[Dave K]

Ian Williams, on 07 September 2011 - 09:43, said:

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

TBH I would not have expected St Helier to be there

[00ctober]

Big Dave, on 07 September 2011 - 10:01, said:

TBH I would not have expected St Helier to be there

No, but any site in a region with few (if any) other stations will have an advantage over the rest. Doubt it will stay in the top 10 though, we shall see.

[Dave K]

The end of the first week and Capel Curig really laying down a marker with another 1st place and 10 points. Extremely wet week there with well over 150mm in the last few days, I love North Wales and the Scottish Highlands but I'm glad I'm here and not there this week .

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[Dave K]

Much lower rainfall totals nationwide, and for the first time a share of the points for first place, and the lower totals mean many more shared points too. Can't stop pacesetters Capel Curig from adding more points to its tally though. Who'd have thought St Helier would be in 3rd even so soon into the project...?

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Saint Helier (French language: Saint-Hélier, Jèrriais: St Hélyi) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St. Helier has a population of about 28,000, roughly 31.2% of the total population of Jersey, and is the capital of the Island (although Government House is situated in St. Saviour). The urban area of the parish of St. Helier makes up most of the largest town in Jersey, although some of the town area is situated in adjacent St. Saviour, with suburbs sprawling into St. Lawrence and St. Clement. The greater part of St. Helier is predominantly rural.

It is thought that the site of St. Helier was settled at the time of the Roman control of Gaul. The medieval hagiographies of Helier, the patron saint martyred in Jersey and after whom the parish and town are named, suggest a picture of a small fishing village on the dunes between the marshy land behind and the high-water mark. Although the Parish Church of St Helier is now some considerable distance from the sea, at the time of its original construction it was on the edge of the dunes at the closest practical point to the offshore islet called the Hermitage (site of Helier's witness and martyrdom). Before land reclamation and port construction started, boats could be tied up to the churchyard wall on the seaward side.

An Abbey of St. Helier was founded in 1155 on L'Islet, a tidal island adjacent to the Hermitage. Closed at the Reformation, the site of the abbey was fortified to create the castle that replaced Mont Orgueil as the Island's major fortress. The new Elizabeth Castle was named after the Queen by the Governor of Jersey 1600-1603, Sir Walter Raleigh.

Until the end of the 18th century, the town consisted chiefly of a string of houses, shops and warehouses stretching along the coastal dunes either side of the Church of St. Helier and the adjacent marketplace (since 1751, Royal Square). La Cohue (a Norman word for courthouse) stood on one side of the square, now rebuilt as the Royal Court and States Chamber (called collectively the States Building). The market cross in the centre of the square was pulled down at the Reformation, and the iron cage for holding prisoners was replaced by a prison gatehouse at the western edge of town.

The Royal Square was also the scene of the Battle of Jersey on January 6, 1781, the last attempt by French forces to seize Jersey. John Singleton Copley's epic painting The Death of Major Pierson captures an imaginative version of the scene.

As harbour construction moved development seaward, a growth in population meant that marshland and pasture north of the ribbon of urban activity was built on speculatively. Settlement by English immigrants added quarters of colonial-style town houses to the traditional building stock. Continuing military threats from France spurred the construction of a citadel fortress, Fort Regent, on the Mont de la Ville, the crag dominating the shallow basin of St. Helier.

Military roads linking coastal defences around the island with St. Helier harbour had the effect of enabling farmers to exploits Jersey's temperate micro-climate and get their crops onto new fast sailing ships and then steamships to get their produce into the markets of London and Paris before the competition. This was the start of Jersey's agricultural prosperity in the 19th century.

From the 1820s, peace with France and better communications enabled by steamships and railways to coastal ports encouraged an influx of English-speaking residents. Speculative development covered the marshy basin north of the central coastal strip as far as the hills within a period of about 40 years, providing the town with terraces of elegant town houses.

