By Paul Homewood
I have frequently mentioned the fact that the Met Office like to use High Bradfield as an example of wind speeds, every time there is a storm.
During Storm Eleanor last week, wind gusts reached 77 mph.
But the problem with High Bradfield, which is just a few miles from us, is that the weather station sits on top of a hill in the Peak District, at an altitude of 395 m.
How, then, would wind speeds there compare with a genuine low level site? (The Met Office, by the way, regard anything below 500 m as “low level”).
I asked the guys at Sheffield Museum, who look after the weather station there, what the wind speeds were that day. Sheffield is one of the long running stations used by the Met Office, and sits in the middle of Weston Park, about 5 miles down valley from High Bradfield, and itself on a hill at 131 m.
According to them, the top gust was 38 kts, or 44 mph.
That is one hell of a difference, compared to 77 mph measured at High Bradfield.
The Met Office like to give the impression that winds at places like High Bradfield are typical for the country as a whole. They certainly rarely quote wind speeds at places like Sheffield instead.
But such an impression, as we have seen, is wholly misleading.
Is it too much to expect a bit of honesty from the Met Office?
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
January 8, 2018 at 11:06AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 