Millions of rain records dating back nearly 200 years, digitized by volunteers during the pandemic, have smashed UK weather records and provided researchers with more data on weather trends for decades. The University of Reading’s Survival Project included a 130-year copy of handwritten rain records – more than five million individual notes – in the UK and Ireland.
The results showed that the driest year in the history of the United Kingdom was 1855, and the third wettest month was December 1852 in Cumbria, and that November of that year was the wettest month in many parts of England. But the project created more than just new records.
Catherine Ross, an archive employee with the Met Office, said she “broke the definition of an archive.”
“Over the course of the life cycle, the document moves from a daily record to an archive, where it is archived as part of the memory, in our case, the national memory at the time,” Ross said. “However, 66,000 one-time papers have given this project new life by placing queried and comparable data in the hands of the Met Office and scientists around the world.”
About 16,000 volunteers contributed to the copy, and its results are now published in the official National Register of the Met Office and extended for 26 years to 1836. The amount of observational data available to climate sciences up to the year 60’s and researchers has also increased sixfold.
Professor Ed Hawkins, project manager and climate scientist at the University of Reading, said he was “surprised” by the efforts of volunteers who took part in the projects during the UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown.
“Thanks to the diligence of the volunteers, we now have detailed accounts of the amount of rain that occurred before 1836, as evidenced by the eyes of other devoted volunteers several generations ago,” he said. In this context, 1836 was the year Charles Darwin returned to the Beagle in the UK with Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy and one year before Queen Victoria took the throne.
(Photo: University/PA Reading)
“In addition to a fascinating review of the past, the new data provides a longer and more detailed picture of monthly changes in precipitation, which will facilitate new scientific research two centuries later.”
“It improves our understanding of extreme weather and flood risks in the UK and Ireland and helps us better understand the long-term trends towards the dramatic changes we are seeing today.”
Paper documents studied by Rainfall Rescue volunteers contained notes from 1677 to 1960, based on rain meters found in nearly every town and village in England and Wales. The number of rain gauges contributing data to the 1862 National Record has increased from 19 to more than 700 thanks to digitization.
There was a sign included in the text next to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm in the Lake District, where she wrote many of her most famous books. Jackie Huntley, a project volunteer who lives near Stanriere in Scotland, said he joined Rainfall Rescue because he is “a weather fanatic, and especially a fan of rain”.
He said: “It rains a lot, as I live in Scotland. The data is obviously of scientific value, but I also enjoyed studying rain monitors that were very adept at measuring time.”
“It was a fun and real team game from start to finish.”
Source: Belfastlive
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