In the second half of the 19th century, the need to facilitate access to the harbour for hundreds of trucks laden with potatoes and other produce for export prompted a programme of road-widening which swept away many of the ancient buildings of the town centre. Pressure for redevelopment has meant that very few buildings remain in urban St. Helier which date to before the 19th century, giving the town primarily a Regency or Victorian character.

CLIMATE
St Helier has mild, wet winters and cool summer with moderate rainfall. January is the coldest month with an average high of 8 C (46 F), and a low of 4 C (39 F). August is the warmest month, with an average high of 22 C (72 F), and a low of 14 C (57 F). December is the wettest month with 111 mm (4.37 in) of rain, and July is the dryest month with 37 mm (1.46 in) of rain. Snow is rare.



Weather observations commenced at Maison St. Louis Observatory on 1st January 1894 but it wasn't until later that year that the Observatory building itself was complete. The Observatory continued its programme of manual observations for 111 years until 2004.

With advances in technology new automatic weather stations have been developed and these have changed the way we observe the weather. A Campbell Scientific Data Logger was installed at Maison St. Louis early in 2004 enhancing the range of weather related elements we now record. In the past a reading may well have been taken manually just once a day, now we are able to view live data and have all the latest information at our fingertips.

The opportunity was taken with the installation of this system to increase the elements of weather recorded. New sensors have been included to measure ultra violet radiation, now very important to us all.

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[Ian Williams]

Its a pity that St Helier only has 2 synop reports a day @ 06Z and 18Z because i would of used there instead of the airport in my UK challenge thread, but can`t because obviously as the nights get longer the minimum temperature goes beyond 06Z and St Helier would have an unfair advantage. Good for this thread though with the 24hr rainfall to 06Z. Even on wetter de 24 it only has 2 synop points.

http://www.wetter24..../obsid/03896tml

I see Jersey airport doesn`t record precipitation

http://www.ogimet.co...ra=06&ind=03895

However Guernsey does, coming in = 10th

http://www.ogimet.co...ra=06&ind=03895

Nice find - re the photo of St Heliers Wx station

[Dave K]

Here's the website for the Jersey Met, from which I purloined the photo of the met station: http://www.jerseymet.gov.je/

Current / recent weather is in the form of graphs which isn't that helpful. I am assuming anyway that this is the station that provides the synops for St Helier (infrequent as they are).

[Ian Williams]

Big Dave, on 09 September 2011 - 14:59, said:

Here's the website for the Jersey Met, from which I purloined the photo of the met station: http://www.jerseymet.gov.je/

Current / recent weather is in the form of graphs which isn't that helpful. I am assuming anyway that this is the station that provides the synops for St Helier (infrequent as they are).

I would say its the same Dave, They had a minimum (a warm one) of 17.1C this morning according to Ogimet which ties in nicely with the graph on that site

[Dave K]

Another day of fairly moderate rainfall totals and with Capel Curig for once not in the scoring the chasers can make up a little ground.

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The village of Lusa which lies between Kyelakin and Ashaig on the A87 on Skye is now uninhabited. The area has historic connections with Saint Maelrubha (circa 642-722 AD) who preached from a rock near the beach, known as Pulpit Rock. There is also a well associated with him there. He had a monastery on the mainland near Applecross, to and from which he probably travelled by boat across the water from Ashaig (which means "ferry" in Gaidhlig). Lusa Bridge is about 6 miles from Kyleakin, at the junction of the A850 Kyleakin to Portree road and the single track road to Kylerhea. The Ashaig airstrip now lies between the bridge and the shore.

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[Dave K]

Capel Curig still on the scoresheet but the pack make up just a little more ground. Scotland now has a huge lead in the national rankings.

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Shap is a linear village and civil parish located amongst fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England. The village lies along the A6 road and the West Coast Main Line, and is near to the M6 motorway. It is situated 10 miles (16 km) from Penrith and about 15 miles (24 km) from Kendal.

