South West & Central Southern England - Weather Chat, 6th December and Onwards...

[Andy Bown]

Yes John a glorious day. Amusing in a way that the coldest day of this week (which followed the first frost for a week) was actually very Springlike.

[jethro]

What a glorious day it's been, nippy wind but minor price to pay for blue skies and sunshine. Oh for more of the same.

[knocker]

Quite pleasant here early when I popped down the country park but it clouded over around midday. But a very peaceful couple of hours listening to the birds singing away and fighting the swans off.

[Frosty hollows]

I actually hung washing out and it dried a bit. Despite the chilly breeze it felt spring like. Shame it won't last

[jethro]

Thought I'd share this pic which popped up on Facebook, taken in Dawlish on the river Ex. Awwww aint they cute.

[knocker]

Cloudy with temp 10C and wind WSW 25mph gusting 40. Looks like the next belt of rain will arrive late afternoon.

[bellanite]

Bit breezy today and a toasty 12.3oC

The XC weather page did make me laugh. Think they are having issues!

 

[MP-R]

Just another grey breezy day with drizzle flying by my office window... yawn.

[ARTDEMOLE]

Gust to 23 km/h. 10.4c. Overcast .Some very light drizzle. 

[Rich_Clements]

Cor tis a bit blowey! wheelie bin went over in the night and rubbish all over the garden

 

 

[Mapantz]

Blowing a hoolie out there- some really strong low-level winds. I've got to now take the station down for some maintenance to the pole, should be fun! 

[knocker]

Pretty dismal out there. Sheet of low St, slight rain and WSW 20mph gusting 35.

[jethro]

It's not been too bad at work (near Bristol) bit drizzly at times, not as windy as yesterday - dullsville. The most exciting part of the day so far has been stopping to herd escapee sheep back into the field down the lane, then stopping to do the same again a few miles up the road; must be national runaway day, think I'll join them and head for the Cairngorms. 

[Mapantz]

The fence at the top of my garden has obliterated in the wind. I now have access to another 100' of someone elses garden. The cat likes it, he's already been through it and taken a poop. LOL

[lettice]

Windy out there now.
51 mph gust at midday, many around 45mph the last hour.

22mph WSW, 11c, 1019 hPa
0.8mm rain, more drizzle in the wind throughout the day today.

Edited January 29, 2016 by lettice

[Mapantz]

Pretty grim at the moment. Driving bouts of drizzle in the strong winds, quite hazardous on the roads- both slippery and dodgy cross-winds. It must have been atrocious in the North?!

Currently  11.5°C

[March]

2 hours ago, Mapantz said:

Pretty grim at the moment. Driving bouts of drizzle in the strong winds, quite hazardous on the roads- both slippery and dodgy cross-winds. It must have been atrocious in the North?!

Currently  11.5°C

 

I saw you had a Netatmo, I got one last month. I checked yours out, can't believe how much rain you've had down there! 

Edited January 29, 2016 by March

[Mapantz]

9 minutes ago, March said:

 

I saw you had a Netatmo, I got one last month. I checked yours out, can't believe how much rain you've had down there! 

Yeah - It has been a very wet month indeed! I like to be as accurate as I can with my weather data, so I have a manual gauge as well as the Netatmo and another WiFi station. Sometimes, all three register the same amounts. Other times, the station at the greatest height, under-reads due to the wind, so the manual and Netatmo gauge can get an average, then I can adjust accordingly. There's only been a handful of months in nine years that I've recorded 200mm >  

Edited January 29, 2016 by Mapantz

[March]

5 minutes ago, Mapantz said:

Yeah - It has been a very wet month indeed! I like to be as accurate as I can with my weather data, so I have a manual gauge as well as the Netatmo and another WiFi station. Sometimes, all three register the same amounts. Other times, the station at the greatest height, under-reads due to the wind, so the manual and Netatmo gauge can get an average, then I can adjust accordingly. There's only been a handful of months in nine years that I've recorded 200mm >  

What's your yearly average? 200mm is over 1/3 of the annual average of my nearest MetO station! I'm pretty particular about data too. I don't have any other reference, but I made my own Stevenson Screen so I didn't have to use the aluminium case. It's very sheltered away from the house and is at the right height but I won't know until some warm sunny days the extent that it's working, although it responds quickly to temp change. Made from white plastic bowels, threaded rod and spacers. Cost about £25 to make in the end. My rain gauge is in about as open a place as I can manage. It is reading about 15mm less rain this month than my nearest non-Netatmo station a mile away, but that station appears to be over reading by 20mm compared to other stations within a 10 mile circumference. 

How's the wind gauge doing? Might get one when I've some extra cash. 

