Baldissero Torinese meteorological station

Station location

The Baldissero meteorological station (BALD) is located about 500 m a.s.l. in the town of Baldissero Torinese, near Turin (Piedmont, NW Italy), on the southern slope of the Superga hill (690 m), about 5 Km far of the Bric della Croce WMO station (709 m).
     Photo taken from the station in direction of Superga (NW sector).
The farest visible mountain is Mount Penice, in Emilia Romagna region (145 Km), at East. The farest Alpine mountain visible from BALD is Mt. Argentera (110 Km), at South.
The climate of BALD is peculiar. Frequently the inversion layer capping the lower flat region (Chieri, Asti and Alessandria) is located at an altitude lower than BALD height. Sometimes there is the influence of the moisture coming from the southern Piedmont Po Valley. During wintertime, strong thermal inversions, when lower Po Valley is under the influence of dense fog, the inversion level is located at the BALD height. In these conditions, the station seems fluctuate over a "fog sea".

The meteorological station comprehends a screen in which a minimum and maximum thermometer and an hygrometer are installed. A pluviometer is positionned near the screen. An anemometer is located 5 m above ground level, and a barometer is located inside.
The observations are: cloudiness, cloud types, instantaneous, minimum and maximum temperature, pressure, relative humidity, visibility, precipitation (subdevided into rain and snow) and weather type (according to WMO code).
All observations were and are carried out by Dr. Claudio Cassardo two times each day, approximately at 7-8 a.m. and at 7-8 p.m. (local time).

All observations were stored on informatic support (ASCII files). A simple program (in Quickbasic) performs the data analysis and check, and calculates minimum, mean and maximum values of all variables, and the percentage of any cloud type.
The dataset begins at December 1978. The data were continuously recorded (with a few exceptions) up to February 1982.
In the periods 1979-1981 and Sep 1987-Dec 1988 data are missing.
Some supplementary informations were inferred by the data:

• the number of days with haze (visibility between 1 Km and 10 Km);
• the number of days with fog (visibility < 1 Km);
• the number of days with thunderstorms;
• the number of days with rain;
• the number of days with heavy rain (precipitation > 2 mm/day);
• the number of days with snow;
• the number of days with clear sky (cloudiness <= 2/8);
• the number of days with overcast sky (cloudiness >= 6/8);
• the number of frost days (Tmax < 0 ^C);
• the number of cold days (Tmean < 0 ^C);
• the number of warm days (Tmean > 18 ^C);
• the number of hot days (Tmin > 20 ^C or/and Tmax > 35 ^C);
• the number of days with foehn.

cloudiness = 0
relative humidity < 50%
wind velocity > 5 m/s
(Tmax-Tmin) > 10 ^C
visibility > 100 Km

For further information you are invited to contact the station owner: cassardo@al.unipmn.it