A drenching down south today...
Crikey. Certainly proving extremely wet this afternoon through more southern districts here in the West - especially towards the Somerset borders with Devon and Dorset, including the likes of Chard, Yeovil and Crewkerne.
There's some nasty driving conditions right now on the M5 south of Taunton, as I can see through the network of traffic cameras. This drenching is easing further eastwards during the rest of today.
Our bespoke local rainfall radar and weather observation system - developed and deliveredÌýby the Met Office - paints a distinctly wet picture of the evolving conditions across southern districts this afternoon. Orange and red colours depict the heavier rainfall rates.
It's at times like this when we are especiallyÌýbusy on the weatherdesk, watching the developing story unfolding on our system and keeping an eye on possible warnings being issued through the Met Office HQ in Exeter. My colleague Richard Angwin is doing the presenting honours this afternoon for our local radio bulletins. We'd expected this bout of wet weather today, but the attention nowÌýfocuses on the predicted track and extent of the rainfall during the next few hours.ÌýCertainly aÌýveryÌýsoggy evening rush-hour for some...
Indeed, we've just had a 'flash' , valid right through the rest of today, which reads:
"Outbreaks of heavy rain will continue to affect Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and south Wiltshire this afternoon and evening, then easing later. Rainfall rates may exceed 15 mm in three hours, and a further 25 mm in the period in places. The public are advised to take extra care and refer to the Highways Agency for further advice on traffic disruption on motorways and trunk roads. Issued at: 1428 Wed 7 Oct"
Sometimes, we receive criticism for issuing warnings when bad weather never materialises; at other times, when atrocious conditions suddenly arrive unannounced. It's a very tricky balance between giving proper, timely public advice and avoiding the 'cry wolf' syndrome.
Certainly no 'crying wolf' this afternoon, however - I bet anyÌýof you reading this todayÌýdown in Somerset, Dorset and south Wiltshire can attest to the worsening weather there. If you take any photos of the heavy rain, or any localised flooding problems, do send them in to us - instructions are on the blog entry from yesterday.
I'm Ian Fergusson, a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather Presenter based in the West Country. From benign anticyclones to raging supercell storms, my blog discusses all manner of weather-related issues. I also provide updated race weekend forecasts tied to our ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ coverage of Formula One. You can follow me on , too.
Comment number 1.
At 7th Oct 2009, Daniel wrote:Nice Rainfall Radar, how comes thats not available to the public?
Good blog update, the heavy rain we had here earlier in Kent eased Northwards, the second batch of heavy rain has just got here and seems much more potent than the first area of rain. 10mm of rain so far today.
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Comment number 2.
At 7th Oct 2009, Ian Fergusson ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather wrote:Hi Daniel!
The Met Office rainfall radar feed we receive at work is essentially identical to that provided by commercial suppliers, such as Netweather, to their subscribers.
The wider debate about supplying free local rainfall radar (high-resolution, i.e., 1km and frequently updated) to the public here is another issue altogether, of course.
I'm very much aware of the appetite for such feeds to be made available on the web (such as provided in the USA free of charge, for example), but clearly that's a matter for the Met Office to explain, rather than me and the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
Our Met Office system includes various nowcast overlays including the ATDNet lightning detection system; latest SYNOP station circle observations; visible/infra-red satellite imagery and various regional mapping options including high-resolution zoom with major and minor roads, topography etc. It's certainly all handy stuff, but I'd imagine any option to make such detailed 'here-and-now' data freely available would prove a major commercial issue for the Met Office... but equally, perhaps a worthy topic / area of discussion for a future blog!? Your views are most welcome!
Best
Ian
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Comment number 3.
At 9th Oct 2009, Daniel wrote:Thanks for replying :-)
Ah I see, it does look very detailed. I've got the NW radar, I purchased it back in the winter when we were getting all the snow, it made it a lot easier to track it. Tracking on the public MO radar is okay, but because its lower resolution you can't really see the small showers that are developing.
I do hope that we get high resolution radars here in the UK free of charge. Although not particularly expensive to pay for the basic NW one so can't complain too much I guess. I think this topic would definitely a good topic for a future blog :-D
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Comment number 4.
At 9th Oct 2009, Ian Fergusson ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather wrote:Hi Dan
Just on similar lines - have you seen this experimental new development from the MO? See:
Colleagues were discussing it yesterday while I was at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather Centre. Note the various overlay functions on the right, including rainfall radar, and the scalable zoom function for the map. It's not all fully functional with this Beta version, but you'll get the general idea of what is being planned as a public web offering from the Met Office.... a big improvement, do you think?
Best
Ian
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Comment number 5.
At 10th Oct 2009, Met-Monkey wrote:Hi Ian
Thank-you for providing ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Points West viewers a great place to talk about the latest up and coming weather related issues. I take Dans point about there being a lack of high resolution detailed rainfall radar available on the web. The new Met-Office Beta Version looks very good. The closest you can get to this, free of any hidden charges is the radar provided by Meteogroup found at: - This radar adopts a similar concept with zoom features, a few overlay features etc.
As you know, I'm residing in Spain at the minute so this Radar by Meteogroup is essential. AEMET the Spanish equivalent to the MO have a distinctly worst rainfall radar with an even lower grid resolution. Thank-you to Meteogroup and some big advances by the MO.
Hope you're well Ian and thank-you for mentioning Met-Monkey in you Grace Blog.
Best
Thermohaline Conveyor or Keithy Joe
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