Please read the Weather section in the field course handbook carefully. It gives you background on the art of weather forecasting, the influence from local factors on the weather at Dale Fort, and the different forecast activities you will undertake during the field course.
You will have to forecast different weather variables for Dale Fort. You will need to work in your teams and split tasks to analyse the available data in order to formulate your forecasts.
On this page, you will find links to weather data sources. Scroll to the bottom to find information about submitting to the Weather Game.
Weather data
Here are some useful links for sourcing weather forecast information for the Weather Game:
Live weather data from Dale Fort can be accessed in the following way:
1) Create an individual account with Ecowitt here using your email: https://www.ecowitt.net/home/register
2) Once logged in, go to this site to see the live data from our station: https://www.ecowitt.net/home/index?id=265007
You can see the current conditions and historical timeseries of temperature, relative humidity, incoming solar radiation, rainfall, wind speed and direction and pressure reported at 5 minute intervals.
If you would like to compare this year’s weather at Dale Fort with that during last year’s fieldcourse. You can access previous data as a CSV File here (right or ctrl click and choose to download the linked file): https://leeds-field-course-hub.org/dale_fort_wx/dale_fort_wx.csv
Live weather data from St Ann’s Head lighthouse: https://stannsweather.org.uk/
Net Atmo station installed at St Ishmael’s near Dale: https://weathermap.netatmo.com//?zoom=12&type=temp¶m=Filter&stationid=70%3Aee%3A50%3A64%3A27%3A72&maplayer=Map&lang=undefined
Recent observations for UK: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/maps-and-charts/uk-weather-map
Current satellite imagery UK: https://www.sat24.com/en-gb
Synoptic charts: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/maps-and-charts/surface-pressure (look at the black and white versions they have more detail)
High resolution forecasts for Pembrokeshire from the Weather Research Model (WRF) provided by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. Navigate to the page, select the date (this is the date the forecast model was run), Select Domain 3, select plot type (map or cross-section), select atmospheric variable, use the left hand bar to select the forecast valid time and display the forecast data.
https://force.ncasdata.org/force/resources/calendar/2025/September/uk
Radiosonde profiles (hourly) from the WRF high resolution forecasts (can be compared against actual sonde ascents) select date of interest: https://force.ncasdata.org/force/categories/view/5592/
Compiled data from multiple forecast centres at windy.com: https://www.windy.com/
Compiled data from multiple forecast centres at wxcharts: https://www.wxcharts.com/
High resolution Met Office weather forecast map: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/map
Ensemble meteogram from ECMWF for Milford Haven: https://charts.ecmwf.int/products/opencharts_meteogram?base_time=202309270000&epsgram=classical_10d&lat=51.7167&lon=-5.03333&station_name=Milford%20Haven
Compilation of current and archived satellite images, synoptic charts, radiosonde data: https://sci.ncas.ac.uk/weatherdata/
user: weather, password: data
Forecast Presentations
Remember to email your presentation to the instructor leading the activity
Team allocations:
Shetland Islands: Intortus, Humilis, Fibratus
Cairngorms: Floccus, Castellanus, Lenticularis
Lowestoft: Fractus, Mediocris, Stratiformis
Newquay: Volutus, Calvus, Spissatus
Harlow Carr (near Harrogate): Capillatus, Uncinus
In addition to the above forecast sources, you may wish to include some information about today’s conditions in your forecast presentations. Here are links to live stream weather station data from near the forecast locations:
Newquay weather station: https://www.newquayweather.com/
Harlow Carr weather station, near Harrogate: https://science.ncas.ac.uk/grafana/d/GIru7KIWt72/bramall-learning-centre-harlow-carr?orgId=1&from=now-1h&to=now&timezone=browser&refresh=1m
Lowestoft weather station: https://rnsyc.net/wordpress/rnsyc-weather-station/
Shetland Islands weather station: https://www.360shetland.co.uk/weather/live.html
Kinloch Laggan, Cairngorms weather station: https://holfuy.com/en/weather/1528
Nb: This is not an exhaustive list. There are many weather forecast resources publicly available online that you might use in your forecasts. Think about which sources are most reputable – always check the source of the data you are using.
Weather Game
All Weather Game entries are forecasts for Dale Fort. The forecast variables are: maximum and minimum temperature, total precipitation between 17:00 to 17:00 the following day. Wind speed and direction at 12:00 local time.
How to submit your weather game entry:
Go to https://weathergame.online/login
The password is your Team cloud name
Select 2025 (Dale Fort)
Once logged in you will see boxes for each of the five forecast variables for different dates.
Find the day the forecast will be verified on (i.e the day after the one you are entering the values on)
Enter the value and click ‘Update’.
Your entries can be updated until the cut off time at 17:00 local time.
Rules are in the handbook. Scoring table:
| Points | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 | -3 |
| Max/Min Temperature (°C) | – | ≤0.5 | ≤1.5 | ≤2.5 | ≤3.5 | ≤4.5 | ≤5.5 | ≤6.5 | ≥6.5 |
| Wind speed (m/s) | – | ≤1 | ≤3 | ≤5 | ≤7 | ≤9 | ≤11 | ≥11 | – |
| Wind direction (°) | – | ≤22.5 | ≤27.5 | ≤35 | ≤45 | ≤65 | ≤90 | ≥35 | – |
| Rainfall (mm) | ≤0.5 | ≤1.5 | ≤2.5 | ≤3.5 | ≤4.5 | ≤5.5 | ≤6.5 | ≤7.5 | ≥7.5 |