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Ideas/suggestions for
under 11's (7 Jan 2002)
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: MetLinkInternational ideas/suggestions for junior schools
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
This e-mail has been sent to the MetLink schools with participating pupils aged 11 or less.
The first observational period of MetLinkInternational 2002 is fast approaching! Those who are taking part in the project in January start to exchange observations on 21 January. If you haven't yet tested the database, please do so as soon as you can. We need to know that your password works satisfactorily. The database will be emptied of test data next week, ready for the project to begin 'for real'. I shall send you guidance on making observations very soon.
Meanwhile, here are some ideas, suggestions and possible themes that may be useful during the observational phases of MetLink.
1. Is the weather warmer / colder / wetter / drier / windier than normal for the time of year? If you wish, you can comment in your daily weather report, using the comments box that is provided in the database. If you need to use more characters than permitted in this box, you are welcome to send me an e-mail and I shall either ask John Harris to include your comments on the MetLink website or I shall include your comments in one of my daily weather reports.
2. Has your weather caused any problems or inconvenience? Have trees blown down or lorries / trucks blown over, for example? Has snow caused chaos on the roads? Has there been flooding? Has lightning caused any problems? Has the weather been unsafe or unpleasant (too hot, for example, or dangerously cold)? Do please let us know how your weather has affected everyday life. Are houses the same all over the world? How do they vary to cope with different climates?
3. If snow falls, why not examine the flakes through a magnifying glass or, better still, a microscope. Can you find two identical flakes? Are all flakes six-sided?
4. If large hailstones fall, wait until they stop falling and then go outside to collect some. Cut them in half. Can you see concentric layers of ice? If you can, let me know and I'll provide an explanation in one of my daily weather reports.
5. Are raindrops all the same size? Perhaps your pupils can suggest ways of investigating the sizes of drops.
6. What happens to rain? Where does the rainwater go? Some runs off into rivers and some runs down the street into drains. Some soaks into the ground. What happens to the water in puddles? There's a lot of scope here for discussing the water cycle (clouds, precipitation, evaporation, run-off, etc). Rain falls over the oceans? Why doesn't the sea level consequently get higher and higher?
7. Pupils can be asked to paint the weather (skyscapes, clouds, sunsets, rainbows, haloes, etc). Please scan the best paintings and send them to me (using, preferably, the JPG format). Don't forget to tell us the name and age of each of the pupils who painted the pictures. We'll put some of the pictures on the MetLink and Royal Meteorological Society websites.
8. Please tell us how different your weather is in January from other times of year. Do point out to your pupils that it's now winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern. We do, however, have some MetLink schools near the equator, where it's rather hot and humid all year round. How does weather there change from one time of year to another? Pupils in the northern hemisphere might not realise that most schools in the southern hemisphere have their long summer holiday in December and January, even February in some countries. Equally, pupils in the southern hemisphere might not realise that most schools in the northern hemisphere have their long summer holiday in July and August. Where do people in the different parts of the world go for their summer holidays?
9. How much does temperature change during the day? Is the range small (just a few degrees) or is it large (more than 10 degC)?
10. What descriptions can your pupils suggest for the different types of cloud? Do some clouds look like grey blankets? Do some look like white blankets with blue holes in? Do any look like flying saucers? Tufts of hair? Large cauliflowers? Do send me descriptions provided by your pupils.
11. Was the weather forecast correct? Why not monitor the forecasts during MetLink?
12. Which wind directions are cold / warm / wet / dry? If you'd like any help with this (explanations, for example), don't hesitate to ask.
13. Pupils can write weather stories or weather poems. Please send us the best ones and we'll publish some on the MetLink and Royal Meteorological Society websites. Again, please give us the names and ages of the pupils who wrote the stories/poems.
14. To study wind flow around buildings, trees, bushes, over walls, etc., you can use soap bubbles. You will find that the bubbles do not travel in straight lines!! Turbulence takes them along quite a wiggly path. To work out the average wind speed between two points, you can time how long bubbles take to travel from one point to the other but this isn't quite as easy as it might seem!
Have fun!
