Libanus DCNN7365 – Mountain Centre just needing a few tweaks.

51.92437 -3.48912 Met Office CIMO assessed Class 5 Installed 1/1/1994

This station is near Brecon, Wales at an elevation of 331 metres (1,100 feet). I am unsure whether or not this area is named after Mount Libanus in Lebanon but the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park Visitor Centre it is located in the grounds of, is known as the “Mountain Centre” I find many sites like these confusing – they are not particularly well sited but are well cared for locally and just a small investment should make them much more worthwhile.

The visitor centre is a staffed facility seven days a week with all normal services connected and even a licensed cafe. The weather station was changed from being a manual unit to an automatic one in 2012 to overcome access problems to the site in bad weather. Noted remarks in the archives appeared such as:

Automation was the obvious answer to such problems but it is worth noting the observers had previously been very diligent with few other missing days. The actual immediate screen location looks rather pleasant as in this site photograph from a hand held “street” view image. This site does not report wind speed, the anemometer being somewhat non standard.

The main confusing issue for me is that the only real problem here is shade from the surrounding trees. It is flat, there is adequate site security given the remoteness and type of location plus the compound appears correctly maintained. It is not the remit of the Surface Stations Project to offer advice to anyone, simply to report the existing situation and judge the validity of data. However, a small relocation would offer this site no significant problems within a 30 metre radius as illustrated in a proposed new location below. Trees to the north are far less of a problem than other aspects. Some attention to the hedging to the south around to the west would stop these creating a hedged garden effect. Ultimately this site would not be perfect but certainly much better than the majority of current Met Office sites.

The modern Class 5 assessment also seems to indicate the passage of time and vegetation growth. Going back to 2009 presents a significantly different picture and probably as good as Class 3.

Overall a frustrating position but with a degree of caution, data from this site should be well representative of the Beacons region despite its current status.