Early forms of the village name such as Hep and Yheppe point to an Old Norse rendering Hjáp of an Old English original Hēap = "heap", perhaps referring to an ancient stone circle or cairn.

The village has four pubs, a small supermarket, a fish and chip shop, an antique book shop, a butcher's shop, a primary school, a newsagent's, a coffee shop, a ceramic art studio called Edge Ceramics, a fire station, a bank (only open 4 hours a week), a shoe shop (New Balance factory shop) and an Anglican church. The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (now part of the West Coast Main Line), opened on 17 December 1846, and runs along the eastern edge of the village, but Shap railway station was closed in 1968, though there have been recent calls for its re-opening. Major employers in the area are the Hanson and Corus limestone quarries.

Although Shap is geographically a small village, it is legally a market town with a charter dating from the 17th century. The parish was, between 1905 and 1935, administered by an urban district council. At one time, the granite works (which are situated about a mile outside the village) was in itself a separate community, with its own Co-op store.

The civil parish of Shap (formerly Shap Urban Parish) includes the hamlet of Keld and parts of the granite works and Corus limestone works, and has a population of 1,221.[1] The parish shares a joint parish council with Shap Rural.

Shap is on the route of the Coast to Coast Walk. There are a few places to stop on this long walk once arriving in Shap. The New Ing Lodge, the Hermitage, Brookfield House, Green Farm (camping) and the King's Arms and Greyhound pubs. Some of the scenes in the feature film Withnail and I were filmed around Shap. Sleddale Hall, the filming location for Uncle Monty's cottage Crow Crag, is located near Wet Sleddale Reservoir.

On 22 October 1999, a Hawk jet from RAF Leeming crashed into an empty barn in the village before disintegrating across the A6 and West Coast railway line, killing its two man crew.

The people of Shap speak a variant of the Penrithian dialect, which is itself a variant of the Cumbrian dialect spoken around the Penrith and Eden district area.

Shap Fell NY530088 is known for Shap granite that is a pink rock rich in orthoclase, quartz and biotite; Shap Pink Quarry takes its name from this. Shap Abbey is also nearby. Shap Fell used to be notorious for the difficult and dangerous stretch of A6 for drivers, and it includes a well-known section of the West Coast Main Line. It has a 1:75 gradient for trains heading north, and in the days of steam locomotives banking engines from Tebay were often being used to assist trains. It has been popular with railway photographers and there have been many pictures published taken in the area, most notably at Scout Green which lies on the southern approach to the hill. Shap Wells has a mineral spa located in the grounds of the Shap Wells hotel that was used in World War II as a prisoner of war camp.







Shap also has a personal AWS at http://www.shapweather.com/

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This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 11 September 2011 - 09:31

[Dave K]

Eskdalemuir deprives Capel Curig of another 10 points but the league leader stretches its lead over the opposition again.

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Eskdalemuir (from Scottish Gaelic meaning "Moor of the Valley of the River Esk") is a civil parish and small village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, with a population of 265. It is sited around 10 miles north-west of Langholm and 10 miles north-east of Lockerbie. The area consists of high wet moorlands chiefly used for sheep grazing and forestry plantation. Settlement is generally located near to, or by one of the many tributaries of the Black Esk and White Esk rivers.



Eskdalemuir is best-known for the nearby Eskdalemuir weather station and for the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist monastery



Eskdalemuir is rich in archaeological remains, including two neolithic stone circles and bank barrow, Castle O'er, a possible ritual centre for the Selgovae, Raeburnfoot, a Roman fort and later dark age fortifications and settlements.

The Eskdalemuir Observatory is located near Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built in 1904, its remote location was chosen to minimise electrical interference with geomagnetic instruments, which were relocated there from Kew Observatory in 1908 after the advent of electrification in London led to interference with instruments.
The distinguished meteorologist and mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson served as Superintendent at the Observatory between 1913 and 1918.



