[badbuoy]

Could I make a suggestion before it's too late?
As I understand it, the totals reported at 1200, 1800 etc. are rounded to the nearest mm, so using those will lead to errors.
However, at 0600 the rainfall for the whole of the previous 24 hours is reported to the decimal point, without rounding.
It's the group beginning with a 7, usually 3 or 4 groups from the end of the observation, in this case 16.0mm.
AAXX 03064 03105 15583 /1811 10143 20134 39965 49982 56011 60112 90550
333 20119 3/012 70160 81/21 86/50=

Mike

[Ian Williams]

Quote

badbuoy - 3/9/2011 09:49 Could I make a suggestion before it's too late? As I understand it, the totals reported at 1200, 1800 etc. are rounded to the nearest mm, so using those will lead to errors. However, at 0600 the rainfall for the whole of the previous 24 hours is reported to the decimal point, without rounding. It's the group beginning with a 7, usually 3 or 4 groups from the end of the observation, in this case 16.0mm. AAXX 03064 03105 15583 /1811 10143 20134 39965 49982 56011 60112 90550 333 20119 3/012 70160 81/21 86/50= Mike

Thats a very valid point, but having done similar projects this would be even more time consuming for Dave having to check each and every synop code, scrub that!

Have just checked by using Ogimet 24hrs before 06Z that it gives the precise rainfall that is backed up by the synop codes. Thanks for the group 7 code didnt know that, just the group 6 which can be a pain when i check against my Europe and World extreme threads.

Up to you Dave, no more time consuming and of course more accurate [y]

[Dave K]

Mike - A fair suggestion, I did look into it but as this is a bit of fun I'm not too worried about it being scientifically exact, just as long as everywhere is bound by the same rules it should be OK. Plus the fact that non synop stations have to be excluded (apparently Dunstaffnage was much wetter than any of the synop stations yesterday) means it's compromised anyway.

Liz - I'll try to include backgound info for each place but as many of them are tiny places and probably the same ones will dominate it might peter out after a a few weeks!

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The Day 2 results and Scotland leads the way...

Fersit (Scottish Gaelic: Fearsaid Mhòr) is a hamlet close to Tulloch railway station in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands and is in the Highland council area. The River Treig, which drains into Loch Treig runs past Fersit.

Fersit had a small station on the West Highland Line, known as Fersit Halt. This was a a temporary structure, used during the construction of the Lochaber hydro-electric scheme, and closed in 1935. The Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway, a railway line built for the construction of the hydro scheme, also passed by Fersit.

Tulloch railway station is a rural railway station in the Highland region of Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line, 169 kilometres (105 mi) north of Glasgow Queen Street. The station buildings are now used as a hostel.

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[Dave K]

Actually it might make quite a difference using 06z because Rosehearty could have missed out from scoring yesterday.  If I redo this it will have to start from 06z on the 2nd...

And a correction that Glenanne in the table above is of course Northern Ireland , not Scotland...

[Dave K]

OK, using the 24 hours ending 06z would result in the first two days results looking as below, one advantage is it has less ties and shared points; the disadvantage that you lose connection with a nice convenient day ending at midnight.  Further comments before we reach a decision?

[Ian Williams]

I say that looks good Dave, and with less ties, less work to do [hehe]

EDIT: Tieing in 8th shouldnt that be 1.5 pts each? Not sure how you are sharing the points [dunno]

[Dave K]

Quote

Ian Williams - 3/9/2011 12:06

I say that looks good Dave, and with less ties, less work to do [hehe]

EDIT: Tieing in 8th shouldnt that be 1.5 pts each? Not sure how you are sharing the points [dunno]

The leadership is the same but it changes the lower placings drastically.

2 teams tying in 8th = (3+2)/2  not the way I did it for Icebox Europe but works better.

Anyone with strong feelings one way or the other, responses please? 

[Ian Williams]

No thats good, understand it now :-)

[Dave K]

Well, no objections then to changing the time of reading to 24 hours ending 06Z ( which means it will conflict with the MetO daily summaries even more ;)   )

Change of the first Rule) You do not talk about the Boggy Britain Project, er no hang on...