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
Ideas: ideas/suggestions for over 11's (8 Jan
2002)
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: MetLinkInternational ideas/suggestions for senior schools
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
The first observational period of MetLinkInternational 2002 is fast approaching! Those who are taking part in the project in January start to exchange observations on 21 January. If you haven't yet tested the database, please do so as soon as you can. We need to know that your password works satisfactorily. The database will be emptied of test data next week, ready for the project to begin 'for real'. I shall send you guidance on making observations very soon. Meanwhile, here are some ideas, suggestions and possible themes that may be useful during the observational phases of MetLink.
1. Have you told the local press or local radio/TV station you are taking part in MetLink? They might be interested. It's possible the local newspaper will publish something about your involvement in the project, perhaps with a picture of your students making a weather observation. Possibly your local radio or TV station will feature your involvement in the project.
2. You might compile league tables of data from MetLink schools. You can rank schools from warmest to coldest, for example, or from windiest to least windy. Which school will be hottest during MetLink? Which will be coldest? Which will be windiest? Which will be wettest? Are the positions of the schools in the league tables what you would expect for this time of year?
3. How much do temperature, rainfall and precipitation-type vary with latitude? Why not draw latitudinal cross-sections each day using data from MetLink participants? We have quite a number of participants between 10degW and 30degE from Scandinavia to the southern tip of Africa.
4. How much does temperature vary during the day? Is the range small (just a few degrees) or is it large (more than 10 degC)? Does the range depend upon cloud amount? Is the temperature always lowest around dawn and highest in the early afternoon? If not, why not? Hints: (a) in middle latitudes, the fronts of depressions are boundaries between air currents of different temperatures and humidities; (b) large temperature changes are associated with the passage of squall lines in the tropics and sub-tropics. Fronts and squall lines (which are actually very vigorous cold fronts) can arrive at any time of day or night.
5. How much does temperature vary around your school? Where are the hottest spots? Where are the coldest? How much does wind vary in speed and direction around the school buildings? To study wind flow around buildings, trees, bushes, over walls, etc., you can use soap bubbles. You will find that the bubbles do not travel in straight lines!! Turbulence takes them along quite wiggly paths. To work out the average wind speed between two points, you can time how long bubbles take to travel from one point to the other but this isn't quite as easy as it might seem!
6. How much do temperature, wind speed and wind direction vary around your district? Are there warm spots along your street? Are there cold spots? Is your town a heat island? Do any local hills or valleys influence the temperature or wind flow near your school? Can you detect anabatic or katabatic flows? Again, soap bubbles can be used to study such flows.
7. How accurate are weather forecasts? Why not monitor the forecasts during MetLink?
8. Which wind directions are cold / warm / wet / dry? If you'd like any help with this (explanations, for example), don't hesitate to ask.
9. If large hailstones fall, wait until they stop falling and then go outside to collect some. Cut them in half. Can you see concentric layers of ice? If you can, let me know and I'll provide an explanation in one of my daily weather reports.
10. Are raindrops all the same size? Perhaps your students can suggest ways of investigating the sizes of drops.
Have fun!
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: Use of the MetLink Database
Date: Sun 13 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
This is an e-mail intended for all who are taking part in the observational phase of MetLink from 21 January to 1 February. I am sending it to everyone, though, as it contains information that I hope will be useful to those who are following the project during this first observational phase but not actually submitting data.
First of all, I ask you, please, to make sure in the next day or two that your password works successfully (if you have not done so already). The database will be cleared of test data at 12:00 GMT on Friday 18 January.
During the MetLink project you may enter data at any time that is convenient for you and your students. Typically, observations have, in the past, been made at the beginning of the school day or at lunchtime, though some schools have, in fact, made their observations during a mid-morning break or at the end of the school day. If you wish to enter data more than once a day, you are welcome to do so. If you wish to make observations on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 January, you again welcome to do so.
Please make your observations at roughly the same time each day, if you can. This is not essential but is useful for comparing one day's data with another.
