Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of the
19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2 recorded
peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been told that it was
actually 125 mph.

My anemometer is reasonably well exposed, at a height of about 5m AGL.
Does this claimed figure sound remotely likely - this is at sea level,
near enough. I seem to remember someone here quoting a figure of around
that on Cairngorm. Are there any official figures available from anywhere?
--
Steve Loft
Sanday, Orkney. 5m ASL. http://sanday.org.uk/weather
Free weather station softwa http://sandaysoft.com/
uk.sci.weather FAQs/glossary/etc: http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:06:12 +0000, Steve Loft wrote:

Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of the
19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2 recorded
peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been told that it was
actually 125 mph.

You can only report what you recorded at your site. Presumably, they are
reporting what somebody else recorded at their site. I wouldn't worry about it.

--
Alan White
Mozilla Firefox and Forte Agent.
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow, overlooking Lochs Long and Goil in Argyll, Scotland.
Webcam and weather:- http://windycroft.gt-britain.co.uk/weather

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:06:12 +0000, Steve Loft wrote:

Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of the
19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2 recorded
peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been told that it was
actually 125 mph.

Presumably they want a high figure to back up an insurance claim or are
the insurance already refusing to pay as the wind "wasn't strong enough"..

I've been asked to supply data by people nearby to back up their claims
when insurance companies have been baulking at paying out. The insurance
Co. will say the weather was X but when pressed for the source of their
information they'll say Carlisle Airport which is 20 miles away and 1000'+
lower... AFAIK the insurance companies have accepted the data from my
station and coughed up.

My anemometer is reasonably well exposed, at a height of about 5m AGL.
Does this claimed figure sound remotely likely - this is at sea level,
near enough.

Up here I find the 5s gust speeds are roughly 20mph above 1 min mean, with
the very occasional gust up to 30mph higher. Note that is a 1 min mean not
the 10 min mean that the MetO use.

So a 125mph gust implies a mean of about 100mph, I don't find that very
likely but your 89mph gust and implied 70mph mean is much more
believeable.

I seem to remember someone here quoting a figure of around that on
Cairngorm. Are there any official figures available from anywhere?

Weatheronline does have a history for the sites it reports but access is
via Premium Membership, £19.90/year. Curiously the temp histroy for GDF
which is reported "live" and isn't (in theory) a premium page comes back
with "No Data", so I'm not convinced how complete their records are.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:06:12 +0000, Steve Loft
wrote:

Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of the
19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2
recorded
peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been told that it
was
actually 125 mph.


.... this is what the Met Office monthly summary has for Scotland
around that date ...

" The 19th saw heavy rain in the west, with local flooding, and severe
gales or storms in the north, Kirkwall (Orkney) gusting to 86 m.p.h.
Mainly dry and bright at first on 20th with winds easing, but rain
returned north-eastwards during the afternoon and evening. The rain
cleared on morning of 21st followed by brighter weather with blustery
showers, and severe gales affected the north, Lerwick (Shetland)
reporting a gust of 86 m.p.h. " [see Met Office site he-

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/index.html

If they are going for an insurance claim, then the 'official' gusts
will be quoted (by the climate people in Edinburgh) at around those
levels, which are very close to yours. 125 m.p.h. sounds too high for
the situation & location - there *may* have been such a gust
associated somewhere "in the north" - perhaps at height mainland
Scotland?

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:06:12 +0000, Steve Loft wrote:

Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of the
19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2
recorded peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been told
that it was actually 125 mph.

Presumably they want a high figure to back up an insurance claim or
are the insurance already refusing to pay as the wind "wasn't strong
enough".

I've been asked to supply data by people nearby to back up their
claims when insurance companies have been baulking at paying out. The
insurance Co. will say the weather was X but when pressed for the
source of their information they'll say Carlisle Airport which is 20
miles away and 1000'+ lower... AFAIK the insurance companies have
accepted the data from my station and coughed up.

My anemometer is reasonably well exposed, at a height of about 5m
AGL. Does this claimed figure sound remotely likely - this is at
sea level, near enough.

Up here I find the 5s gust speeds are roughly 20mph above 1 min mean,
with the very occasional gust up to 30mph higher. Note that is a 1
min mean not the 10 min mean that the MetO use.

So a 125mph gust implies a mean of about 100mph, I don't find that
very likely but your 89mph gust and implied 70mph mean is much more
believeable.

I seem to remember someone here quoting a figure of around that on
Cairngorm. Are there any official figures available from anywhere?

Weatheronline does have a history for the sites it reports but access
is via Premium Membership, £19.90/year. Curiously the temp histroy
for GDF which is reported "live" and isn't (in theory) a premium page
comes back with "No Data", so I'm not convinced how complete their
records are.


Cairngorm reported gusts over 100 knots in each of the hourly obs
1600-2200 on 19th Dec 2008 and again at 0000 on the 20th. The highest
gust was 120 knots in the hour ending 1700 on the 19th

--
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
(remove "thisbit" twice to e-mail)

Martin Rowley wrote:

... this is what the Met Office monthly summary has for Scotland
around that date ...

" The 19th saw heavy rain in the west, with local flooding, and severe
gales or storms in the north, Kirkwall (Orkney) gusting to 86 m.p.h.
Mainly dry and bright at first on 20th with winds easing, but rain
returned north-eastwards during the afternoon and evening. The rain
cleared on morning of 21st followed by brighter weather with blustery
showers, and severe gales affected the north, Lerwick (Shetland)
reporting a gust of 86 m.p.h. " [see Met Office site he-

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/index.html

Thanks, Martin. I had a poke around on the MO site but didn't manage to
find that. My figure compares well to the Lerwick and Kirkwall figures.

