A Weather-Guesser's Memories with the RAF
LB,
perhaps the greatest and certainly the most important met forecast in history is that provided by Group Captain Stagg for the Normandy landings. The pressure on him must have been immense and the consequences of getting it wrong would have been of strategic importance. Great skill and moral courage indeed.
perhaps the greatest and certainly the most important met forecast in history is that provided by Group Captain Stagg for the Normandy landings. The pressure on him must have been immense and the consequences of getting it wrong would have been of strategic importance. Great skill and moral courage indeed.
LB, I'm enjoying these tales immensely. Your mention of the rain gauge reminded me of one place where I worked, where we were the official weather reporting station for the BoM. Twice a year (Cricket country week and local show day) the insurance company paid us to supply the rainfall total between particular hours on weekends. They could have paid our employer, who could bank it and pay one of us overtime, minus tax etc. Instead, our employer, very sensibly, simply endorsed the cheque to one of us, and the full amount (quite substantial for those days) went into our Christmas drinks fund. All we had to do was make sure the old Dines pluvi was working, read the chart on Monday and check the stored rain.
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Jupiter pluvius the God of Rain [washing the car has the same effect]..
Pluvius Insurance can be purchased for an outdoor event .......... the insurers know the odds and price the product. Claims are assessed against official Met. readings.
I never used a Dines but, unlike a simple gauge, it measures rainfall rate rather than amount.
Standing by for education.
Spot on LB.
BoM = Bureau of Meteorology. Flying back from a conference in 2002 where the BoM had announced a significant amount of funding to other authorities, we were warned not to mention the "BoM money" at the airport or on the plane.
Dines pluvi = Dines brand pluviograph. When rain falls it goes into the catch and a small tank that has a float in it. As the tank fills, the float rises, driving a pen that writes a trace on a clock-driven chart. When the tank is almost full at a particular depth of rain, it tips and the contents syphon out. The tank then tips back, ready to fill up again. As LB said, they allow you to extract the rainfall rate (intensity) as well as the total amount.
I doubt that there would be many in use now. most rain gauges now are 'tipping bucket' type. Every 0.2 or 0.5 mm of rain, a little bucket shaped like two half-leaves tips and sends an impulse to a data logger. The water tipped from the buckets goes to a storage tank so the depth of rain can be checked.
BoM = Bureau of Meteorology. Flying back from a conference in 2002 where the BoM had announced a significant amount of funding to other authorities, we were warned not to mention the "BoM money" at the airport or on the plane.
Dines pluvi = Dines brand pluviograph. When rain falls it goes into the catch and a small tank that has a float in it. As the tank fills, the float rises, driving a pen that writes a trace on a clock-driven chart. When the tank is almost full at a particular depth of rain, it tips and the contents syphon out. The tank then tips back, ready to fill up again. As LB said, they allow you to extract the rainfall rate (intensity) as well as the total amount.
I doubt that there would be many in use now. most rain gauges now are 'tipping bucket' type. Every 0.2 or 0.5 mm of rain, a little bucket shaped like two half-leaves tips and sends an impulse to a data logger. The water tipped from the buckets goes to a storage tank so the depth of rain can be checked.
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LB,
perhaps the greatest and certainly the most important met forecast in history is that provided by Group Captain Stagg for the Normandy landings. The pressure on him must have been immense and the consequences of getting it wrong would have been of strategic importance. Great skill and moral courage indeed.
perhaps the greatest and certainly the most important met forecast in history is that provided by Group Captain Stagg for the Normandy landings. The pressure on him must have been immense and the consequences of getting it wrong would have been of strategic importance. Great skill and moral courage indeed.
Interestingly the names spoken in reverent whispers were of CKM Douglas and Sverre Peterssen. Douglas retired just before I joined and was regarded as the best weather forecaster, day to day, in the business. Stagg was, I think, more of a diplomat, with British and USA opinions to reconcile.
I will attach part of an account centred on Douglas, OBE and AFC ....... ex fighter pilot!https://www.douglashistory.co.uk/his...%20Douglas.pdf
Meteorological events preceding and during the D-Day landings in France in June 1944 have been documented in Group Captain J. M. Stagg‟s book, Forecast for Overlord, and an account by Douglas himself was published in the Meteorological Magazine (1952). In 1943, Stagg was appointed Chief Meteorological Adviser to the Supreme Allied Expeditionary Force, and as such he became responsible for the forecast for the D-Day landings. Stagg‟s job was to give a comprehensive meteorological briefing as far ahead as possible, and he had to fuse together into a compatible report the frequently diverging perceptions of the leading British and American forecasters of the day (Ratcliffe 1994a). Also in 1943, Sverre Petterssen, the talented Norwegian meteorologist, was placed in charge of the upper-air unit at Dunstable, where Douglas himself became the senior forecaster in 1944. Vital information was regularly disseminated throughout the meteorological services of the British and American military formations, and Douglas‟s observations were rated highly over the years when Bomber Command‟s operations called for telephone conferences among responsible forecasting centres. Sverre Petterssen was to forecast five days ahead in general terms, using mainly information from the upper-air unit. Douglas, however, held the view that trying to forecast more than 3648 hours ahead, using the methods then available, constituted conjecture except in rare circumstances. The Americans, on the other hand, were already endeavouring to forecast six days ahead, largely by recourse to historical analogues. Stagg was faced with the unenviable task of presenting agreed meteorological forecasts between the American and British teams without bias, yet nevertheless from his own experience believing Douglas‟s views to be the most sound. The intense moment came with the forecasts leading up to the military landings on the Continent, which Ratcliffe (1994b) so aptly describes as “a meteorologic epic”. Stagg exercised tact and meteorological expertise of a high level, and he carried out his task in a highly commendable manner. But it was Douglas who was the key figure - the mastermind - behind the D-Day forecasts; ably supported by Petterssen, Douglas led the British team, and it was for this that he was awarded the OBE. The forecasters had displayed an international and inter-service approach which led to the success of the forecasts, and which was then considered the most important in the history of the world. Douglas‟s very demanding responsibilities during World War I1 caused him to behave sometimes in an odd manner, for Berson (1991) records that he would suddenly run twice around a double row of desks whilst on duty. B
Last edited by langleybaston; 26th Apr 2024 at 11:07. Reason: for sh1t read shot
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LB,
yes I assumed that there would be a talented team in the background for the D Day and other essential forecasts. If it is not too great a thread drift, blown off course by these pesky cold winds how did they collect and collate all the required information ?
