Monday 14 September 2015

Dry and wet

Unlike some parts of the country the summer has been relatively dry here.

Building on a dry winter and spring the moisture deficit has remained significant with many weaker springs and small streams not running properly for several weeks.
At the start of September the annual total was more than 250mm below average, which should be around 600mm at this stage.

Suddenly on 15th September there's been a rather freakish deluge with more than 40mm in a few hours during the morning. It's still ongoing as I write so will go higher!
Easily the wettest day of the year so far.
It has been very localised with an area of  heavy rain rotating almost directly over the moors since midnight.

With another wet spell expected in a couple of days it does feel like this month might be the change in the dry spell of below average months, which has persisted almost a year now.

September is one of the drier months here, with an average of 61mm.
It seems almost certain this will be easily passed shortly, however the second half of the month looks more settled again.


Friday 20 March 2015

Eclipse graph

At about 09:35 we had a partial solar eclipse with a little over 90% of the disc covered.
The remaining crescent was very slim indeed and the sunlight became almost like very bright moonlight.
It felt cool and the wind seemed to be increasing - though it was picking up anyway so probably not an effect.

It was 8.8C at about 8:30, by 9:50 it had dropped back to 8.1C so not that big a fall - however it would have been at least 1C higher without the dimming I expect.



Saturday 21 February 2015

Webcam back to normal position

The webcam had to be relocated in early January, due to scaffolding obscuring the view - plus dirt and debris on the glass due to work to replace the roof.
This has taken longer than expected mainly due to wind and snowy conditions, however all is completed today - and camera is back looking roughly south towards Esklets and Stony Ridge.

In some ways the image was much better when the camera pointed NE - as window reflections and sun glare were almost eliminated - but the view over a barn roof and empty field was uninspiring!
Both problems are less serious as the sun climbs higher.

http://weather.westerdale.info/cam/

Monday 5 January 2015

Webcam position

Unfortunately this needs to be changed to a side window for a while due to building work on the roof (scaffolding in the way)
It is likely to take at least two weeks even if the weather does not cause delays.
http://weather.westerdale.info/cam/