With grateful thanks to Michael Hilton at www.buxtonweather.co.uk from whom most of the following has been taken.
The Buxton Slopes Weather Station
The weather station on the slopes in Buxton has unbroken records going back over 150 years to 1865 and is the 3rd oldest weather site in the United Kingdom.
The Buxton Slopes Met Office site is known as a Climatological Weather Station. This means that it takes daily readings to create a long term climate record. The site is managed by The British Meteorological Office and manned by a group of local volunteers who attend the station each morning, 365 days a year at 09.00 GMT to take 22 readings and observations. These are then entered by the volunteer team through an online Met Office portal for use in real time forecasting – and for inclusion in Long Term Climate Records for the UK.
In the middle of the 1800’s, when the station was first set up, there were many serious outbreaks of diseases like cholera, typhus, etc which resulted in many deaths, particularly of young children. Doctors at that time did not realise that these diseases were spread by contaminated water. They thought the diseases came from airborne sources, the famous “miasmas”. The miasma theory held that these diseases were caused by bad air, hence the growing interest in climate data. For example, when sinks were first installed in bedrooms to replace the old jug and washbasin arrangement, people were very suspicious of this new-fangled idea. They were afraid that the “miasma” would come up through the plughole and contaminate the bedroom with deadly diseases and the solution was to keep the plug firmly in the basin to stop the “miasma” spreading into the room!
Also, in the mid-nineteenth century, doctors considered that a change of climate and exposure to pure, fresh, bracing air had a stimulating effect on an invalid’s system. As a result, mountain health resorts became very popular and in order to justify promoting the benefits of Buxton’s climate, it was essential to have accurate data.
In 1865, the people of Buxton, subscribed to the setting up of a weather station, to record temperatures, rainfall, and other details. This was initially placed in the grounds of the Devonshire Royal Hospital and in August 1925, the equipment, together with the gated and railed enclosure, was moved to the present site, on The Slopes.
Our weather station even had a mention in an early guide book to Buxton “A Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Buxton, The Peak, Dovedale, Etc. Ward, Lock & Co.’s Illustrated Guide Books -Series 1939-40”.
On the topic of “Climate”, the book has this to say:
“The greater part of Buxton is more than a thousand feet above sea-level. This high altitude makes it colder than it would be if its temperature depended upon latitude alone. In summer, when heat oppresses the residents in busy towns, Buxton is refreshing its visitors with a cool and pure atmosphere which for most people is bracing and stimulating. It will readily be agreed that the cooler atmosphere is a favourable feature in summer. Equally true, though less obvious, the lower temperature does not detract from the merits of Buxton as a winter health resort. The coldness of the air is more than compensated for by its dryness and tonic properties. People do not complain of the cold at Buxton during the winter, because the air, though keen, is perfectly dry. Buxton, indeed, can boast of having the driest atmosphere in the country, as is amply demonstrated by records for a long series of years. By reason of the altitude of the town, the air is so rarefied that it cannot hold much moisture. Other factors in the production of the phenomenal dryness are the conformation of the district, the rapidity of drainage, the absence of marshy land, and the constant interchange of moorland breezes.
Paradoxical as it may seem, with so dry an atmosphere, Buxton has an average rainfall of 46.5 inches. It is so large because the surrounding hills are among the first that receive the sea and ocean clouds of the west. Yet, owing to the hilly character of the district, and its greatly increased area, which allows of very rapid drainage, and the dry limestone soil, none of the usual discomforts of a damp subsoil are experienced. The heavy rainfall, on the contrary, is one of the most important and beneficial factors of the climate, the air being washed, purified and freed from bacterial and other impurities; while, experimentally, it has been proved that bacteria and putrefactive process are retarded. The salubrity (The quality of being salubrious or invigorating) of Buxton is attested by the low death-rate, which in a recent year was well below the average for England and Wales.
On the Slopes there is a Meteorological Station in connection with the Meteorological Office of the Air Ministry. Daily readings and forecasts issued by the Borough Meteorologist are exhibited at the Library and elsewhere. Local time is 7½ minutes later than Greenwich.”
This blog has been taken from the full history written by Michael Hilton, who runs the brilliant www.buxtonweather.co.uk