yes I assumed that there would be a talented team in the background for the D Day and other essential forecasts. If it is not too great a thread drift, blown off course by these pesky cold winds how did they collect and collate all the required information ?
Recalling above a tale of a move to the neutral Irish Free State, I believe it was a phone call to a western Irish lighthouse/meteorological station in the hours leading up to the landings that added the final and useful bit of data.
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"The one thing guaranteed to bugger a carefully thought-through, logical and scientific forecast for Eastern England is one last check on Valentia's weather just to make sure".
To be sure, to be sure
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LB,
yes I assumed that there would be a talented team in the background for the D Day and other essential forecasts. If it is not too great a thread drift, blown off course by these pesky cold winds how did they collect and collate all the required information ?
yes I assumed that there would be a talented team in the background for the D Day and other essential forecasts. If it is not too great a thread drift, blown off course by these pesky cold winds how did they collect and collate all the required information ?
I regret that EK and I were not on good terms, because I regarded him as a silly old fool, too fond of himself; he correctly had me down as a cocky young upstart.
If only I had known ........... the Met Office's own mini-Turing having lunch in the same canteen as LB. I once kippered his table.
EXTRACT FROM SOMEONE'S MEMOIRS if more info needed PM me to limit drift please.
When the IDA Unit had settled into a working routine, Philip Howse returned to Station X and his place was taken by E Knighting, a mathematics lecturer. Knighting spent some time during the summer of 1940 at Station X, learning the mysteries, and RW Gloyne, an aviation forecaster, took charge. When Knighting returned, Gloyne resumed forecasting and later left Dunstable. Knighting remained in charge until sometime in 1943, when he went onto other duties and was replaced by a WAAF officer. Both Knighting and Gloyne remained in the Met Office for the rest of their careers. The IDA Unit took over all the routine decoding, whilst the staff at Station X, under Dr McVittie, continued to provide the keys to decoding and keep them up to date. As the work increased, so did the staff. Three original members went to Station X and very gradually most of the male staff were replaced by civilian females and WAAFs. Three women university graduates, Maud Collard, Molly Jarman and Hilary Ratcliffe, joined Tom Hart to be the Unit’s supervisors. Each supervisor had one experienced assistant, who took over to cover the absence of the supervisor on leave or sick
Last edited by langleybaston; 26th Apr 2024 at 18:32. Reason: for sh1t read shot
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Back to Met. soon: barometers and altimeters and goings-on.
LB,
many thanks. I look forward to your next personal post. I have an amateur interest in met as for the time we have lived in this house (20 years) we have recorded the daily pressure and temperature.
many thanks. I look forward to your next personal post. I have an amateur interest in met as for the time we have lived in this house (20 years) we have recorded the daily pressure and temperature.
LB
Slightly off key, but to do with weather forecasting.
In 1958 I was at RAF Gan and we had a couple of weather assistants. One of their daily tasks was to inflate a weather balloon, launch it as shown below, take the readings (angles) with a theodolite and pass the details back to RAF Negombo (Katunayake) for their forecaster to include the wind directions and speed at different heights in their forecasts.
Passed on FWIW
Slightly off key, but to do with weather forecasting.
In 1958 I was at RAF Gan and we had a couple of weather assistants. One of their daily tasks was to inflate a weather balloon, launch it as shown below, take the readings (angles) with a theodolite and pass the details back to RAF Negombo (Katunayake) for their forecaster to include the wind directions and speed at different heights in their forecasts.
Passed on FWIW
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Balloons were either red, blue or white according to a judgement on cloud amount, cirrus especially. Flights at night tracked a suspended candle lantern under the hydrogen balloon. Elfansafety had not been invented ............. singed eyebrows and moustatches did occur.
The second photo illustrates a high skill, much valued. The observer has a special slide rule dangling on string round his neck and he computes wind speed and direction in real time as he tracks the balloon. Thus the complete message is ready for oven as soon as the balloon is lost or bursts.
Like most of my generation I prided myself to be able to do every job of all the grades below, but not what that lad is doing. Top Marks.
The second photo illustrates a high skill, much valued. The observer has a special slide rule dangling on string round his neck and he computes wind speed and direction in real time as he tracks the balloon. Thus the complete message is ready for oven as soon as the balloon is lost or bursts.
Like most of my generation I prided myself to be able to do every job of all the grades below, but not what that lad is doing. Top Marks.
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Correct.
The procedure followed [gang of 4 young blokes, girl friend accomplices]
PS also works with orange peel.
The procedure followed [gang of 4 young blokes, girl friend accomplices]
- Purchase copy of the Times newspaper [to dignify proceedings]
- Purchase pair kippers, retain one for reserve,
- Obtain supply office drawing pins, robust style.
- Dry run without kipper D minus 1, pinning a couple of pages under the table
- Comit deed on D Day, using a few female friends in skirts to mill around the table, and the heel of a shoe to bang in the pins.
- Check security with compact mirror D plus 1
- Use the other canteen thereafter.
PS also works with orange peel.
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