Glenbervie Weather

This is a new amateur weather station situated in North East Scotland.  This site is in the very early stages of development (April 2008) so do please check back for added information.  In the meantime, live weather information from the local area can be seen by clicking on the "Live Glenbervie Weather" link in the box above on the right.

Equipment

A Davis Vantage Pro2 wireless weather station transmits data over a distance of about 110 metres to a receiving console in the house.  The external sensing unit is battery powered with solar panel backup.  The desktop console connects by USB cable to a PC running the Vista 32 operating system.

Software

The PC runs Weather Display software which collates the data received by the Davis Console.  This is then output to Weather Display Live software on this website and the data is updated approximately every 4 seconds.

Location

Glenbervie is an area situated just outside the village of Drumlithie in North East Scotland.  The weather station site is about 2 miles north of Glenbervie in a fairly remote and exposed location at a height of 190 metres (624 feet) above sea level. Stonehaven lies on the North Sea coast about 7 miles to the east and the city of Aberdeen is 18 miles to the north-east.

Just to the north of the weather station is the Brae of Glenbervie - shown below on a bright winter's day. This forms part of the Highland Boundary Fault that runs southwest from Stonehaven right across Scotland to Helensburgh and Arran on the west coast. 

This is farming country - the eastern edge of the Howe of the Mearns - made famous by the writings of Lewis Grassic Gibbon (1901-1935).  His book "Sunset Song", written in 1932 about life in the early 20th century in the fictional Kinraddie in "The Mearns", was filmed as a mini-series by the BBC at a neighbouring farm in 1971.  Starring Vivien Heilbron as Chris Guthrie, it was highly acclaimed at the time but has sadly never been released on DVD or Video.

This is also Burns country, although not that of the poet himself.  However his grandparents, Robert and Isabella, farmed these hills and near our own private spring water supply can be seen the remains of their house.  Almost 4 miles to the southeast is the farm of Clochnahill which they subsequently leased from the estate of the Earl Marischal. Poor crops, low prices and a heavy penetrating frost in 1740 brought financial ruin and they soon retired locally to Dunottar.

Sadly Clochnahill will soon be disfigured by four 76 metre high wind turbines which the present owners plan to install, although they have recently applied to increase the size to 81 metres.  There are 3 more turbines planned for the Hill of Auquhirie, adjacent to Clochnahill, 3 for Droop Hill, just north of Glenbervie, a further 35±5 on Mid Hill just 2500 metres northwest of the weather station site, and there is a possibility of about 12 more around Jacksbank Hill just 1000 metres to the east.

The formally classified "Area of Landscape Significance" in which this weather station is situated is soon to lose its raw beauty and become surrounded by an industrial power station landscape, ravaged by inefficient wind turbines with a height between 70 and 125 metres above ground level.  Robert Burns' grandparents must be turning in their graves in Glenbervie Kirk, as must Lewis Grassic Gibbon in his burial plot in nearby Arbuthnott Kirk, soon to be overlooked by 9 wind turbines on St. John's Hill, near Kinneff.