1) Data is taken solely from Synoptic Stations from Ogimet online rankings for 06z - 06z

So a revised league table for tomorrow morning then and the previous 00z - 00z ones can be ignored.

[Dave K]

Day 3 at the Boggy Britain Office...and this time it is the turn of England and Wales to enter into the frenzy of scoring.

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Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island in the UK which lies off the west coast of England, at the northern tip of Morecambe Bay. It forms part of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, and it is separated from the mainland at Barrow by Walney Channel, a narrow channel which is spanned by the Jubilee Bridge. Walney is the largest island of the Furness Islands group, both in population and size, as well as the largest English island in the Irish Sea. Its population at the 2001 UK Census was 11,388, distributed evenly across the island's two Wards of Walney North and Walney South. Currently it has a population of approximately 13,000, making it the 7th most populated island in England. The five main settlements are: Biggar, North Scale, North Walney, South Walney, Vickerstown.

Walney Island formed during the last glacial period, when the River Duddon was a large glacial lake, depositing till at its mouth, which became Walney. Some evidence of neolithic inhabitants has been found in the island's sand dunes, though its name is likely of norse origin.  The island remained rural until the growth of Barrow-in-Furness' industries in the Nineteenth Century. In particular, the development between 1867 and 1881 of docks at Barrow Island, in Walney Channel opposite Walney, encouraged the growth of Walney as a settlement. The planned worker town of Vickerstown was built on the island in 1898, resulting in a large population increase, and the construction of Jubilee Bridge connecting Walney to the mainland in 1908. Walney's contemporary population now forms about a seventh of the overall population of Barrow-in-Furness. The island contains two nature reserves, at either end, and its sandy beaches make it a popular leisure site.

The name Walney is though to come from Old Norse. Whilst the suffix 'ey' is a common feature of island names, the source of 'waln' is less clear.  The island is listed in the Domesday Book as Hougenai. The manor of 'Hougun' - possibly modern day Millom - is listed in the book as owning the settlements of the whole of Furness, so that 'Hougenai' appears to mean "island of Hougun". The Old Norse word haugr means mound or hill. Other Norse etymologies have also been suggested, however, for the source of the island's name.

The island lies in the Irish Sea to the west of the Furness peninsula in north-west England. Until 1974 both the island and the peninsula were a detached part of the county of Lancashire but is now in Cumbria, the island being part of the town of Barrow-in-Furness to which it has been connected by bridge (Jubilee Bridge) since 1908. Jubilee Bridge spans Walney Channel and until its commission, a ferry was used in order to cross the channel.

The island is around eleven miles long and less than a mile wide at its widest point. Its total area is 5.01 square miles (12.99 km²). The island was developed to house workers of Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd, with an area of the island retaining the name Vickerstown today.

Walney has a golf course, an outdoor children's play area and two wildlife reserves, North Walney (which is a National Nature Reserve), and South Walney. There are a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest, providing a habitat for Natterjack Toads as well as many species of birds.

The island is said by the Northwest Evening Mail to be the windiest lowland site in England. Recently an offshore wind farm has been built 7 km off the West coast of the island. The wind farm consists of thirty 90 m 3 MW wind turbines. Construction was completed in September 2006. There are plans for more wind farms with up to 100 wind turbines off the coast. These ideas have been met with opposition among some as the Island is famous for its sunsets and views off the West coast and if the proposed number are built this may affect its popularity.

Walney Island has a small airport (Barrow/Walney Island Airport); privately owned by BAE Systems located at the northern end of the island, home to the Lakes Gliding Club. The Meto weatherstation is located just to the south of the runways.



Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/20998733@N04/3861894136/ for a lovely aerial pic of the island looking south

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[Ian Williams]

I see my 2 favourites have entered the race, Shap and Eskdalemuir [y]

[rosskesava]

I reckon on Capel Curig.

It's just going through a bit of a dry'ish spell at the moment....

[Dave K]

Well we could see the first entries from Southern England in tomorrow's tables. I've also divided up some of the locations roughly into regions such as North Wales, Cumbria etc so we can compare those too after a while.

