So this post is more of a list really. Cavers are always on the lookout for good sources of weather data to allow them to make decisions about where it is safe to head underground. The Rushop Edge – Castleton area contains one of the most complex drainage systems in the Peak District. Water falling near Sparrowpit will eventually emerge at Speedwell. Water falling on Dirtlow Rake above Bradwell will make its way to Peak Cavern. Both the Peak and Speedwell systems can be affected buy one another. Floods trap cavers and occasionally kill, so it is important to have trusted data.

A few years ago a group of cavers started to discuss a project that would see rainfall gauges and river level gauges be installed at useful locations. The data would be displayed online so that cavers could access it easily. This plan is still ongoing but will take some time to implement yet. In the mean time, I started to look at what data sources we did have for this area (beyond the usual weather websites).

Below is a series of links to potentially useful sites. I’ll update these whenever I find a new one.

Castleton weather station at The Hollowford Centre:
Met Office WOW (not updated since Nov 2021 – just here in case it comes back online)

Castleton private weather station (unknown owner):
Met Office WOW

EA Rainfall API demonstrator. Search for station 3572 close to the Dove Holes / Chapel junction:
https://environment.data.gov.uk/flood-monitoring/assets/demo/index.html

EA River Level data seen via the Riverlevels.uk website for Mytham Bridge. This is near where the Derwent and Noe join and includes the flow from Peakshole.
River Derwent at Mytham Bridge :: the UK River Levels Website

One day wouldn’t it be great to navigate to one webpage and see the rainfall at the top end swallets and the water levels at the bottom where it resurges. This is the dream and the plan. Anyone with the skills (or money!) to help make this happen please get in touch. There is a group of us mainly involved with the TSG club in Castleton.