- Predict the "IMT" or Irish Mean Temperature which is the average for night and day at these five locations: Casement, Mullingar, Claremorris, Oak Park, and Shannon. (In February the normal IMT is 5.3 C). That is worth a maximum of 25 points. You lose one point per 0.1 deg error.
- Predict the MAX which is the highest reading at any of the 25 regular reporting stations on the met.ie website. Worth 20 points, same error.
- Predict the MIN, lowest reading, otherwise same idea. Worth 20 points, same error as the first two.
- Predict the PRC which is the rainfall plus liquid equivalent of any other types of precipitation, as a percentage of normal for the average at eleven locations in Ireland. Those are the five listed in 1 above, plus Malin Head, Belmullet, Ballyhaise, Johnstown Castle (in Wexford), Cork, and Valentia. (worth 15 points, you lose one point for each 3% error).
- Predict the SUN, hours of sunshine also as a percentage of normal, from stats gathered at six locations around Ireland (Casement, Dublin, Cork, Valentia, Shannon, Belmullet). The average duration of sunshine in February is about 2.4 hours a day, so if you think we might average 3.0 hours, predict 125% (etc). Worth 10 points and the score is reduced for each multiple of 5% error.
- BONUS for February __ Predict the maximum temperature on 14th Feb at Newport (10 points, scores are always by rank order regardless of whether the errors are big or small)
Deadline as always 0300h of 1st Feb, late penalties 1 point per 4 ours to 1500h 2nd and 1 point per our afterwards.
Will post forecasts for myself and NormaL in next two days; Newport's average ax would be around 10 C by 14t .