Re: Radiation Shield accuracy
Posted: Fri 19 Mar 2010 7:12 pm
My mistake Peter. I'd assumed Plus stations came equipped with FARS but it is an optional extra.Pete B wrote: I'm not sure that the more westerly of the 2 stations to the South of me, IWORCSMA1 is a FARS station, unless I've missed something on the website. I've 'spoken' to the owner via e-mail & he didn't mention the FARS. It is a '+' station though, i.e. has both solar intensity and UV intensity sensors on the ISS whereas mine only has the solar sensor so ideally, my ISS requires sunny exposure. His station is also roof mounted, as is the other one to his East so this may affect readings on sunny days.
Strangely enough it was also quite cloudy here but there was some sunshine late morning which allowed my station to climb to 14.6C whereas Manchester Airport only managed 13C but they don't include the decimal part so it was probably a bit higher. I can cope with up to 2C difference as I would expect my sheltered garden to retain more heat than an exposed airport. Woodford (3 miles east of me) managed 13.5C. Badly setup stations are best ignored.Interestingly, today - a windy, cloudy day over this area has resulted in most of the stations on the larger area map all giving very close readings to each other. There is another station on WU very close to me, just to the NE of mine, IWORCEST27. However, I don't know how it's set or exactly which house it is as nothing such as a high mounted anemometer can be seen but the fact that their pressure reading is about 30mb higher than everyone elses doesn't inspire much confidence in it being well thought out or set up for accuracy.
I imagine many parts of England will have micro-climates especially those near hills (leeward especially - North Wales being a classic example). Sandy soils like Rickmansworth and Bournemouth are notorious frost hollows. That's why it's so much fun having a weather station!...so it may be that there is a genuine mini climate for Malvern due to the unusual (for England) geography with a hill range rising rapidly from a generally flat plain to a height of about 250-300m higher than the plain. Today, my high temp of 15.8C is identical to that of the Pershore station which may be a small private airfield in that area.
Likewise here. My hottest day last year was 30.4C (86.7F) on July 2 and Man Airport recorded 28C (82F). But it felt hotter than 28C.If I start to get silly readings, i.e. regulars above 32C (90F) on ordinary hot (27 - 29C) days, then I know I need to do something to get meaningful readings. As you say, for winter night minima, it is very difficult to know exactly as lower lying well open areas will always be lower than those in small suburban gardens
But is it awkward mowing around the station? Do you knock the rain guage?Lawn cutting is not an issue as I do it myself .
Is this using StreetView? That is amazing and you can see the anemometer attached to my chimney. I'll have a look along your street.Incidentally, using Google Maps in conjunction with the Google Earth links in WU, you can get a good idea of the location and general area around most stations, i.e. housing density, average garden size & layout etc. E.g, both those roof mounted stations to the South of me can be seen on Google Maps themselves as well as the general area they are in.