Welcome to the Medlock Vale Weather Station website. My name is Alan and I run the weather station in the Failsworth area of Oldham. I am fortunate to live in a semi rural part of Failsworth inside the Medlock Valley. My weather station is in a large open field away from buildings & the temperature sensor is almost 6 feet above the ground surface in a professional white weather box/stevenson screen and it is notorious for recording low night & morning temperatures between October and as late as June.
We live in an area that is a "Frost Hollow".
Frost Hollows are located mostly in valley's which trap cold air mainly in the Autumn-Winter-Spring months. Because cold air falls - this cold air runs down a slope and gets trapped in or near valley's. With Oldham town centre being about 400 feet higher than this location & with that steep gradient to our north & east the cold air falls down that slope and ends up here in the Medlock Valley giving us some very low temperatures. This occurs most frequently during clear & calm nights.
*Weather Records* since 2008 (when we acquired the weather station) these will be updated if and when a new temperature record is broken
Highest ever temperature recorded 29.4C (1st July 2015)
Lowest ever temperature recorded -17.7C (7th January 2010)
An in depth explanation of a Frost Hollow can be found here: http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/Frost-hollow.htm
We live in an area that is a "Frost Hollow".
Frost Hollows are located mostly in valley's which trap cold air mainly in the Autumn-Winter-Spring months. Because cold air falls - this cold air runs down a slope and gets trapped in or near valley's. With Oldham town centre being about 400 feet higher than this location & with that steep gradient to our north & east the cold air falls down that slope and ends up here in the Medlock Valley giving us some very low temperatures. This occurs most frequently during clear & calm nights.
*Weather Records* since 2008 (when we acquired the weather station) these will be updated if and when a new temperature record is broken
Highest ever temperature recorded 29.4C (1st July 2015)
Lowest ever temperature recorded -17.7C (7th January 2010)
An in depth explanation of a Frost Hollow can be found here: http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/Frost-hollow.htm