Did you know that Doune has a weather station? It was installed in spring 2022 by the Forth Valley & Lomond SMART Digital Villages project and Kilmadock Development Trust. Now that 2023 has come to a close, our first calendar year of weather data can now be reviewed.

The year’s average temperature was on the cool side at 9.6ºC. Averages always conceal the extremes, from a bitter -7.5ºC on March 8th to a sweltering 28.4ºC on June 13th. 

Solar insolation, the amount of energy from the sun that reaches us on the ground, measured 159,920W/m2 across the year. The peak was on May 2nd, while December 30th saw the lowest solar gain.

Now for the dreich statistic, on almost two-thirds of days some rain fell. Accumulating 1477mm throughout 2023. The endless downpour on October 7th claimed the title for the wettest day, with 69.1mm falling, representing almost 5% of the annual rainfall. The driest spell was over May & June, when only 1mm fell in 26 days.

Finally, to the wind. One point to note is that the Met Office usually records wind ten metres above the ground, in Doune it is closer to three making recorded speeds lower. The windiest day was during Storm Babet on October 20th, while Storm Gerrit on December 28th recorded the strongest gust at 28.6mph. The prevailing winds were from southwest.

All the data from the weather station is automatically synced online, and is available for anyone to view and download. There is also a pollution monitor that tracks particulates in the air and displays air quality live on an online dashboard. Links to view either can be found on the Doune & Deanston website at: https://DouneAndDeanston.com/information/ 

By Kilmadock Development Trust