- 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 March the normal IMT is 6.8 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 March is about 3.5 hours a day. Worth 10 points and the score is reduced for each multiple of 5% error.
- BONUS for March __ Predict the maximum temperature on 17th March at Dublin A (10 points, scores are always by rank order regardless of whether the errors are big or small ... superbonus will apply, any forecast right on to nearest decimal gets 2, and an error of 0.1 is worth one extra point.)
Deadline as always 0300h of 1st March, late penalties 1 point per 4 hours to 1500h 2nd and 1 point per hour afterwards.
Forecasts for myself and NormaL
MTC ___________ 8.2 _ 20.1 _ -3.5 _ 077 _ 110 _ 12.4
NormaL ________ 6.8 _ 18.0 _ -4.5 _ 100 _ 100 _ 11.8