The observatory is situated in the highland valley, or dale of the Esk river at an altitude of 242m and so represents the climate of highland in northern Great Britain. It currently monitors:
Climatological data;
Solar radiation;
Atmospheric pollution;
Geomagnetic fields; and
Seismological data.

In the early evening of 21 December 1988, the observatory's seismometers recorded the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the nearby town of Lockerbie in an event registering 1.6 on the Richter scale.

It is presently managed by the British Geological Survey and the Met Office. There is also a second seismic array approx 3 km north which has been run by Güralp Systems Limited since 2002 on behalf of AWE Blacknest providing the UK part of the international monitoring system of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which allows covert nuclear tests to be detected via their seismic signatures. It consists of an array covering 10 square km of two intersecting lines of 10 pits containing seismometers, a seismological vault and a recording laboratory.

Eskdalemuir is a synoptic meteorological station involved in measurement of solar radiation, levels of atmospheric pollution, and in chemical sampling. Eskdalemuir holds the UK Weather Record for the highest rainfall in a 30 minute period: 80mm, recorded on 26 June 1953.

The observatory is located a little off the B709 to the NNW of Davington.

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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

Looking good at the moment - Early Days I know!

[Dave K]

A very wet day in Western Scotland particularly and the synoptic stations probably don't show the true wettest location. Capel Curig is nowhere and the pack makes good ground on the leader.

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Aultbea (Gaelic: An t-Allt Beithe) is a small fishing village in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. It is situated on the shores of Loch Ewe, about 30 km west of Ullapool. The village has two hotels, the Aultbea Hotel and the Drumchork Lodge Hotel, which won the accolade of top whisky hotel in the world in 2006. The Drumchork Lodge Hotel is the home of the Loch Ewe Distillery.

Aultbea has two churches, a shop, a masonic lodge, a butcher and a craft shop. Aultbea also has a NATO base; large ships often come inshore to refuel here. There is also an annual "fun day" where most people from the village and surrounding area turn up and play football or socialise over a home baked scone as well other activities.
The nearest airport is in Inverness. The nearest railway station is at Achnasheen which has trains either to the Inverness or through scenic Plockton to Kyle of Lochalsh. There is also a ferry service to the Isle of Lewis in the relatively nearby town of Ullapool. This service was once proposed to be based in Aultbea but due to Aultbea's remote setting Ullapool was granted the ferry port. Not too long ago there was also to be a rail track to Aultbea but again the decision went against the village as demand for such a service was expected to be low.

During the Second World War, Aultbea became an important naval base when Loch Ewe was used as a strategic assembly point for convoys before they left for the dangerous route to Scandinavia and Russia.

The coast is affected by the Gulf Stream, bringing relatively warm waters. These are ideal for jellyfish, which can swarm the local waters, as well as visiting dolphins. The Northern Lights are visible on occasion depending on the weather and time of year, winter being best.

The shores of Loch Ewe are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig speaking people, Ross-shire dialect English is spoken in Red Point (nearby Gairloch) and Poolewe. It is "somewhat similar to that of the Southern Hebridean [Harris and Barra] dialects".



The MetO station is located at Mellon Charles (Scottish Gaelic: Meallan Theàrlaich) a crofting village on the north east shore of Loch Ewe in Achnasheen, Ross-shire Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. The village of Ormiscraig is located less than one mile along the coast road.

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This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 13 September 2011 - 09:00

[Dave K]

Another scoreless day for Capel Curig and the Scottish stations keep chipping away at the gap. Tulloch Bridge and Skye/Lusa battling for 2nd place.

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[rosskesava]

I find it quite amazing how far out in front Scotland is and that England is 2nd even though it has only been going 13 days. I had assumed the order would have been Wales, Scotland, N.I., England, Channel Islands and would have by and large stayed that way from start to finish.

It's going to be so interesting to see the results after the year is up.

