iWeather Online contributor Fergal Tierney visited Roches Point in County Cork last weekend and reports on the local synoptic weather station, which is operated by Met Eireann.
Click on images for a larger view.
Fergal – “I recently visited Roches Point (Irish: Rinn na Róistigh), a scenic peninsula located at the entrance to Cork Harbour, on the south coast of Ireland. Its location means it's very exposed to what the North Atlantic has to offer in the way of weather, and so it is a perfect choice for a synoptic weather station. “
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| Looking southwest, with Roches Point Lighthouse in the foreground |
Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Service, has been operating a synoptic weather station there since 1940, and it became automated in 1991. It supplies hourly weather reports, and is part of the WMO Synoptic Network of Stations (ID 03952), along with sixteen other stations in the Republic of Ireland.
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| Visibility and Present Weather Detector |
The station is perched atop a hill that rises steeply from the sea, at an elevation of 41m amsl, and measures temperature, dewpoint, wind, rainfall, soil temperature, cloud base, weather type, visibility and global radiation.
It is more exposed to the prevailing southwesterlies than nearby Cork Airport weather station, located 17kms to the northwest. Its mean annual windspeed is 12.2 knots (1961-90), over 1 knot more than the Airport, although its max gust of 86 knots is some 6 knots less than that of the Airport (both recorded in January).
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| Ceilometer (for measuring cloud bases) |
It has, however, more than double the number of days with gales per annum (33 vs 15). It has a notably less average rainfall, with 935mm falling on average, compared to 1207mm at the Airport. It is slightly milder, with a mean annual temperature of 10.2°C, which is 0.8°C higher than the Airport. Its highest recorded temperature is 28.0°C, recorded on August 3rd, 1995, while its lowest is -7.2°C, on January 13th, 1987.
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| Stevenson Screen |