When you enter your observations in the database, please give the time that the observation was made, NOT the time you entered the data. We need you to give the time by YOUR clock. A program in the database will convert your time to GMT automatically. Please check the database to make sure the conversion has actually been carried out correctly. Here are some conversions that may be helpful to you:
If it's 12:00 GMT, it is 12 noon in the UK and Ireland and 23:00 (11 pm) Local Time in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), 17:30 (5.30 pm) Local Time in India and 14:00 (2 pm) Local Time in Finland. This means that an observation made at 9 am Local Time on 21 January in Sydney has been made at 22:00 GMT on 20 January.
If it's 12:00 GMT, it is 12 noon in the UK and Ireland and 07:00 (7 am) Local Time in New York (USA), 04:00 (4 am) Local Time in California. I say "New York (USA)" not because you don't know that New York is in the USA but because you may not know that there is a tiny village in the English county of Lincolnshire called New York (and also a town in Lincolnshire called Boston)!
When you enter observations in the database, please:
(a) OMIT UNITS (you really confuse the database if you put in units!);
(b) USE FULL STOPS FOR DECIMAL POINTS do NOT use commas, because this causes problems for all who wish to extract data from the database into, for example, Microsoft Excel. We are using comma-separated values in the database to make the copying of data into Excel easy.
Good luck! And I do hope you will find the data collected during the period 21 January to 1 February useful for school projects.
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: The MetLink 2002 home page
Date: Wed 16 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
The home page of MetLink 2002 is:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/2002.html
If you like the global satellite image that has been used on this page as the base map of the world, you can obtain the most up-to-date copy of it by visiting:
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/comp/latest_cmoll.gif
On this base map, there are hot links. Move your pointer over the map to find them. They are located at places where the pointer turns to a hand.
Clicking on the buttons on the right-hand side, from "Archive" to "Worksheets", takes you to pages that contain useful information. Visit, particularly: "Database", "Maps", "Messages", "Reports" and "Schools". Visit also: "Gallery".
If you would like to send us pictures and text for that page, please do not hesitate to do so.
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: Useful MetLink web resources
Date: Wed 16 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
Are you looking for weather charts, satellite images, webcams, weather forecasts, explanations of weather phenomena, etc, etc? If so, your starting point is the home page of MetLinkInternational, i.e:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/MetNetEur/MetNetEur.html
On this page, you will find a major heading called "Resources".
FOR THE LATEST WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AROUND THE WORLD, GO TO:
"For latest observations, click here or here", links which take you to:
http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/ccworld.html
and
FOR WEATHER FORECASTS, GO TO:
"Weather forecasts", i.e:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/wxforecast.html
FOR SATELLITE IMAGES, GO TO:
"Satellite images" and from there to:
http://www.metoffice.com/weather/satellite/index.html
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/
and
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/meteosat/updates.shtml
FOR WEATHER CHARTS, RADAR IMAGES AND WEBCAMS GO TO:
"Weather round the world", and click on "Charts, radar images, webcams", which takes you to:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2001/url_table.html
FOR EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL, GO TO:
"The UK's Met Office" and click on "Education", which takes you to:
http://www.metoffice.com/education/index.html
Go from there to:
http://www.metoffice.com/education/training/index.html
http://www.metoffice.com/education/links.html
and
http://www.metoffice.com/education/historic/index.html
FOR EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL, GO ALSO TO:
"BBC Weather Centre" and click on "Weatherwise", "fact files" and "activities", thus going, in turn, to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/index.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/factfiles/index.shtml
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/diy/index.shtml
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES OFFERED BY YOUR COUNTRY, CLICK ON:
"National Meteorological Services", which takes you to:
http://www.metoffice.com/corporate/links/nms.html
IF YOU CAN'T FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, TRY:
http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/
and/or
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/websites.html
Good hunting!!
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: MetLink best and worst
Date: Frid 18 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
This is an e-mail sent to all of the MetLink schools which are involved in the project from 21 January to 1 February 2002 and also have participating pupils aged 11 or less.
Here's a suggestion:
Your pupils might like to decide where they would (a) most like (b) least like to have been during the MetLink observing period 21 January to 1 February, basing their decisions solely on the weather of the two weeks. If you do take up this suggestion, please send your pupils' comments to me in early February and I shall make sure they are published on the MetLink website. Please ask the pupils to give reasons for their decisions.
