Current Weather at Strickley

Friday 3 February 2012

How cold is it?

. . . . . the truth is out there - but where?

Now that out weather station is sited away from the house and buildings on the hill between Strickley and Over Bleaze, we've been reasonably confident about most of the readings. The wind and rain are are accurate as we can hope for, and when it's warm I'm sure that the temperature is "within acceptable parameters". But, when the temperature drops below freezing, it doesn't always record how cold we are down in the yard. We have a thermometer on the wall in the shippon yard and this morning is was showing two degrees colder. I know that it is just down to positioning - it can only record what it is where it is, but when it gets to the extremes of temperature we always want to know how cold we really are. I'm looking around and costing an extra sensor, but the cost may be prohibitive for the advantages.

So in the meantime we look at three outdoor thermometers -
First thing, we check the one outside out bedroom window (console next to the bed) to decide if it's warm enough to get up (it has to be). This is usually one degree warmer than it really is.
Then we check the console in the kitchen that picks up the main weather station (this is what is uploaded to the web).
Then we check the temperature down the yard - to confirm why we feel so cold.
I also check the indoor temperature in the pantry. Today there was a sort of symmetry - it was plus 4 in the pantry and minus four outside.

1 comment:

derekt said...

Ah but have you included the wind-chill factor in deciding how cold it feels? For example, if the wind is 20km/hr ie not very strong) you should deduct 5°C from the thermometer reading. So, at 0°C, with that strength wind, it feels like -5°C. With a 30km/hr wind the wind-chill is -8°C. The stronger the wind, the colder it feels (and really is).
We have North-Easterlies right now and thermometer readings down to -8°C at night. Today, full sun, the reading was -2° with a wind of about 20 km/hr: no wonder I felt chilled to the bone.