FifeWeather.co.uk Site News http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=61 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=60 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=59 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=58
No doubt this issue is likely to re-occur and I'll need to perform some maintenance on the wind instruments as time/conditions permit in the near future.

In the longer term, I'm going to need to give some serious thought to future station hardware as the existing station becomes more troublesome and expensive to maintain.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=57
Thanks again to Gareth Dow, who both identified the problem and provided the solution, the radar is functional once again.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=56
Also, the site experienced a brief outage this afternoon, around 16:30, as I had to replace a hard disk that was beginning to fail in the server. Thankfully the replacement went smoothly and the new disk has now been rebuilt back into the RAID array.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=55 WeatherCam and daily Time-Lapse video.

By and large, there should be relatively little impact to the appearance of things, with two noticeable exceptions.

Firstly, the daily time-lapse video format has changed from Windows WMV format, to DIVX/MPEG4 format (you may need to download a playback codec from www.divx.com). I've also decided to increase the video quality, such that the daily files will now be around 6MB in size (from around 2.5MB). I thought having this unique daily record of the weather was worth archiving in a reasonable level of video quality. This will obviously impact the time to download the videos, but hopefully the improved quality (and smoother motion) will be worth it.

Secondly, I've added more overlay weather data onto the daily video and smaller weathercam "history" pictures, such that it matches the information presented on the full-sized weathercam image. The position of the data is now static, so that it can be more easily read on the time-lapse video.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=54
I won't know whether the replacement has been successful until the next decent rain event. If the problem still persists, the next step will be to replace the transmitter as well.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=53
Further to the issues experienced in August with the rain gauge, I have manually corrected historical rainfall data for August on all areas of the site, including the raw weather logs.

Thanks goes out (again!) to Gareth Dow, for providing me with his rainfall data from his Cowdenbeath station, which should be a reasonably accurate representation of what has fallen here during the times I was missing data. I will endeavor to do the same for the days in September that have also been affected by the ongoing issues with the Rain Gauge, after the end of the month.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=51 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=50 UK Metars page refused to let visitors select any airport other than Edinburgh Airport.

This was caused by a change in a default parameter, between the old and new webserver software, and has now been correct.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=49
The good news is, the bulk of the work is now complete, and the website is now running on a much faster, more resilient server.

There will be another short outage later tonight (around 20 minutes) as the weather station's virtual machine is also moved across to the new server. This will consolidate the weather station to one server, from two, reducing energy consumption by well over 50%.

As always, if you happen to notice anything amiss (as an unprecedented amount of work has taken place behind the scenes), please feel free to get in touch.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=48 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=47 realtime display has been upgraded to the latest version of Weather Display Live. There has been some minor cosmetic changes to the display, most of which were to accommodate the latest release. The most noteworthy change is the addition of a Beaufort wind scale readout in the centre of the wind speed display. This release also contains a bug-fix with the heat/windchill instrument which, under certain conditions, was displaying both readings super-imposed one another.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=46 get in touch.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=45
Early this morning, a power supply failure in the main web server caused an outage of the site. Thankfully there does not appear to be any data corruption, and after installing a replacement power supply, things were back online from about 9:00am. Apologies for the unplanned outage!]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=44 rain radar page, above the GoogleMaps based rain-radar. This will hopefully be useful for folk using browsers that are unable to correctly display the GoogleMaps based radar, which doesn't work particularly well with older versions of Internet Explorer.

Also, in the past 48 hours, the site has been hit with heavy visitor traffic, as revellers heading to "T in the Park" check out the weathercam and weather information, for the big festival near Kinross. The increased traffic started to flood in on Thursday morning, when a link to the weathercam was posted on a forum associated with the festival. Since then, the site has seen unprecedented levels of traffic (see the traffic graph snapshot below).