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: MetLink Weather Reports
Date: Sun 20 Jan 2002
Dear MetLink participant
As you know, a daily weather report is a feature of the MetLinkInternational project. Indeed, I believe this report to be a unique feature of MetLink. I have not found any other weather project that incorporates such a thing.
A report is written every evening (UK time) on weekdays, i.e. Monday to Friday inclusive. In past years, I have written all of the reports. This year, at least one may be written by someone else. Should this happen, I shall let you know who the author is.
In the reports, I try to mention individual schools. I cannot mention every participant every day, as there are, quite simply, so many taking part in the project (between 80 and 90 participants, I believe, in the period 21 January to 1 February). The total number of participants for MetLink 2002 stands at this moment at 128. All being well, every school that enters observations in the database will be mentioned at least once.
The format of the reports will be slightly different from that used last year, in that I shall not write separate reports for primary and secondary schools. The format will be as follows:
1. Headlines, in which your attention is drawn to notable weather events around the MetLink world.
2. A list of 'hottest today', 'coldest today', 'wettest today', 'windiest today', etc., using the data you submit.
3. A review of today's weather around the MetLink world. A regional approach will be taken, the regions being: Europe, North America, Africa and Ascension, Australasia. This section of the report will contain mention of weather impacts (effects of floods, severe gales, extreme heat, extreme cold, etc) and will also mention parts of the MetLink world where the weather is abnormal for the time of year. If the weather is boringly normal anywhere, this may well be mentioned, too!4. An analysis of the weather mentioned in Section 3. This section will contain explanations in terms of weather systems, physical processes, etc.
5. Notes, in which I draw to your attention matters that I believe will be of interest to you or useful for teaching purposes now and in the future.
My intention is that Sections 1, 2 and 3 and some of the information in Section 5 will be suitable for primary schools. All sections should be found suitable for secondary schools.
In the weather reports, note form and bullet points will be used more than in previous years. This should make the reports easier to follow than in previous years. It should also save me time, because correct sentence construction takes time!! Hotlinks to relevant websites will be embedded in the reports.
I cannot complete the weather reports before about midnight UK time, because I wait for the database to be updated at 23:10 GMT to make sure I include as many of your observations as possible. You will appreciate that the time difference between the UK and the west coast of North America is eight hours. I do not want to complete my weather reports before observations from that part of the world reach me.
I send my reports as HTML files to John Harris about midnight UK time and he normally uploads them to the MetLink website before 09:00 GMT the following morning. The address of the page that contains the reports is:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/reports.html
One thing we cannot predict is computer problems! We have been very lucky indeed over the years MetLink has run, but we did have one major disruption two years ago, when the database was inaccessible for about 16 hours, caused by a computer failure at the database's host site. If any problem arises, I shall endeavour to let you know by means of an e-mail marked 'urgent'.
I hope you enjoy the project and I look forward to seeing your observations
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
Cloud patterns
From: John Harris, Radley College, UK
Subject: Using MetLink information to study clouds
Date: Friday 25 Jan 2002
We have just emailed this to our Year 10 students and they seemed to enjoy it. They wordprocessed their answers and then emailed back to me to mark. Study the weather pics for 25 Jan 2002 http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/25jan/movies/index.htm and http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/25jan/stills/index.htm and 24 Jan 2002 http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/24jan/2401.html 1. Describe and comment on the global distribution of cloud. 2. Suggest reasons for the cloud pattern in the following areas a) Sub-tropical Africa and South America b) The mid-latitudes (Europe and 40-60N and S of the equator) c) over the UK (yesterday and today) 3. Which areas are clear of cloud? Why? 4. Check out today's weather around the MetLink world. http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/2002.html
MetLink climograph
worksheet (27 Jan 2002)
The MetLink climographs are now online!
The Excel Spreadhsheet conntains weather data collected by MetLink schools worldwide
See the plotted climographs for Week1 and Week 2
Click here to learn how to download data from the MetLink database and use in a spreadhseet
Student activities (the best answers will be published on the website)
1. Select two contrasting climographs from different parts of the world. Copy and paste the climographs into a word processor. Write a description of the weather experienced at each school during the week. Identify and suggest explanations for the differences between the two graphs you have chosen (consider such things as latitude and season, distance from the sea, time of day, cloud and wind, general weather situation).
