Ross Gazette readers may have noticed that there is a new structure at the Ross-on-Wye Weather Station. This was installed recently by The Met Office in agreement with Ross Town Council who own the site.

Because it has three legs, it is called The Tripod. It is a temporary structure, placed in anticipation of full automation in 2017. At the moment it only records temperature, humidity and rainfall, whereas the present human observations include up to 20 pieces of information.

Data from the Tripod is sent to the Met Office every hour and will be compared to observations by the team in Ross to make sure it is working properly.

There have been weather observations in Ross for more than 150 years – first by Henry Southall from 1859 to 1914 and then by Fred Parsons until 1974. He was awarded an MBE after 60 years’ service. The present site was re-opened in 1985 by weatherman Ian McGaskill, who died last week, and it is now run by Dr Andy Rogers and his team of observers.

It is hoped that the data will be accessible after full automation so that weather reports in the Ross Gazette can continue.