Apologies if the site has been a little slower than usual, due to the increased traffic. Things will no doubt quieten back down after Monday, when the festival ends.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=43 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=42 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=41 mobile version of FifeWeather.co.uk has been launched today, replacing the old WAP1.0 page. The new page, built specifically for display on mobile phones, is dynamically generated so data is always up to the minute accurate. With minimal graphics, the new page should provide quick loading times for checking out the current conditions when you're on the move. The page is even browser friendly, so you can preview what the page will look like on your mobile phone at wap.fifeweather.co.uk. Thanks to Jim McMurry for providing the code base for the page.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=40 Wind Direction page, providing a clearer graphical representation of the wind speeds for the current month.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=39 RSS Feeds of live weather data from the station are now available for subscription in your favourite RSS news reader, or even your iGoogle homepage. The new RSS Feeds page contains full details of how to subscribe to the available feeds. More feeds may be added, or existing ones expanded, depending on demand. I must acknowledge the support of Paul McLaren for not only his assistance in helping out with testing, but also giving me the impetus to finally get these feeds off the ground! Thanks also to Dave Keller for providing his RSS PHP libraries which formed the basis of the functionality for the RSS feeds.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=38 Rain Radar has been updated to display a 3 hour animated loop, rather than the previous static radar image. This should help to identify the direction bands of rain are moving in. My thanks goes out to Gareth Dow for his assistance in getting this right.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=37 Contact Us page has been added to the site, which allows visitors to send us messages without needing an e-mail client on their system. This replaces the old "mail to" link, which was previously the only way to get in touch.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=36 weather warning page, detaling the latest flash warnings and weather warnings for the U.K., direct from the Met Office. If there are any current warnings issued for the U.K, the menu item will be highlighted in red, otherwise it will appear as a normal menu option. Warnings for Fife will also be highlighted in red inside the warnings page. Secondly, there is a new Scottish Headlines page, bringing you the latest headlines from the BBC newsroom. As with all new additions, please let me know if you notice any strange anomalies with these two new pages, in case I missed anything during testing.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=35
Update: Another small cosmetic enhancement has been added, which now provides a random background picture for the summary image, from Lochgelly and the surrounding area, taken from my photo gallery at ScotlandScenery.com.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=34 wind direction plots are now in colour for example) but otherwise, the functionality of the site should be largely unchanged. I'm hoping to bring some enhancements to the site in the near future, incorporating new features from the latest version of the software, which was the main motivation for the upgrade. These enhancements will be announced here as and when they are implemented

Improved WeatherCam now in operation. The improved WeatherCam page includes an image twice the size of the old page, and the picture/stats now update every 15 seconds. The WeatherCam history will remain the same size/update frequency, as will the time-lapse videos. Only the main live WeatherCam image has been changed (both on the WeatherCam page and inside the Real time display).]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=33 WeatherCam have now been completed, with the camera being out of action for part of the day today, whilst the work was carried out. The position of the weathercam has changed slightly due to the new mounting location, however this has been minimised as much as possible.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=32 WeatherCam will take place over the next week or so, as I need to relocate the camera to a more convenient location. During this time, the position of the WeatherCam may vary a number of times. I am having to mount the camera into a waterproof housing, which will ultimately be mounted externally. I'm trying to carry out the work in a phased manner, to minimise the downtime to the camera during the works, although the final stages will undoubtedly require some downtime during daylight hours.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=31 Rain Radar has been added to the site, providing up to date radar imagery of precipitation over both the UK and Europe. The radar, based on google maps, can be zoomed and panned for greater detail. Thanks to Meteox.com for granting permission to utilise their radar imagery.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=30 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=29 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=28 Tide Predictions page added to the site. The predictions are for the port of Burntisland, which is the closest port to the Lochgelly Weather Station and are updated at 6am daily.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=27 24 Hour and Weekly/Monthly graph pages. The new graphs consist of a 24 hour rain graph and also 30 day hi/lo temp, baro, rain & average windspeed graphs. Thanks goes to "Carterlake" from the Weather-Watch.com forums, for providing the basis of the code for the new graphs.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=26 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=25 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=24 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=23 UK Metars page. The new page allows visitors to view reports from any of the numerous reporting Metar weather stations around the UK, by selecting the station from a drop-down list. The new page defaults to Edinburgh Airport, as this is the closest reporting Metar to the FifeWeather.co.uk station. Note that not all UK sites will report data all of the time and additionally, some sites (like Leuchars Airbase) can quite often fail to report data on a regular basis. So it pays to check the age of the report, as quoted on each report issued.

Climatological Reports added, providing extreme and average values for each day of the month (for monthly reports) and each month of the year (for the annual reports). The values detailed in the reports include temperature, dew point, wind speeds, snow depth and barometric pressure. Monthly reports are published shortly after the end of the month, whilst annual reports are published at the start of the new year. A full set of reports for 2006 (since the station commenced operation in February) are now available.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=22 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=21 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=20 Aerial Photo added to the About The Station page, to give a better idea of the geography around the station.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=19 Wind Streamlines page added, showing the wind streamlines over both the UK and Europe. The images are updated every 60 minutes.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=18 About The Station page added with some site information and a few photos of the FifeWeather station itself.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=17 Weather Stickers allow you to add live weather data from FifeWeather.co.uk to your own websites. Two styles of weather stickers are available and the provided HTML code will help you get the stickers up and running on your website in no time!

