[Ian Williams]

Big Dave, on 26 January 2012 - 16:02, said:

Thanks Ian, and BTW Prins Christian Sund inevitably holds the Greenland 24 hour record with 183.5 mm on 1st/2nd November 1964.

Probably why its called Hells Corner lol. Just checked Tutiempo and that weather station has been going since 1943 and has all the data to 1958 then none until 1973 and since then it has all the data


http://www.tutiempo...._Sund/43900.htm


183.5 mm at the beginning of November would of almost certainly of fallen as snow, thats one huge dump!

This post has been edited by Ian Williams: 26 January 2012 - 16:24

[Dave K]

Another 85.7 mm at Prins Christian Sund to add today!

BTW the weather station for Quimper is at Quimper-Cornouaille - so we sort of have Cornwall in there as well

[Dave K]

Day 29: Here is the update of totals for the last 4 days only, Northern Scotland and Norway have dried up a bit...

[Dave K]

Day 31: An update with the complete league table data for January 2012. Will be interested to see if the DMI have anything to say about the total at Prins Christian Sund...

[Dave K]

Day 35: Update of the four days only since the last full league table. Valentia managed its first completely dry day since the start of the year!

[Ian Williams]

Big Dave, on 02 February 2012 - 15:14, said:

Day 31: An update with the complete league table data for January 2012. Will be interested to see if the DMI have anything to say about the total at Prins Christian Sund...

2012-02-01-Day-31.png

The trouble and possible problem with Prins Christian Sund is that its also a very windy place and it makes you wonder what is fresh precip and what is caught from wind blow? i.e blizzards off the land.

[Dave K]

Ian Williams, on 05 February 2012 - 18:17, said:

The trouble and possible problem with Prins Christian Sund is that its also a very windy place and it makes you wonder what is fresh precip and what is caught from wind blow? i.e blizzards off the land.

Yes I am still a bit uncertain about its inclusion here, but have to say the relentlessly high daily figures are kind of interesting!

If you take a look at this time last year though the precip is nothing like that: http://www.ogimet.co...d=REV&Send=Send

and the same for 2010: http://www.ogimet.co...d=REV&Send=Send

So the question is if there is a technical problem with the readings or if this is just exceptional weather this year, given that DMI records show it can have 500mm+ in a month? If folks think I should drop it though, let me know.

[Ian Williams]

No, I don`t think you should drop it Dave because we have no proof as of yet , does DMI give a monthly bulletin?

[Dave K]

Ian Williams, on 05 February 2012 - 18:59, said:

No, I don`t think you should drop it Dave because we have no proof as of yet , does DMI give a monthly bulletin?

They give monthly summary stats for a number of Greenland stations but not PCS. They might have a bulletin report release for January at some point this week.

[Dave K]

I have sent an email to the DMI to ask if they have any reason to doubt the reported precipitation totals for Prins Christian Sund this year so far. Hopefully will get a response by 14th Feb.

[Dave K]

Update for the last 4 days only, not very rainy anywhere except for the leader...

[Dave K]

Day 43: A complete update of the league table. Surprising how low the total is (relatively speaking!) for Eskdalemuir along with with NW England. Vigo in Spain still running at about 25% of its normal: Spain in general had an extremely dry January although San Sebastián is close to normal. France also really rather dry as is Western Norway, and I await a response from the DMI about Prins Christian Sund.

[Dave K]

I have a response from the DMI with regard to Prins Christian Sund, not exactly detailed but enough I think to merit exclusion from the Challenge for now unless they can corroborate the daily amounts. I have sent the Ogimet link for the station to them in response.

Quote

Thank you for your e-mail. Where do you see this information? Do you have a link?

It sounds like an error - its very unlikely. Best regards from
Data and Climate Information, DMI

I shall add Vestmannaeyjar (Iceland) in its place.

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 14 February 2012 - 11:52

[Dave K]

A further reply from the DMI

Quote

Thank you for your e-mail.

We have measured 979,4 mm in january and 337,2 so far in this month.

I'll have to speak with John Cappelen who unfortunately is on a vacation.

The normals for Prins Christian Sund for January is about 250 mm and for the year about 2500 mm, so it's a place with lots of precipitation.

Offhand I'll say its an error but I'll return with an answer next week.

Best regards from
Data and Climate Information, DMI

[Dave K]

DAY 46: Update of totals for the last three days only. Dry conditions still dominating in many places.

