August 2011 Sunshine Hours

[AderynCoch]

We're halfway through the month and some of the running sunshine figures for parts of Scotland have caught my eye:

http://www.met.readi...rugge/CURR.html

(sunshine hours)

Aviemore - 39.1

Eskdalemuir - 39.9

Edinburgh Gogarbank - 41.8

Aberdeen - 42.9

Even more notable though is the scant 36.8 hours apparently logged so far at Woodford. I've considered the possibility that the figures aren't up to date, but the temperature stats definitely are (the monthly minimum of 3.2C for Eskdalemuir occurred on the 15th) and I always find the above site very reliable.

It would be interesting to see if other members have comparable data. If the second half of August is similar sunshine-wise, some places will end up duller than in 2008. It's seemed like a dull month here so far, but not that dull.

Edited August 16, 2011 by AderynCoch

[Lake District Blizzard]

Sunshine figures are lacking in Cumbria, but from what i have found, Penrith so far has had 48 hours this month, compared to august 2008 which had 95 hours in that area. So its going to be a close contest if this weather continues. My location is much sunnier than that part of Cumbria, but here there's only been a few sunny days this month so i doubt here has much more than that value and this August has felt very dull and cold

Edited August 16, 2011 by rjd1000

[Richard2901]

Sunshine has been appalling here. I've recorded about 59 hours for the first 16 days of August with the 31 days since 17th July racking up 96.7 hours which is only marginally better than the dismal 92.8 hours recorded in August 2008.

June 2007 was worst of all, for a calendar month, with 88.6 hours though the 30 day total for 15th July to 13th August 2011 was even worse at only 83.9 hours. Compare this with 88.9 hours for the 30 days ending 3rd February 2011

Seems to be a return to the dark days of the 1960s with these dismal summer monthly sunshine totals below 100 hours becoming a regular occurrence.

Summer sunshine total to date 358.4 hours so very little chance of getting anywhere near the average of just over 500 hours.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Richard2901

[Summer of 95]

Shawbury 50.2 at just over halfway through the month- no, I wasn't imagining it. It really has been that dull yet again. We could be on for a third sub-100 summer month in 4 summers. The "max" (daily) says it all- 6.4! That's easily beatable in December, and I think has been the last 3 Decembers.

[Terminal Moraine]

The first 16 days have produced 47.9 hrs of sunshine here which is 57% of average for the period.

Although this is very low it will still have a job beating August 2008 with 81.6 hrs, or 2006 with 93.9 hrs, in the whole month.

[AderynCoch]

Thanks for the replies - so it really has been that dull!

Here at least it's actually been mostly sunny by day since I started this thread. It's doubtful that the second half of the month will be as cloudy, but the fewer daylight hours could go some way to cancelling out the sunshine totals.

The link at the start of the thread is regularly updated (daily I think). Woodford has now rocketed to 45.5 hours for the month.

[AderynCoch]

Now nearing the end of the month. Weather stations still below 100 hours:

Eskdalemuir - 68.1

Edinburgh Gogarbank - 75.1

Kirkwall - 83.2

Aviemore - 83.9

Aldergrove - 90.7

Woodford - 92.0

Prestwick - 94.6

[Aaron]

Wow, these figures are astonishingly low. Especially for the likes of Shawbury.

[Weather-history]

Wow, these figures are astonishingly low. Especially for the likes of Shawbury.

Nowt compared to August 2008. Eskdalemuir, for instance recorded only 41hrs for that month.

[Summer of 95]

Shawbury is now 107.2- so the 100 has been reached.

And it's in with a chance of being the driest place? In August? Would be brilliant if it had been combined with even normal sunshine.

[Terminal Moraine]

95.8 hrs here now which is more than both 2006 and 2008 although still well below average for August

[Thundery wintry showers]

Philip Eden's stats at Climate-uk support the consensus of a cloudy month:

http://climate-uk.com/

All regions have had below average sunshine with percentages of the 1971-2000 normal ranging from 67 to 88 for 1-25 August.

But as Mr_Data rightly pointed out, nowhere near as dull as August 2008, when percentages were typically between 50 and 70, and as low as 30-40 in some western areas.

[AderynCoch]

Final figures (sub-100 hours):

Eskdalemuir - 71.8

Edinburgh Gogarbank - 79.5

Aviemore - 88.0

Kirkwall - 86.6

Aldergrove - 93.2

Woodford - 96.6

Prestwick - 98.2

Kinloss - 99.1

[toggerob]

Buxton recorded 99.86 hours for the entire month of August, downwind 7 miles it's feasible Woodford may have had a lower reading due to the rainfall shadow effect. We had many numerous days of precip continually being fed from the Irish Sea and the moisture enhanced from Taxal Ridge/Shining Tor and Sponds Moor (for anyone familiar with the area) which are the main barriers the rainfall faces before the higher Pennine moorlands.

[Thundery wintry showers]

It's also possible that Buxton may use a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder which typically gives 10-20% more sunshine than the Kipp-Zonen sensor that Woodford uses.

[Summer of 95]

Final figures aren't available yet, but if Shawbury records 110-120 (as I suspect), September is already about a tenth of a way there, with a thirtieth of the month gone......

September sunnier than August was almost unheard of before 2006, but this will be the at least the 3rd time since....

[Aaron]

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/2011/14/2011_14_Sunshine_Anomaly_1971-2000.gif

Here's the anomaly maps for sunshine during summer 2011.

So pretty poor unless you live in:

North west Scotland

Western Wales

Or that small circle in Yorkshire (where I'm located )

[Terminal Moraine]

It's also possible that Buxton may use a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder which typically gives 10-20% more sunshine than the Kipp-Zonen sensor that Woodford uses.

The official site at Buxton does use a Campbell Stokes recorder but the figure quoted above of 99.86 hrs is from a site at Brierlow Bar, just south of the town, which uses an electronic recorder.

I've just received the data for August from the official site but haven't had chance to add up the totals yet; based on past experience I would expect the sunshine total for that site to be around 112 hours if Brierlow Bar recorded just under 100 hrs.

I recorded 95.8 hrs in August, rather more than in 2006 and 2008 but still very dull for August.

[Terminal Moraine]

I've just added up the August sunshine total for the official site at Buxton and it's 142.7 hrs.

The large difference between this site and the 99.9 hrs recorded at Brierlow Bar, about 3 miles south, is probably a combination of the official site at Buxton having a more open exposure ( the recorder is about 50 feet above the ground on the town hall roof ) and the former being a Campbell Stokes recorder and the other an electronic one.

It does highlight the pitfalls in comparing one record with another when different recorders are being used.

Out of interest I'll keep a log of the daily totals at each site in September to see how they compare.