Relative Humidity Sensor Replaced a little sooner than expected. Thanks to the efficiency of the staff at the UK Weather Shop, the replacement hygrometer arrived today and is now installed and operational. The effects were immediately noticeable with a jump of 8% in the R.H. readings after the new sensor came online and for the first time in over a month, the station is now recording R.H. over 91%.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=16 7 Day Forecast for Fife, added to the main menu. The forecast is provided by metcheck.com and you can click through to their site from the forecast itself. Due to the addition of this comprehensive forecast, the weather station's forecast icon has been removed from the home page. Relative Humidity Sensor Issues on the weather station are currently causing the humidity/dew point to under-read from the true value. I would estimate the station is currently under-reporting RH by around 10%, since around the start of October. A new sensor is on order and should be here early next week. Apologies for any inconvenience caused!]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=15 Realtime Display screen redesigned, to better incorporate the new weathercam. Also a new 'units' button has been added which allows visitors to set their own unit preferences and optionally save them for subsequent visits. Other changes include the consolidation of the wind instruments to a dual average/gust gauge, the addition of a Sun and Moon panel, the addition of a Dew Point instrument and a gauge style Barometer. Feedback on these changes are most welcomed!]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=14 WeatherCam is back! And better! A superior quality camera (which will hopefully last a little longer this time!) is providing sharper images with better internal resolution. Apologies for the previous break in transmission, but normal programming has now resumed! :)]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=13 Realtime Display software updated to the latest version of WeatherDisplay Live. The most notable change in this update is the addition of trend indicator arrows on the temp/humidity gauges.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=12 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=11 WeatherCam Video Archive added to site. Every day, the WeatherCam images are compiled into a 60 to 90 second time-lapse video, covering the daylight hours of the entire day. The video for the previous day is always available on the WeatherCam page itself. However the new video archive (available under the historical menu selections) will contain all previous time-lapse videos, available for viewing/download. The archive currently contains videos going back to when the WeatherCam was brought online on the 3rd of September, however the archive will grow over time.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=10 WeatherCam added to site, providing near-live images of current weather conditions, from the FifeWeather station. Images from the weathercam are also compiled into a time-lapse video throughout the day, allowing visitors to view a super-fast motion replay of the day's weather, tothe current time. The time-lapse video can be viewed/downloaded from the WeatherCam page. There are more features to be added to this page in the near future too.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=9 24 Hour Graphs page. These graphs plot temperature / humidity and windspeed/barometer on an automatically sizing scale, based on the current data. This should provide higher resolution graphs from the present time to T minus 24 hours. The classic combined graphs are still included below the new autoscale graphs.

Filename format change to raw log files, to provide for better on-screen ordering. The raw log files for both this station and the Cowdenbeath station have been changed to a YYYYMM.csv format, which produces a more sensibly ordered list.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=8
Minor Mailing List E-mail Change, with the addition of the Apparent Temperature reading, giving a "real feel" temperature based on a combination of wind, humidity and of course, the current temperature. Also, the "Yesterday's High/Low" data has been moved down next to the current Min/Max readings. Preview a sample of the new mailing list e-mail format.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=7 combination of wind, humidity and of course, the current temperature.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=6 here). This has been long overdue as there are many, previously unnamed folk who have contributed to the success of this site.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=5 Real-time Display. The Humidex/Heat Index and Wind Chill instruments will now auto-swap based on which instrument will provide the most accurate reading for the current temperature.]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=4 Cowdenbeath Station Records Added providing a wealth of current and historical information about central Fife weather dating back to late 2001.

NOAA Style Monthly Report Mailing List Added which will automatically e-mail subscribers a complete monthly NOAA style weather report shortly after the end of each month.
]]> http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=3 http://www.fifeweather.co.uk/sitenews/index.php?entry=1 weather report mailing lists. There are currently 3 lists to choose from, depending on how regularly you wish to be updated with the current conditions, ranging from every 3 hours, to once a day. Visit the Weather Mailing Lists page for more details.]]>