On 12 Mar, 10:17, "Martin Rowley"
wrote:
"Ricardo" wrote in message

...

MARLOW 0850Z W-NW F2-3 9999 (20KM) 1CU020 7SC050 5.2/2.7 1020.5
RMK:Rain on weak cold front clearing by 0745.

Max temp 09-21=6.8C
Min temp 21-09=+0.3C
Rainfall 09-09=0.2 mm

Site details: Sheltered back garden near centre of Town, 1 mile from
River Thames. N51:34:28 W0:46:38 SU848868
Regards Richard Bailey

... Richard, by the time the front got down here in the south coastal
area, it was even weaker: sporadic, very light rain between 06 & 0730Z
.. nothing in gauge (notional 'trace') and surfaces not affected. 11
days with no measureable rain.

I still use Beaufort letters to record my weather, and for that rain,
it should go down as "iro" (the 'o' being a suffix/subscript
lower-case o); it occurs to me that we need a method to distinguish
between light rain which *has* an impact (i.e. produces at least a
dribble of rain in the gauge/wets the surface, even if temporarily),
and the event of this morning when if you hadn't been looking closely,
you might have entered 'nil PPN'.

I always make a note of such events, but as a shorthand, I've started
using 'ox', i.e., lower case x, lower case o, on the same principle
that in clothing measurements, XL is 'extra large', XXL is 'extra,
extra large' etc. So 'xo' is extra slight !?

Anyone else have such a system or a better one? It would also apply to
snow - for example you can have light snow which does impact on the
surface, and the occasion when just a few flakes fall with no impact -
same Beaufort letters, "s(suffix)o".

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N * Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

Hi Martin.
Excellent idea, I will use ox in future, showers overhead (12:21)-
upper cold pool.
Regards Richard