces and grass. Although I stand to be corrected.

[damianslaw]

It is a big jump but tempertures can drop as quick just as easily. I honesty think its the fhon effect because it was cloudy for most of the morning and the temp was recorded at about 23C but as soon as the sun came out it risen(and coinscidently when the sun went in when the temp dropped again). If stormchaser said Newcastle Airport recorded 27C maybe its true but i don't know if they got the observation there or somewhere else in Newcastle. Must admit where i was did not felt 27C but i was slightly higher up at the time.

Okay I take the 27 degree reading for Newcastle airport, though perhaps it didn't reach so high in the city centre and surrounding suburbs, my location is Jesmond.

It certainly felt very warm for a short period at 1 o clock and yes I would suspect that the temperature did rise very quicky from 12 till 1 but to 27 degrees i certainly didn't expect.

As for a foehn effect well this was quite likely, however I would have expected other nearby stations to have recorded comparable if not higher temperature than 27 degrees.It is in this context that it certainly seems an odd value. I really hadn't anticpated seeing such a figure and I was beginning to think we might not even hit 25 degrees this summer.

Today was expected to be warmer than yesterday, I am not sure of the official figure for the City but I very much doubt it was as high as yesterday, even so today not yesterday has for me been the first day where it has felt like proper summer and going by the forecast it could well be the last for a long while yet...

With respect to my earlier message, the BBC are cnfirming the 30 degree value on the news, had the 'dubious' figure not been quoted would they have had a news item on today's weather, 30 degrees sounds so much more attention grabbing than 29 degrees.

[nick sussex]

Hi Nick - long time no chat. It was 30.3C

Hi WIB

Where have you been, havent seen you on here in a long while. What a beautiful day its been here, it really feels like summer this evening.

[reef]

But we have OP. LWC does count we understand, so 30.3C the top today.

A late in the day 29C at Humberside too I notice.

This may sound like a broken record, but that Humberside value is highly suspect. Looking on the MetOffice website, the majority of areas around here near to the coast failed to surpass 23-24°C. By my own recordings we reached 24.1°C here and we're usually marginally warmer.

I also notice that the Metoffice has Bridlington with the top temperature at 24.8°C yesterday, yet I remember Humberside reporting 27°C at one point! Definitely something fishy there.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/yh/...st_weather.html

[Weather-history]

The London Weather Centre station is a non standard exposure site. It always causes headaches when it comes to statistical purposes. Strictly it shouldn't count.

Philip Eden always italicizes these readings when he quotes such figures in his summaries on his site climate-uk.

Edited August 5, 2007 by Mr_Data

[Weather-history]

The London Weather Centre station is a non standard exposure site. It always causes headaches when it comes to statistical purposes. Strictly it shouldn't count.

Philip Eden always italicizes these readings when he quotes such figures in his summaries on his site climate-uk.

Infact, Philip discounted the 31.9C reading at the London Weather Centre on the 27th of May 2005 as a date record because it was a non standard site.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The Met Office rejected the 27C of Newcastle yesterday- I never trusted that reading, 24-25C tops perhaps, but an anomaly of 4-5C relative to nearby areas is decidedly suspicious. You can often bet on London Weather Centre to smash a temperature threshold- I rather like Philip Eden's method of using italics for potentially dubious readings.

However, there are probably equally dubious readings from earlier years that are accepted (I admit to not being a leading authority on this issue though)

Wow I must say that sounds suprisingly low Ian. That is just like a bog standard 2007 summers

day.

I would think about moving if I were you. I would say your location dosen't exactly quench the

thirst of a weather enthusiast

Brian

Already done- I'm due to start my three-year PhD at University of East Anglia, Norwich, in just eight weeks' time. For comparison, it reached 27C there today!

Another point- there is considerable argument over the record high temperature in the UK. The Met Office quote the 38.5C, while Philip Eden believes that the reading was suspect and quotes the definitely representative 38.1C at Kew. Again I'm not an authority on this so I tend to say "definitely 38.1, and arguably 38.5". So this debate over dubious readings is nothing new...

