[Dave K]

Foxy2, on 26 September 2011 - 09:30, said:

I'm surprised nowhere in the SW of the UK registered last night. Some quite heavy rainall here but from radar it was localised along the spine of the peninsula. The 13.7mm in the Tiverton area would have given it 8th place (displacing Stornaway) and another 3 points for England!

Andy

Well Filton is SW...ish Fair bit of rain around the Bristol area such as Yate (11.4 mm on a personal AWS). Liscombe which is closer to your area I think registered 5.2mm, maybe a non synoptic official station recorded more.

[Ian Williams]

Foxy2, on 26 September 2011 - 09:30, said:

I'm surprised nowhere in the SW of the UK registered last night. Some quite heavy rainall here but from radar it was localised along the spine of the peninsula. The 13.7mm in the Tiverton area would have given it 8th place (displacing Stornaway) and another 3 points for England!

Andy

I was at work at Liskeard last night and i can only describe the rain has Torrential, have not seen it come down that hard for a long time. A personal AWS recorded 11.7mm to midnight, the rain started at 2200, and a further 16.0 mm fell from midnight to 0302 hrs, so a total of 27.7 mm in little over 5 hours.

[Dave K]

And Cluanie Inn, if it were a synop station would probably be among the overall leaders too, if not challenging for top spot itself.

[Nigel Bolton]

Posts above would answer questions why Exe did not respond to last night's heavy rain. Between 15 and 20mm here and fell in a series of pulsating bursts, very audiable on our roof. Road 'tide marks', suggest overall, a good solid downpour. Back lawn now significantly boggy.

N.

[Ian Williams]

Found another AWS that is on Dartmoor a place called Dousland had 21.3mm on the 25th most of it again last couple of hours to midnight, and another 25.1 mm which finished at 0311hrs High RF figures also for Tavistock. Just a shame there are no official recording stations in these areas.

[rosskesava]

Big Dave, on 26 September 2011 - 08:45, said:

Not that I know of, seems to be one of the negatives since the upgrade about uploading images that you can open many but only view one at a time. Perhaps I'll just combine those two images into one from now on to make it easier.

Dave - thanks for that.

[Dave K]

Day 26: Fairly low rainfall totals generally (at least at synop stations) and a bit surprisingly London scores twice ( it was dry here ). Tiree is a first time daily winner, Tulloch Bridge and Skye/Lusa add a few ore points but Islay: Port Ellen is the only location to move up in the Top 10.

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Tiree (Scottish Gaelic: Tiriodh) is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides southwest of Coll. It has an area of 7,834 hectares (30.2 sq mi) and a population of around 800. The low-lying island is highly fertile, and crofting, alongside tourism, are the main sources of employment for the islanders. Tiree, along with Colonsay enjoys a relatively high total of hours of sunshine during the late spring and early summer compared to the average for the United Kingdom.
Tiree is the most westerly of the Inner Hebrides.

The main village on Tiree is Scarinish, from which ferries sail to Arinagour on Coll and to Oban on the mainland, as well as a once weekly trip to Castlebay on Barra. Tiree Airport is located at nearby Crossapol. The island's other settlements include Hynish and Sandaig, both of which boast small museums.
The roads on Tiree, in common with many other small islands, are nearly all single-track roads. There are passing places, locally called 'pockets', where cars must wait to enable oncoming traffic to pass or overtake.

The highest point on Tiree is Ben Hynish to the south of the island which rises to 141 metres (463 ft).

Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland.

Writing in 1549, Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles wrote of "Thiridh" that it was: "ane mane laich fertile fruitful cuntrie... All inhabite and manurit with twa paroche kirkis in it, ane fresh water loch with an auld castell. Na cuntrie may be mair fertile of corn and very gude for wild fowls and for fishe, with ane gude heavin for heiland galayis".

In 1770, half of the island was held by fourteen farmers who had drained land for hay and pasture. Instead of exporting live cattle (which were often exhausted by the long journey to market and so fetched low prices), they began to export salt beef in barrels to get better prices. The rest of the island was let to 45 groups of tenants on co-operative joint farms: agricultural organisations probably dating from clan times. Field strips were allocated by annual ballot. Sowing and harvesting dates were decided communally. It is reported that in 1774, Tiresians were 'well-clothed and well-fed, having an abundance of corn and cattle'.

