Scotland/Alba Regional Weather Discussion

[mistyqueen]

Morning Peeps! Well what a beautiful day! That's two days in a row we've had sunshine all day, but the temperature? Ah yes, it was a wee bit nippy yesterday but not freezing. I did notice the drop last night when I went to put chooks to bed, it was just below freezing. It dropped to -2.8c in the wee small hours and the mercury has fairly rushed up the thermometer and we are currently at -0.8c. Everything has a thick coating of frost and looks braw! It wont last I know, we'll be back to temps in the teens and horizontal rain this week. Meh!

[asjmcguire]

Well.... it dropped to -5.9 overnight, then it gradually rose to the dizzyingly high 1.3 around 1pm and then fell again and we are currently at -0.2.

Average temperature currently stands at -3.5

[mardatha]

http://www.webcamsinnorway.com/webcams.php

Can you see this? I'm sitting crying quietly, looking at it If you can't see it then scroll down to Mehamn and then click on the live pic..

Edited December 5, 2016 by mardatha

[Ravelin]

23 minutes ago, asjmcguire said:

Well.... it dropped to -5.9 overnight, then it gradually rose to the dizzyingly high 1.3 around 1pm and then fell again and we are currently at -0.2.

Average temperature currently stands at -3.5

Wow, your post just made me check and high for Dyce so far today has been -0.6C and for Aboyne it's -1.5C so an Ice Day for both looks extremely likely. Wasn't really expecting that.

My weather station at home is unfortunately exposed to the sun so it'll not have an accurate Max for today given that it's been cloudless. It should be an ice day there too though as it's usually nearer Aboyne temperature wise, if not distance wise, than Dyce.

Edit: Looks like Aviemore might have topped out at -4.3C. That's the coldest Max I've found on a quick search.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Ravelin

[asjmcguire]

Just now, Ravelin said:

My weather station at home is unfortunately exposed to the sun so it'll not have an accurate Max for today 

Mine isn't the most professional but we bought 5 plastic air vent things from B&Q and made a cube with the air vents screwed to some wood on the top, bottom, sides and front, only the back where it is affixed to the post is solid wood. It's as stephenson-y shield as it's going to go on the cheap, and it does seem relatively accurate - but it was important to do because our garden is SW facing.

See here for some photos of the box being built - could be something to think about - https://goo.gl/photos/vberuHRJAfPpkoTB7

[Hairy Celt]

29 minutes ago, mardatha said:

http://www.webcamsinnorway.com/webcams.php

Can you see this? I'm sitting crying quietly, looking at it If you can't see it then scroll down to Mehamn and then click on the live pic..

Just seen someone there with a zimmer frame on skis - might be me in a few years. Oh wait, climate change....

[Ravelin]

22 minutes ago, asjmcguire said:

Mine isn't the most professional but we bought 5 plastic air vent things from B&Q and made a cube with the air vents screwed to some wood on the top, bottom, sides and front, only the back where it is affixed to the post is solid wood. It's as stephenson-y shield as it's going to go on the cheap, and it does seem relatively accurate - but it was important to do because our garden is SW facing.

See here for some photos of the box being built - could be something to think about - https://goo.gl/photos/vberuHRJAfPpkoTB7

My station is only a cheap Aldi one but for the money it's been great. I sited it attached to a pole on the garden fence, as exposed as I could for the benefit of the anemometer.  In retrospect I'd have been better choosing a shadier position, which wouldn't have been too difficult in a north facing garden, as the wind readings aren't accurate anyway due to the surrounding houses.

I've thought of making something I could attach to keep the main housing shaded from the south, but never got around to it. If all goes to plan we'll hopefully be moving house next year, somewhere more rural with a bit more garden/land. When we do I might try to upgrade a bit, and I should also have a better choice of siting locations.

[asjmcguire]

1 hour ago, Ravelin said:

My station is only a cheap Aldi one but for the money it's been great. I sited it attached to a pole on the garden fence, as exposed as I could for the benefit of the anemometer.  In retrospect I'd have been better choosing a shadier position, which wouldn't have been too difficult in a north facing garden, as the wind readings aren't accurate anyway due to the surrounding houses.

I know all about the inaccuracies with wind readings - my previous station was an Oregon WMR928NX which was completely wireless (and never needed it's batteries changing - the solar was that good) - but the transmissions from the wind sensor had a frequency based on the wind speed. Normally transmissions were every few minutes but if the wind speed went above a threshold - the readings became more frequent. Unfortunately the wind speed hardly ever went above the threshold because of there being too much shelter, and in the end I had to tell Weather Display to defer to Edinburgh Airport for wind speed readings.