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	14/02/2012	15/02/2012	16/02/2012
Yakutat, AK	42.2	11.7	0.0	30.5
Bergen/Florida	24.7	5.6	11.4	7.7
Loch Glascarnoch	20.6	3.2	12.6	4.8
San Sebastián / Igueldo	19.5	5.4	6.5	7.6
Liarvatn	17.5	6.4	9.0	2.1
Quillayute, WA	16.5	6.0	9.0	1.5
Pointe de Socoa	15.2	2.2	7.4	5.6
Aultbea	10.8	Trace	2.2	8.6
Connaught Airport	3.6	0.6	1.0	2.0
Vestmannaeyjar	3.2	0.6	1.1	1.5
Skye/Lusa	3.0	0.0	1.6	1.4
Port Hardy, B.C.	2.6	0.0	0.0	2.6
Ballypatrick Forest	2.2	1.6	0.2	0.4
Tulloch Bridge	1.6	0.4	Trace	1.2
Capel Curig	1.2	1.2	Trace	Trace
Islay: Port Ellen	1.2	0.4	0.4	0.4
Belmullet	1.0	0.3	0.6	0.1
Lough Fea	1.0	0.6	0.2	0.2
Squamish Airport, B.C.	0.9	0.0	0.0	0.9
Quimper-Cornouaille	0.8	0.8	Trace	0.0
Eskdalemuir	0.4	0.4	0.0	0.0
Lake Vyrnwy	0.4	0.0	0.2	0.2
Vigo / Peinador	0.3	0.0	0.3	Trace
Valentia Obs.	0.1	0.1	Trace	Trace
Glasgow Bishopton	0.0	Trace	0.0	0.0
Shap	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Keswick	0.0	Trace	0.0	0.0

[Dave K]

Capel Curig hasn't reported data since the 17th and Quimper also now not reporting Totals for the last 4 days only

LOCATION	TOTAL mm	17/02/2012	18/02/2012	19/02/2012	20/02/2012
Liarvatn	79.6	14.4	17.3	44.6	3.3
Bergen/Florida	57.4	12.6	22.3	19.6	2.9
Squamish Airport, B.C.	47.4	5.7	29.0	12.7	0.0
Loch Glascarnoch	40.4	4.0	24.2	1.0	11.2
Skye/Lusa	40.2	4.4	18.4	3.4	14.0
Tulloch Bridge	34.4	2.2	23.2	3.2	5.8
Quillayute, WA	30.4	5.1	19.1	5.3	0.9
Aultbea	29.8	4.2	17.6	3.8	4.2
Yakutat, AK	23.4	8.6	12.0	2.8	Trace
Lake Vyrnwy	22.8	1.0	4.4	15.0	2.4
Eskdalemuir	21.6	1.8	11.4	8.4	Trace
Keswick	18.8	1.6	4.4	12.8	Trace
Ballypatrick Forest	17.6	1.6	8.2	2.2	5.6
Vestmannaeyjar	17.1	1.4	0.0	0.7	15.0
Shap	17.0	0.0	5.0	12.0	0.0
Glasgow Bishopton	16.2	0.4	14.2	1.0	0.6
Port Hardy, B.C.	16.2	1.6	5.0	8.4	1.2
Islay: Port Ellen	14.0	1.2	8.4	2.0	2.4
Lough Fea	13.2	1.6	6.4	2.4	2.8
Connaught Airport	12.6	1.5	9.0	2.0	0.1
Capel Curig	12.4	12.4	N/R	N/R	N/R
Belmullet	12.0	2.0	6.0	3.0	1.0
Valentia Obs.	11.2	0.7	8.0	2.0	0.5
Pointe de Socoa	6.7	0.0	0.0	Trace	6.7
San Sebastián / Igueldo	5.2	Trace	0.0	1.6	3.6
Quimper-Cornouaille	3.7	Trace	0.5	3.2	N/R
Vigo / Peinador	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

[Dave K]

DAY 50: And here is the fully updated league table of standings so far, Prins Christian Sund now excluded unless the DMI can confirm the reported precip and Vestmannaeyjar in its place (actually merited a place from the start really). Only Loch Glascarnoch from the UK breaking the North American and Norwegian dominance, Vigo still incredibly dry compared to normal...

[Dave K]

Final confirmation from the DMI that the Prins Christian Sund reports were/are erroneous:

Quote

Thank you for your e-mail.

After talking to John Cappelen we agreed it is an error. We have contacted the staff at the station and they say its due to alot of drifting snow.

If you look at the windprofile you'll see a correlation to the days of high precipitation and the days with high wind peaks.

Best regards from
Data and Climate Information, DMI

Thor Hartz

[Ian Williams]

Ian Williams, on 05 February 2012 - 18:17, said:

The trouble and possible problem with Prins Christian Sund is that its also a very windy place and it makes you wonder what is fresh precip and what is caught from wind blow? i.e blizzards off the land.

Big Dave, on 22 February 2012 - 11:08, said:

[font="Verdana"]Final confirmation from the DMI that the Prins Christian Sund reports were/are erroneous:

Nice one Dave, So just as we suspected then really - makes you wonder how they can officially record precip there then!

[Dave K]

Ian Williams, on 22 February 2012 - 15:42, said:

Nice one Dave, So just as we suspected then really - makes you wonder how they can officially record precip there then!

Well yes, it must be a problem every year and not just this one surely - which makes you wonder how previous records have been verified!

BTW I do check the OGIMET data periodically against the online national met service returns to check for major discrepancies and Yakutat AFAIK doesn't seem to have this issue. It's just a shame that the UKMO keep this kind of station data unavailable for free perusal on their site...