According to the Met Office website, the sunniest place in the UK for the 24 hours ending 2200 on 10 August 2010, was Shawbury in Shropshire, with 9.5 hours of sunshine. Now I know that there are not weather stations every couple of miles all over the country, but where I am in the Highlands I am pretty sure that the sun shone for at least 12 hours yesterday - and we are several hundred miles from Shawbury.
The obvious conclusion is that it would be more correct to say that Shawbury was the weather station in the UK which received the most sunshine, and that I am just being pedantic.
What with computers and satellite photography, I would have thought that the met office was capable of being somewhat more precise, and was left with a general feeling that the pronouncements of the met office on past weather are not quite as precisely accurate one might assume.
Is there anyone here who has any knowledge of meteorological recording who can enlighten me?
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what is your definition of "sun shine" and how did you measure it?
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definition: sky around sun was blue, strong shadows were cast.
measure: Sun was shining when I woke at about 7 a.m. It shone until after 8 p.m. I was outside most of the day, and moments when a cloud passed in front of the sky were few and brief. To be honest, I suspect that there there must have been at least 13 hours of sunshine. Other than that, I didn't measure it.
I wonder how the Met office defines and measures "hours of sun".
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>> Is there anyone here who has any knowledge of meteorological recording who can enlighten me?
Find the forecast for your chosen area from the Met Office website. Click on the red dots.
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/wm/shawbury_forecast_weather.html
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 10:55
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I think maybe there are weather stations in Ullapool, Fort William, Stornoway and Portree.
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24 hours ending 2200 on 10 Aug 2010:
Highland & Eilean Siar Highest max 18.6 °C Drumnadrochit
Lowest max 15.5 °C Kinbrace
Lowest min 3.8 °C Kinbrace
Highest rainfall 11.2 mm Altnaharra
((Sunniest 8.2 hours Stornoway))
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I have the met office "app" on my iphone, and very good it is too.
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Apart from the fact that all military and civil airbases have weather stations there are a number of automatic stations and here is a link to a list of others
tinyurl.com/38l5wsp
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"Apart from the fact that all military and civil airbases have weather stations there are a number of automatic stations and here is a link to a list of others ...."
And, according to the Met Office, there are more!
www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/networks/
see, for example
www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/networks/images/map1.gif
Last edited by: tyro on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 12:02
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>> Is there anyone here who has any knowledge of meteorological recording who can enlighten me?
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www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/stationdata/
Sunshine data using a Kipp and Zonen sensor have been indicated by a "#" after the value. All other sunshine data have been recorded using a Campbell-Stokes recorder.
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Campbell Stokes, as a I recall, is a glass sphere mounted in such a way that sunlight passing thru it is focussed onto a crescent shaped strip of paper which is scorched, or not, depending on the intensity of the sunlight during the day. The strip is graduated in hours and inspection can revela the number of hours of sunshne. I imagine that Kipp and Zonen is some sort of electronic sensor and thus more accurate. I haven't checked with Google!
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A Kipp and Zonen sensor sounds like just the job. And only £1,565. A fraction of the cost of a new Fiesta, and about the price for a week at Iffy's favourite hotel!
tinyurl.com/347ngjz
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>> tinyurl.com/347ngjz
"Sunshine duration is defined by WMO as the time during which the direct solar radiation exceeds the level of 120 W/m²."
Is that level high enough to exclude early morning sunshine with no cloud, up north? Might explain the discrepancy.
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 12:48
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"Sunshine duration is defined by WMO as the time during which the direct solar radiation exceeds the level of 120 W/m²."
Good point. I'll have to ask the physics teacher how to measure direct solar radiation!
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It seems that it is measured with the expensive device mentioned above, according to the tech spec! LOL
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I was wondering if there was a cheaper way of doing it!
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Yes, I know you were! I would think that any National or International body laying down definitions of these things won't be too bothered about the costs of measuring/recording these things. My gob is totally smacked! A Cambell Stokes thingy is almost the same price!!!!!!!
www.ukweathershop.co.uk/acatalog/info_1_FM_4102.html
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 13:05
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>> I was wondering if there was a cheaper way of doing it!
The method I remember reading about was to use a glass sphere with some sort of paper around it - when the sun 'shone', it burnt the paper. Amount of 'sunshine' is proportional to the length of the burnt line(s).
Can't remember if this was supposed to be the official method or just one way of doing it.
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>> The method I remember reading about was to use a glass sphere with some sort
>> of paper around it
Aha! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%E2%80%93Stokes_recorder
EDIT: which is what PP posted above, apologies
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 13:11
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I think I'll just pay the extra £340 and get the Kipp and Zonen.
:-)
Last edited by: tyro on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 13:16
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Accuracy of Met Office weather data - Zero
