View from S of weather station Photographic survey 20-Aug-1992. Digital image of B 76294 CN.

Description View from S of weather station Photographic survey 20-Aug-1992. Digital image of B 76294 CN.

Date 1992

Catalogue Number SC 787646

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 76294 CN

Scope and Content Weather Station from south, Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, Western Isles This shows the single-storeyed weather station with the perimeter walls of the lighthouse station. The building is whitewashed with cream-painted dressings, and has a projecting entrance porch with iron walkway (left). The unique weather conditions at the Butt of Lewis made weather observations a key part of the keepers' duties. From 1868 Scottish lightkeepers were required to keep exact meteorological records twice a day. The record would include measuring temperature and wind speed, along with observations of storms, wind, auroras, and, from 1889, fog. These records provided information for weather forecasts and other information used by mariners for navigation. Butt of Lewis Lighthouse was built in 1862 to designs by engineers David (1815-86) and Thomas Stevenson (1818-87) and stands on the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis, officially the windiest spot in the UK. The 37m-high red brick tower is surmounted by a black domed lantern, and has a light which flashes white every five seconds, with a range of 40km over the Atlantic Ocean. The keepers lived in white-painted, flat-roofed cottages around the tower until the complex was automated in 1998. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/787646

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap