Weatherwatch: Britain’s dedicated band of rainfall measurers

British people have always had a keen interest in the weather. Not only do they talk about it, they go out and measure it. A new paper in the journal Weather celebrates some of the UK’s most prolific and dedicated rainfall observers. Richard Towneley started the trend in 1677, taking regular measurements of the amount of rain that fell at Towneley Hall near Burnley. By 1860, George Symons had started to coordinate the collection of rainfall data and set up the British Rainfall Organisation, gathering data from several hundred rain gauges across the nation. Many observers diligently collected observations for 50 years or more, while others, such as Clement Lindley Wragge, went to great lengths to gather their data. Wragge walked a 22km (14-mile) round trip every day between June and October of 1881 to retrieve data from the weather station at the top of the UK’s highest peak, Ben Nevis. This dedication continues to the present day. Tom Bown began daily observations aged 10 in 1948 and has amassed over 75 years of rainfall data from his family farm on Anglesey, even receiving an MBE for his work. This rich data is invaluable for improving weather forecasts and climate models. However, researchers are concerned that the enthusiasm for gathering rainfall data is waning, with more data now available for the 1880s than the most recent decade.