Its name derives from Tìr Iodh, 'land of the corn', from the days of the 6th century Celtic missionary and abbot St Columba (d. 597). Tiree provided the monastic community on the island of Iona, south-east of the island, with grain. A number of early monasteries once existed on Tiree itself, and several sites have stone cross-slabs from this period, e.g. St Patrick's Chapel, Ceann a' Mhara and Soroby.




The MetO synoptic station is located in the grounds of the airport. A detailed description of the climate of Tiree and surrounding islands with climate charts can be found at http://www.metoffice...k/ws/print.html

[Dave K]

Day 27: Another very wet day in NW Scotland and Skye/Lusa has another 10 points to extend its lead, while Tulloch Bridge moves into 2nd place. Stornoway nudges into the Top 10. Scotland of course way clear at the national rankings and as there is so little change there from day to day I'll just update that at the end of the month. Some places certainly having a very wet September in contrast to the far SE.

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[Dave K]

Day 28: I thought we might get away with a scoreless day but NW Scotland and Northern Ireland provide just the 4 locations with rainfall of 1.0mm or more which accrue points today. After a single day in the Top 10, Stornoway is supplanted by its near neighbour South Uist Range. Very many locations did record 0.4 or 0.2mm and most of these were probably condensation from fog.

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[Dave K]

Day 29: Similar story to yesterday, very little rain around the country but Scottish stations again take the few points on offer. As per yesterday a whole host of places with <1mm

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[Dave K]

DAY 30: Today is the first day for a Northern Ireland station to get the uncoveted 10 points for a day. There is no movement in the top 10 but a couple of locations consolidate their positions.



I just can't find anything related to Glenanne to write about that isn't rather tragic in nature so nothing other than a map to show its location really.

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The league tables for the end of the month summary to follow separately.

[Dave K]

Here are the tables for the end of September, I hope there is enough unpredictability still after a month to make this interesting enough to continue?

[rosskesava]

I think that definately there is enough unpredictability over the course of the next 11 months to make your time and trouble very well appreciated. I think (and hope) it may over time produce some unexpected results.

Also, for me it'll be interesting to see if the past month follows the same trend during a full turn of the seasons. I'm curious how the regional rankings lower down (postitions 10 - 15) do over the autumn and winter. By and large, it'll be a highly interesting, if unofficial, snapshot of all things rainfall in a way that would never be found anywhere else.

For instance, I would have said if asked and for no real researched reason that the SE had lots more rain than the SW and that the Northern Isles would be up there at number 2 or 3 or 4. Definately I would have placed North Wales as the favourite for the number 1 spot.

I still reckon Capel Curig will come up tops though.

Cheers and thanks.

[Dave K]

Thanks rosskesava

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Day 31: It wasn't hot and sunny everywhere in the UK yesterday, and some high rainfall totals for NI and the west coast of Scotland but none of the usual suspects managed to score. There are no changes at all for the Top 10 as per table above so I have included the league table data for positions 10 - 20 instead today.

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Prestwick is a town in South Ayrshire which lies on the south-west coast of Scotland, approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the south west of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr, the centre of which is approximately 2 miles (3 km) south. To the north of Prestwick is the small village of Monkton. It had a population of 14,934 as of the 2001 census.

Prestwick's name comes from the Old English for, priest's farm: preost meaning "priest" and wic meaning "farm". The town was originally an outlying farm of a religious house. From Robert the Bruce to James VI, King of Scots, numerous Kings have traversed the coastal walks in and around Prestwick and Troon. Bruce is reputed to have been cured of leprosy by the waters of the well at St Ninians church. The well still exists behind the church. Although it has been a Burgh of Barony for over a thousand years, it was a village until after the railway arrived in the 1840s and the middle class from Glasgow started to build large houses along the coast.

Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, formerly Prestwick International Airport, was an important transatlantic gateway from the 1930s through World War II. On 28 August 1944 a United States Army Air Force, Douglas C-54 Skymaster 42-72171 on approach into Glasgow Prestwick Airport in bad weather crashed into a residential area of Prestwick, killing all 20 passengers and crew and five people on the ground. The US Air Force had a base at the airport, and Elvis Presley set foot in the UK for the only time there in 1960, when his US Army transport aircraft stopped for refuelling en route from Germany.

