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Re: Standard weather recording

Hi

Does anyone know of or use a standard method for recording weather conditions (e.g. during biological surveys). I am guessing that the main criteria would include temperature (T), precipitation (P), cloudiness (C) and wind (W) plus possibly humidity (H) and atmospheric pressure (AP).

I did a web search and could not find any recommendations. Clearly there are some existing precise standards for temperature (e.g. Celsius), wind (e.g. Gale force) etc. So a record T(12)...W(1) would indicate 12 degrees C and gale force 1. I assume that cloudiness could be based on a percentage cover.

Of course this may be too precise and general terms could also be used:
T —cold, cool, warm, hot.
C —clear, partly cloudy, cloudy, fog.
P —dry, drizzle, light rain, heavy rain, snow, hail.
W —calm, breezy, windy.
Severe weather—thunderstorms, lightning, tornadoes, high winds, blizzards

So a code T(Cd)C(Pc)P(D)W(C) would denote a cold, partly cloudy, dry and calm day or one could use a combination of codes e.g. T(12)C(Cl)P(Lr)W(3).

Any help/thoughts would be much appreciated

Cheers

Nick

(ePlanning Project Manager) Aberdeenshire Council

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Re: Standard weather recording

Hi Nick,

Maybe see the methods used for butterfly transects, especially by Transect Walker? They're fairly well established standards.

It's been a wee while since I did the field work, but weather observations are a crucial requirement in the methodology.

Cheers now , Rob

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Re: Standard weather recording

Hi Rob

That is excellent - I will have a look at it this week. This may also have relevance to the future development of Recorder http://www.recordersoftware.org/futuredev.htm

Cheers

Nick

(ePlanning Project Manager) Aberdeenshire Council