The current station is a WS2300 and is a bit better (and also wired) though the wind speed sensor is some 10m higher up than it was for the Oregon - but it still suffers from the issue that because it's not in the middle of a wide open field with no houses or trees near it - it still doesn't get reliable readings (it also suffers from a known issue where for some reason sometimes when it rains it will periodically report silly readings - like 98mph on a calm wet day)

 

PS - Currently -1.9C dropping at 0.8C and an average temperature of -3.1C

Edited December 5, 2016 by asjmcguire

[Northern Strath]

Went down to -11c this morning after I left. A max of -5.3c so it's turned out to be the coldest day of the season yet. Some beautiful scenes around today, pretty much every direction you went had a blend of blue skies, fog and white frozen backgrounds. Finished off with a crackin sunset earlier too. No bad for a Monday. Currently -7.4c

 

[Northernlights]

Maximum of -1c here so an ice day as well

[Cheggers]

Not sure it got much above freezing today, but was -2 when I left the house this morning.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Cheggers

[Hairy Celt]

Didn't get above -1C on the coast in Buckie and is now at -4C and still a clear sky. Not for much longer though. Apparently.

I read stuff about weather stations above. My advice to anyone contemplating buying one - do you really need one? cos only the expensive ones are worth having.  I know of 3 Davis ones that keep going - not entirely trouble-free, but over many years have consistently supplied usable data.  Oregon ones - and the rest - are toys that don't last.  So talk nicely to Santa.

[asjmcguire]

1 hour ago, Hairy Celt said:

Didn't get above -1C on the coast in Buckie and is now at -4C and still a clear sky. Not for much longer though. Apparently.

I read stuff about weather stations above. My advice to anyone contemplating buying one - do you really need one? cos only the expensive ones are worth having.  I know of 3 Davis ones that keep going - not entirely trouble-free, but over many years have consistently supplied usable data.  Oregon ones - and the rest - are toys that don't last.  So talk nicely to Santa.

Well my Oregon ran from 2006 to 2012/13(ish) and my WS2300 cost £100 from UK Weather Shop and has been running since it replaced the Oregon. The cost of entry for decent weather stations has been falling as the cost of making them has fallen dramatically. After all: 10-15 years is a long period of time, and technology does not stand still..

[Northernlights]

Currently -6c and a bit misty

Edited December 6, 2016 by Northernlights

[asjmcguire]

It is simply not possible to like the post by @CatchMyDrift enough times.... Like X 1000.

[Hairy Celt]

25 minutes ago, Northernlights said:

Currently -6c and a bit misty

Thought you'd written 'a bit nasty', which is how I'd agree - the thaw is well on here, +ve temp now and walls dripping.

[asjmcguire]

Just now, Hairy Celt said:

Thought you'd written 'a bit nasty', which is how I'd agree - the thaw is well on here, +ve temp now and walls dripping.

Still at -0.5C here.....

[Northernlights]

1 hour ago, Northernlights said:

Currently -6c and a bit misty

A couple of photos of the frosty sunrise         Still -2c

[Northern Strath]

Had a low of -10c overnight, forecast to be some 20 degrees warmer by the same time tonight, return of the mush 

[Summer Sun]

Inverness could well be the warmest place in the UK tomorrow

[Ravelin]

4 hours ago, CatchMyDrift said:

The crazy beast from the east long range charts for Xmas time which appeared in the model thread previously don't look so crazy when the GFS starts looking like this way out in FI. The high takes forever but it is going north, another few days from this might take it far enough north to allow an easterly:

Certainly looking more promising on the models this morning after yesterdays horror show. All we need now is for some consistency along the same lines as this morning.

Back to the here and now, it was around 3C here this morning, so no frost. Didn't check the overnight low but it was about -3.0C at 11:30pm last night so it probably climbed slowly through the night. Lots of grey cloud around but dry, a bit of a breeze.

[NUT]

Did get very cold very quickly last night. Recollection was still frosty (and foggy) by about half 1 the fog had gone by 5 but temperatures must have really shot up quickly as I wake at half 9 and frost has all disappeared

[NorthernRab]

1 hour ago, Summer Sun said:

Inverness could well be the warmest place in the UK tomorrow

Incredible if so. A difference of 27'C in the space of 5 days! 

[spindrift1980]

The Met Office has the UK (and not just the Scottish) December record down as 18.3C at Achnashellach in 1948 (surprised this wasn't broken last December, actually).  Could be under threat tomorrow by the looks of that forecast.

[NUT]

Now quite wet so as a consequence the temperatures will shoot up