Cheers

[Dave K]

rosskesava, on 14 September 2011 - 16:09, said:

I find it quite amazing how far out in front Scotland is and that England is 2nd even though it has only been going 13 days. I had assumed the order would have been Wales, Scotland, N.I., England, Channel Islands and would have by and large stayed that way from start to finish. It's going to be so interesting to see the results after the year is up.Cheers

I think Scotland's potential for its stations to be amongst the rainiest most regularly might be due to the fact that all its regions have copped heavy rain so far whereas England "relies" on the few Cumbrian stations and Wales depends so greatly on Capel Curig with nearly half its points from just the one station.Here's a breakdown by region ( you'll have to trust me on how I've allocated them! NI is too small to separate so is included as is).

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Region	Entries	Hi Rain	Points
Scottish Lowlands	29	35.4	130.70
Scottish Highlands	22	39.0	124.00
Western Isles	18	36.2	116.00
North Wales	18	82.4	104.00
Cumbria	12	49.8	82.00
Northern Ireland	8	18.2	40.70
Channel Islands	5	35.8	31.20
South Wales	7	20.0	24.00
South Central England	6	12.0	23.70
SW England	3	22.6	13.00
N & NE England	2	23.4	7.20
Northern Isles	1	7.4	6.50
Eastern England	1	12.8	6.00
Central England	1	12.4	5.00
SE England	1	16.2	1.00

[Flatlander]

I reckon Scotland will win this by a street because it gets more active frontal systems. I reckon Capel Curig will just about scrape 4th or 5th in the end.

Capel Curig gets a lot of rain when it rains, because of the terrain, but places like Skye have a lot more wet days, especially in winter.

The sick thing is, Skye (Lusa) is in the rainshadow of the Cuillin, and Loch Glascarnoch is in the rainshadow of a lot of big hills, as is Tulloch Bridge. I don't think there are any stations in the _really_ wet places (Knoydart, Skye Cuillin, some parts of W Argyll) which would be the equivalent position to Capel Curig.

This post has been edited by Tim Prosser: 14 September 2011 - 20:45

[Dave K]

Tim Prosser, on 14 September 2011 - 20:44, said:

I reckon Scotland will win this by a street because it gets more active frontal systems. I reckon Capel Curig will just about scrape 4th or 5th in the end.

Capel Curig gets a lot of rain when it rains, because of the terrain, but places like Skye have a lot more wet days, especially in winter.

The sick thing is, Skye (Lusa) is in the rainshadow of the Cuillin, and Loch Glascarnoch is in the rainshadow of a lot of big hills, as is Tulloch Bridge. I don't think there are any stations in the _really_ wet places (Knoydart, Skye Cuillin, some parts of W Argyll) which would be the equivalent position to Capel Curig.

I think you're right Tim. I believe that Glen Etive and Seathwaite are the two wettest locations and neither report through synop, though we know for sure that Seathwaite does have an official pluviometer because it set the official 24 hour rainfall record a couple of years ago. If only we could get all the data...

[Dave K]

Another day with low rainfall totals and the top 5 have no scores. After two weeks hints of a pattern emerging, on days with no frontal activity the "wildcards" tend to have their day and today Walney Island has its 2nd 10 pointer.

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[Dave K]

Thinking about adding a new rule so that if no location in the UK records 1.0mm or more then no points are awarded for that day. On dryish days like today somewhere could get 10 points with 0.2mm which seems a bit daft, or two dozen places could score with 0.2mm which would be a pain to enter! It wouldn't affect past scores because the lowest amount to score points so far is 2.4mm.

Any objections?

[Ian Williams]

Sounds reasonable Dave, Had the same problem with Icebox Britain last winter especially if one or two places had say -0.6C they picked up 10 pts the same say as the day before when Altnaharra may of scored 10pts for -18C

That said, this isn`t scientific its a bit of fun to see who regularly is in the top 10 wettest places, which would serve to be the most miserable place in Britain. But yeah agree under 2 mm dont count it. Not sure you will have many days likje that though! lol

This post has been edited by Ian Williams: 15 September 2011 - 18:19