If they are going for an insurance claim, then the 'official' gusts
will be quoted (by the climate people in Edinburgh) at around those
levels, which are very close to yours. 125 m.p.h. sounds too high for
the situation & location - there *may* have been such a gust
associated somewhere "in the north" - perhaps at height mainland
Scotland?

Yes, it sounds to me like someone has been quoting the figure for
Cairngorm. I have yet to ascertain whether the information came from
someone with a weather station or a copy of the Daily Mail.
--
Steve Loft
Sanday, Orkney. 5m ASL. http://sanday.org.uk/weather
Free weather station softwa http://sandaysoft.com/
uk.sci.weather FAQs/glossary/etc: http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

Norman wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:06:12 +0000, Steve Loft wrote:

Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of the
19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2
recorded peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been told
that it was actually 125 mph.

Presumably they want a high figure to back up an insurance claim or
are the insurance already refusing to pay as the wind "wasn't strong
enough".

I've been asked to supply data by people nearby to back up their
claims when insurance companies have been baulking at paying out. The
insurance Co. will say the weather was X but when pressed for the
source of their information they'll say Carlisle Airport which is 20
miles away and 1000'+ lower... AFAIK the insurance companies have
accepted the data from my station and coughed up.

My anemometer is reasonably well exposed, at a height of about 5m
AGL. Does this claimed figure sound remotely likely - this is at
sea level, near enough.

Up here I find the 5s gust speeds are roughly 20mph above 1 min mean,
with the very occasional gust up to 30mph higher. Note that is a 1
min mean not the 10 min mean that the MetO use.

So a 125mph gust implies a mean of about 100mph, I don't find that
very likely but your 89mph gust and implied 70mph mean is much more
believeable.

I seem to remember someone here quoting a figure of around that on
Cairngorm. Are there any official figures available from anywhere?

Weatheronline does have a history for the sites it reports but access
is via Premium Membership, £19.90/year. Curiously the temp histroy
for GDF which is reported "live" and isn't (in theory) a premium page
comes back with "No Data", so I'm not convinced how complete their
records are.


Cairngorm reported gusts over 100 knots in each of the hourly obs
1600-2200 on 19th Dec 2008 and again at 0000 on the 20th. The highest
gust was 120 knots in the hour ending 1700 on the 19th

A quick question - are the figures quoted above 'nautical' mph ( knots)
or statute mph? Might such confusion explain any discrepancies?

On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 17:11:38 +0000, varnish wrote:

A quick question - are the figures quoted above 'nautical' mph ( knots)
or statute mph? Might such confusion explain any discrepancies?

I can only say that mine are statue miles per hour.

--
Cheers
Dave.

varnish wrote:

Norman wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:06:12 +0000, Steve Loft wrote:

Some people near us had a poly tunnel destroyed on the night of
the 19th/20th December 2008, and are dismissing my Vantage Pro 2
recorded peak gust of 'only' 89 mph, saying that they had been
told that it was actually 125 mph.

Presumably they want a high figure to back up an insurance claim
or are the insurance already refusing to pay as the wind "wasn't
strong enough".

I've been asked to supply data by people nearby to back up their
claims when insurance companies have been baulking at paying out.
The insurance Co. will say the weather was X but when pressed for
the source of their information they'll say Carlisle Airport
which is 20 miles away and 1000'+ lower... AFAIK the insurance
companies have accepted the data from my station and coughed up.

My anemometer is reasonably well exposed, at a height of about
5m AGL. Does this claimed figure sound remotely likely - this
is at sea level, near enough.

Up here I find the 5s gust speeds are roughly 20mph above 1 min
mean, with the very occasional gust up to 30mph higher. Note that
is a 1 min mean not the 10 min mean that the MetO use.

So a 125mph gust implies a mean of about 100mph, I don't find that
very likely but your 89mph gust and implied 70mph mean is much
more believeable.

I seem to remember someone here quoting a figure of around that
on Cairngorm. Are there any official figures available from
anywhere?

Weatheronline does have a history for the sites it reports but
access is via Premium Membership, £19.90/year. Curiously the temp
histroy for GDF which is reported "live" and isn't (in theory) a
premium page comes back with "No Data", so I'm not convinced how
complete their records are.


Cairngorm reported gusts over 100 knots in each of the hourly obs
1600-2200 on 19th Dec 2008 and again at 0000 on the 20th. The
highest gust was 120 knots in the hour ending 1700 on the 19th

A quick question - are the figures quoted above 'nautical' mph (
knots) or statute mph? Might such confusion explain any
discrepancies?

The figures quoted are indeed knots, which is the scale used in formal
weather reporting in this country. The maximum gust reported was 120
knots. This is equivalent to 138 m.p.h.

Norman
--
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
(remove "thisbit" twice to e-mail)

On 7 Jan 2009 17:58:58 GMT, "Norman"
wrote:

The figures quoted are indeed knots, which is the scale used in formal
weather reporting in this country.

....which prompts a slightly arcane question (though I'm asking for a
reason) that maybe I can sneak in he

If speeds are officially measured in knots then what is the official
UK unit for wind run - statute or nautical miles? Logic would suggest
the latter but maybe that's not the only arbiter here? Or does the
term 'wind run' not have sufficient official recognition to merit a
strict definition?

JGD