| Ireland’s Reported Cloud Types, 9th March 2011 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: March 10 2011, 12:32 PM (235 Views) | |
| Mark (IWO) | March 10 2011, 12:32 PM Post #1 |
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ARTICLE BY FERGAL TIERNEY The routine hourly Synop reports from the manned stations of Dublin, Shannon, Cork, Connaught and Casement Airports, as well as Valentia and Belmullet, give some good information on the state of the sky, i.e. the coverage, type and height of cloud cover, as observed by the human observers on duty. Such information can be very useful to the forecasters, as certain cloud types can hint at processes that are happening in the atmosphere which may not be picked up by the computer models. The other unmanned stations (with the exception of Finner and Claremorris) also give information on cloud height and coverage, as measured by instruments called ceilometers, but these simply cannot replace the human when it comes to the finer details of cloud type, development, and other phenomena. This is the major disadvantage of the continued removal of personnel from once proud stations, such as Malin Head, which became fully automated on 1st January, 2010. It is worth mentioning that Libya, despite the current unrest and alleged danger posed to the travelling public, is still giving fully manned weather reports at its stations. A quick look at today’s 1500 GMT reports from the above stations gives an idea of what was happening throughout the country. They are divided into low, mid and high level types, but of course it can be impossible to identify mid or high level couds if there is a broken or overcast layer of low clouds in between. ![]() We can see the dominance of the low cloud types of Cumulus, Stratus and Stratocumulus, which are the most common clouds we witness in Ireland (unfortunately!). This morning started off (in the east anyway) with a dense veil of Cirrus spissatus, but it wasn’t long before the low cloud took over, so that by mid afternoon, only Valentia was reporting any high cloud at all. Belmullet had a low sheet of Stratus nebulosus, which is typical of coastal areas along the west. Shannon reported Cumulonimbus calvus (without an anvil), which had given rain showers within the hour preceding the observation. |
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8:18 PM Jul 11