Though a period of sharp decline in the 1980s and 1990s saw it lose its status as Scotland's primary transatlantic airport, Prestwick continues to handle many US military flights. In July 2005, the airport was the main transport hub for world leaders attending the G8 conference in Gleneagles. The airport now caters to a number of low-cost airlines, including Ryanair and Wizz Air. In addition, BAE Systems, Goodrich Corporation, Spirit AeroSystems and GE Aircraft Engines have maintenance/manufacturing facilities adjacent to the airfield. Ryanair also has maintenance facilities at Prestwick.

The remains of the old parish church are located near Prestwick railway station. Thought to have originally been built in the 12th century, the small church building is now a ruin, and is surrounded by an ancient graveyard. Andrew Strath, "Keeper of the Green" at Prestwick Golf Club in the 1860s, is buried in the cemetery. Prestwick has a 1-mile (1.6 km) long esplanade alongside Prestwick Bay, part of the Firth of Clyde. It has two children's playgrounds. At the north end Kid'zplay, an indoor activity centre, can be found next to the large play-area that was formerly a large open air swimming pool. Parallel to the esplanade is a line of large houses overlooking Arran.

The Prestwick Old Course hosted the first Open Golf Championship in 1860. The first twelve Open Championships were played there, from 1860 to 1872. (the Championship was not played in 1871).The town also hosts two other golf courses, St. Nicholas and St. Cuthberts. St. Nicholas is a traditional links course south of the town. The Shaw Monument stands on the high ground overlooking Prestwick Airport.





The MetO synop station is located within the grounds of the international airport.

[Dave K]

Day 32: Once more the scoring is dominated by stations outside the Top 10 although Eskdalemuir makes up some ground on 3rd placed Capel Curig. Spadeadam makes another return to the Top 10.

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The Met Office climate station Edinburgh Gogarbank (03166) is located at Gogarbank Farm within the grounds of the Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) research centre.

SASA relocated from East Craigs to purpose-built accommodation at Gogarbank Farm, 4 miles west of Edinburgh, near Ratho, in 2006. SASA took over Gogarbank and Overgogar farms and merged them into a single site.

The move to Gogarbank Farm, where SASA's field trialling work takes place, eliminates the need for inter-site travel, provides modern facilities to replace the ageing buildings at East Craigs, and allows for full integration of the laboratory, glasshouse and field operations.

Construction of the new premises commenced in July 2004, and was completed on time, and within budget, in December 2005. The transfer of personnel and scientific equipment to the new accommodation was completed by the end of February 2006.

A photo of the automatic climate station itself can be seen at http://www.geograph....k/photo/1044967

[Dave K]

Day 33: It's another clean sweep for Scotland, and Sky/Lusa extends its lead still further with its 8th 10 pointer, although Capel Curig also once had a similar gap over the rest so nothing is yet certain. There is some more shuffling of positions in the Top 10 with Stornoway nudging back into 10th place.

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[Dave K]

Day 34: Skye/Lusa certainly winning the battle for the numer of 10 pointers in this project, its 9th "victory" today. Capel Curig back in the scoring after an absence and a bit more shuffling of positions in the lower half of the Top 10. Locations continue to move in and out of 10th place.

BTW as I noted in another thread the climate station Cluanie Inn reportedly had an astounding 529mm rainfall in September (compared to around 300mm for Skye/Lusa and Capel Curig) so if only all the MetO stations reported through synops it would be quite a different story.

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[Dave K]

Day 35: Well the radar might have suggested NW Scotland was the wettest area yesterday but the synops say otherwise with Wales taking the top 3 spots. Capel Curig has its first 10 pointer for a fair while and moves back to 2nd place overall, but no other changes of position in the Top 10.

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[Dave K]

Day 36: Comes as a bit of a surprise to see Skye/Lusa outside the daily top 10 but Capel Curig and Tulloch Bridge make up only a little ground as they fight their own battle for 2nd and 3rd, as Loch Glascarnoch - daily winner for the 2nd time - and Eskdalemuir dispute 4th and 5th.

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[Dave K]

Day 37: A second 10 pointer in a row for Loch Glascarnoch, some Top 10 locations add to their tally but no changes in position. For the first time there is a 10 point gap between 10th and 11th but that can soon be bridged.

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