"Bernard Burton" wrote in message
RMK Temperatures from the new site.
Due to a need for enlarged car parking at the Emmbrook Secondary
School, the climatological station for Wokingham, established in
1976, has been forced to relocate to the Emmbrook Primary School,
a distance of appx 350 metres and at appx the same altitude. After
a short period of intercomparison, the large Stevenson screen was
moved to the new site on the 5th September, and wef 6th September
2006 air temperature and rainfall will be measured at the new site.
For the time being, grass min, the autographic rain gauge, and soil
thermometers will remain at the old site.

... behind that short statement, I guess a lot of hard work & anguish
moving the kit, organising the new site etc. Any early thoughts on
possible differences as to exposure etc?

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
meteorology @ bracknell
E:
W: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/metindex.htm
Yes Martin, you are not wrong there. Fortunately I had a willing
helper, my wife, who is a real ace with the spade. We spent
several hours digging out the large screen, and making a new
hole for it. Also fortunately, although the ground is stone dry,
apart from hidden bits of brick and concrete, the earth was
mostly crumbly. We were able to run a couple of months
comparison for air temps, and the new site has a better
exposure for all directions except the east, and the average
difference for max and min is about 0.3C, lower at the new site.
Unlike the Secondary Sch, where all the buildings are at least 2
storeys high, most of the Junior Sch is one storey, and the new
site has a much more open feel to it. The head is very willing
to have the station there, but the Town Clerk is negotiating a
lease with the District, just in case. I am also taking the
opportunity to install some automatic equip,
(Campbell Scientific), and should be able to interrogate it
remotely. This is due to arrive next week. It will consist
of air temp and humidity in an aspirated shield, rainfall
(0.1 mm tipping bucket, heated), and pressure. Electronic
earth probes have also been installed (another lot of hard
digging!), and are connected to a TinyTag data logger.
Taking 1 reading every 3 minutes this self contained unit
can run for over one month without being off loaded,
resolution 0.01C, accuracy +-0.05C, and offloading is
a simple operation onto a PC, where the accompanying
program can produce graphs or text lists. Well worth the money.

Bernard