[Mapantz]

26 minutes ago, March said:

What's your yearly average? 200mm is over 1/3 of the annual average of my nearest MetO station! I'm pretty particular about data too. I don't have any other reference, but I made my own Stevenson Screen so I didn't have to use the aluminium case. It's very sheltered away from the house and is at the right height but I won't know until some warm sunny days the extent that it's working, although it responds quickly to temp change. Made from white plastic bowels, threaded rod and spacers. Cost about £25 to make in the end. My rain gauge is in about as open a place as I can manage. It is reading about 15mm less rain this month than my nearest non-Netatmo station a mile away, but that station appears to be over reading by 20mm compared to other stations within a 10 mile circumference. 

How's the wind gauge doing? Might get one when I've some extra cash. 

I don't have an exact figure over the time of having a station, as I have had a lot of gaps in the last two years or so, but its roughly between 650 and 750mm. 2012 was exceptional, as I recorded 1488.9mm.

I made a make-shift Stevenson screen for the Netatmo temp sensor too. An old nestbox, which has about 200 drill holes (at an angle) An apex roof, with an air gap. I painted the outside white, and the inside black, and also connected a PC fan to it,  which runs from an adaptor. I can set it to 6v, 9v or 12v (usually keep it at 9v)

It's quite possible your Netatmo rain gauge is over or under-reading. There are two ways of calibrating it, one way is a nightmare! It consists of getting 250ml of water, and then pouring in 2 - 3ml every few minutes- it should come to a specific total according to Netatmo, if it doesn't, you can adjust it via the settings on the Netatmo web app. The easiest way, is to get a manual gauge and wait for a wet day. Make sure you check it regularly throughout the period, and adjust the Netatmo gauge accordingly- again, in the web app. They're pretty much identical when I get rain now.

As for the anemometer, the jury is out at the moment. It started off well, and then the batteries emptied within 6 weeks. I told Netatmo and they said to use the lithium batteries. I replied to say that I was using them lol - They told me to send it back, as that is not right, they should last 12 - 18 months. I bought mine from Germany, so it may be a few weeks before I get anything back.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Mapantz

[March]

8 minutes ago, Mapantz said:

I don't have an exact figure over the time of having a station, as I have had a lot of gaps in the last two years or so, but its roughly between 650 and 750mm. 2012 was exceptional, as I recorded 1488.9mm.

I made a make-shift Stevenson screen for the Netatmo temp sensor too. An old nestbox, which has about 200 drill holes (at an angle) An apex roof, with an air gap. I painted the outside white, and the inside black, and also connected a PC fan to it,  which runs from an adaptor. I can set it to 6v, 9v or 12v (usually keep it at 9v)

It's quite possible your Netatmo rain gauge is over or under-reading. There are two ways of calibrating it, one way is a nightmare! It consists of getting 250ml of water, and then pouring in 2 - 3ml every few minutes- it should come to a specific total according to Netatmo, if it doesn't, you can adjust it via the settings on the Netatmo web app. The easiest way, is to get a manual gauge and wait for a wet day. Make sure you check it regularly throughout the period, and adjust the Netatmo gauge accordingly- again, in the web app. They're pretty much identical when I get rain now.

As for the anemometer, the jury is out at the moment. It started off well, and then the batteries emptied within 6 weeks. I told Netatmo and they said to use the lithium batteries. I replied to say that I was using them lol - They told me to send it back, as that is not right, they should last 12 - 18 months. I bought mine from Germany, so it may be a few weeks before I get anything back.

From what I've seen and read Netatmos produce pretty accurate data but their first edition releases seem to have flaws, such as the outside temp gauges which were prone to water leaking into the batteries until they introduced rubber seals. Perhaps there's another flaw with the first edition anemometer. 

[MP-R]

Basically dry and windy all day with a lot of cloud and very little drizzle. Absolutely hammering down now though, making a loud noise on the roof for sure!

[Andy Bown]

Ridiculous squall line around 01.00 embedded within the frontal system, the kind of 10 minutes that you wish happened in daylight so you can see what's happening as well as hearing it.

All calm this morning, stars and moon shining, radar suggests a few showers nearby, 6.6c .

[knocker]

Cloudy with slight rain. Temp 7.5C and wind WNW 15mph gusting 30.

[lettice]

Some heavy rain between 1am and 4am, looks to have stopped now.
7.8mm so far early this morning and 2.4mm yeaterday, most late evening.
Some strong winds late last night gusting to 45mph, but calmed down now.
After a grey dull and drizzly day yesterday, looking for some sun today, but so far still grey.
7c, 1010 hPa, Westerly winds 10mph

Been monitoring the Meteoradar last week against my weather station rain. Its very accurate.
http://meteoradar.co.uk/realtime-rainradar
http://meteoradar.co.uk/expected-rainfall

Edited January 30, 2016 by lettice