Been meaning to post this for a while but the weather obs seem really up
the creek on the Met office site:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...er_graphs.html
suggests its been clear and sunny this morning when actually its been
rather wet and very cloudy. I've noticed this several times now.

Sarah

On 24 Sep, 09:23, kiticat wrote:
Been meaning to post this for a while but the weather obs seem really up
the creek on the Met office site:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...ough_latest_we...
suggests its been clear and sunny this morning when actually its been
rather wet and very cloudy. I've noticed this several times now.

Sarah

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....76379f215ecd0b

Hi Sarah, link above to a very similar recent topic.

Bedford (Thurleigh) is just 7 miles SSE of me, and during active cold
front passage this morning reported no rain, and medium level cloud
throughout.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...er_graphs.html

Scope for improvement on the quality control front ;-)

Ian,

Raunds, East Northants.

On 24 Sep, 09:23, kiticat wrote:
Been meaning to post this for a while but the weather obs seem
really up
the creek on the Met office site:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...ough_latest_we...
suggests its been clear and sunny this morning when actually its
been
rather wet and very cloudy. I've noticed this several times now.
Sarah

and,

"Ian" wrote...
Bedford (Thurleigh) is just 7 miles SSE of me, and during active
cold
front passage this morning reported no rain, and medium level cloud
throughout.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...er_graphs.html
Scope for improvement on the quality control front ;-)


.... Here are the SYNOP coded reports that as far as I can see are
'driving' the observations on the web site:.....

Farnborough SAWS/SYNOP 0600Z / 7am BST (actually 0552Z)
AAXX 240600Z 24064 03768 16459 /1815 10163 20149 40031 57033 60002
90552 333 20158 70000 81/10

.... no weather group, no 'main' cloud group, and apparently only 1
okta of cloud at 1000ft (81/10). This was interpreted as 'sunny'.

Bedford SAWS/SYNOP 0600Z / 7am BST (actually 0553Z)
AAXX 240553Z 24064 03560 16470 /1821 10173 20150 40001 57046 60022
90553 333 20158 70020 87/13 82/35

.... no weather group, no 'main' cloud group: from the '8' groups
(87/13, 82/35), the algorithm correctly determines that skies are
'cloudy', but without any other input, nothing in this observation
indicates that it is raining - though the '6' group shows 2 mm of rain
in the 12 hr up to that time.

In both observations, the important group is the one after the station
number: 16459 in the first one (Farnborough/03768) & 16470 in the
second (Bedford/03560)

And within that group, the key indicator is the *second* figure = 6;
from the code 4680 ....
(http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/me.../Code_4680.htm)

From this table, it indicates that this station is an automatic
station, with NO weather group because the station is either not
equipped with same, or if it is, the data are not available.

The algorithms that take the coded SYNOP and convert them into the
'observations' on the Met Office web site obviously cannot produce a
'weather' type, but try to do so from the remaining elements. In these
cases (above), only the cloud groups are considered.

If I had looked at other reports, I could no doubt find more.

Either ALL stations should be fitted with weather sensors (and such
maintained properly), or these stations should not be used in the
network for public use; nerds like me can work out what is going on,
but it is not reasonable to expect people casually looking-in on the
web site to work this out: it's bad manners if nothing else.

Martin.



--
Martin Rowley
E:
W: booty.org.uk

Either ALL stations should be fitted with weather sensors (and such
maintained properly), or these stations should not be used in the
network for public use; nerds like me can work out what is going on,
but it is not reasonable to expect people casually looking-in on the
web site to work this out: it's bad manners if nothing else.

Completely agree Martin. And of course for those sites where the
observations can sometimes be 'human' and other times 'automatic/no
weather sensor', such as most sites overnight and at weekends, it can
be very confusing to try to work out the 'real' weather sequence if
you're not aware that an AWS is in use for some of the observations,
and not for others. It would of course be very easy to insert some
symbol in or on the plot to make this clear on the page for those who
may not readily appreciate this ... suggestion, MO!

Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire

"Ian" wrote in message
oups.com...
On 24 Sep, 09:23, kiticat wrote:
Been meaning to post this for a while but the weather obs seem really up
the creek on the Met office site:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...ough_latest_we...
suggests its been clear and sunny this morning when actually its been
rather wet and very cloudy. I've noticed this several times now.

Sarah

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....76379f215ecd0b

Hi Sarah, link above to a very similar recent topic.

Bedford (Thurleigh) is just 7 miles SSE of me, and during active cold
front passage this morning reported no rain, and medium level cloud
throughout.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/...er_graphs.html

Scope for improvement on the quality control front ;-)

Ian,

Raunds, East Northants.


As I have reported before, I raised the matter of false weather reports from
"South Farnborough" some while ago, and received the following reply from
the Met O on 29th July:

"Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your feedback regarding observations from South Farnborough
displayed on the “latest/recent past� pages of the Met Office web site.

As is noted on these pages, observations are subject to final quality
control checks after publication on this web site. However, you would
reasonably expect observations of present weather to be consistent with that
experienced at the location in question.

Whilst we are confident that the vast majority of observation reports on our
web site are reliable, in a few cases there appears to be an issue with the
way the data is transferred into the web pages for the particular stations.
These are under investigation by colleagues.

We are grateful for your feedback and would like to thank you for taking the
time to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Martin Kidds
Customer Feedback Manager
Met Office"

So the matter is "under investigation".

I am sure that Martin is correct in deducing that we are dealing with an
automatic station in which case the Met Office should not, in my opinion,
report the weather type - especially where, as in the present case, it is so
often absurd. Those with the necessary skills can perhaps deduce this from
the other available data, but not Joe Public for whom the information is
presumably provided.

Roger