[Ian Williams]

Quote

Big Dave's Gusset - 4/9/2011 12:20 Well we could see the first entries from Southern England in tomorrow's tables. I've also divided up some of the locations roughly into regions such as North Wales, Cumbria etc so we can compare those too after a while.

Looking at the radar it looks like im about to get dumped on any minute!  [hehe]

[Adam D]

Not very often you see Scotland at the top of a league table! ;)

However, rain is something that the Scots can do in their sleep!

[snow drift]

Isn't Swansea Britain's wettest city? ;)

[Dave K]

Here are the results for Day 4, and rain was widespread yesterday so that most regions now have a representative in the league. I was a bit surprised by the total for St Helier but it checks out albeit that its synops don't report the 7xxxx code for the 24 hour summary, and only reports 6/12 hourly 6xxxx codes. The total for Dundrennan mainly arrived overnight and is backed up by the radar as quite localised heavy rain.

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Dundrennan (Gaelic: Dun Droighnein) is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about five miles east of Kirkcudbright. Its population is around 230. It is most notable for the ruins of Dundrennan Abbey, a 12th century Cistercian monastery. The weapons testing establishment Dundrennan Range is also nearby. Since 2002 the Wickerman music festival has been held on the nearby farm of East Kirkcarswell.

 

 

Dundrennan Abbey lies a little over a mile inland from the Irish Sea, five miles east of Kirkcudbright and close to the village of Dundrennan. There are many abbeys in Scotland with more complete remains, but few whose location manages to convey such a strong sense of the spirituality that first brought monks here in 1142 and kept them here for more than four centuries.

The abbey was founded by King David I, who invited Cistercians from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire to set up a daughter house in Galloway. There's no direct written evidence of the link with Rievaulx: but it is known that the Abbot of Rievaulx visited Dundrennan in 1164, and over the following centuries there were at least two occasions on which monks or abbots at Dundrennan went on to become abbots at Rievaulx Abbey.

Building work would have taken place over fifty years or more at Dundrennan. During this period the favoured style for ecclesiastical buildings changed from Romanesque to Gothic and the remains of the abbey reflect this transition. After its establishment Dundrennan became the mother house for two other Cistercian Abbeys in Galloway, Glenluce Abbey founded in 1191 by Roland, Lord of Galloway, and Sweetheart Abbey founded in 1273 by Lady Devorgilla in memory of her husband, John Balliol.

Dundrennan Abbey's more than 400 years of active life were not wholly without disruption from the outside world. No record remains of damage actually done to the abbey during the Wars of Independence with England, but the Cistercians did later make claims against both Edward I and Edward III for compensation for the actions of passing English armies.
 
Work on Dundrennan Abbey would have been undertaken by just 13 monks and 10 lay brothers from Yorkshire. After erecting temporary accommodation they would first have started work on the east end of the abbey church. Only when that was complete would they have moved on to other parts.



The MetO station is located approx. 2 miles west of Dundrennan, on the south side of the A711.

[BDG's Sockpuppet]

Forum problems or not, it just keeps on raining and one of the competition favourites swept aside all challengers yesterday and last night to leap to the top of the table. And England cuts Scotland's lead in the national rankings

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Capel Curig (English: Curig's Chapel) is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226. It is at the junction of the A5 road from Bangor and Bethesda to Betws-y-Coed with the A4086 road from Caernarfon, Llanberis, Pen-y-Pass and Pen-y-Gwryd.


Capel Curig takes its name from the little Saint Julitta's Church in the ancient graveyard by the river bridge on the Llanberis road. This confusingly has been known for over 100 years as St. Julitta's Church and is currently being restored by the "Friends of Saint Julitta". Tradition claims this chapel to be the 6th century foundation of St. Curig, a Celtic bishop. Centuries later, probably when the present ancient church was built, the name appears to have been Latinised as Cyricus, which is the name of a 4th century child martyr whose mother was Julitta. They are usually named together as Saints Quiricus and Julietta.