Refer to the MetLink daily reports for more hints and to see the daily satellite images.
2. Do the same exercise for two contrasting climographs within one country or region eg US, UK, Europe, Africa, Scandinavia.
3. Write a brief explanation for the five coldest, hottest and wettest MetLink locations :
John Harris
Dear MetLink participant
The first phase of MetLink 2002 has come to an end and I now look forward to the second phase, from 11 to 15 March. I hope those who took part in the first phase enjoyed the project. What a pity we didn't extend the project by a day or two. The stormy weather in the British Isles continued on Saturday and caused all sorts of difficulties for seafarers, road-users, sportsmen and others. Many rivers in the UK are now on flood alert and the town of Crickhowell in South Wales was cut off for a while on Saturday by floodwater when the River Usk overflowed. Not only that, but the very cold weather in Finland came to an abrupt end on Saturday, when a front brought temperatures above 0°C to many parts of Finland.
Before I go any further in this e-mail, I wish to say 'thank you' to a number of people.
First, I wish to say 'thank you' to Roger Brugge, who is the mastermind behind the database. Roger thought out what was needed and designed a database that worked successfully. If you wish to import the observations into a spreadsheet, you can do this, because they are in comma-separated form in the database. If you do not know how to import the data into, say, Excel, please refer to the MetLink website, where an explanation is provided. To find it, go to:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/climographs/database/how.html
Second, I wish to thank John Harris, who is the mastermind behind the website. He has put in an enormous amount of work and has worked some pretty unsocial hours. Without John, there wouldn't have been those super weather cam pictures. Without John, there wouldn't have been the satellite, radar and other images that were 'captured' for you every day, many of which I referred to in my daily reviews of weather in the MetLink world. Before the project began, I told you that we aimed to make the reviews available to you on the web by 09:00 GMT each day. In fact, they were there on several days by 05:00 GMT. I worked until 01:00 or a little later each night and sent the reviews by e-mail to John. He got up very early every morning and uploaded the reviews onto the website, the main reason for getting them on the web as early as possible (UK time) being that we wanted them to be available to schools in time zones GMT+9 hours, GMT+8 hours, GMT+7 hours, etc before the end of their school day.
Third, I wish to thank you, the MetLink participants. It has been great to see all your observations; and I enjoyed reading the comments you made about your weather.
If you have not managed to enter all of your observations in the Metlink database, you can still do so. Please do not think it's too late to enter them. I know of several schools that are basing projects on the observations in the database. They will certainly be glad to have your observations.
I asked teachers and students in the MetLink primary schools to let me know whereabouts in the MetLink world they would have (a) most (b) least liked to have been during the past two weeks, with reasons. I look forward to receiving your nominations and reasons, which we plan to put on the web.
Something else we'd like you to do, please, is send us pictures of you and your students, to go on the MetLink website in the Gallery section. You will find that we have some pictures there already, but we'd very much like many more. If your students have written anything about MetLink that we might put on the web, please do send it. If an article about the project has appeared in your local newspaper, we'd love to see a copy, please. Do, please, send us anything that might be published on the MetLink website. If you have twinned with any other school(s), we very much hope you'll share your experiences with us. Have your students tried the online MetLink activities eg Around the world in 80 clicks?
A comment from me about the daily reviews of weather in the MetLink world. I have deliberately made these fairly detailed. There is quite a lot in the reviews. I do not expect everyone to digest them fully immediately. I suggest you save the reviews and/or print them and refer to them or otherwise make use of them in the coming weeks and months.
Finally, a few questions. I very much hope you will be able to spare a few minutes to answer them.
My very best wishes to you and, indeed, all those at your school who took part in the project
Malcolm Walker
============
PS (from John Harris - MetLink website manager) a big thank you to Malcolm Walker too! He has put in a huge amount of work recruiting shools, emailing information both before and during the project and compiling and writing the daily reviews. This is an enormous undertaking, especially given the global scale of the project and the need to produce the daily review in "real time". I am sure that this has been much appreciated by all participants. Thank you Malcolm.
