ST HELENS Council's weathermen are coming in from the cold!

Since early Victorian times, weather measurements were carried out at Victoria Park until the building where the equipment was housed was vandalised and set on fire in 1993.

Then the council's Environmental Service continued the weather monitoring from the roof of Wesley House on a daily basis, Monday to Friday, rain, hail, snow or heatwave. Information collected includes minimum and maximum air temperatures, rainfall, wind speed and so on.

Now the council has abandoned its rooftop weather home on Wesley House. A new automatic weather station inside the building provides a more accurate picture on conditions in St Helens.

It records wind speed and direction, rainfall, barometric pressure, together with maximum and minimum air temperature, information recorded round the clock every day of the year.

The information is displayed visually within the Environmental Health Section on the third floor of Wesley House, and can be downloaded onto the section's computer, for more detailed examination and storage.

It is envisaged that this data will provide accurate information in relation to future air quality management and also assist environmental heath officers in identification of both pollution and noise sources.

Councillor Richard Ward, chairman of the Housing and Environmental Services Committee, said: "It is essential that the council's Environmental Health service has accurate weather information so that time can be saved when investigating problems relating to pollution, particularly those regarding smell and dust."

The new equipment will also assist in implementing the government's new national air quality strategy which requires an accurate and local weather picture in determining pollution levels within the borough.

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