Capel Curig was home to one of the finest examples of a self-taught botanist, certainly in the UK, if not wider - Evan Roberts. Evan Roberts lived at Gelli in Capel Curig where he lived and would explore all of Snowdonia, and in doing so compiled an unparalleled knowledge of the plant life in North Wales. Although he spent the first 40 years of his life as a quarry worker, he went on to become the colleague of academics. He was awarded the honorary degree of M.Sc. of the University of Wales, in 1956, at the same ceremony as the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and his portrait was painted by Kyffin Williams.

Approximately one kilometre beyond Pont Cyfyng, towards the south east end of Capel Curig, on the farm of Bryn Gefeiliau there are the remains of a Roman fort (c90-100AD) and named Caer Llugwy by its excavators. In 1920 excavations undertaken by J.P. Hall and Captain G.H. Hodgson revealed a roughly square Roman fort of approximately 4 acres (16,000 m2). Some stone buildings were uncovered and traced.

All around the area can be found the remnants of old slate mines - reminders of a major industry in days gone by. Tourism and Agriculture are the main sources of employment - each complementing the other. The village is a popular centre for walking, climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking and other outdoor pursuits and is served by the Sherpa bus network. It is also home to a youth hostel, Army training camp, a camp site, several cafes and hotels and outdoor activity gear shops.

Wolverhampton City Council have since 1961 operated 'The Towers' outdoors activity centre just outside of Capel Curig. The centre facilitates walking, climbing, a variety of watersports and field studies on a schdule that is adapted day to day according to the prevailing weather conditions and to the abilities and needs of individuals and groups.


Also located in Capel Curig is the UK National Mountain Centre at Plas y Brenin, which offers the highest quality mountaineering, climbing, canoeing facilities and training. One mile east of the village on the A5 is Ty Hyll, home of the Snowdonia Society.

Capel Curig is mentioned in the song 'Bottleneck at Capel Curig' by cult UK band Half Man Half Biscuit on their album 'Trouble over Bridgewater'.








Capel Curig, with an annual average rainfall of around 2 550mm is justifiably reputed to be one of the wettest places in the British Isles, although the weather station itself is in Dyffryn Mymbyr, a couple of miles out of the village, in the direction of Snowdon on the south side of the A4086.

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[Dave K]

Almost the whole country was under the deluge yesterday and the SE of England has its first entry into the scoring. No doubt it will take a month or so for the longer term pattern to emerge but Capel Curig has opened up a lead at the top with 4 days out of 6 in the scoring. A bit hard to find out much detail about the Day 6 winner...

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Loch Glascarnoch and the Glascarnoch dam are located near to the A835 road, between Inverness and Ullapool.

Loch Glascarnoch is a man-made loch, created in the 1950s when the Glascarnoch dam was built. Water from Loch Vaich and Loch Droma is taken to Loch Glascarnoch. A five mile tunnel then transports the water to Mossford power station.

Strath Vaich (with a trail up to Beinn a' Chaisteil at 788m) is one of the many areas surrounding Glascarnoch River. Others include Aultguish Inn, Strath Rannoch and Inchbae Lodge.

Aultguish is a remote traditional Scottish roadside inn on the A835, by Glascarnoch Dam, between Inverness and Ullapool. A stopping post for all travellers on the road to the north west of Scotland and the outer to Hebrides from Inverness for hundreds of years,

Tne nearby Castle Leod is only one of the many historic places in Glascarnoch River. Other historical places of interest include Tulloch Castle , Brahan Castle and Foulis Castle.



Visit http://www.drookitag...ge.php?pid=1370 for an excellent large size photo close up of the MetO weather station itself, which is located WNW of of the western end of Loch Glascarnoch halfway to Loch Droma to the south of the A835.

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[Ian Williams]

Ian Williams said:

Great idea Dave look forward to it starting. Tim using the Ogimet data is so much easier and it gives us totals 00Z to 00Z whereas other data supplied say by the met-office is from 21Z to 21Z, so using Ogimet the parameters are all the same. Using any other methods is really really time consuming :-)

My 3 favs would be Shap, Capel Curig and Eskdalemuir

Well my 3 favs as above all in the top 10 :blink: