New weather station to 'improve forecasts'

Guernsey Met Office has been trialling the station in the grounds of Government House in St Peter Port

A new automated weather station has been installed in Guernsey to increase the amount and quality of data collected.

Guernsey Met Office has been trialling the station in the grounds of Government House in St Peter Port, for nine months.

The data recorded has been scrutinised against that collected by the long-standing, official weather station at Guernsey Airport and Guernsey Met Office said it was satisfied with its quality.

Temperatures recorded at Government House have been, on average, in the region of 1C (34F) higher than those collected at Guernsey Airport, due to the location and less exposed nature of the site.

Adam Heaume, senior meteorological officer for Guernsey Ports, said the location in St Peter Port provided representative data for the most populated area of the island.

'Understanding the environment'

“This is an ideal location for the weather station and we are extremely thankful to His Excellency [the Lieutenant-Governon] for his support in allowing us to use the gardens at Government House," he said.

“We have been working closely with Jersey Met to find a secondary location in Guernsey from which to collect reliable weather data.

“Automated weather stations like this one are already used at various locations in Jersey and meet the required standards for weather recording."

Lieutenant-Governor Lt Gen Richard Cripwell said: “I’m very pleased that we have been able to work so effectively with Guernsey Ports over the last few months.

"The automated weather station is just one of a number of environment-based projects that Government House hosts and we are delighted it is making such a positive contribution to the understanding of our environment.”

Since 1947, official weather records for Guernsey have been collected at Guernsey Airport and this will remain the official station for all of Guernsey’s climatological records.