Sunshine level watch July 2023

[Daniel*]

Relevant!

 

[Metwatch]

8 minutes ago, SunSean said:

Final sunshine table for July 2023-

Every station under 200 hours including Isle of Wight & East Sussex!

Lancashire failed to reach 100

Dull all round!

Coventry managed to squeeze in 157 hours, puts it ahead of Weymouth and Bournemouth! Coventry july average is 197.6 hours.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Metwatch

[damianslaw]

4 hours ago, SunSean said:

Final sunshine table for July 2023-

Every station under 200 hours including Isle of Wight & East Sussex!

Lancashire failed to reach 100

Dull all round!

Dull dull dull here in the Lake District. Combined with rain and consistently cool weather. A month reserved for the very miserable category. 

[reef]

178 hours (89%) here in the end. It was the second dullest since 2012, but the dullest 2020 was quite a way back with 97 hours. It was a sunnier July than 2010, 2011 and 2012 but at least those months had the odd clear day which this year did not.

[B87]

19 hours ago, Daniel* said:

Relevant!

 

Of course, all the values after 2006 need to be multiplied by approx 1.13 to be equivalent to pre-2006 values.

[Terminal Moraine]

99.2 hrs here making it the dullest July since 2010 which recorded 88.9 hrs. All the more noticeable after 201.5 hrs in June.

[damianslaw]

I saw a map posted sunshine levels, I think met office. Great if someone can post, exceptionally dull here, complete contrast to June.

Edited August 3, 2023 by damianslaw

[Catbrainz]

2 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

I saw a map posted levels, I think met . Great if can post, dull here, complete contrast to June.

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Catbrainz

[Relativistic]

1 hour ago, Catbrainz said:

 

Wow, can't believe we were close to average. Seemed cloudier than usual, though perhaps I'm forgetting some sunny days earlier on in the month.

[SunSean]

Looks like Camborne weather station have stopped recording sunshine duration! They have removed the column for sunshine on Meteociel. Bit of a shame. For Cornwall, I've had to switch to Carnkie weather station now for my sunshine table.

[Jamie M]

4 hours ago, SunSean said:

Looks like Camborne weather station have stopped recording sunshine duration! They have removed the column for sunshine on Meteociel. Bit of a shame. For Cornwall, I've had to switch to Carnkie weather station now for my sunshine table.

Carnkie station? Wasn't aware there was an official one there

[SunSean]

2 hours ago, Jamie M said:

Carnkie station? Wasn't aware there was an official one there

I don't believe it is official, more of an amateur station, however, all their sunshine amounts so far have been very similar to Camborne so it seems to be pretty accurate.

[dryfie]

7 hours ago, SunSean said:

Looks like Camborne weather station have stopped recording sunshine duration! They have removed the column for sunshine on Meteociel. Bit of a shame. For Cornwall, I've had to switch to Carnkie weather station now for my sunshine table.

Yup, last hourly sunshine reported was 0900 27th July.  I’d be very surprised if such a bit of kit has just been withdrawn.  Wait…….no I’m not.

[Jamie M]

20 minutes ago, SunSean said:

I don't believe it is official, more of an amateur station, however, all their sunshine amounts so far have been very similar to Camborne so it seems to be pretty accurate.

Ah right fair dos! 

[reef]

August is following the second half of July in being abysmal for sunshine here. We've had just 70 hours in the last 19 days now. Considering the days are still 16 hours long at this point, that's very poor.

[B87]

16 hours ago, Catbrainz said:

 

These maps once again prove that a correction IS applied to get the true sunshine hours. Nowhere saw 200 hours using raw data, and London is well within the 160+ hour shading. Heathrow saw 150 raw hours, and 169 true hours.

[reef]

9 minutes ago, B87 said:

These maps once again prove that a correction IS applied to get the true sunshine hours. Nowhere saw 200 hours using raw data, and London is well within the 160+ hour shading. Heathrow saw 150 raw hours, and 169 true hours.

Its the same with the Leconfield station near to here. Its 'raw' figures for July were 141 hours, yet its well into the 160+ hour shading and much less than my own recorded 179 hours despite being just 6 miles away.

You can see it in the daily figures too. Its a completely open site but rarely records much more than 15 hours of sunshine even close to the solstice.

[B87]

5 minutes ago, reef said:

Its the same with the Leconfield station near to here. Its 'raw' figures for July were 141 hours, yet its well into the 160+ hour shading and much less than my own recorded 179 hours despite being just 6 miles away.

You can see it in the daily figures too. Its a completely open site but rarely records much more than 15 hours of sunshine even close to the solstice.

True, Heathrow does not have an obscured horizon, yet the absolute maximum daily sunshine in summer seems to be around 14.7 hours, and that is on the summer solstice!

[SunSean]

1 hour ago, B87 said:

True, Heathrow does not have an obscured horizon, yet the absolute maximum daily sunshine in summer seems to be around 14.7 hours, and that is on the summer solstice!