[West is Best]

I do really respect Philip, but at the end of the day he's a private individual - brilliant and all that. The Met Office is the official guardian of UK weather statistics.

[PersianPaladin]

I think I'll stick with Phillip Eden's records. Seems to be a man of careful judgement.

[West is Best]

Hi WIB

Where have you been, havent seen you on here in a long while. What a beautiful day its been here, it really feels like summer this evening.

Hi Nick,

Lovely to hear from you. I have to be careful where I post - it makes things run more smoothly that way!

I think I'll stick with Phillip Eden's records. Seems to be a man of careful judgement.

That's fine of course PP, but it's unofficial whereas the Met Office is official.

Besides, I'd rather have several hundred top scientists and experts in the field than one, albeit worthy, individual with limited access to material. Not that I'm knocking him - he does a very fine job as an amateur metereologist.

[Geordiesnow]

Well as TWS says the MO rejected that figure so 27C was never reached. However i still feel that there may of been some fohen effect going on yesterday but it was not enough to rise the temps up alot.

Back to today - mixed bag really. Though i don't records tempertures this morning felt warm but as we went into the afternoon wind direction seemed to change and it felt quite a bit cooler especially in the wind. Wind then eased which left a pleasant end albeit quite cloudy end to the evening but feeling nice.

[shuggee]

Interesting this Newcastle 27ºC figure. Our nearest member, Nigel in the city, begs to differ (in case you missed this):

Evening NL

Newcastle airports weather station recorded 27c

I myself recorded 26.3c and im about 2 metro stops from the City , the airport is around 6 mile to the East of me

nigel

[Stratos Ferric]

We'll have to wait for all the figures to come in, and to solve arguments, I hope somewhere other than London Weather Centre hit 30C+.

I thought I saw Cambridge nudging in that direction earlier. London was always likeliest today, or SW E Anglia, given the airflow.

By the way a stephenson screen should be located at 4ft or 1.3m. Not 2m.

...

Yes, that would make taking readings something of a challenge.

[PersianPaladin]

Yes, that would make taking readings something of a challenge.

Not if you're a very tall man.

[Weather-history]

I do really respect Philip, but at the end of the day he's a private individual - brilliant and all that. The Met Office is the official guardian of UK weather statistics.

..and it won't be included, Richard.

Its not an official Met Office site in that sense and won't be counted for statistical purposes.

[hotsummer]

By the way a stephenson screen should be located at 4ft or 1.3m. Not 2m.

As for LWC, I've never seen it as I would presume that 99% of people on here won't have seen it either, and you can bet it is far enough away from buildings, the right height above the floor surface etc, but being on a rooftop won't the equipment be sited over concrete/apshalt/whatever rooftops are made out of? And equipment shouldn't be sited above or next to a surface that absorbs and radiates heat.

Well to be honest considering we have had an official 29c in a few places. I'm sure that the roof would cause radiation of more than 1c. Therefore, the screen must have something under it to reduce the effect. I really can not see a temp being only 1c higher from being on a roof.

Based on that I feel 30c is official. I would then also think the screen is protected to a fair degree (pardon the pun) to accept 30c. I'm sure walking the streets of London felt like and was 30c.

[Duncan McAlister]

Met Office confirm LWC as highest reading of the day at 30.3C

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_...st_weather.html

I guess this means it is official. Sigh. I don't think we'll have a shot at a year without 30C for many years to come, this was probably the best chance. One consolation is that that could very well be the highest reading of the year, and is still quite low, even in comparison with the period 1900-1970.

[West is Best]

The Met Office and BBC confirm 30.3C as the highpoint yesterday: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/dai...007review.shtml

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_...st_weather.html

29.7C at Conigsby I notice too. Not sure about other sites in the south-east away from the London figure?

[DR Hosking]

Just my opinion, but I cant see any way that a rooftop weather station can be counted, it you read the Met Offices own rules on how a site should be placed to get reliable readings it should be on grass and away from any buildings and trees! Im with Mr Data on this one, it should not be counted and I am taking the next best of 29.7 to be the official high (if indeed that was an official site?)