Go to the MetLink website
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/climographs/wk1_2gifs/index.htm
Study the Radley climograph for the period 21 Jan to 1 Feb
1. Choose two contrasting MetLink school climographs
Copy (by holding down the mouse over the graph) and paste each climograph into a wordprocessing package eg Word or Appleworks
a) write a brief description of each graph (quote actual temperature, range, daily and weekly precipitation trends and totals).
b) try to explain the differences between the 2 graphs
2. Study the coldest, hottest, and wettest MetLink locations
Copy (by holding down the mouse over the graph) and paste each graph into a wordprocessing package eg Word or Appleworks.
a) write a brief decription and analysis below each graph
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: MetLink Phase 2
Date: Mon 25 Feb 2002
Dear MetLink participant
Phase 2 of the MetLinkInternational project is fast approaching. We exchange observations from 11 to 15 March. I am looking forward to this second phase of the project, which takes place during the UK's National Science Week, an annual event organized by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
During Phase 1 of the project (21 January to 1 February), Jakarta suffered its worst flooding in living memory and the weather was colder than average in Finland and Alberta, mild and unsettled in the British Isles and unusually warm in Romania and eastern France. How much of a contrast will the weather be in these and other parts of the MetLink world during the period 11 to 15 March? What is the weather normally like in March? To find out, visit the webpage entitled "Climatic statistics for the MetLink world":
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/climstats.html
To obtain statistics for March, click here
During Phase 2, you use the same password as you did during Phase 1. If you did not take part in Phase 1 and have not yet tested your password, please will you do so as soon as possible. This is really important. The address of the database is:
http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/metlink/metlink02.html
Please remember when you enter your password that you must not put any characters or spaces before or after it and you must use lower-case letters.
To obtain a file containing all of the Phase 1 MetLink data, visit:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/climographs/wk1gifs/index.htm
and click on "Week 1&2 Excel file", which takes you to:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/climographs/data2002b.xls
If you have any questions or encounter any problems, do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
From: Education education@royal-met-soc.org.uk
Subject: MetLink Phase 2
Date: Mon 4 March 2002
Dear MetLink participant
The arrangements for next week are the same as during the January-February phase. You enter your weather observations in the database each day from 11 to 15 March and I review them in the daily weather report. John Harris will update the website with charts, satellite images, webcam pictures, etc each day and Roger Brugge will look after the database. Let us hope that the website and database continue to behave themselves. Apart from one day during Phase 1 when the database was inaccessible for a significant period (luckily it was the Sunday), MetLink 2002 was free of technical problems. Let us hope our luck holds out! As in Phase 1, we aim to publish the daily weather reports by 09:00 GMT each day Tuesday to Friday, by 12:00 GMT on Saturday 16th.
When entering observations in the database, please remember the following:
1. You must not put spaces before or after your password.
2. You must check that you are entering data for the correct date. The database will automatically convert your Local Time to GMT.
3. When entering the time your observation was made, you must use the 24-hour clock. If, for example, the time is 1 pm, you must enter 1300 as the observation time.
4. In the precipitation type and intensity boxes, you should record the precipitation that is actually occurring at the time of the observation. Please use the Comments box if you wish to say something about the weather you have been experiencing during the previous few hours.
5. Cloud amount 9 does not often occur. If the sky is completely covered with clouds and you can also see the clouds, then the cloud amount is 8 oktas, i.e. 8/8 = 100%. Use 9 only if you cannot see if clouds are present, something that happens when you have, for example, fog. Cloud amount 9 is used only when the sky and/or clouds cannot be seen.
6. When entering wind observations in the database, you must enter the Beaufort wind force, not the actual wind speed. If, for example, you enter 10, the database will think you mean Force 10!!
7. Please do not use commas in the weather description.
To read the previous MetLink messages that contain guidance, helpful information, etc, visit:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/messages.html
I wonder what weather we shall experience next week. I'm full of eager anticipation! To check out the climatic averages for March, visit:
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/radgeog/metlink/2002/daily2002/climstats.html
Best wishes
Malcolm Walker
