WeatherThe English are known for their obsession with the weather, and rightly so. We have very changeable weather and our meteorologists (scientists who study weather and forecast it) have to be the best in the world to predict what it will do next. Notre Dame Students in Sheffield have a particular interest in the weather - Sheffield being a hilly city close to the Pennine Hills normally gets some snow each winter and it has been known to make travel to school a challenge!
Meteorology is the study of the weather - the day to day changing atmospheric conditions including precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, hail, and dew), temperature, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure and humidity. Our weather centre allows us to monitor and record all these weather conditions.
Climatology, studied by climatologists, is the study of long term average weather conditions. Climates are described by using a 30 year average.
The climate of our part of Sheffield is recorded at Sheffield Museum and in 2002 was described as:
Climate : Based on 30 year averages from the Sheffield City Museum (2002).
| Season | Temp ° C | Rainfall mm | Sun hrs |
| Winter | 4.8 | 73.0 | 68.3 |
| Spring | 11.3 | 62.0 | 164.0 |
| Summer | 13.5 | 59.3 | 169.7 |
| Autumn | 7.3 | 81.7 | 58.3 |
Using this data we will be able to monitor each season to see how closely it matches the average and start to build up a record of the climate at Notre Dame. It will be exciting to monitor how our climate changes in the future as well as record the major weather incidents with data and video as they happen in years to come.
