Thursday 12th March
Wednesday gave us a dry day with bursts of sunshine that at its peak produced a UV level of 2.1. This was the highest UV level since 30th September and the first this year to be classed as ‘Moderate’ in strength. The thermometer rose to a maximum of 11.5C at 15.03, in the afternoon sunshine, being 0.7C above average. Unusually, the minimum occurred during the late evening at 20.16 when a low of 5.8C was logged being 3.4C above average. The thermometer hovered around 6.5C most of the night before rising after 05.00 to reach 8.9C at 08.00.
Thursday arrived with weak sunshine between broken and thin cloud. The day will go down hill during the morning and afternoon as cloud builds from a deep depression close to Iceland that will see the strength of the wind increase with rain likely to start early evening and become heavy until after midnight. The surface pressure chart shows narrow lines of intense rain when squalls could occur with sudden strong gusts of wind.
By Friday the air stream, originating from near Iceland, will arrive on a west-southwest brisk wind. Don’t be fooled with the wind direction as a little later it will veer further from the south-southwest, which usually heralds mild air from the Atlantic. The Icelandic air mass, a cooler airstream, will severely limit warmth that is likely to see the maximum below average and it will feel very cool due to a contributory wind chill.
Building the UK’s offshore weather stations.
When most people think of the Met Office, they picture satellites orbiting high above the Earth or forecasters analysing weather charts.
But far fewer know about the engineering teams who work at sea, installing, repairing and upgrading the offshore weather stations that feed vital data into our forecasting models.
These teams operate in challenging marine environments, undertaking hands-on engineering that keeps the UK’s ocean observations running smoothly.
In this blog, there is a closer look at what Marine Systems Engineering actually involves, and why this work is the cornerstone of UK weather and climate science.
The Met Office’s Marine Systems Engineering team is responsible for building, deploying and maintaining the network of offshore weather stations, buoys, light-vessel installations and specialist platforms, that gather observations at sea. These stations measure wind, air temperature, waves, pressure and other variables essential for accurate marine and coastal forecasting.
Most of this work takes place at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, which acts as the team’s engineering base. It is here that buoys are assembled, electrical systems wired, and sensors programmed. The site is home to research vessels, heavy lifting equipment and a dedicated workshop space, an ideal environment for constructing and testing large-scale marine observing platforms before they go offshore.
The team also works closely with Trinity House, whose light vessel network in the English Channel hosts some of the Met Office’s key marine sensors. Deploying or recovering these systems requires marine coordination, deck operations and precise installation work, often in challenging weather.
Continues tomorrow