I can't comment on the necessity of adjusting figures yet since I am still awaiting reply from the Met about it. If it is the case that Heathrow need their figures adjusted though, then so does Odiham, Charlwood, Shoeburyness, Brize Norton, etc etc as they are all pretty close to Heathrow and all have similar figures and similar max daily hours. For example, Shoeburyness haven't got over 14.7 hours once this year, despite some wall to wall sunshine days in June. They managed 15.6 back in June 2020 but have got nowhere near that since. Maybe they switched recorders at some point too a few years back. It could be the case that every single met station need their figures adjusted! Hopefully I will get my answer in the email once I get it.

[damianslaw]

19 hours ago, Catbrainz said:

 

Thanks, a picture of grey. More than anything it was the lack of sunshine most notable aspect of July. Yes rain was a major feature but thankfully spared any flooding on the back of the dry May and June.

[richie3846]

1 hour ago, SunSean said:

I can't comment on the necessity of adjusting figures yet since I am still awaiting reply from the Met about it. If it is the case that Heathrow need their figures adjusted though, then so does Odiham, Charlwood, Shoeburyness, Brize Norton, etc etc as they are all pretty close to Heathrow and all have similar figures and similar max daily hours. For example, Shoeburyness haven't got over 14.7 hours once this year, despite some wall to wall sunshine days in June. They managed 15.6 back in June 2020 but have got nowhere near that since. Maybe they switched recorders at some point too a few years back. It could be the case that every single met station need their figures adjusted! Hopefully I will get my answer in the email once I get it.

I'm pleased this discussion continues, because I felt like the only one who didn't understand what was going on! Even after the recent discussions we had about the subject, I still couldn't make sense of it. I can't even decide when the sun is out, and I've been alive for 42 years. Clear blue sky, thick cloud, yes these are obvious, but the amount of variation in cloud types and cover, I suggest these variables are possible factors in this met office raw figures adjustment that seems to be a mystery that nobody can fully explain. Let's hope the met office reply with a thorough explanation.

[Catbrainz]

59 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Thanks, of grey. More than anything it was of most notable of July. rain was a major feature but thankfully spared any flooding on the back of the dry May and June.

You are welcome. It had the horrid trio of below average highs, above average rainfall and below average sunshine. Having two of those is bad enough let alone three. 

[damianslaw]

8 minutes ago, Catbrainz said:

You are welcome. It had the horrid trio of below average highs, above average rainfall and below average sunshine. Having two of those is bad enough let alone three. 

A shocker tripple whammy July.

[SunSean]

38 minutes ago, richie3846 said:

I'm pleased this discussion continues, because I felt like the only one who didn't understand what was going on! Even after the recent discussions we had about the subject, I still couldn't make sense of it. I can't even decide when the sun is out, and I've been alive for 42 years. Clear blue sky, thick cloud, yes these are obvious, but the amount of variation in cloud types and cover, I suggest these variables are possible factors in this met office raw figures adjustment that seems to be a mystery that nobody can fully explain. Let's hope the met office reply with a thorough explanation.

For sure! To me, it doesn't make sense to adjust sunshine duration if say, a location gets 2 hours of sun in the middle of the day. What if one timed it to exactly 2 hours and the official stat was also 2 hours, would one still adjust that? However it does make sense that if you have a day sunny from sunrise to sunset in June or July for example, and it tops out under 15 hours, then I can see how that may need to be adjusted as there is a missing hour or so. I think it seems to be more the sunshine around the sunrise and sunsets that are causing the problems and looking lower than expected. I reckon if there was a day at Heathrow for example where it was sunny from 7:30am to 7:30pm, the official stat would be 12 hours and then why adjust? Definitely need to get to the bottom of this problem haha.

[richie3846]

10 hours ago, SunSean said:

For sure! To me, it doesn't make sense to adjust sunshine duration if say, a location gets 2 hours of sun in the middle of the day. What if one timed it to exactly 2 hours and the official stat was also 2 hours, would one still adjust that? However it does make sense that if you have a day sunny from sunrise to sunset in June or July for example, and it tops out under 15 hours, then I can see how that may need to be adjusted as there is a missing hour or so. I think it seems to be more the sunshine around the sunrise and sunsets that are causing the problems and looking lower than expected. I reckon if there was a day at Heathrow for example where it was sunny from 7:30am to 7:30pm, the official stat would be 12 hours and then why adjust? Definitely need to get to the bottom of this problem haha.

Also, may there be issues in conditions where there is a lot of haze, or thin cloud? I understand the old Vs new equipment have wider differences on days where there is passing cloud, in and out many times. I've got an instinct telling me this is not an exact science, and relative rather than absolute accuracy, may be the met office approach with this one. Down the beach in South Wales yesterday, none of our family could agree if the sun was in or out at times . We looked up, could the feel the sun, but there was a haze also. Is that out or in? When does that trigger the equipment? Standard equipment is essential with these sorts of variables. I notice our local amateur weather station of nearly 40 years, simply measures solar radiation and not actual hours.